How Important Is Coal to Explain the English Industrial Revolution?
Introduction……………………………………………p. 3
Main Body……………………………………………p.3-7
I. The importance of coal in the mechanization of the industry…………………………………………p.4
II. From the development of the industry to the development of international commerce through the improvement in transports.………………..p. 5
III. The relative importance of coal in the English Industrial Revolution…………………………..p. 7
Conclusion…………………………………………….p. 8
References…………………………………………….p. 9
The Industrial Revolution is a period that begins in the last 18th century and ends in the middle 19th century. It is a period of demographic increase, thanks in part to Agricultural revolution (end of the subsistence crisis) and the advances in medicine and hygiene. The pre-industrialization is also characterised by the flow of peasants to the cities and the increase of the rural population income. It is the change from the “domestic system” to the “factory system” that leads to socioeconomic, technological and cultural transformations of the human history. In the 1770s England was a high wage economy, what permitted the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution. The most important innovation of the period is the steam engine that drove the process of industrialization and stimulated the economic growth of many countries. The steam engine is the most important but not the only innovation of the time, new energy sources, such as coal, also took an important part in the Industrial Revolution.
In this essay we are going to try to answer to the question “How important is coal to explain the English Industrial Revolution?”, for that we are going to follow the following questions:
* What are the sectors involved in the Industrial Revolution? How important is coal in their development?
* What is the link between coal and commerce?
* What about the Industrial Revolution without coal?
I. The importance of coal in the mechanization of the industry.
The
Main Body……………………………………………p.3-7
I. The importance of coal in the mechanization of the industry…………………………………………p.4
II. From the development of the industry to the development of international commerce through the improvement in transports.………………..p. 5
III. The relative importance of coal in the English Industrial Revolution…………………………..p. 7
Conclusion…………………………………………….p. 8
References…………………………………………….p. 9
The Industrial Revolution is a period that begins in the last 18th century and ends in the middle 19th century. It is a period of demographic increase, thanks in part to Agricultural revolution (end of the subsistence crisis) and the advances in medicine and hygiene. The pre-industrialization is also characterised by the flow of peasants to the cities and the increase of the rural population income. It is the change from the “domestic system” to the “factory system” that leads to socioeconomic, technological and cultural transformations of the human history. In the 1770s England was a high wage economy, what permitted the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution. The most important innovation of the period is the steam engine that drove the process of industrialization and stimulated the economic growth of many countries. The steam engine is the most important but not the only innovation of the time, new energy sources, such as coal, also took an important part in the Industrial Revolution.
In this essay we are going to try to answer to the question “How important is coal to explain the English Industrial Revolution?”, for that we are going to follow the following questions:
* What are the sectors involved in the Industrial Revolution? How important is coal in their development?
* What is the link between coal and commerce?
* What about the Industrial Revolution without coal?
I. The importance of coal in the mechanization of the industry.
The
References: TAPIA CORRAL, J. (2006): “La Revolución Industrial”, Madrid: Centro Nacional de Información y Comunicación Educativa, online: http://www.ite.educacion.es/w3/eos/MaterialesEducativos/bachillerato/historia/rev_industrial/index.htm (Accessed 1st May 2010) PEEL, R. (1846): “Speech of Sir Robert Peel in front of the Parliament, February 16, 1846”. Clases de Historia, online: http://www.claseshistoria.com/revolucionindustrial/%2Brobertpeel.htm (Accessed 7 May 2010) TURNBULL, G. (1987) :” Canals, Coal and Regional Growth during the Industrial Revolution”, Economic History Review, Vol. 40, No 4, pp. 537-560.Online: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2596392 ( Accessed 7 May 2010) CAMERON, R. and NEAL, L. “Patterns of Development: The Early Industrializaers”. A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present, 4th edition. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 219-244. CLARK, G. and JACKS, D. (2006): “Coal and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1869”, European Review of Economic History 11, pp. 39-72. Online: http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/Coal2006.pdf (Accessed 5 May 2010) POMERAZ, K.(2000) : The Great divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Quoted in Gregory Clark and David