West European Studies

                                      Commercial Revolution and Industrial Revolution
 In the history of Mankind, humans have always tried to change the environment they are living at some extent for purpose of surviving and anticipating the future. Without changes society today would be living in medieval and ancient times but the force of change gives humanity no choice but to adapt, these changes shaped the world to greater transformations beyond imagination. Change has never been constant and with its dynamic effect it produced a concept of revolution which has completely defined the political, social and economic aspects of life in the world. Revolution was not done in an instance rather it was a gradual process which took time and effort to alter the traditional models. Industrial and commercial revolution did not only start a few centuries ago but historically it has been a process started by empires and people since the existence of the mankind but never has been a period which completely changed the world than the Commercial and Industrial revolution of the early 12th century to late 19th century. This was a period when the world shifted from traditional way of life to advancement in modernity. It started from simple structural changes to mechanizations and complex financial systems which served as the guide of any future transactions. That period was the cornerstone of revolution in the modern society.
                                      Industrial Revolution and Urbanization
Mushrooming of factories in urban areas led to an increase in manufacturing designated areas. Growth of urban and towns started as population was also increasing and people were concentrated in particular areas where there were manufacturing activities .Rural-urban migration was induced by movement of labor from areas with no activities to zones where they could earn an income in the factories and the areas were hence urbanized. Civilization of having good life in those areas was also another motivating factor leading to people to flock to the cities. Improvement in modern housing as stable and steel made houses improved living conditions and shift from the poor structured shacks which were characterized by pathetic sanitation, overcrowding and poor planned.
                               Commercial Revolution and Urbanization
Like Industrial revolution Commercial revolution similarly contributed immensely in urbanization as people were flocking to the central market place to dispose and buy their goods and thus affected the movement of people from rural to urban areas where they could trade easily. There was a shift in demographic numbers as population rose significantly from small towns which were not noticed by both traders and businessmen to bustling and busy towns which everyone wanted to reside there.
                               Industrial Revolution and Labor Exploitation
With the great demand for coal and scarcity of workers women and very young children had been increasingly employed in the pits (Knowles 126). Despite the positive developments brought by the industrial revolution in the transformation of humanity the rapid expansion of factories and manufacturing meant more labor was needed to produce goods and fill the economic sectors. Labor was now required at any cost and exploitation of peasants started as workers were forced to work in deplorable condition leading to many deaths in the mines and inhumane treatment of women and children as young as 13 years old. Population was increasing in the urban centers in search of better life and the businessmen and elite took the advantage of sometimes excess supply of labor and under paid employees also. Social classes developed as people were divided according to the economic ability and this led to classes which were deprived while the nobles and businessmen were the ruling class. Society was then divided in this case and even basic resources were distributed on bias rather than necessity.
                                   Commercial Revolution and Labor Exploitation
Like Industrialization, Commercial revolution also engaged in activities of exploitation of labor both within their countries and abroad. It is during exploration and trade in parts of Africa when slave trade started. Greedy businessmen knew of the labor shortage in Europe and they colluded and hoodwinked some leaders in Africa who gave them a leeway to export humans to Europe. They used the cheap labor not only for monetary gains but also used them in transportation of their goods in water vessels and land. In their home countries they also created indirect caste system as the rich were treated with dignity while the paupers who were laborers and slave did not deserve any privilege in the society. 
                                     Industrial Revolution and Colonialism
In the half century after 1660 the competition among European nations for control in north America increased and its resources sharpened (Engerman 22). Scramble for resources to sustain the domestic economic demand surged. Due to industrialization resources started to become scarce and countries were forced to venture into other lands to get foothold of the resources. Although coal, wood and raw materials were in Europe the countries ensured they had enough reserves to sustain their economies for many years and they knew using the resources they had would be depleted in a matter of time so this way they focused to get into other regions where they could gain enough raw materials. This factor of having sufficient raw materials was not only important for the economic growth but the country also gave itself a competitive edge over others in terms of superiority in power.
                                    Commercial Revolution and Colonialism
Similarly Commercial Revolution driven by demand of goods in European countries, the explorers, businessmen and traders started to get into agreement with different countries on how they could protect the raw materials from other countries who also wanted to have them. Slowly they started to put the areas in control and colonialism emerged. The traders were ready to take any risk to ensure they maintain the profits and this led them to even use force to protect the interests which they desired. Using capital and superior technology they used force in most regions which they were targeting and established their rule. Superiority was also an important factor as the more regions a country had the more powerful and feared it was.
