Introduction

·  The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the 1700s.

·  People invented many new machines and new methods of production.

·  Productivity measures how much work can be done in a certain length of time.

·  The Industrial Revolution changed the ways people worked and lived.

A Rapidly Changing World

·  The Industrial Revolution started in Britain because it had access to many natural resources, such as coal and iron.

·  These resources were needed to make and run the machinery.

·  Britain also had raw materials like wool needed to make products like cloth.

·  Britain had the people, or human resources, who could operate the machines.

·  These people moved from farms to cities to be near the new factories.

Major Industries

·  Before the Industrial Revolution, products were made in homes or in small shops which was known as cottage industry.

·  The first products made in factories were textiles, or woven cloth.

·  Textile factories produced great quantities of cloth and employed many workers.

·  The first spinning machines ran on waterpower.

·  In 1769, James Watt introduced a steam engine that could be used in textile mills, on riverboats, and in locomotives.

·  The steam engine greatly increased productivity.

·  Inventions like the railroad brought even more growth to industries.

·  The Industrial Revolution quickly spread throughout Western Europe and to North America.

Changing Lifestyles

·  People’s lives changed greatly as they moved to towns and cities.

·  Factory workers, many of them women and children, worked long hours.

·  Many workers also faced dangerous working conditions.

·  Eventually, the workers formed groups called unions which spoke for all the workers in a factory or industry.

·  Unions demanded better working conditions, higher pay, and fewer working hours.

·  If factory owners rejected the union’s demands, the workers often went on strike.

·  A strike meant that workers would not work until their demands were met.

·  The Industrial Revolution made life easier for people in the long run.

·  Factories could make high quality goods in large quantities which made the prices lower.

·  The economies of Western Europe grew and were strong as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

·  Europe used its economic strength to dominate the world in the 1800s and early 1900s.