What was the First Industrial Revolution? A First Industrial Revolution began in England around 1760. It was the beginning of the process of technological advancement that we experience until the present day.
The First Industrial Revolution occurred due to the expansion of international trade, which occurred in Europe around the 15th to 18th centuries. The increased accumulation of wealth made it possible to finance new machines and, consequently, new forms of production.
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The English Revolution allowed the emergence of a new social class, the bourgeoisie. She had a lot of capital to invest, so she started to finance industries, to buy land. These actions enabled a modernization of the form of production.
The English geographic location was privileged, as it had access to maritime trade, which facilitated the free trade zone with access to new markets. England became a maritime power. Accumulating capital in this practice, she was able to invest in industries.
In addition to what has already been mentioned, the English pioneering, was also due to the fact that England had adopted the enclosure policy, which consisted of enclosing land for the production of raw material for livestock activity.
This practice provoked the rural exodus, when small landowners were harmed (because they did not have the deeds to their properties) and went to the cities. These were some of the liberal measures that facilitated technological progress and the increase in English production.
It was in this context that the First Industrial Revolution. It began in England around 1760, corresponding to the first phase of the process of Industrial Revolution.
It was a period of great changes, which were initially limited to England. However, throughout the development of new technologies (with the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions), these changes spread throughout the world, in countries such as: France, Germany, Belgium, Japan, United States United.
The main characteristic of this phase was the use of machines in factories. Until then, production was done by artisans, women, children, either at home or in workshops. This practice is called manufacturing, when the product is made manually with the worker fulfilling all stages of production. That took a lot of time.
The production process has changed with technological advances. The machines optimized time, with a larger scale production. Their operation was done thanks to a new source of energy, coal. It became one of the main elements of the First Industrial Revolution, for giving “life” to the machinery used for production.
A division of labor comes into existence, with each worker fulfilling a stage of the production process.
New working relationships then emerge. The worker receives a remuneration corresponding to his production. It is at this moment that the subject begins to sell his labor power. Before, production was basically limited to the family environment.
O main production sector it was the textile. Almost 90% of English cotton fabrics were sold abroad. The production of cotton fabrics was responsible for the process of transition to the factory system and for the English industrial growth.
England was the first country to modernize/industrialize, using machines to produce products. The mechanization of processes became effective in several areas, with the use of energy supplied by coal and its ability to transform into mechanical energy, so that the machines work.
This new form of production – in record time – was innovative as it made it possible to increase production, with the transition from manufacturing to machine manufacturing. Some of the machines used for manufacturing were:
In this way, industrial activity began to gather the source of wealth of the English economy.
British inventions influenced the beginning of the industrial process in several European and non-European countries.
Still in the 18th century, England became the largest country in economic power in the world and London, the financial capital.
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