History Essay
Describe the reasons for the growth of urban areas in Britain between the years 1815 – 1851 (9 marks)
Between 1815 and 1851, Britain came about some rather drastic changes which altered the balance of population around Britain. Many people were leaving the countryside to go and live in the cities. There were many reasons for this; some came from attraction from cities and some came from the pushing away that the countryside produced.
The first contributing factor to come about was the introduction of machinery to agriculture. Many machines took the jobs of countryside workers as they were cheaper to use and produced more goods in a shorter time. The lack of work meant that many people had to move out of rural areas for work to provide for their families. This was a push from the countryside but this alone was not enough to drastically change population distribution in Britain.
I believe that the most important factor was the development of steam power. This allowed industrial factories to be built in cities instead of on hillsides with running rives which would usually power them. The factories built in the city produced work for many of the unemployed that had lost their jobs in the countryside. This lead to people moving to the cities for jobs which were becoming scarce in rural areas. The increase in employment meant that Britain was able to trade with other countries a lot more due to the boost in consumer goods thus created a wealthier Britain, meaning factory owners could build more factories and this would increase employment rates again, creating a steady profit for Britain and more population in cities.
None of these changes, however, would have taken place was it not for the increase in population. This was due to the boost in agriculture during 1815 which produced more food so many people did not starve and were able to continue living up to an older age; meaning more people were reproducing too. This increase in population also brought
Between 1815 and 1851, Britain came about some rather drastic changes which altered the balance of population around Britain. Many people were leaving the countryside to go and live in the cities. There were many reasons for this; some came from attraction from cities and some came from the pushing away that the countryside produced.
The first contributing factor to come about was the introduction of machinery to agriculture. Many machines took the jobs of countryside workers as they were cheaper to use and produced more goods in a shorter time. The lack of work meant that many people had to move out of rural areas for work to provide for their families. This was a push from the countryside but this alone was not enough to drastically change population distribution in Britain.
I believe that the most important factor was the development of steam power. This allowed industrial factories to be built in cities instead of on hillsides with running rives which would usually power them. The factories built in the city produced work for many of the unemployed that had lost their jobs in the countryside. This lead to people moving to the cities for jobs which were becoming scarce in rural areas. The increase in employment meant that Britain was able to trade with other countries a lot more due to the boost in consumer goods thus created a wealthier Britain, meaning factory owners could build more factories and this would increase employment rates again, creating a steady profit for Britain and more population in cities.
None of these changes, however, would have taken place was it not for the increase in population. This was due to the boost in agriculture during 1815 which produced more food so many people did not starve and were able to continue living up to an older age; meaning more people were reproducing too. This increase in population also brought