Abstract
‘Industrial Development’ summarizes the preconditions for and the components of industrialization. Britain's position relative to France improved massively on the strength of qualitative changes to the economy. Improved agricultural productivity enabled rapid population growth and urbanization. Urban demand provided the central impulse for industrialization. Internal trade burgeoned, with an integrated national market encouraged by government policy and enabled by better transport and navigation on Britain's roads and rivers. Improvements in coal extraction and iron working formed part of industrial development, but it was the textiles industry that provided the driving force behind industrialization.
