What came first: the industrial revolution or the discovery of oil?

by yuhkih
CptBuck

/u/Dashukta's point is quite obviously correct, but I suspect what your question is driving at is whether there was any connection between the industrial uses of petroleum and the advent of the industrial revolution.

That's potentially a more complicated question. For the first industrial revolution, which began in England in the 18th century, the answer is plainly "no," oil had nothing to do with it. While the origins of the English industrial revolution pre-date the steam engine, in England it was greatly accelerated and in much of Europe driven by the sort of triangular relationship between steam power, coal, and steel. Note, coal not oil.

It's not until the second industrial revolution that oil starts to become a major player, particularly with the oil discoveries in the United States, certain parts of eastern Europe and then the Middle East. But even in that case, coal was still the industrial fuel of choice for most of the "revolutionary" period, even if automobiles and some nations' ships were being run on petroleum.

Dashukta

Oil, definitely oil. By several millennia.

In several areas of the world, oil and related fossil fuels naturally seep to the surface. Bitumen (also called natural asphalt or tar) has been exploited since paleolithic times. Here is a paper which suggests use of bitumen by Neanderthals about 70,000 years before present. There's also ample evidence for people using bitumen in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, frequently as a waterproofing in construction and boat building. The Chinese were drilling for near-surface oil as early as the 4th century CE using bamboo tubes.

For a more detailed analysis of early uses of petroleum and other fossil fuels and their distillates, I'd recommend asking in /r/askanthropology and /r/askscience.