Why Europe Industrialized First
Geography, institutions, energy, and incentives — not “genius” or luck.
INTRO — THE QUESTION THAT CREATED THE MODERN WORLD
Around 1750, something unprecedented happened.
Europe — a region with no overwhelming population advantage, no monopoly on knowledge, and no uniquely advanced culture — began replacing human and animal labor with machines.
Within a century, Europe transformed:
how goods were made
how people worked
how states gathered power
how wealth was created
The Industrial Revolution did not happen everywhere.
It happened first in Europe.
The question is not why Europe industrialized —
but why Europe industrialized first.
