The Age of Industrialisation

Lesson

Part 1 — production before factories, the first factories, and why hand labour survived in Britain. School periodic assessment only: this chapter is not examined in the CBSE board paper.

In this lesson you will

Explain proto-industrialisation and the roles of town merchants and rural producers
Describe how factories came up in Britain and why the pace of change was slow
Explain why hand labour persisted and how industrialisation affected workers' lives

Part 1 at a glance

Concept

Production before factories

Historians call this phase proto-industrialisation: large-scale production for world markets, without factories.

Table of features of the proto-industrial system: production mostly in rural homes for an international market, organised by town merchants, done by peasant families with family labour, alongside farming
Feature	Proto-industrial system (17th–18th centuries)
Where	Mostly in rural homes, not factories
For whom	An international market
Organised by	Town merchants who gave advances and raw materials
Done by	Peasant and artisan families, using the labour of all members
Alongside	Farming on small plots

Diagram

Why did merchants go to the villages?

Why production moved to villages

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