What is the difference between industrialization and industrial revolution

By the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, industrialized nations like Great Britain and the United States began passing laws to improve conditions for factory workers. However, harsh conditions then arose in other parts of the world alongside factories. We continue to live with the effects of industrialization today. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. The Industrial Revolution was the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. Its start and end are widely debated by scholars, but the period generally spanned from about to According to some, this turning point in history is responsible for an increase in population, an increase in the standard of living, and the emergence of the capitalist economy.

Teach your students about the Industrial Revolution with these resources. Whether it was mechanical inventions or new ways of doing old things, innovations powered the Industrial Revolution. Communism is a form of government most closely associated with the ideas of Karl Marx, which he outlined in The Communist Manifesto.

Communism is based on the goal of eliminating socioeconomic class struggles by creating a classless society in which everyone shares the benefits of labor and the state controls all property and wealth. Urbanization is the process through which cities grow, and higher and higher percentages of the population comes to live in the city. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Image Power Looms Women and children were often employed in the textile industry during the first century of industrialization. Photograph by Nancy Carter. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Article Vocabulary. Industrial Revolution. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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Just as steam engines needed coal, steam power allowed miners to go deeper and extract more of this relatively cheap energy source. The demand for coal skyrocketed throughout the Industrial Revolution and beyond, as it would be needed to run not only the factories used to produce manufactured goods, but also the railroads and steamships used for transporting them. In the early s, Richard Trevithick debuted a steam-powered locomotive, and in similar locomotives started transporting freight and passengers between the industrial hubs of Manchester and Liverpool.

The latter part of the Industrial Revolution also saw key advances in communication methods, as people increasingly saw the need to communicate efficiently over long distances. In , British inventors William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the first commercial telegraphy system, even as Samuel Morse and other inventors worked on their own versions in the United States.

Banks and industrial financiers rose to new prominent during the period, as well as a factory system dependent on owners and managers. A stock exchange was established in London in the s; the New York Stock Exchange was founded in the early s. In , Scottish social philosopher Adam Smith , who is regarded as the founder of modern economics, published The Wealth of Nations.

In it, Smith promoted an economic system based on free enterprise, the private ownership of means of production, and lack of government interference. Though many people in Britain had begun moving to the cities from rural areas before the Industrial Revolution, this process accelerated dramatically with industrialization, as the rise of large factories turned smaller towns into major cities over the span of decades.

This rapid urbanization brought significant challenges, as overcrowded cities suffered from pollution, inadequate sanitation and a lack of clean drinking water. Meanwhile, even as industrialization increased economic output overall and improved the standard of living for the middle and upper classes, poor and working class people continued to struggle.

The mechanization of labor created by technological innovation had made working in factories increasingly tedious and sometimes dangerous , and many workers were forced to work long hours for pitifully low wages.

In the decades to come, outrage over substandard working and living conditions would fuel the formation of labor unions , as well as the passage of new child labor laws and public health regulations in both Britain and the United States, all aimed at improving life for working class and poor citizens who had been negatively impacted by industrialization.

The beginning of industrialization in the United States is usually pegged to the opening of a textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in by the recent English immigrant Samuel Slater. By the end of the 19th century, with the so-called Second Industrial Revolution underway, the United States would also transition from a largely agrarian society to an increasingly urbanized one, with all the attendant problems.

By the early 20th century, the U. Historians continue to debate many aspects of industrialization, including its exact timeline, why it began in Britain as opposed to other parts of the world and the idea that it was actually more of a gradual evolution than a revolution.

The positives and negatives of the Industrial Revolution are complex. On one hand, unsafe working conditions were rife and pollution from coal and gas are legacies we still struggle with today. On the other, the move to cities and inventions that made clothing, communication and transportation more affordable and accessible to the masses changed the course of world history.

Regardless of these questions, the Industrial Revolution had a transformative economic, social and cultural impact, and played an integral role in laying the foundations for modern society. Start your free trial today.

Robert C. Oxford: Oxford University Press, As countries industrialized, factories became larger and produced more goods. Earlier forms of work and ways of life began to disappear. Perhaps the most harmful consequences of industrialization were those affecting families. Throughout history, most people worked with their families. Married couples and their children often worked together on farms or in shops. In 18 th -century Great Britain, women and men performed jobs like spinning wool into textiles and weaving textiles into cloth.

This system was called the "putting-out" or domestic system. Once factories were built, most men no longer worked at home. Some left their families behind in the country for jobs in the city. Sometimes, an entire family moved to the city to remain together. Even when men stayed with their families, factory jobs were so difficult that they had little time to relax and enjoy family life.

Unmarried women worked as servants in other families' homes, and many others worked in textile mills. During the first century of industrialization, children worked in factories. Factory owners wanted workers whose fingers were small enough to weave thin threads. Despite their importance and hard labor, women and children received low pay. They were forced to work 16 hours per day or longer. Although their work conditions could be very dangerous, women's jobs were seen as less skilled than those of their male co-workers.

Industrialization caused similar changes in the United States. During his administration from to , President Thomas Jefferson established a trade embargo. The embargo banned foreign countries from sending products to the United States to trade.

This meant Americans had to buy more U. During the War of , the British navy blocked ships from sailing in and out of U. By the s, the United States was one of the world's leading economic powers.

Industrialization Meant Economic Growth In the first 50 years after American independence, many farmers moved to factory jobs. As in Great Britain, textile production led the way. Industrialization, along with new inventions in transportation including the railroad, generated economic growth.

There was now a large working class, and this would eventually lead to conflict between workers and factory owners. Working men and women led strikes to demand better working conditions. Starting in the late s and early s, industrialized countries such as Great Britain and the United States passed laws to help workers.

However, harsh conditions arose in other parts of the world as it too was industrialized. We continue to live with the Industrial Revolution's effects today. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society.