Words: 978
“The Change of World Societies from Rural to Industrial” The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way. Surprisingly, average income and population began to show signs of exceptional constant growth.
In the two centuries following 1800, the world’s average per capita income increased over 10-fold, while the world’s population increased over 6-fold. Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain’s previously manual labor and draft-animal-based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanization of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways.
The introduction of steam power fuelled primarily by coal, wider development of water wheels and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in manufacture ability. The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world, a process that continues as industrialization.
The impact of this change on society was enormous. The first Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century, merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the 19th century with the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation. The period of time covered by the Industrial Revolution varies with different historians. Eric Hobsbawm held that it ‘broke out’ in Britain in the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s, while T.
S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830. The Industrial Revolution that occurred in the 19th century was of great importance to the economic future of the United States. Three industrial developments led the way to industrialization in America. Transportation was expanded, electricity was harnessed, and improvements were made to industrial processes. The major difference was the very definition of rural and urban; rural life was based around farming and agriculture while urban was based in cities/towns.
Another important difference was that life was much cleaner in the rural areas and rural people actually had a longer ife expectancy than urban ones; the cards later switched once the revolution focused on sanitizing. In urban areas, there are more resources given to the public. Where in rural areas, most people have to go into town to get their resources. Unless much quieter than urban areas because there aren’t as many people who live in them as people live in urban areas. Most rural slaves had to do hard farm labor, while urban slaves were usually domestics.
Rural way of life disappeared mainly because there were more Jobs voluntarily available in the big cities thus, everyone was moving away to the cities. There were major developments and inventions in agriculture, manufacture, and travel that eventually spread throughout Europe and North America. Industry and manufacturing that was once all by hand could now be done by machine. It all started with the textile industry and spread to other products. Factories were built and steam powered machinery increased the manufacture.
Enormous amounts of coal had to be burned to make enough steam to power the machines. Increased products meant that more goods needed to be transported, so canals were built, and roads and railways improved. Towards the middle of the 19th entury, steam-powered ships and railways meant progress got faster. Then later in the century, electricity and the development of the internal combustion engine increased the pace at which goods were manufactured and transported. There are plenty of reasons as to why people moved from rural areas to urban areas.
Better Job opportunities and salary, and Jobs in rural areas usually require a lot of physical effort, whereas most Jobs in urban areas Just involve sitting behind a desk. People in urban areas are usually payed more than people in rural areas. Also, the luxuries of the urban world attract the people of rural areas. Most rural are agriculture based. An agriculturist’s needs are pretty simple. They revolve mostly around domestic needs only, whereas urban areas, everything revolves around technology that makes life easier.
Large masses of people moving from rural to urban areas, causes an occurrence called, “urbanization”. Urbanization leads to overpopulation, pollution, and various other problems. Due to urbanization, the boundaries of the urban areas expand into the rural areas. This causes forced urbanization, as people who live in the rural areas are forced into the urban area and the ways of the urban people. Lastly, the standards of living and the standards of education are higher in urban areas.
This may also be one of the reasons why people move from urban to rural areas. The effects of all this rapid change on society were enormous. More and more people left the land and went to towns and cities to work in factories. The growth of the towns couldn’t keep up with the number of people pouring into them, and so housing was hard to get and people lived in slums in appalling circumstances. The differences between rural to urban life were significant, and we should be very appreciative of what we have now and the history behind it.