Ancient technology

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During the growth of the ancient civilizations, ancient technology was the result from advances in
engineering in ancient times. These advances in the history of technology stimulated societies to adopt
new ways of living and governance.

This article includes the advances in technology and the development of several engineering arts in
historic times before the Middle Ages, which began after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD
476,[1][2] the death of Justinian I in the 6th century,[3] the coming of Islam in the 7th century,[4] or the
rise of Charlemagne in the 8th century.[5] For technologies developed in medieval societies, see
Medieval technology and Inventions in medieval Islam.

Medieval

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages (or medieval period) lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It
began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of
Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history:
classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided
into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

Population decline, counterurbanisation, collapse of centralized authority, invasions, and mass

migrations of tribes, which had begun in Late Antiquity, continued in the Early Middle Ages. The large-
scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in
what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—
once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, an Islamic empire,
after conquest by Muhammad's successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and
political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine
Empire, Rome's direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power.
The empire's law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or "Code of Justinian", was rediscovered in Northern Italy
in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated
the few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan
Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire
during the later 8th and early 9th century. It covered much of Western Europe but later succumbed to
the pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars
from the east, and Saracens from the south.

During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as
technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period
climate change allowed crop yields to increase. Manorialism, the organisation of peasants into villages
that owed rent and labour services to the nobles, and feudalism, the political structure whereby knights
and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands
and manors, were two of the ways society was organised in the High Middle Ages. The Crusades, first
preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy
Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation-states, reducing crime and violence
but making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was marked by
scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities.
The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of
Marco Polo, and the Gothic architecture of cathedrals such as Chartres are among the outstanding
achievements toward the end of this period and into the Late Middle Ages.

The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties and calamities including famine, plague, and war, which
significantly diminished the population of Europe; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about
a third of Europeans. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled
the interstate conflict, civil strife, and peasant revolts that occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and
technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and
beginning the early modern period.

Modern

The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era.
Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after
the late portion of the post-classical age (c. 1500), known as the Middle Ages, through the beginning of
the Age of Revolutions (c. 1800) and is variously demarcated by historians as beginning with the Fall of
Constantinople in 1453, with the Renaissance period in Europe, the Muslim conquests in the Indian
subcontinent, and with the Age of Discovery (especially with the voyages of Christopher Columbus
beginning in 1492, but also with Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India in 1498), and
ending around the French Revolution in 1789.
Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the most important feature
of the early modern period was its globalizing character.[1] The period witnessed the exploration and
colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the
globe. The historical powers became involved in global trade, as the exchange of goods, plants, animals,
food crops, and slaves extended to the Old World and the New World. The Columbian Exchange greatly
affected the human environment.

New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over
the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states,
particularly Genoa, Venice, and Milan in the west, and in India's Bengal in the east. The early modern
period also included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European
colonization of the Americas, Asia, and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, and spread
Christianity around the world.

In the Islamic world, the Ghurid dynasty, Delhi Sultanate, Ottoman, Suri, Safavid and Mughal empires
grew in strength. Particularly in the Indian subcontinent, Mughal architecture, culture and art reached
their zenith, while the empire itself is believed to have had the world's largest economy, bigger than the
entirety of Western Europe and worth 25% of global GDP,[2] signalling the period of proto-
industrialization.[3]

By the 16th century Asian economies under the Ming dynasty and Mughal Bengal were stimulated by
trade with the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch, while Japan engaged in the Nanban trade after
the arrival of the first European Portuguese during the Azuchi–Momoyama period.

The early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes
of organization, politically and economically. Feudalism declined in Europe, while the period also
included the Protestant Reformation, the disastrous Thirty Years' War, the Commercial Revolution, the
European colonization of the Americas, and the Golden Age of Piracy.

Other notable trends of the early modern period include the development of experimental science,
accelerated travel due to improvements in mapping and ship design, increasingly rapid technological
progress, secularized civic politics, and the emergence of nation states. Historians typically date the end
of the early modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the "late modern" period.[4]

industrial revolution
New inventions and technologies played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. They changed
the way things were powered, how goods were manufactured, how people communicated, and the way
goods were transported. These new developments allowed the industrial revolution to grow rapidly and
spread throughout Europe and the United States.

New Power Technologies

Portrait of inventor James Watt

James Watt (1736-1819)

by Unknown

In the early part of the Industrial Revolution natural power sources such as water and wind were used as
power. Later, new power technologies such as a steam power and electricity played a major role in
allowing the Industrial Revolution to grow.

Steam Power

Steam power had been around for a while, but in 1781 James Watt invented a new type of steam engine
that could be used to power machines in factories. This allowed factories to be located anywhere.
Throughout the 1800s steam engines grew bigger and more powerful. They were used to not only power
factories, but also in transportation to power steamboats and trains.

Electricity

Electricity became important during the Second Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s. Electric lights
allowed factories to stay open longer and produce more goods.

