Key Concepts of the British Industrial Revolution

Factory (Fabrica)

Fabrica refers to unit production methods typical of the Industrial Revolution as opposed to the workshop and the manufacture. It is characterized by concentration and mechanization to produce goods.

Openfield

Openfield literally refers to open-field plots from different farms that are not separated by hedges.

Commonfield

Commonfield is the name given in England to communal land.

Fallow

Fallow is a culture method based on the rest of the soil during one or more years to recover the substances consumed by the previous crop and increase its fertility.

Great Britain

Great Britain is the kingdom founded by the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland. After Irish independence in 1922, the official name is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

Enclosure

Enclosure was the process of transformation of English agriculture between the late Middle Ages and the mid-19th century. It signified the passage from an agrarian economy based on the use of common fields to an individualist system geared towards the marketing of the products obtained.

Yeoman

Yeoman refers to the yeomanry who grew wealthy by combining agricultural activities with usury loans, trade, or businesses connected with textiles.

Royal Society

The Royal Society is a British scientific society founded in London in 1660. Its main function was to protect investigation and studies; it was subject to no government control.

Calico

Calico refers to cotton fabrics produced in the area of Calcutta. They arrived in England in 1690 and were banned by the Calico Acts in 1702 to protect cotton manufacturing in Britain.

Muslin

Muslin is a type of very light and transparent fabric manufactured in Mosul, Iraq. They were prepared initially with cotton, and later with wool and silk.

Puddling (Pudel)

Puddling is a process invented by Henry Cort in 1784 whereby molten iron in a reverberatory furnace is stirred and beaten to create decarbonized iron of better quality.

Reverberatory Furnace

A reverberatory furnace is one in which the treated metal is not in contact with the fuel; instead, heat is reflected or thrown from the crown or sides of the furnace onto the metal below.

Protectionism

Protectionism involves economic measures that favor domestic industries against foreign competition through the imposition of high tariffs or import quotas.

Free Trade (Librecambrismo)

Free Trade (Librecambrismo) is an economic doctrine formulated in the 18th century that advocated the abolition of tariffs on goods entering and leaving the country, promoting freedom for international transactions.