Recordbreaking Speeds: 5mph!

The essential question for the activity we did was “What was ‘revolutionary’ about industrialization?” Each group got a section of the Industrial Revolution to read about, and took notes on the advances that made the Industrial Revolution a revolution. Groups then presented their notes to the other groups.

The advancements during the Industrial Revolution were a great benefit to the people. Through new farming technology, both the quality and quantity of agricultural products swelled. Farmers started using fertilizer and new methods like soil mixing and crop rotation to grow crops easier and better year round. Dikes were built to keep the ocean out of coastal farmland. Landowners during the time took part in enclosure, in which they took over land formerly from peasant farmers and farmed more land using less work. The result jobless peasant farmers often moved into cities, becoming a major part of the labor force. The increase in food production also boosted population by a lot, since people were no longer dying of starvation.

Fulton's boat, the "Clermont." 
www.digitalgallery.nypl.org.

There was also a huge leap in transportation technology during the Industrial Revolution. With the invention of the steam engine came
the steam locomotive and the steamboat. The steam locomotive, used to pull carriages along rails, encouraged the growth of railroads in the shipping of goods over land rather than building railroads by rivers. Robert Fulton used the steam engine to send a boat up the Hudson River at a new record: five miles per hour! Eventually, this led to steam powered cargo ships with ten to twenty times more holding capacity.

The Industrial Revolution was an integral part of world history, one that jumpstarted the growth of modern technology. Without the Industrial Revolution and the innovations made during it, the world would be a lot different today.