<P> The Industrial Revolution , which began in Britain in the 18th century , and later spread to continental Europe , North America , and Japan , was based on the availability of coal to power steam engines . International trade expanded exponentially when coal - fed steam engines were built for the railways and steamships during the Victorian era . Coal was cheaper and much more efficient than wood fuel in most steam engines . As central and Northern England contains an abundance of coal , many mines were situated in these areas as well as the South Wales coalfield and Scotland . The small - scale techniques were unsuited to the increasing demand , with extraction moving away from surface extraction to deep shaft mining as the Industrial Revolution progressed . </P>
why coal came to be the dominant fuel source during the industrial revolution
to power steam engines