                                     Commercial Revolution and Trade
It embraces the remarkable expansion of international trade to Asia, the Western Hemisphere and Africa in the wake of voyages of discoveries at the start of 15th century (Rostow 107). The concept of trade was one of the driving forces of the commercial revolution in the world. Countries especially those in Europe were in need of resources and raw materials to sustain their local economies. There was an increase in demand for exotic products from other areas and the local supply of common products was decreasing as the consumption and demand of the materials surged. Businessmen and explorers started to travel and exploit foreign lands and regions where they met raw materials which were useful in their domestic economy which culminated in the exchange of goods between countries some which were near and others were as far as in Africa and Asia and North America where specific raw materials and goods were located. Water vessels like canoes and dhows spurred the trade as it increased the reliability and accessibility of the markets. Merchants of trade emerged and trading was beginning to take a structured shape .Although during the beginning of the commercial revolution there were no centralized market place where merchants from different countries and regions could gather and trade the products common place markets within the country and strategic points of meeting by merchants from different regions started to be developed.
                          Industrial Revolution and Innovation and Invention of Tools
Industrial revolution was a period of rapid development, roughly between 1780 and 1830 in Britain during which new forms of energy from coal and other fossils fuels powered machines rather than muscles wind and power (James 141) .Unlike commercial revolution which had trade as its foundation development during industrial revolution came as a result of invention of new tools which were to used to simply production processes of raw materials and mass production of goods. Focus was much concentrated in specialization of tasks to improve efficiency in production of the goods. Sophisticated tools were the main impetus of the industrial revolution. The demand of goods was also increasing in the domestic economy and the traditional methods of production were slow, extreme labor consuming and unreliable. Exploitation of natural resources to be used in the production process also played a part in the invention and innovation of new modern tools used in the industrialization. Even mechanization had a precedent, however for wind and water mills both quite complex pieces of machinery, were already ubiquitous in more developed countries while there had been already developments in textile machinery ( More  4).
                          Commercial Revolution and Monetary Economic System
Commercial revolution depended on capital (Beninger 10). Using advanced water vessels to explore virgin markets traders explored new markets where they discovered great potential of raw materials which could be used in their growing economies. Barter trade was now becoming obsolete and though some of the countries which they explored did not have other forms of exchange they developed medium of exchanges which had monetary value. Gold and silver has been used during the ancient time for transactions in trade but they were now becoming scarce and it was a must to get the prestigious metals which had the monetary value to have uniformity when trading. Traders now used relied on agreed capital to purchase and sell the goods not only in Europe but also in parts of Asia and Middle East. Gold as a valuable metal was universal accepted as medium of exchange and the traders had a unanimous agreement of using it. Economic system now shifted to money driven as coins were made out of gold and given monetary value. Capital accumulation was the desire of every trader as the more capital a person had the wealthier and respected  in the society giving birth to mercantilism .Profit became an important goal and businessmen and nations were rushing to accumulate as much raw materials and resources as they could to safeguard and establish status around the continent and world. Since then money was used official as the only acceptable form of exchanging goods.
                   Industrial Revolution, Agrarian Revolution and Mechanization
On the other hand industrial revolution relied heavily on mechanization process which started from the agricultural sector in Great Britain becoming an integral and pioneer of the industrial revolution in Europe and the world. Machines Land and Labor were major components utilized during the process of industrialization.   Farm and agricultural products were the source of economy growth in the countries during industrialization period. Cotton and silk production was now done in mass production to satisfy the economic demand of the country. Agrarian revolution became a spring board for the advancement of the industrial revolution. Innovation of the machine tools like spinning machines, flying shuttles took a centre stage to improve efficiency in the clothing industry during the period. Surplus production of textile led to exportation of cloths in other regions, continents and exchange of goods led to increase in income with the merchants and businessmen. Organization of labor was now necessary as the more machines improved production human labor was able to be organized in a more technical manner where it could improve the production and decrease the waste usual associated with traditional methods of labor. Specialization of work came into effect as people worked concentrated in special designated tasks where they increased the output with high quality. An increase in the number of machines led to the manufacturing sector to develop and food production in the economy was increased tremendously.
