NCERT · Class 10 · Social Science · History: The Age of IndustrialisationWhat is meant by the term 'Proto-industrialisation'?

Proto-industrialisation refers to the phase of industrialization that existed even before the establishment of formal factories in England and Europe. During this period, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market, but this production was not based on the factory system. Instead, it was controlled by merchants who operated in the countryside. They provided money to peasants and artisans to produce goods for them. This system was part of a network of commercial exchanges where production happened in family farms rather than in centralized workshops, allowing rural households to supplement their shrinking income from small plots of land.