Ang Rebolusyong Industriyal ay isang panahon noong huling bahagi ng ika-

18 siglo at unang bahagi ng ika-19 na siglo nang nagkaroon ng marubdob na epekto sa

sosyoekonomika at pang-kulturang katayuan sa Britanya ang malaking pagababago sa
agrikultura, paggawa ng produkto, pagmimina, at transportasyon. Lumaganap sa kalaunan ang
mga pagbabagong ito sa Europa, Hilagang Amerika at sa buong mundo. Nagtatak ng isang
malaking pag-inog sa lipunan ng tao ang pagdating ng Rebolusyong Industriyal; halos
naimpluwensiya ang lahat ng aspeto ng buhay sa ilang paraan. Simula noong unang bahagi ng
ika-18 siglo, nagsimula ang pagbabago sa ilang bahagi ng Gran Britanya mula sa manwal na
paggawa at ekonomiyang nakabatay sa paghila ng mga hayop patungo sa paggawa ng produkto
sa makina. Nagsimula ito sa mekanisasyon ng industriya ng tela, ang pagsulong ng mga
kaparaanan sa paggawa ng bakal at ang pagdagdag ng gamit ng pinong uling. Pinahintulutan sa
pamamagitan ng pagpapakilala ng mga kanal ang paglawak ng kalakalan. Nasuporthan ang
dramatikong pagtaas ng kakayahan ng produsyon ng pagpapakilala ng makinang sumisingaw na
pangunahing ginagatungan ng uling, malawak na paggamit ng lagumba (water wheel) at
makinarya binigyan ng lakas (pangunahin sa paggawa ng tela).[2] Ang pagsulong ng makinang
kagamitan na lahat-metal noong unang dalawang dekada ng ika-19 na siglo ang nagpadali sa
paggawa ng mas marami pang makinang pang-produksyon para sa paggawa ng produkto sa
ibang industriya. Lumaganap ito sa Kanlurang Europa at Hilagang Amerika noong ika-19 na
siglo, at naapektuhan sa kalaunan ang karamihan ng mundo. Napakalaki ang epekto nito sa
pagababago ng lipunan.[3]

Commercial Revolution
The Commercial Revolution was a period of European economic expansion, colonialism, and
mercantilism which lasted from approximately the sixteenth century until the early eighteenth
century. Beginning with the Crusades, Europeans rediscovered spices, silks, and other
commodities rare in Europe. This development created a new desire for trade, and trade
expanded in the second half of the Middle Ages. European nations, through voyages of
discovery, were looking for new trade routes in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which
allowed the European powers to build vast, new international trade networks. Nations also
sought new sources of wealth. To deal with this new-found wealth, new economic theories and
practices were created. Because of competing national interest, nations had the desire for
increased world power through their colonial empires. The Commercial Revolution is marked by
an increase in general commerce, and in the growth of non-manufacturing pursuits, such as
banking, insurance, and investing.
Origins of the term
The term itself was coined in the middle of the 20th century, by economic historian RS Lopez, to
shift focus away from the English Industrial Revolution.[1]
Time frame
The commercial revolution ran from approximately the late 15th century, through the 18th
century,[2] with Walt Whitman Rostow saying the beginning is "arbitrarily" 1488, the year the
first European sailed around Cape Horn.[3] Historian Peter Spufford indicates that there was a
commercial revolution of the 13th century, or that it began at this point, rather than later.[4]
Voyages of discovery
A combination of factors drove the Age of Discovery. Among these were geopolitical, monetary,
and technological factors. The Europeans involved in the Age of Discovery were mainly from
Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. During this period (1450-1600s), the
European economic center shifted from the Islamic Mediterranean to Western Europe (Portugal,
Spain, France, the Netherlands, and to some extent England). This shift was caused by the
successful circumnavigation of Africa opening up sea-trade with the east: after Portugal's Vasco
Da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and landed in Calicut, India, a new path of eastern
trade was possible ending the monopoly of the Ottoman Turks and their European allies, the
Italian city-states.[5] The wealth of the Indies was now open for the Europeans to explore; the
Portuguese Empire was one of the early European empires to grow from spice trade.[5] Following
this, Portugal became the controlling state for trade between east and west, followed later by the
Dutch city of Antwerp. Direct maritime trade between Europe and China started in the 16th
century, after the Portuguese established the settlement of Goa in India, and shortly thereafter
that of Macau in southern China. Since the English came late to the transatlantic trade,[6] their
commercial revolution was later as well.
Geopolitical factors
In 1453, the Ottoman Turks took over Constantinople, which cut off (or significantly increased
the cost of) overland trade routes to the Far East,[7] so alternate routes had to be found. English
laws were changed to benefit the navy, but had commercial implications in terms of farming.
These laws also contributed to the demise of the Hanseatic League, which traded in northern
Europe.[8] Because of the Reconquista, the Spanish had a warrior culture ready to conquer still
more people and places, so Spain was perfectly positioned to develop their vast overseas empire.
[9]
Rivalry between the European powers produced intense competition for the creation of
colonial empires, and fueled the rush to sail out of Europe.[10]
Monetary factors
The need for silver coinage also had an impact on the desire for expanded exploration as silver
and gold were spent for trade to the Middle and Far East. The Europeans had a constant deficit in
that silver and gold coin only went one way: out of Europe, spent on the very type of trade that
they were now cut off from by the Ottomans. Another issue was that European mines were
exhausted of silver and gold ore. What ore remained was too deep to recover, as water would fill
the mine, and technology was not sufficiently advanced enough to successfully remove the water
to get to the ore.[11]
Technological factors
Portuguese caravel, adorned with the Cross of the Order of Christ. This was the standard model
used by the Portuguese in their voyages of exploration. It could accommodate about 20 sailors.[12]
From the sixth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans made remarkable maritime innovations.
These innovations enabled them to expand overseas and set up colonies, most notably during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They developed new sail arrangements for ships, skeleton-
based shipbuilding,[13] the Western “galea” (at the end of the eleventh century), sophisticated
navigational instruments, and detailed charts. After Isaac Newton published the Principia,
navigation was transformed, because sailors could predict the motion of the moon and other
celestial objects using Newton's theories of motion.[14] Starting in 1670, the entire world was
measured using essentially modern latitude instruments. In 1676, the British Parliament declared
that navigation was the greatest scientific problem of the age and in 1714 offered a substantial
financial prize for the solution to finding longitude. This spurred the development of the marine
chronometer, the lunar distance method and the invention of the octant after 1730.[15] By the late
18th century, navigators replaced their prior instruments with octants and sextants.
Important people
Significant contributors to European exploration include Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal,
who was the first of the Europeans to venture out into the Atlantic Ocean, in 1420. Others are
Bartolomeu Dias, who first rounded Cape of Good Hope; Vasco da Gama, who sailed directly to
India from Portugal; Ferdinand Magellan, the first to circumnavigate the Earth; Christopher
Columbus, who significantly encountered the Americas; Jacques Cartier, who sailed for France,
looking for the Northwest Passage;[16] and others.