The Industrial Revolution was a period extending from the mid 18th century to the mid 19th century, which featured many improvements in farming and manufacturing, allowing the quality of life for the average European to increase dramatically. This revolution originated on the island of Great Britain because the government there was much less regulatory there. Because wool was the dominate product for England, people thought about how they could make textiles with less labor and cost and more revenue. Cotton was deemed to be a better product, but machines were required to spin the material because it was so tough. The only question is, how do the machines receive power. Somebody noticed that mills were often powered by streams or running water. However, to have a water powered machine, flowing water must be nearby, but what if the water was brought to the machine. By evaporating the water into steam, powerful engines could be built and used for such things as automatically weaving cloth, grinding grain into flour, or pulling many carts of goods and people as a locomotive train. Such incredible inventions as these decreased the number of people necessary for agricultural work while increasing the food produced from the efforts of these few. The men and women who were no longer required to farm moved to the cities and began to work in factories. These monstrous factories produced, with the aid of machines, products to make everybody’s lives better and prices decrease. The Industrial Revolution, considered to be one of the greatest revolutions of all time, drastically increased the quality of life for the average human being throughout Europe.