Start of the Industrial Revolution

Name: Start of the Industrial Revolution
Start: 1760
Location: Manchester, England

c. 1760 · Manchester, England · Europe · Science

Machines replace hand labor and remake how the world lives

Start of the Industrial Revolution — Société géologique de France · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

In Britain handwork began to give way to machines: spinning frames, the steam engine and coke-smelted iron. Factory production and urban growth transformed the economy, society and daily life first of Europe and then of the whole world.

State: Kingdom of Great Britain, British Empire

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century

Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)

Eastern Europe & Russia

1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — 2 years later
1764 Founding of the Hermitage — 4 years later
c. 1768 Extinction of Steller's sea cow — 8 years later
1772–1795 Partitions of Poland — 12 years later
1783 Russian annexation of Crimea (1783) — 23 years later

Middle East

1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state — 13 years earlier

Asia

1757 Battle of Plassey — 3 years earlier

Americas

1776 US Declaration of Independence — 16 years later

Oceania

1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — 8 years later