In the 19th century, Britain's economic preeminence came with the Industrial Revolution, and Britain industrialized before any other country because it had abundant domestic coal and had been using coal for heating since at least the 13th century, creating incentive to extract deeper coal, leading to steam engine invention.
causalpending
Speaker
Helen ThompsonEvidence Quote
“Britain industrialized before any other country... because it had significant or abundant domestic coal... going back even the 12th century, certainly by the 13th century, it had incentive to find ways of extracting deeper coal. The first purpose of the steam engine was to do precisely that.”
Source
Helen Thompson: "The Complex History of Energy and Geopolitics" | The Great Simplification #98— Nate HagensCreated: 8/12/2026, 6:08:12 PM
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