The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 1760s; this was due to many factors that influenced the occurring of it. Factors such as: The Agricultural Revolution, population growth, financial innovations (encouraged people to invest and trade), the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution (brought up mechanical and technological challenges), rivers and canals, coal and iron (machines were made of iron and powered by coal), government policies that encouraged global trade, and, finally the cottage industry which was a transition from rural to industrial economy. It all started with clothing. In England, the production of clothes required a lot of time and skilled hand-workers to do so. Population in England grew more and more and those workers were not handling to produce that amount of textile. In the late 18th century, innovations shifted the way those clothes were produced to a factory system. Cotton became one of the most important non-agricultural items. However, Britain did not produce cotton due to its cold climate, so they started trading it with countries such as India, southern US, etc. .
In 1764, James Hargreaves invented a spinning machine that could fit in small places and could be used by unskilled workers, or even children. The old skilled workers were afraid that those new machines would steal their jobs, so they invaded Hargreaves' house and destroyed many of his machines. The next big challenge was to create a machine that could be powered with energy, being more effective than human muscle. Henry Cort discovered methods that changed the iron industry. With this process, England stopped importing iron from Northern Europe and spread the iron industry throughout the world. Later on, the steam energy turned out to be an innovative method of transportation. The development of railroads was one of the most important factors of the industrial revolution. It brought social, economical and political changes in the country.
