Rethinking the Industrial RevolutionFor over two centuries, Britain has celebrated the Cort Process as a hallmark of English innovation — the iron-refining technique that powered railways, bridges, and the rise of empire. But new research is challenging that story.In 2023, historian Dr. Jenny Bulstrode published groundbreaking evidence suggesting that a group of 76 highly skilled Black ironworkers in Jamaica may have developed a key iron-refining method years before Henry Cort filed his famous patents. Their expertise, forged at a foundry near Morant Bay, drew on centuries-old African metallurgical traditions and may have shaped one of the Industrial Revolution’s pivotal technologies.🎙️ In this episode, we investigate how Jamaican innovation, colonial power, and industrial ambition intersected — and why this history is only now being brought to light.📜 Sources include Bulstrode’s peer-reviewed research (History and Technology, 2023), colonial records, and African ironworking histories.Read: https://fiwiroots.com/articles/metallurgy-cort.html