How Deforestation Sparked the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in 1769.
Origins first in steam engine designs in France in 1698, but then the techniques were further developed by the first successful steam engine involving a piston by Thomas Newcomen. The first was installed in a mine in or just before 1712. Again, its purpose was to pump water.
Along with collapses and explosions, flooding is one of the great dangers of working underground.
Then, in 1769, James Watt (1736–1819) patented the device in 1769.
In 1776, James Watt and his business partner, Matthew Boulton, installed two steam engines with separate condensers. James Watt was a prolific inventor, surveyor, instrument maker and engineer. His engines dramatically increased the power that could be generated through steam.
This technology was pursued in Britain rather than the continent because the British created larger and largely fleets to protect the British Isles and its numerous wars and transitioned into a great sea power during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The British thought of multiple wars against the Dutch Republic to capture its trading markets, including the Nine Years War against Louis Xiv of France, which lasted from 1688 to 1697 and saw England become the dominant sea power in the European continent.
The price for the success was the destruction of Britain’s forests, which meant that to get wood, the Brits needed to extract the material first from the United States of America, which was initially the 13 colonies.
Still, when they fought this war of independence from 1775 until 1783, the British lost their source of wood.
The next option the British chose was to buy wood from the Russians; this meant that British people were not allowed to use their native forests because the British government and Crown-owned them.
Due to the necessity of fire for cooking and heating, coal was discovered in greater quantities within the British Isles; this, in turn, led to the development and advancement of the steam engine.
The Industrial Revolution was, in turn, created and began in Great Britain due to the necessity of other heat resources and necessity being the mother of all inventions.
Economic and military incentives to develop the steam engine were also driven by national security due to European conflicts driving innovation on the British Isles, particularly its navy, from the late 15th century until the end of the Second World War in 1945.
