Instructions and Ingredients to the Industrial Revolution

     This past week in Honors History 10, we started our first unit on Industrialization.  Early Industrialization improved life back in the 1750's, and had a great influence on life today.

     The new technology made in Europe made many jobs and many people's lives more efficient.  The flying shuttle invented by John Kay was the first of many inventions that helped the textile industry.  In 1764, James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, which allowed many threads to be spun at the same time.  These machines were eventually powered by water frames, invented by Richard Arkwright.  Textile factories started to be built next to fast moving streams, which allowed the amount of labor performed in one factory to be equal to the previous amount of labor performed in an entire district.  In another industry, Abraham Darby's experiments led him to produce better quality and less expensive iron, that was smelted by coal to build railroads.  James Watt invented the steam engine, which became the main power source for many things throughout the industrial revolution.

"Spinning Jenny"
http://www.newlanark.org/learningzone/clitp-ageofinvention.php

     The common people who weren't busy inventing world-changing machines were keeping very busy.  Farmers were working more productively so that they could improve the quality and increase the quantity of their products.  Dikes were built in order to shelter farmland that was by the sea, and the seed drill enabled seeds to be grown in rows so that land was not wasted. The mixing of different soils led to having more successful crops, which led to an increase in the population.  Without the constant fear of starvation, women and babies became healthier, along with the death rate declining.  With farming going so well, some peasants got kicked off of farmlands and were forced to find work in cities, and contribute to the labor force of the industrial revolution.