Question

Which of the following developments resulted in shifting of leading sector from cotton to steel?

• A. Invention of steam engine.
• B. Discovery of iron metal.
• C. Expansion of railways.
• D. Establishment of cotton mills.

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

Expansion of railways.

With the expansion of railways, in England from the 1840s and in the colonies from the 1860s, the demand for iron and steel increased rapidly. By 1873 Britain was exporting iron and steel worth about £ 77 million, double the value of its cotton export.