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The Age of Industrialisation Class 10 Notes Social Science History Chapter 5
CBSE Class 10 History Chapter 5 Notes Understanding the Lesson
1. We often associate industrialisation with the growth of factory industry. But even before the coming of factories in England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market. This was not based on factories. This phase of industrialisation is referred to as protoindustrialisation i.e. early form of industrialisation.
2. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants from towns in Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, promoting them to produce for an international market. By working for the merchants, these peasants and artisans could earn more, The additional income from proto-industrial production supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation. They also began using their family labour resources in order to increase the production.
3. The earliest factories in England came up by the 1730s but the number multiplied only in the late eighteenth century. Cotton became the symbol of the new era as its production boomed in the late nineteenth century. This became possible as a result of a series of inventions that occurred in the eighteenth century. Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill proved to be a boon.
4. The pace of industrialisation was not very fast in the beginning. Some of the reasons were – the new industries could not easily displace traditional industries, technological changes occurred slowly etc. Although James Watt improved the steam engine but for years he could find no buyers.
5. The Victorian era in Britain witnessed abundance of human labour. This prompted the industrialists not to introduce machines but to utilise human labour at low wages. In many industries such as gas works and breweries, the demand for labour was seasonal. This also encouraged the industrialists to use hand labour.
6. Here it is worth mentioning that handmade products were in great demand in Victorian Britain. But the situation was completely different in America where industrialists were keen on using mechanical power due to shortage of human labour.
7. The abundance of labour in the market made the lives of workers too tough. They came to cities to find jobs but it was not easy to get one. Many job seekers had to wait for weeks, spending sleepless nights under bridges or in night shelters. Seasonality of work in many industries added only misery to the workers.
8. The coming up of the Spinning Jenny in 1764 left many workers out of job. The women who survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines. This conflict over the introduction of the jenny continued for a long time. The improvement in workers’ condition came to be seen only after the 1840s with the beginning of the building activity in the cities. This opened up greater opportunities of employment.
9. Industrialisation in colonies like India occurred at a huge cost. Before the age of machine industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. A vibrant sea track operated through the main pre-colonial ports. Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea Ports; Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast and Hoogly in Bengal had trade links with Southeast Asian ports.
10. A variety of Indian merchants and bankers were involved in this network of export trade – financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters. Unfortunately, this network began collapsing by the 1750s. This was the period when the European companies gradually gained power by securing the monopoly rights to trade. As a result, the old ports of Surat and Hoogly declined. Local bankers slowly went bankrupt.
11. The growth of Bombay and Calcutta as new ports indicated the growth of colonial power in India, Trade through these new ports came to be controlled by European companies and was carried in European ships.
12. On gaining the political power, the East India Company asserted a monopoly right to trade. It developed a system of management and control to ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk goods, It appointed the gomasthas, paid servants, to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth.
13. The Company introduced the system of advances which tempted the poor weavers. They eagerly took the advances, hoping to earn more but this never happened. The loans they had accepted tied them to the company. This made their life more miserable.
14. The problems of cotton weavers in India increased with the increase of exports of British cotton goods in the early nineteenth century. Produced by machines at lower costs, the imported cotton goods were so cheap that weavers could not easily compete with them. By the end of the nineteenth century, factories in India began production, flooding the market with machine goods. This increased the problems of the weavers and other craftspeople.
15. The first cotton mill came up in Bombay in 1854. With the expansion of factories the demand of workers increased. In most industrial regions, workers came from the surrounding districts. Over 50 per cent workers in the Bombay cotton industries came from the neighbouring district of Ratnagiri, while the mills of Kanpur got most of their textile hands from the villages within the district of Kanpur.
16. European Managing Agencies controlled a large sector of Indian industries. They were interested in certain kinds of products. They established tea and coffee plantations and invested in mining, indigo and jute. They required these products primarily for export trade and not for sale in India.
17. By the first decade of the twentieth century a series of changes affected the pattern of industrialisation in India. This was the time when the swadeshi movement had gathered momentum and people were being mobilised to boycott foreign cloth. As a result, the production of cotton piece goods increased.
18. Till the First World War, industrial growth in India was rather slow. The war created a new situation. With British mills busy with war production to meet the needs of the army, the import of Manchester goods into India declined. Suddenly, Indian mills had a vast home market to supply.
19. As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs. This necessitated the establishment of several new factories. Over the war years industrial production boomed. After the war, Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market.
20. Large industries formed only a small segment of Indian economy whereas small-scale industries predominated everywhere. In the twentieth century, handloom cloth production expanded steadily with the advent of fly shuttle. This technology increased productivity per worker.
19. Indian weavers and craftsmen, traders and industrialists successfully extended the market for their produce. They created new consumers through advertisements. They used printed calendars to popularise their products. Figures of important personages, of emperors and nawabs, adorned advertisements and calenders. Their advertisements also carried nationalist message.
The Age of Industrialisation Class 10 CBSE Notes Important Terms
Orient: The countries to the east of the Mediterranean, usually referring to Asia.
Proto: The first or early form of something.
Guild: An association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town.
Stapler: A person who staples or sorts wool according to its fibre.
Fuller: A person who ‘fulls’ or gathers cloth by pleating.
Carding: The process in which fibres, such as cotton or wool, are prepared prior to spinning.
Spinning Jenny: A multi-spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early industrial revolution.
Sepoy: An Indian soldier in the service of the British.
Fly Shuttle: A mechanical device used for weaving, moved by means of ropes and pullies.
Gomastha: A paid servant, appointed by the East India Company to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth.
Notes of History Class 10 Chapter 5 Time Period
1730s: The earliest factories in England were set up.
1764: James Hargreaves devised Spinning Jenny.
1781: James Watt patented the new steam engine produced by Newcomen.
1830s-40s: Six-joint stock companies in Bengal were set up by Dwarkanath Tagore.
1854: In Bombay, the first cotton mill was established.
1874: The first spinning and weaving mill of Madras began production.
1900-1912: Cotton piece goods production in India doubled.
1912: At Jamshedpur, J.N. Tata set up the first iron and steelworks.
1917: Seth Hukumchand set up the first Indian Jute mill in Calcutta.