Discussion Topic
Reasons for Great Britain leading the Industrial Revolution
Summary:
Great Britain led the Industrial Revolution due to several factors: abundant natural resources like coal and iron, a stable political environment, a strong banking system, and a vast colonial empire providing raw materials and markets. Additionally, technological innovations, a large workforce, and advancements in transportation facilitated industrial growth.
Why did Great Britain lead the Industrial Revolution?
Technology also determined Britain to be the leader in the industrial revolution. With the advent of machinery that cold process raw cotton into textiles, industry spread across the major cities of the British Isles, fed by the resources and cash crops of the New World colonies, including the former colonies of the United States.
In the US, Britain became our best market for cotton because of this, and we also were able to successfully copy their machinery designs and bring industry to the United States, particularly in the northeast.
The Industrial Revolution was a time when the world's economy started to be more industrialized -- things came to be made in factories rather than by individual artisans.
Great Britain took the lead in this largely because of geography. Great Britain was lucky enough to have large deposits of coal that could be used to power the steam engines that...
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ran the machinery. And it had many rivers that could be used to transport the coal to the factories and the finished goods from the factories to the places where they would be sold.
Why did England become the center of the Industrial Revolution?
With human events, it is difficult to ever know for sure why a given event happens as it does. However, there are a number of reasons that are commonly given to try to explain why Britain, rather than some other European country, became the center of the Industrial Revolution. Some of them include:
- Geography. England had a long and irregular coastline that allowed goods to travel to many places by sea. It also had relatively many rivers along which goods could be moved. Both of these were very important because of the difficulty of moving goods overland in those days. England also had a great deal of coal and iron ore deposits.
- Population. England’s population was relatively large and growing. Even more importantly, it was becoming separated from the land. The enclosure system and the agricultural revolution had reduced the need for labor in rural areas so there were large numbers of people who could be employed in factories.
- Economic and political systems. England was a relatively open society for its time. It had a government that was relatively laissez-faire. This meant that the government was not trying too much to direct the economy. In addition, England’s government was fairly stable. This meant that English entrepreneurs could invest in new businesses with relatively little risk of losing their investments to political turmoil.
These factors combined with the general increase in scientific knowledge that was going on all over Europe to create the conditions that allowed the Industrial Revolution to center on Britain.