5.1 Industrialization and Global Capitalism

This week, we will go over the Industrial Revolution and its affects on the world. It not only affected how goods were made, it affected the global economy, social relations and culture. This process of industrialization was a gradual process that started in Britain became global throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

                                                                          

5.1 I. (Part 1): Industrialization fundamentally changed how goods were produced 

    A. A variety of factors led to the rise of industrial production, including:

       1) Europe's location on the Atlantic Ocean: Europe was and is today in the middle of everything and had connections from all over, to places like the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. Its location on the Atlantic also gave it the benefit of trading ports. They were also extrememly close to Venice, a major power. Since they had the location and trading ports, they could also get their hands on raw materials and sell them.

       2) Geographical Dristribution of coal, iron, and timber: Usually, nations would use timber as an energy source to make iron since timber makes fire which melds together the two metals required to make iron. This started a small decrease in innovative tech. However, coal was found to be a better energy source because it made it easier to make iron. Coal later became important to steam engines which transported items.

       3) European Demographic Changes: New global connections made by European expansion led to population growth. With this came the pressure of artisanal productivity and natural resources. This all led to industrialized goods because it helped people surpass limits.

       4) Urbanization: People began to surge to the cities for work so factories were build to stimulate even more widespread production. Goods were produced much faster leading to faster production.

       5) Improved Agricultural Productivity: This was a result of the enclosure movement  (a push in the 18th and 19th centuries to take land that had formerly been owned in common by all members of a village, or at least available to the public for grazing animals and growing food, and change it to 

privately owned land). Small families couldn't afford their land, so they were brought over, which made farms huge. Eventually, this led to some slavery enablement. Slaves produced large amounts of crops in the Americas. Since farms were so big, the needed an easier way to produce crops faster.

       6) Legal Protection of Private Property: Because of the enclosure movement, private landowners began fencing off their property. This caused urbanization where people would work in factories in cities.

       7) An Abundance of Rivers and Canals: They were great for transportation, especially the transportation of raw materials. These were transported to factories, which led to industrial production.

       8) Access to Foreign Resources: This allowed industrializing cities to make innovative goods more preferable and efficient. The raw materials came from colonies owned by the French and British. They then processed them in cheap labor and sold them back to those colonies.

       9) The Accumulation of Capital: The accumulation of money led to warfare over it. This led to industrialization because they produced weapnry t ofight with. Interchangeability of parts was established. This meant that there was the standardization of pars of goods, which made it easier to mass produce. An example of this is Honore Blanc. He was a Frenchman who produced guns with interchangeable parts in 1790.

Tomorrow, we'll discuss the rest of 5.1 I. See you then!