                                 Commercial Contracts and Financial Institutions
The Development of commercial contract is crucial in the history of trade as tools and techniques in the history of agriculture (Lopez 73). Trading was mainly done informal and the systems used were not efficient and could not be trusted and executed in many transactions. Credit trade was developed and there were no mechanisms to execute and this led to development of official contracts which were binding between the seller and the buyer with default leading to consequences. Credit was now an acceptable form of trade as there were efficient models which would be used. As credit was widely used traders started to lend their goods on credit with an interest on top of the value of goods given.  Formal and standard agreements were now to be developed to take into consideration of the new aspects like interest. Goods were now having a fixed value exchanged with gold coins and traders could now lend not only goods but money for the traders to assist them to purchase goods if they had deficit in money while in the market and in turn earn interest. Banking was thus developed as traders wanted a central place where they could access credit with ease and the banks were charging an interest. In every market where traders were converging there was a bank which had extra money to lend to the businessmen and explorers who wanted to purchase the goods. Financial centers were now developed in the urban areas and its environs. Piracy was common, extreme weather conditions which were leading to capsizing of the vessels navigating or spoiling of goods in the market and defaults were frequent risks and the traders wanted to ensure that they could recover part if not all of the goods lost in cases of those unpredictable circumstances. Insurance of goods started with a merchants and traders paying an amount to cover the risks whether the incident will happen or not. Insurance concept in Europe, North America and across the world thus developed.
                         Technology Advancement and Infrastructural Development
Unlike commercial revolution which strengthened and modernized the financial markets Industrial revolution spurred technology advancement in tools and influenced development of the infrastructure. Growth of industrialization was boosted invention and innovation in machines, skills and technology which were adapted and replicated in other fields to improve the others sectors which were still based on traditional models and were very poor in efficiency and effectiveness. Energy became a vital component to spur the economic growth of Great Britain and other European countries and focus was turned on looking the appropriate and conducive alternative form of energy. The use of power meant concentration in the factories ,the steam engine was adopted later to form a strong and more reliable power than the water and there was fresh demand for iron for machines and steam engines and an increased demand for coal to create steam power(Knowles 16). This led to immediate replacement of the traditional form of energy which was water powered and introduction of new form of energy. Mining activities immediately increased as the demand for the coal and iron surged and with booming of industries it now becomes an industry of its own. There was more room for invention and more machines were designed to be used in many sectors. Wood fuel was replaced by with coal used to power factories steam engines, water vessels and was the only source of energy which was being relied and depended upon to spur the economic growth. Iron ore was smelted and started to be used in construction of building and infrastructure developments like bridges, commercial factories and even domestic housing. Machines and tools started to be made from the smelted iron and though it was expensive massive production and iron smiths enhanced the production of the prestigious metal and metal become a key component in all industries. There was stimulation of economic activities within the country as construction of infrastructure started to be developed. Bridges, roads and rail network was put in place due to the production of the steel and iron which was the raw materials used in the building of the infrastructure. Fast movement of goods from location of production to targeted market place was the norm, locomotives were used in railways and carriages were developed to increase the reliability of both people and goods. Roads, bridges and railways interconnected the rural undeveloped areas and the small market places where towns were built. Steam powered canals were large and powerful and now used to transport large quantities of goods across waterways and an improvement in the number of goods flowing across the Europe increased by tenfold. Modern transportation here replaced the use of animals that were used in the agrarian economies.
Moreover technology and the industrial revolution in Europe irrevocably changed the course of history not only in Europe won territories but all over the world (Cippola 300). Europe was foundation of industrial revolution from Britain, France Spain to Italy and Belgium transformation of the socio economy structures was taking at breathtaking speed and knowledge and skills started to be transferred to other continents and new lands. Merchants, sailors and explorers using steam propelled engines were able to get into further areas of Africa, Asia and North America and transfer of knowledge and skills to those areas started. Machines and modern tools from Europe were shipped and used to explore resources in different continents thus leading the explored countries to benefit with the high technology and skills. More people learned the skills of using the tools and they tried to improve the existing technologies brought so as to suit their economies. Civilization  through industrialization spread to the traditional  archaic economies and human way of life was completely changed ,from clothing ,eating and working the life had completely changed for human beings not only in Europe but throughout the world as technology was now shared and taught to other people in Africa ,North America (United States) and Asia.