The Industrial Revolution: The Key to our Modern Lives

The Industrial Revolution was one of the most important revolutions in the history of Great Britain, and it gradually spread all over the world.  During this time period, many parts of the world became industrialized; life for everyone as they knew it changed, and became more modern and efficient.  Last week, I discovered why life changed so much for people during the Industrial Revolution.  New technology, changes for people, their jobs, and the way they farmed, different resources, and more efficient transportation methods all contributed in making the Industrial revolution 'revolutionary.'  Of those four ingredients to industrialization, the most important two are the changes in people and technology.

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During the Industrial Revolution, citizens everywhere witnessed a change in how they could farm their land and get jobs.  Many factors contributed to the increase in the quantity and quality in food production, such as newly built dikes, which protected the farm land and crops from the pollution of ocean water. People also found why their crops previously weren't able to grow as well - they needed to use fertilizer.  Starting with the Industrial Revolution, farmers used fertilizer from their livestock to renew the soil, and mixed different types of soil to improve crop growth even more.  Crop rotation, which helps the soil renew nutrients, and the seed drill, which lets seeds be grown in rows rather than scattered randomly, were invented.  Also, wool production increased like food production because more pastures for sheep were built.  Along with all of these improvements, there were also some flaws.  Some people began to take over and control land formerly used by peasant farmers, which forced them to move into growing cities start their lives over there.  This was called the enclosure movement.  These peasants found new jobs working machines in factories in the cities they moved to.  Farming for people improved overall during the Industrial Revolution, and so did technology.

Technology changed a great deal during this time period in our history.  Before the Industrial Revolution, things always had to be made at a slow pace, because they were powered by humans and animals.  Thankfully, this changed, and technology became powered with windmills and water mills.  Starting in the early 1700s, energy began to be harvested from coal, which provided the power for Thomas Newcomen to develop the steam engine, that pumped water out of mines.  Later in the century, engineer James Watt improved the steam engine, and this invention became one of the most beneficial in Great Britain.  Iron was needed for the construction of lots of machines, and coal was used as the fuel that produced iron.  In 1709, Abraham Darby discovered the process of smelting iron, or separating it from its ore.  He also found out how to remove the impurities from the coal that damaged iron.  Over time, iron became used more and more often in the construction of different types of machines, and became increasingly common after railroads were used more widely.  New technology, such as using coal and iron to build machines, came to be more widespread during the Industrial Revolution.  Technology and changes in farming and jobs, as well as resources and transportation, played a vital part in industrializing Britain, and helped make society the modern one it is today.