Industrialisation during the 19th century historically changed the world for all the people living in France Holland the UK and the USA; by the end of the century city living and industrial work had become the new normal. Japan and Germany followed in the 2nd half of the century. At the beginning in 1800, the world’s populations had been predominantly rural: by 1900 one hundred years later the few wealthy independent European and American nations had become mainly urban. The processes of manufacture and transport had vitally altered everyone’s lives. Even the understanding of time itself had been altered.

The growth of 19th century manufacturing was built on the back of Enslaved People, the taxes of Indian peasants and the subsequent impoverishment of the Indian peoples. Enslaved peoples provided cotton, the raw material, from which industrial textile manufacturing became the leading product of the industrial revolution. The money derived from Indian taxpayers became the backbone of the City of London.