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The First Enclosure Act
The first enclosure act happened in the year 1604. It allowed the removal of common rights to land so a farmer can have ownership to a block of land by themselves. This has caused a much better production of crops as more land is used for farming instead of grazing cattle and it also encouraged owners of land to use different methods such as the Four Year Crop Cycle to make their own lands more fertile. -
The First Enclosure Act 2
Before the Enclosure Act all the farmers planted their crops on a shared land. After the Enclosure Act was passed, the richer farmers bought large blocks of land and the poorer farmers are forced out from the lands of the richer farmers. Therefore, the poorer farmers went to the citied to look for a job. From this time on, some of the people living in rural areas started to go to the urban areas. -
First Steam Engine Invented
The first steam engine is invented in the year 1698 by Thomas Savery. The steam engine gave the ability to power many kinds of machinery using steam. This has made mass production much faster and cheaper. -
Sharp Increase in Urban Population
In the 1800s the populations living in urbanised areas in Europe started to increase sharply. This is because people rushed to cities to look for jobs because they no longer need to farm in the countryside because of the surplus of food.
In the year 1750, the people in Europe living in urbanised area is 9.2%, but in the year 1850 16.7% of people in Europe lived in urbanised areas.
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Seed Drill Invented
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill, it gave farmers an efficient way to plant multiple lines of seeds at the right height very efficiently. -
The Four Year Crop Rotation Invented ()
The Four Year Crop Rotation is invented by Charles Townsend. The Four Year Crop Rotation is using the same land to plant plants but rotating through the cycle of legumes (plants that mixes nitrogen with soil, can become food for animals) >Brasssicas (regular crops or crops that can easily get sick when grown in soil that used to grow the same type of plants) > roots (plants with crops under the soil, can also become food for animals) > potatoes
(please click image to see enlarged image) -
The Four Year Crop Cycle Invented
The Four Year Plant Cycle has made land much more fertile and produce much more crops. This way, the farmers started to get more and more food, so people do not only plant enough food for themselves and their families to eat, they also have food for many other people to eat. -
Child Labour ()
At the late 1700s and the early 1800s child labour was very common in Europe. Children are employed because they can be paid much less than adults, they are more obedient and has more acceptance for punishments. Children also have smaller bodies, so they are employed to do work in small spaces such as a cotton scavenger (a job where the children crawl under cotton mills to collect cotton scraps). -
Child Labour
The working conditions for the children are often very severe. There is often serious injuries caused by inadequate safety measures or illnesses because the children are working long time in an unhealthy body position. The work hour of the children before the factory act are often 10-14 hours with minimal breaks, moreover the factory/occupation employer would often beat up the children severely as punishment. -
Selective Breeding established as an scientific Practice
Selective breeding is a method of getting the ideal livestock/plant (for example the woolliest sheep). Selective breeding works by farmers choosing the parents that has the ideal traits and breeding them together to get the ideal offspring.
Selective breeding has made plants produce more crops as well as animals produce more meant/mild/wool. It has helped to produce more food as well as useful materials(wool) -
Invention of Spinning Jenny and First Cotton Factory
In the year 1764, the Spinning Jenny, a machine that could spin multiple threads of wool and cotton was invented. This has made the mass production of cotton possible. Therefore, that year, the first cotton factory is opened in England called the Upper Priority Cotton Mill. Cotton is the first mass produced product in the industrial revolution. -
Improved Steam Engine
James Watt found a way to make the steam engine much more efficient. -
First Luddite's Riot
The Luddites are a group of people who did not like the invention of the new machinery such as the cotton mills. They are usually artisans to whom the new machines invented in the industrial revolution is a threat because the machines can produce goods faster than the artisans. So the luddites would often start riots and destroy the machines. -
Combination Act
The Combination Act which continued from 1799 to 1800 made work unionism illegal. The consequence for being in an work union (a union of people who organise to give factories difficult conditions) was three months of jail or two months of hard labour. -
Population Increase
In 1700 the population of the world is 603 million, but by the year 1800, the population of the world is 990 million. This large population increase is caused by the agricultural revolution. As there are more food, people are able to live longer, they are also able to have more children because the food they are eating are more nutritious and because people has more time to look after their children.
(please click to see the graph) -
10 million tons of coals mined in Britain
The large amount of coal mined can indicate the scale of the industrial revolution. This is because the main power for the industrial revolution is steam which is produced through burning coal. -
Law Prohibits the Breaking of Factory Machinery
In response to the riots where the protestors destroyed factory machinery a law is passed that made the destruction of machinery punishable by death. The riots are started because people felt the need to protest against the horrible working conditions at the time of the industrial revolution. -
Factory Act Provides Regulations of Child Labour
In 1833, in Great Britain an the Factory Act passed the parliament. to try to fix working condition for children.
The act said:
children cannot work under the age of 9
employers must has an age certificate for their children workers
children 9-13 years old cannot work more than nine hours a day
children 13-18 years old cannot work more than 12 hours a day
children cannot work at night
children get 2 hours of school each day
and four factory inspectors are employed to reinforce the law -
First Workers Union
Knights of Labour, one of the first national worker's union was formed. The worker's unions were formed to protest the harsh working conditions during the industrial revolution. The workers were working long hours in unsafe/unhealthy working places and has low pay. There is also inadequate safety precautions in workplaces.
The worker's union protested by giving the condition of higher pay/better working conditions. If the conditions are not met a strike would happen at that factory.