We are going to look at 5.3 a little closer and the begin 5.4 So many historical developments happened at the right place and the right time to make Great Britain (and eventually America, Germany, France, and Italy) the spot where the Industrial Revolution began and took off. Today we will take a look at some of those, and discuss how and why they were a cause of an economic and industrial shift that changed the world forever. The historical developments that you should be aware of are: ■ Proximity to waterways; access to rivers and canals, ■ Geographical distribution of coal, iron, and timber ■ Urbanization ■ Improved agricultural productivity ■ Legal protection of private property ■ Access to foreign resources (colonialism) ■ ...