WGD-
Wlecome to Yedda.
The very first and most important step was agriculture. This supplied food that did not have to be hunted. These events are delightfully and entertainingly described in Piers Anthony's Geodyssey trilogy. Actually, there is a fourth, The Muse of Art , but I have not read this one.
The Industrial Revolution was the second event. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain . The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.
In the later part of the 1700s there occurred a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual-labour-based economy towards machine -based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals , improved roads and railways . The introduction of steam power fuelled primarily by coal, wider utilization of water wheels and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing ) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.[ 2] The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous.
Jay
