Two industrial revolutions
srinivasansharma said:
What if the world witnessed two parralel Industrial revolutions?
What if they are complimentary or contradictory to each other?
Where would be the second one happened?
What if both happened outside Britain?
Okay, if you want two contradictory industrial revolutions, I'm assuming that only one of them is on the British model. (Steampower, Iron and Steel, railroads etc,)
For the British one you need...
1) Availability of coal and iron ore (raw materials)
2) Changes in agricultural practice (forcing population to migrate to cities)
3) easy transport by rivers or canals.
4) availability of markets.
One place this might be possible is in the area between Prague and Krakow, where there are the Iron mines of Bohemia, the Silesian Coalfields, access to the markets of Moscow, Warsaw, Vienna and beyond via the Danube, Oder etc.
What other kind of industrial revolution might be possible though.
We need a source of power, a need for standardisation, a large market and skilled craftsmen.
I'm going to imagine an industrial revolution based not on metals but on ceramics. I'll not be using coal either but wood for heating and waterwheels for power. The major raw materials needed are sand and lead (for glass and for glazes) and clay or kaolin for pottery.
Perhaps we'll also, just for fun, imagine early biotechnology, domesticating plants and animals on a previously unheard of scale. I'm imagining an area rich in biodiversity, with lead (and probably silver) and sand available and with huge waterfalls to provide hydro-power.
How about the edge of the Guyana highlands in Guyana, Surinam and Venezuela?