With the creation of James Watt’s steam engine, factories primarily needed to be located near coal mines to easily access the coal needed to help run them. While steam engines provided significant flexibility compared to water power, which required proximity to rivers, the need for a reliable supply of coal to fuel the steam engines often influenced factory locations during the industrial revolution. Additionally, cities did become important locations for factories later on due to the availability of labor, but the immediate necessity of coal access was a critical factor in the early stages of industrialization.
With the creation of James Watt’s steam engine, where did factories need to be located?
anywhere there was space for a factory
near coal mines to easily access the coal needed to help run them
by rivers for the water power
in cities so factories could get more workers to operate them
1 answer