Industrialisation
1a: Describe pre-industrial rural life and cottage industries
What was life like before machines?
2 things: life and home how production worked large, mostly poor lower class; small, mostly rich upper class (no middle class)
9/10 people on farms many items handmade knew very little about outside world => travel difficult domestic industries => home business mostly making cloth
“home-based textile makers”
v. few people literate raised food on small farms textile manufacturing => first form of industrial revolution got rid of most cottage industries
In 1700, life in Britain was mainly rural and agricultural. Most people survived by working the land. They used very simple methods and tools. The quantity of farm products was small. The quality was often poor.
The fields were usually divided into small strips. A man might farm several strips of land. These were often not close together. Sheep and cattle grazed on a piece of land called the Common. This was shared by all the villages. Farming practices had changed little since feudal times.
Most farmers were tenant-farmers. They rented their land from their landlord. Life was very hard. The cost of food was often high. Labourers and poor farmers earned just enough to survive.
Cottage industries:
Most products were made in people’s homes of small shops. This was called the domestic system. Under the domestic system, the worker made the whole article themselves. The cost of production was high.
In essence, Europe saw a shift from an economy based on farming and handicrafts to an economy based on manufacturing by machines in factories.
Communication was extremely poor
It was very hard to keep in touch with people living in other countries
There was no means of transportation
No cars/ trains/ aeroplanes
Social life
The villagers were friendly
They shared materials, tools, animals and farming methods
Family oriented
Education
Education was extremely poor; only the rich could afford tutors etc
What was life like before machines?
2 things: life and home how production worked large, mostly poor lower class; small, mostly rich upper class (no middle class)
9/10 people on farms many items handmade knew very little about outside world => travel difficult domestic industries => home business mostly making cloth
“home-based textile makers”
v. few people literate raised food on small farms textile manufacturing => first form of industrial revolution got rid of most cottage industries
In 1700, life in Britain was mainly rural and agricultural. Most people survived by working the land. They used very simple methods and tools. The quantity of farm products was small. The quality was often poor.
The fields were usually divided into small strips. A man might farm several strips of land. These were often not close together. Sheep and cattle grazed on a piece of land called the Common. This was shared by all the villages. Farming practices had changed little since feudal times.
Most farmers were tenant-farmers. They rented their land from their landlord. Life was very hard. The cost of food was often high. Labourers and poor farmers earned just enough to survive.
Cottage industries:
Most products were made in people’s homes of small shops. This was called the domestic system. Under the domestic system, the worker made the whole article themselves. The cost of production was high.
In essence, Europe saw a shift from an economy based on farming and handicrafts to an economy based on manufacturing by machines in factories.
Communication was extremely poor
It was very hard to keep in touch with people living in other countries
There was no means of transportation
No cars/ trains/ aeroplanes
Social life
The villagers were friendly
They shared materials, tools, animals and farming methods
Family oriented
Education
Education was extremely poor; only the rich could afford tutors etc