Was it a lack of manpower? Was it geographic circumstances? Why couldn’t civilizations like, say, Babylon or Rome have an Industrial Revolution?
In: 448
What does a factory do? Create a lot of products. So what does a factory need? A population capable of buying these goods. Otherwise a factory is useless.
Eli6: the ancient Greeks or Ming Chinese knew steampower. What they lacked was a infrastructure and investment capital to upscale production and a way so sell it. If you would produce a 1000 shirt a day in ancient Athens, everybody would have a shirt in 4 months time. It wouldn’t be a longterm smart investment (ignoring the massive amouth of sheep you would need). If you would invests in such a project in England with it’s empire, that’s just a different story.
Latest Answers