Ap World History Dbq Industrial Revolution

Introduction
Between 1750 and 1900 the western world went through what is generally called the industrial revolution or the industrial age. This is characterized by development of new and more efficient technologies as well as unprecedented economic growth. These technologies generally led to an increased urbanization and a concentration of workers in urban areas. Two inventions that led the way in this revolution are the spinning jenny developed and the steam engine. Both of these inventions directly caused an increased population in factories as well as mines in the case of the steam engine. While these are impressive technical and engineering achievements that lead to great success for the inventors and factory owners for those who …show more content…
This invention was necessary for factory owners to be able to centralize their production both in powering the factories as well as the trains that transported their manufactured goods from factory to market. Steam engines were powered by coal and the increased use of the engines ensured an increase in the demand for coal production or mining. Populations grew in mining towns as a result of this dependence. In county Durham the population grew from 150000 to 2 million from 1801-1901 primarily due to coal production [3]. Coal mining was not without its effect on the miners working inside the mines. Pneumoconiosis is characterized by the growth of spots on lungs due to exposure to coal dust. These spots increase in size and number with increased exposure to dust [4]. The risk of developing pneumoconiosis is directly related to exposure in “particle-years” which combines the duration of exposure with the concentration of dust breathed in [4]. This fact combined with the fact that in some mines workers started as young as 5-7 years of age [6] created an increased risk for the population in these mining towns to suffer from this disease. Miners had a historical lifetime connection with a mine which would serve to amplify the effects of coal dust on their health. In order to keep the miners employed many mines provided housing as a portion of payment for the miners. This served both to keep the miners local as well as provided a way for the employer to keep an eye on their employees. Conditions in mines also led to sporadic violent outbursts from miners [7]. Discipline for the miners would result in fees and the loss of a job would mean the loss of a place to live. Miners at the time eventually developed a resistance to the working conditions and fought back against what they saw as oppression to their livelihood. Resistance by

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