Within my essay, I propose to discuss the factors that lead to the advancement of industrialisation in Europe. I would like to analyse the various contributing factors to determine if one dominating factor had set industrialisation in motion or if a culmination of conditions allowed development in the manufacturing and trade in Europe. The factors which I plan to discuss include Europe’s natural resources, labour, capital and entrepreneurship as well as the general economic conditions which made industrialisation a reality.
The exploration efforts of the European nations had allowed for greater discovery of foreign resource rich lands. The exploration had opened numerous all-sea routes to Asia and the Western Hemisphere which European countries then controlled. The introduction of the Dutch fluyt ship allowed for larger cargoes to be transported between the colonies and Europe and enhance their supply of natural resources at their disposal.
Europe had a bountiful supply of copper, lead, zinc and tin as well as timber in Sweden. These were useful ores for global trade and timber required for shipbuilding and construction, however, they lacked more exotic raw materials such as that of cotton, sugar, coffee and foodstuffs such as corn and rice. Due to the sea-routes Europe could import many of these natural resources to sastify their inhabitants
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This excess supply of precious metals began to spread throughout Europe through contraband movements and debt repayments. Due to demand, the inflation of commodities had risen nearly fourfold before the 17th century (citation). Consequently, entrepreneurs had benefitted from this inflation as their products price had risen yet they kept their wages to employees fixed. This allowed for greater profit that could be used to finance manufacturing and development at a later