1. The Population
Explosion
Revision Activity:
What did we learn last lesson:
1. Write down as many facts/main points that you can
remember
You have 3 minutes
GO!!
2. When finished check out the image to the right. What is
this cartoon trying to say?

2. Remembering
The Industrial Revolution described the change in the way people lived their lives
from 1750 onwards. The Industrial Revolution began in England and spread
around the world to countries like Australia by the 1850s. These changes were
spurred by the invention of new technologies like the seed drill. Instead of
farmers relying on sowing a crop by hand, a crop could now be planted twice as
quickly with half the effort. This change led to an increase in amount of food that
could be harvested from farms in England and other industrialised nations.
Having more food led to further changes as well.

3. Population Growth before the
18th Century
Population figures for most of Great Britain before the nineteenth
century are estimates only, as the first official census was not held
until 1801. The best information suggests that population levels had
moved up and down dramatically between 1300 and 1700. From a
high of close to 6 million people in 1300, the influence of the Black
Death and years of famine had seen the population depleted to
around 2 million by 1500. During the sixteenth century the population
appears to have doubled, but it grew more slowly during the first half
of the seventeenth century, reaching only about 5 million by 1650.
Disease epidemics such as the Great Plague of the 1660s had caused
the population to level out during the second half of the seventeenth
century and, by 1700, it remained at about 5 million. (Paragraph)
Activity 0: Use this information to
complete the sentences on the
whiteboard.

4. Activity 1
Year
Population
1761
6 146 000
1781
7 042 000
1801
8 893 000
1821
12 000 000
1841
15 914 000
1861
20 066 000
1881
25 974 000
2. Read the information under the heading ‘Population explosion after the 18th Century’.
Discuss why the British population exploded with the person sitting next to you. Write down
three reasons why this trend happened. Share your answer with the class.
3. Examine Source 2 on the worksheet. a) What is the relationship between the use of child
labour in English factories and the growth in population in this country from 1750? b) What
else can we learn about the impact of the industrial revolution from this source?