The Age Of Reason: The Industrial Revolution In Britain

The Industrial revolution has changed our history and has influenced the way we live today. It began first in the late 17th century in Britain, and was a series of changes in trade, technology, agriculture and manufacturing. A few of the foundations of the industrial revolution was development in agriculture and economy, the cascade of scientific discoveries and the politics and culture in Britain.

The development in agriculture and as a result the increasing economy was a big factor as to why the Industrial Revolution happened in Britain. The pre-industrial societies were based on the cultivation and ownership of land, this was a vast foundation for social hierarchies, where the highest classes owned the land and the lowest worked on them.

This is because unlike other European countries the British were more accepting of scientist and their idea of the enlightenment. Which is what lead to what we call it today “The age of reason”. One of the main shape lifting discoveries was the flying shuttle invented by John Kay in 1733 that increased the speed of weaving of yarn. One of its purposes was used for the spinning Jenny and the water frame. After this invention came machineries. James Watts, a Scottish engineer who lived from 1736-1819, whilst studying at Glasgow developed an interest in steam technology. Leading to the invention of the steam engine of the train, an improved transportation that made methods easier such as to exchange goods and services. The steam engine was more efficient than anything was, because it had so much more horsepower and used up not as much resources. Because Thomas invented a pump to clear water out of the coal mines. This increased the efficiency of the steam engine for the trains because more coal was produced and it was not expensive as wood was. The steam engine also had another useful purpose in the industrial revolution; the huge cotton mills. John Watt began the making of various kinds of machines for all sorts of industries with the financial backup of Matthew Boulton. In total, of his enterprise, Watt had invented 42 engines. This was the cause and start of the making of

Cultural changes could be seen everywhere and the politics had a strong influence in the industrial revolution. Before, people lived and worked on farms. Goods were made by hand and animals provided power. During this time, however people left the past behind, and a new middle class was created, consisting of industrialists and businessmen.Workers left their farms and moved to work in the cities. It was around this time that the concept of urbanisation was created. With more and more people to fit into one city, and not enough space, it resulted in cramped housing conditions.Whole families lived in small flats only meant for one person. The houses had no proper sewage system, so waste was collected and eventually thrown in the rivers. This lead to rivers such as the Thames River becoming so heavily polluted that its waters could no longer be used as a source of water for humans. Diseases spread rapidly because of these terrible living conditions, but there was always another worker ready to replace the one that had died. Many women were left widows because of this. The women, therefore also started taking up jobs such as coal mining and factory work to support their families. Even the children took smaller jobs to help with the family 's finances. They were, however, mistreated and many suffered injuries from the machines used for factory work. Workers didn 't have any rights. Factory owners took advantage of this and