What was the Industrial Revolution?

Updated: March 27, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009 The Industrial Revolution was a period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies—especially in Europe and North America—into industrialized, urban ones.

Why do we call capitalism 'industrial capitalism'?

We even call the system that emerged in the long nineteenth century "industrial capitalism". That's because the two things are as dependently linked to each other as an axle to a wheel. And industrial capitalism is still pretty much the basis of our global economic system today, with some alterations. So where did capitalism come from?

How did capitalism change in the nineteenth century?

Because gradual changes in the two hundred or so years before the long nineteenth century had cleared the path for industrial capitalism to march on in. Maybe the most important of these changes was the spread of credit. Credit is central to capitalism. It is an agreement between a borrower and a lender that a loan will be repaid later.