James Watt's improved steam engine, developed with manufacturer Matthew Boulton, began powering factories, mines, and mills rather than only pumping water from mines. This freed production sites from dependence on rivers for waterpower, allowing factories to be built near raw materials, labor, and transport links such as canals and ports. Steam power dramatically increased the scale and speed at which goods could be manufactured. Over the following decades it was adapted to pump, grind, weave, and eventually move goods by rail and sea.
Relevance to Trade History
Decoupled manufacturing from geography, enabling the concentration of production that underpinned industrial-scale trade in manufactured goods.
Read the full story in our article The Industrial Revolution and Mass Production.
Source: Science Museum, London. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.