Key Events from the Industrial Revolution

1712 – Thomas Newcomen built the first steam engine

Feb 27, 1712

1761 – Britain’s first canal was opened

Feb 27, 1761

1771 – The first cotton spinning factory was opened

Feb 27, 1771

1779 – The first steam powered mill began operation

Feb 27, 1779

The first steam powered mill began operation

1782 – Matthew Boulton and James Watt patented the first rotary steam engine

Feb 27, 1782

Matthew Boulton and James Watt patented the first rotary

1801 – Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first steam locomotive

Feb 27, 1801

1811 – The ‘Luddites’ began to destroy machines

Mar 5, 1811

1825 – Britain’s first passenger steam railway was opened

Mar 5, 1825

1831 – The first great cholera epidemic

Mar 5, 1831

1833 – Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire

Mar 5, 1833

Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire

1834 – Henry Fox Talbot produced the first photograph

Mar 5, 1834

1876 – Telephone invented

Mar 5, 1876

Telephone invented

1879 – Thomas Edison invents the lightbulb

Mar 5, 1879

Thomas Edison invents the lightbulb

1880 – Compulsory education for all children is introduced

Mar 5, 1880

1883 – First skyscraper was built in Chicago

Mar 5, 1883

1885 – Karl Benz invented the first automobile

Mar 5, 1885

1888 – Heinrich Hertz produced radio waves

Mar 5, 1888

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=1811+%E2%80%93+The+%E2%80%98Luddites%E2%80%99+began+to+destroy+machines&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=xXMWU7ihO8bskgXxuoCQCQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=930#q=1876+%E2%80%93+Telephone+invented&safe=active&tbm=isch

1889 – Wireless radio invented

Mar 5, 1889

1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered flight

Mar 5, 1903

1914 – Outbreak of World War I

Mar 5, 1914