The industrialization spread to other countries from Great Britain. The process depended on the natural resources , population, amount of capital , political stability and product demand.

The first countries to industrialized about 1830 were close to Britain or with commercial links to Britain adopting British technology. 

  • France used water to power machinery due to abundant water resources. Factories were located in the North of the country. Textile and steel factories were created. However, other goods were produced and manufactured in traditional workshops or manufactures as the country was too rural to afford more elaborated products.

  • Belgium industrialization was really quick because of a fast growing population, cheap transport networks (canals, rivers and railway network) and investments. The textile production was favoured by the artisan tradition while the iron and steel industries relied on their abundance of iron and coal.


  • Switzerland did not have many natural resources so the country took advantage of the skilled work force in textiles and high precision machines and investments. Their specialized in the production of luxury cotton fabrics and machinery.

  • Germany supported industrialization from 1820 as they have coal mines in the Rühr area and Upper Silesia. They also promoted customs union in 1834 known as Zollverein which included Prussia and the central and southern German states. However, the political fragmentation played a negative role in the process of industrialization which was launched again from 1850.

  •  The United States features good conditions for an early industrialization such as huge areas to grow cotton, abundant mining resources, high demand for all kind of products, growing population, a dense railway network.


Other countries became industrialized from 1850. All of them lacked from technological development, had little natural resources, demand and investment was low and their geographical location is distant from trade centers. South and East European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria-Hungary and Russia are included in this group.

Industrialization in Japan started from 1870 when the Meiji revolution took place.





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