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Jan 1, 1350
The Black Death - The Plague
The outbreak of the Black Death began in 1350 and spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing around half the population. The Black Death was a disease spread by the fleas on rats. One in three people suffered from the disease resulting in up to 200 million people dying. The outbreak of the Black Death led to a major setback in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Millions of people were dead and dying making the circumstances quite difficult and unlikely for any revolution to arise. -
Period: Jan 1, 1350 to
Lead Up To The Industrial Revolution
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Jan 1, 1440
Invention of the Printing Press
Before the printing press there were people called scribes who would have to write everything by hand. The process of making copies of books and documents was a very long, slow and expensive one, therefore there wasn’t many made. This meant that information couldn’t be passed on which was a very big problem in the uprising of the Industrial Revolution. Once the printing press was invented the production of books and information was able to be done quickly and in large numbers. -
Jun 1, 1440
Caravels
The caravel was an improved version of the sailing ship.These new sailing ships were designed with 2-3 masts so they were able to move a lot faster. They were also replaced with a rounder base rather than a straight one which meant the caravel was capable of carrying more cargo. The invention of these faster, bigger ships helped greatly in the Industrial Revolution making transportation of things a lot easier and quicker. -
Jan 1, 1492
Discovery of the Potato
Potatoes were first discovered in Europe in 1492 and today are one of the most important crops grown worldwide. To start off people didn’t realise how valuable they were. It took 100-200 years before potatoes were widespread over Europe. Being full of great nutritional value, potatoes were a great source of food. They were easily grown,adaptable and became very important to peoples’ diets. Having a large and reliable source of food the infant mortality rate lowered and the population increased. -
The First Public Company
The Dutch East India Company, also known as VOC, was the first public company to issue stock. It ran for almost 200 years and was one of the biggest, most powerful trading and shipping companies. Each year 2-3 fleets of ships would travel to East India with each year their being more people and produce. This company increased the supply of highly valued produce and more people were beginning to travel to see how the company worked. This lead to more companies, which lead to more jobs. -
Execution of Charles I
Charles I was executed on the 30th of January 1949 after he was accused of treason. He had been charged with high treason once being declared guilty and was ordered to have his head severed from his body. After the execution of Charles I there was a complete abolishment to monarchy. Not having the king and queen of the monarchy, countries no longer had the one person ruling everything they had multiply people so they could get more opinions to make better, more fair and civil decisions. -
Intravenous Injections
Intravenous injections were introduced in 1656 through Christopher Wren's discovery. Intravenous injections took the process of drugs or vaccines being injected into people's blood. The introduction of the injections helped to save many people's lives. With people no longer dying from different diseases, the population increased. A bigger population meant there was more people to work. More people working meant new things were being built and discovered. -
The Great Fire of London - Part 1
The Great Fire of London began one night with a small fire in the bakeshop of Thomas Farynor. The fire spread quickly through the easily flammable wooden houses and the wind blew sparks to expand the fire even further. The fire finally died down after about 3 days of tearing through London. Fortunately and suprisingly not many people died, possibly less than 20. The real damage was to the city, the amount of property that was lost and destroyed was overwhelming. -
The Great Fire of London - Part 2
The percentage of the city that was ruined was as high as 80%. This included 13,000 houses, 89 churches and 52 Guild Halls. The effect of the fire was devasting leaving thousands of people homeless. The only positive outcome of this fire was that it destroyed all traces of the plague by killing the rats that carried the disease. It also got rid of the disease by the heat sterilizing areas, killing off all the germs and bacteria. The city was now able to start fresh and begin rebuilding. -
Discovery of Blood Cells
The first written description of human blood cells was by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. He was not the first person to observe them but he did discover their existence in the human body, The discovery of blood cells changed the way people worked and looked with medicine and medical equipment. -
Industrial Revolution
This was roughly the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. From this point on the Industrial Revolution gradually kept getting bigger and bigger, with more discoveries contributing to how big an effect it had on the world. -
Invention of Spinning Jenny
The spinning jenny was invented by James Hargreaves and was an improvement of the spinning wheel. This improvement meant that you were able to spin eight balls of yarn at once instead of just one ball of yarn. People were still able to use the machine in their cottages but further improvements to the machine made it too large to fit in people's homes. Factories were built to hold these machines and this was the change that moved the textile industry from peoples' homes to factories. -
Invention of Threshing Machine - Part 1
The threshing machine was invented by Andrew Meikle in 1784. The purpose of this machine was to separate grain out in the wheat fields. Before this machine was made, the process of separating the grain was done by hand which was very time consuming. Seeing as it was time consuming the end result was that there was barely any product at the end of the day to make food like bread etc. Farmers were working all day and then had no food for themselves or their family. -
Invention of Threshing Machine - Part 2
Once the threshing machine was invented there was a vast difference in the amount of grain that was separated in a day, plus there was only three or four people needed to work the machine as opposed to 20 people out in the one field. No longer needing as many people to do the job, people were able to go out and do things that contributed to the start of the Industrial Revolution. The large supply of good quality food was now able to feed a larger population which lead to a rise in population. -
Small Pox Vaccine Discovered
The discovery of the small pox vaccine by Edward Jenner saved approx. 406 million lives and was a very important medical advancment of that time. Small pox was a deadly disease that had flu like symptoms. Cow pox was a slightly similar disease but was not deadly. Edward discovered that people who had cow pox didn't get small pox. To cure small pox people were injected with cow pox to develop an immunity of the deadly disease. The death rate fell after this life changing vaccine was discovered -
Blood Transfusion
The first successful human blood transfusion was performed by James Blundell. Blood transfusions are used to transfer blood into people with different medical conditions and to make up for the loss of blood. -
Invention of the Telegraph
The telegraph was invented in 1837 by Samuel Morse.The telegraph transmitted messages from one place to another over long distances, with the person receiving the message in morse code. The invention of the telegraph had a huge impact on the world. Before it was invented people had no way of communicating or passing on important information. What was happening on the other side of the world let alone in the next town was a mystery.The telegraph helped people everywhere to connect and share.
