TRADITIONAL OR PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY



From Farming to Factories to the Future

Pre-Industrial Society

Farming in the Middle Ages:

• Villages barely fed themselves (subsistence farming)

• Certain fields left fallow (empty) each year to regain fertility

Disadvantages:

• Land use was inefficient

• Farmers afraid to experiment with new methods because of fear of failure (starvation)

Causes of Change:

• Population increasing—even more food needed

• French blockade during Napoleonic Wars (no corn allowed through) British farms have to produce more

The Agricultural (Farming) Revolution

• Wealthy landlords fenced in common land and experimented with farming methods

• Peasant life became even more difficult

Crop Rotation and Other Discoveries:

• Fields depleted of nutrients by one crop recovered by planting different crops

• Fields not left fallow (empty) so 100% of land is used

• Seed drill improves planting efficiency

• New, easy-to-grow crops introduced: maize and potato from the Americas

Results of Agricultural Revolution:

• More & better foods become available = population grows healthier and increases

• More productive farms mean we need fewer farmers = extra workers available to do other things

Cottage Industries and Capitalism

Division of Labor in Cottage Industries:

• Supply materials — wool and cotton — to cottages to be carded and spun into thread

• Transport supplies from Spinning cottage to Weavers to Dyers to then Sell finished cloth

Basic Capitalism:

• An economic system based on private ownership, competition and profit ($$$$)

• Final (retail) price must be greater than all supplies and labor (and don't forget advertising) in order to post a profit ($$$$) in other words: supplyA + supplyB + supplyC + payroll + $0.01 = minimum price to make $$$$

Effects of Cottage Industries:

• Big profits possible for new class of merchants and investors

• Alternative source of income for peasants

Textile (Clothing) Industry and Factories

Textile Industry Blows Up:

• Cottage industries couldn’t keep up with the demand for clothes = need more cotton and wool

• Spinning jenny, water frame, and spinning mule improve thread = need more cotton and wool

• Power loom speeds up weaving = need more cotton and wool

• Cotton gin separated cotton fibers from seeds more easily and quickly

Rise of the Factory:

• These new machines, often too big (noisy, smelly, scary)for homes, were put in factories

• Factories located near power sources and raw materials: coal, iron, running water

Effects of Textile Factories in Britain:

• Prices of mass-produced items much lower than hand-made (b/c more made in less time)

• Majority of peasants forced to leave countryside find work in new, urban (cities) factories

Steam Engine: Energy for the Industrial Revolution

The Need for Energy:

• Earliest factories relied on horses, wind power, oxen, mules and water mills

• The steam engine was developed to fill the increasing need for more and better power

How a Steam Engine Works:

• Steam, built up inside the machine, is forced from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure, the movement of the steam is what causes the machine to move

Effects of the Steam Engine:

• Steam power increased textile production through longer work hours

• Mining coal and iron became more important due to the increased need for those raw materials (natural materials used to make other things)

Iron and Coal: Building Blocks of the Industrial Revolution

The need for Iron:

• Farming tools, new factory machinery, railways were being built bigger and stronger

• Smelting is the process of purifying iron so it lasts longer, but it requires carbon gases

The need for Coal:

• Carbon, from coal, was needed for smelting iron

• Increasing use of steam engines resulted in increasing need for coal to power the engines

Effects of Iron and Coal:

• Britain produced more iron than all of the other countries in the world combined

• Coal was the fuel of Britain’s enormous, cutting-edge steam-powered navy

Transportation

The need for Better Transportation:

• Pre-Industrial society mostly used horse-drawn wagons, mules, and dirt roadways

• Increased production increased the need to move (transport) goods more quickly and cheaply, plus increasing weight-loads exaggerated the problems of dirt roads

Inventions:

• Stone and eventually asphalt roads became more common

• Canals (man-made waterways) were constructed to speed ship-traffic

• The railroad era was ushered in with the Rocket in 1829

Effects of Railroads:

• Cheaper, faster transportation increased production and profits

• Railways fueled other industries: coal, steam engines, iron, steel, and many others

Why Britain Led the Industrial Revolution

Geography:

• Humid climate good for textile production (threads stay soft and elastic)

• Plenty of natural resources such as iron and coal throughout their empire

• Separation from European mainland (island country) kept them out of damaging wars

Government:

• Internal trade and business development was encouraged by tax incentives

• Helped build expensive projects such as roads, canals, and railroads that helped everyone

Social Factors:

• British society was less rigid than other countries, this encouraged risk-taking in business

World-wide Colonial Empire:

• “The sun never sets on the British Empire” at this time

• Supplied raw materials for factories and provided a market for finished goods to be sold

Advantages of Industrializing First and Quickly:

• In the beginning no other countries were able to challenge their businesses or factories

• Britain protected their monopoly (total control) on new technologies

• Other countries were often jealous and had to play catch-up to the British

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