Page 56 - Sst Class - X

4. The Age of Industrialisation
4. The Age of Industrialisation

Memory Points
Memory Points
• Proto-industrialisation refers to the phase which existed before the first factories were established in
Europe.
• In the 17th and 18th centuries, merchants from Europe moved to the countryside, supplying money
to peasants and artisans to produce for an international market.

• In the 1730s, the earliest factories in England were set up. Cotton was the first symbol of the new era,
and its production boomed in the late 19th century.
• New industries found it hard to replace traditional ones which changed slowly. Despite this,
technological progress gradually continued.
• James Watt improved the steam engine produced by Newcomen and patented the new engine in
1781.

• Industrialists required substantial capital investment rather than just machinery, and many industries
had seasonal labour demands. In sectors with fluctuating production, they typically preferred hiring
seasonal hand labour.
• In India, silk and cotton goods dominated the international market in textiles before the age of
machine industries.
• After the East India Company established political power, it developed a system of management to
control costs, competition, and regular supplies.

• Weaving required the labour of the entire family, with children and women all engaged in different
stages of the process.
• The development of mills in India saw significant growth in the mid-19th century:
1854: The first cotton mill in Bombay was established.

1855: The first jute mill was set up in Bengal.
1860: The Elgin Mill was started in Kanpur, North India.

1861: The first cotton mill was set up in Ahmedabad.
1874: The first spinning and weaving mill in Madras began production.
• In the late 18th century, the British in India began exporting opium to China and took tea from China
to England. Some of the businessmen who were involved in these trades were:
Dwarkanath Tagore: Industrial ventures in Bengal

Dinshaw Petit: Industrial empire in Bombay
Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata: Key industrialist in Bombay

Seth Hukumchand: First Indian jute mill in Calcutta, 1917
Bird Heiglers & Co.: Major European Managing Agency
Andrew Yule: Prominent European Managing Agency

Jardine Skinner & Co.: Key European Managing Agency

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