It is commonly said that the only constant thing in life is change. In today’s world change is inevitable, even revered as the process for prosperity calls for it. There would not be a new and improved phone or car every few months without a high expectation for change. But it was not until the nineteenth century that this was so. The nineteenth century was the turning point for the world’s economies as, “the world was experiencing not only a dramatic change in industry [...] but also a transition to industry from agriculture.” This move from agriculture to industry showed how nations needed to modernize in order for the population to thrive. Just like today, during the eighteenth century, populations differed from one side of the earth to …show more content…
To understand how industrialization changed the world, starting in Britain, it is vital to look at how the world operated pre-industrialization. Living conditions were awful all around the world prior to the 1800’s. The world did not yet have adequate technology to defend itself against natural disasters, famines, and diseases. In addition, some places were not able to sustain enough resources for the population as it increased. Although these problems existed around the world, “before 1800 income per person —the food, clothing, heat, light, and housing available per head—varied across societies,” creating a gap before industries came to widen it. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Britain did not have as much income as China did. Britain’s land made it difficult to farm, exposing the difficulties of what an ever growing population did to society. In his book, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy, Kenneth Pomeranz demonstrates how Britain’s, like the rest of Europe’s, “disadvantages were concentrated in areas of agriculture, land management, and the inefficient use of certain land intensive products.” Without the ability to provide enough resources for a population to survive, there is no way for a population, let alone an economy, to …show more content…
Maltus clearly points out that people need to change but are stuck in a false sense of security as this has repeated. As the following graph shows, what is now named the Malthusian Theory, the population cycle shows a steady growth in a society’s population that is drastically drops due to famine or disease; this cycle continues until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This cycle is a prominent feature in European history that is not as prominent in Asian