Read and answer the questions below (either in your notebook or digitally). Submit your answers below by Wednesday, 19th January. Notice the vocabulary aid on the right!

Part 1.

The Industrial Revolution – Background

 The Industrial Revolution marked a period of development  in the latter half of the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that had once been painstakingly crafted by hand started to be produced in mass quantities by machines in factories, thanks to the introduction of new machines and techniques in textiles, iron making and other industries.

Fueled by the game-changing use of steam power, the Industrial Revolution began in Britain and spread to the rest of the world, including the United States, by the 1830s and ‘40s. Modern historians often refer to this period as the First Industrial Revolution, to set it apart from a second period of industrialization that took place from the late 19th to early 20th centuries and saw rapid advances in the steel, electric and
automobile industries. 

Part 1/Questions: The Industrial Revolution - Background

1. When did the Industrial Revolution take place?
2. How did the Industrial Revolution change societies?
3. What made it possible to produce goods in large quantities?
4. What was one of the most important inventions that made the Industrial Revolution possible?
5. In which country did the First Industrial revolution begin?

Part 2.
Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

 Thanks in part to its damp climate, ideal for raising sheep, Britain had a long history of producing textiles like wool, linen and cotton. But prior to the Industrial Revolution, the British textile business was a true “cottage industry,” with the work performed in small workshops or even homes by individual spinners, weavers and dyers.

Starting in the mid-18th century, innovations like the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny, the water frame and the power loom made weaving cloth and spinning yarn and thread much easier. Producing cloth became faster and required less time and far less human labor.

More efficient, mechanized production meant Britain’s new textile factories could meet the growing demand for cloth both at home and abroad, where the nation’s many overseas colonies provided a captive market for its goods.

In addition to textiles, the British iron industry also adopted new innovations. 

Chief among the new techniques was the smelting of iron ore with coke (a material made by heating coal) instead of the traditional charcoal. This method was both cheaper and produced higher-quality material, enabling Britain’s iron and steel production to expand in response to demand created by the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and the later growth of the railroad industry

Part 2/Questions: Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

1. Why did Britain have a long history of producing textiles like wool, linen and cotton?
2. Where were textiles made before the start of the Industrial Revolution?
3. How did the invention of the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny and the power loom change textile business?
4. Where did Britain sell its textiles?
5. What was a key innovation in iron industry?
6. What were the benefits (=edut) of this new method?
7. How did the Napoleonic Wars and the building of railways affect Britain's iron and steel production?