Topic 3

Did the Industrial Revolution affect the way people lived and worked in the 19th century for the better or the worse?

The Industrial Revolution affect the way people lived and worked in the 19th century for the better or the worse. Here are some examples of Industrial Revolution...With the invention of the steamship, more Europeans could now sail to the East to obtain their raw materials and find markets to sell their goods. This resulted in more ships visiting Singapore and led to the growth in trade. From the 1880s many European and American steamships made Singapore thief port-of-call, where their ships stopped to refuel and obtain food supplies. The Asians in Singapore also used steamships to transport their goods between Singapore and other ports in the region. Thus, Singapore's position as a port for collection of goods from the East and the distribution of manufactured goods from the West gained importance.The other example is the Suez Canal. The need for raw materials and new markets to sell their goods caused many merchants to seek a shorter route to the East. Ships travelling between Europe and Asia had to sail around the southern tip of Africa, clled the Cape of Good Hope. This long and often dangerous journey from London to Singapore took sailing ships at least 120 days. A French engineer drew up plans to aviod the sea route around Africa by cutting a long canal to link the Mediterranean Sea with Red Sea. When the Suez Canal was finally opened, the cost was nearly double the amount originally intended.The journry from London to Singapore took only 50 days.