Chapter 10. Industry and Empire, 1760–1914

Industrial Revolution. Beginning in Britain around 1760, the shift to machines, steam power, factories and coal transformed production. Textiles, iron and railways led the way. Industrialization spread to Europe, North America and, later, Japan [19][20].

Effects: urbanization, new social classes (industrial workers and a middle class), child and factory labour, pollution, rising living standards over time, and movements such as trade unions and socialism. Historians debate why industrialization began in Britain and not elsewhere [21].

New imperialism. Industrial powers expanded their control in Africa and Asia. At the Berlin Conference (1884–1885), European states set rules for dividing African territory with little regard for African peoples. Britain ruled India directly after the Rebellion of 1857; China was weakened by the Opium Wars (1839–1842, 1856–1860) [19].

Responses. Japan’s Meiji Restoration (1868) pursued rapid industrial and political reform. Elsewhere, resistance movements and reform efforts emerged.

Migration and ideas. Millions migrated within and between continents, including indentured labourers from South Asia and China. Nationalism, liberalism, socialism, and ideas of race and Darwinism were influential and often misused to justify inequality [19].

Review: Where and roughly when did the Industrial Revolution begin? (Answer: Britain, around 1760.)