Hargreave improved spinning jenny

The Spinning Jenny

Source: Popular Science Monthly Volume 39 (1891)

Textile Technology

The Industrial Revolution began in the textile industry. One of the first major inventions was the
"spinning jenny" invented by James Hargreaves in England in 1764. In 1779, Samuel Crompton made
improvements with the "spinning mule." The Industrial Revolution began in the United States with the
opening of Slater's Mill in 1793. Other inventions included the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 and the
sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846.

Communications

The ability to communicate across long distances improved dramatically during the Industrial Revolution.
It began with the invention of the electrical telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1844. This system allowed for
messages to be transmitted much quicker and cheaper than old methods. In 1876, Alexander Graham
Bell invented the telephone which changed the way people communicated forever.

Transportation

Stephenson's Rocket

An Early Steam Locomotive

Source: Mechanics magazine, 1829

The Industrial Revolution brought about the need for improved transportation. Large amounts of goods
needed to be shipped from factories to stores throughout the country. One of the first successful
steamboats was developed by Robert Fulton in 1807. Steamboats were soon used to carry goods and
passengers along rivers throughout the United States.

The steam locomotive was invented in the early 1800s. Trains became one of the most important modes
of transportation during the Industrial Revolution. the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United
States was completed in 1869.

Interesting Facts About Inventions and Technology During the Industrial Revolution
Englishman Henry Bessemer invented the Bessemer process in 1856. It allowed for steel to be mass-
produced cheaply.

Thomas Edison invented the first practical incandescent light bulb in 1879.

Isaac Singer made improvements on the sewing machine and produced one of the first practical sewing
machines for home use.

In 1853, Elisha Otis invented a safety break for elevators. This allowed for the practical use of elevators
enabling buildings to be built much taller.

The Erie Canal was completed from Lake Erie to the Hudson River in 1825.

in the phil

New inventions and technologies played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. They changed
the way things were powered, how goods were manufactured, how people communicated, and the way
goods were transported. These new developments allowed the industrial revolution to grow rapidly and
spread throughout Europe and the United States.

New Power Technologies

Portrait of inventor James Watt

James Watt (1736-1819)

by Unknown

In the early part of the Industrial Revolution natural power sources such as water and wind were used as
power. Later, new power technologies such as a steam power and electricity played a major role in
allowing the Industrial Revolution to grow.

Steam Power

Steam power had been around for a while, but in 1781 James Watt invented a new type of steam engine
that could be used to power machines in factories. This allowed factories to be located anywhere.
Throughout the 1800s steam engines grew bigger and more powerful. They were used to not only power
factories, but also in transportation to power steamboats and trains.
Electricity

Electricity became important during the Second Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s. Electric lights
allowed factories to stay open longer and produce more goods.

Hargreave improved spinning jenny

The Spinning Jenny

Source: Popular Science Monthly Volume 39 (1891)

Textile Technology

The Industrial Revolution began in the textile industry. One of the first major inventions was the
"spinning jenny" invented by James Hargreaves in England in 1764. In 1779, Samuel Crompton made
improvements with the "spinning mule." The Industrial Revolution began in the United States with the
opening of Slater's Mill in 1793. Other inventions included the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 and the
sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846.

Communications

The ability to communicate across long distances improved dramatically during the Industrial Revolution.
It began with the invention of the electrical telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1844. This system allowed for
messages to be transmitted much quicker and cheaper than old methods. In 1876, Alexander Graham
Bell invented the telephone which changed the way people communicated forever.

Transportation

Stephenson's Rocket

An Early Steam Locomotive

Source: Mechanics magazine, 1829

The Industrial Revolution brought about the need for improved transportation. Large amounts of goods
needed to be shipped from factories to stores throughout the country. One of the first successful
steamboats was developed by Robert Fulton in 1807. Steamboats were soon used to carry goods and
passengers along rivers throughout the United States.

The steam locomotive was invented in the early 1800s. Trains became one of the most important modes
of transportation during the Industrial Revolution. the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United
States was completed in 1869.

Interesting Facts About Inventions and Technology During the Industrial Revolution

Englishman Henry Bessemer invented the Bessemer process in 1856. It allowed for steel to be mass-
produced cheaply.

Thomas Edison invented the first practical incandescent light bulb in 1879.

Isaac Singer made improvements on the sewing machine and produced one of the first practical sewing
machines for home use.

In 1853, Elisha Otis invented a safety break for elevators. This allowed for the practical use of elevators
enabling buildings to be built much taller.

The Erie Canal was completed from Lake Erie to the Hudson River in 1825.

Science and technology in the Philippines describes scientific and technological progress made by the
Philippines and analyses related policy issues. The main agency responsible for managing science and
technology (S&T) is the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). There are also sectorial councils
for Forestry, Agriculture and Aquaculture, the Metal Industry, Nuclear Research, Food and Nutrition,
Health, Meteorology, Volcanology and Seismology.

Among the men and women who have made contributions to science are Fe del Mundo in the field of
pediatrics, Eduardo Quisumbing in plant taxonomy, Gavino Trono in tropical marine phycology and Maria
Orosa in the field of food technology.[1]