Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution, period of rapid transition from an agrarian to an industrial society; specifically, the prototype of such periods, the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the United Kingdom. This period saw Britain transformed from a predominantly agricultural society into the world's first industrial nation. In the 18th century, British imperialism, technology, economic development, and natural resources combined to provide unique opportunities for building business fortunes. The growth of capitalism developed the factory system to harness new inventions that cheaply mass-produced textiles to exploit the expanding world market for British cloth. Key inventions in textile production included John Kay's flying shuttle (c.1733), James Hargreaves's spinning jenny (c.1764), Richard Arkwright's water frame (1769), and Edmund Cartwright's powered loom (1785). In 1709 Abraham Darby had learned to smelt iron with coke; in 1781, James Watt patented a steam engine producing rotary motion. Soon many factories were using steam-powered iron machinery. Canals and, from the 1830s, railroads and steamships provided a transportation network linking new industrial cities with sources of supply and markets. The urban masses were supported by increasingly efficient agriculture, due to scientific advances and the stimulus to self-sufficiency of the Napoleonic Wars. Largely through improvements in food supply, sanitation, and medicine Britain's population rose from under 7 million in 1750 to over 20 million in 1850, creating an increased labor force while escalating consumer demand. Factory workers endured appalling working and living conditions before legislation brought improvements. The wealth they had created, however, made possible a more general prosperity.