Technology: Book Review

Technology: A World History, Daniel Headrick, 2009, a quick review of tech development, with world-wide coverage. Editor’s Preface. “Ambitious leaders of ancient and more recent times have commandeered technology to help them build states and to conquer other peoples” (L. 40).

Chapter 1: Stone Age Technology. Only humans needed tools. Early uses were hand axes and other multi-purpose tools to butcher animals, then fire. Innovations started about 70, 000 years ago in sophisticated stone tools and developments in culture like flutes and animal drawings in caves. One possible reason was learning to talk.

Natufians may have been the first to settle in one place, harvesting wild grains, like Jericho, Abu Hureya in Syria, or southern Japan. The Fertile Crescent got warmer from 12-14,000 years ago, expanding grasslands, including wheat and barley. A burial site in Abu Hureya showed women with malformed toes, and vertebrae caused by grinding grain. They settled down into villages to farm. Similar results happened on the Yellow River in China about 6500 BCE for millet and 6,000 BCE for rice in Southern China. From Southeast Asia came taro and bananas, pigs, chickens, and water buffalo. Egypt adopted wheat and barley by 6,000 BCE, later in a colder Europe, mainly on oats and rye. Africa used their variety of rice by 3500 BCE. It was teosinte in central Mexico around 5000 BCE. For corn, then squash, tomatoes, and chilis. Peru developed potatoes, quinoa and beans.

Jericho had a village by 10,500 BCE, eventually growing wheat, barley, lentils, and peas, then raising goats. They built a town with a wall by 7350 BCE. Jarmo (Mesopotamia) was founded around 7000 BCE, with 150 people. Stone axes were used to chop down trees, then digging sticks and stone-bladed hoes, harvested with bone or wooden sickles with sharp stones. Baskets were made of reeds and bins of wattle and daub (branches with mud).

Clay pots appeared between 7000-6000 BCE. They ate more starch and less protein. Textiles replaced animal skins. First, woven cloth was in Jarmo (in Mesopotamia), using hemp, flax, cotton, or wool; tasks were spinning yarn and weaving cloth. Looms dated to 6000 BCE. There were gardens. Trade networks from Mesopotamia reached Spain. Raws metals in use included copper, silver, and gold. Smelting began in Anatolia by 5000 BCE, China by 2800 BCE, and Andes by 2000 BCE, and West Africa by 900 BCE.

Chapter 2: Hydraulic Civilizations (4000-1500 BCE). Sumerians by 4000 BCE separated land from water and planted in reclaimed wetlands. Tasks besides farming developed including elites of priests, kings, and generals. There were soldiers, craftspeople, and merchants—all possible because of surplus food. With water control, disasters from floods and droughts were minimized. This included canals, dikes, and reservoirs. There was little rain in Mesopotamia and it was hot; water came from spring mountain melts which included silt. Farming expanded to include wheat, barley, date palms, lentils, peas, onions, and reeds; then livestock of sheep, goats, donkeys, cattle, and pigs. Ox-drawn plows were developed and seed drills used for planting.

The Nile flooded in late summer and early fall, regulated farming seasons. Crops were planted in October and November and harvested in April and May. There were little kingdoms, then united under Pharaoh Menes. Survey instruments and geometry were developed. Pulleys and treadmills lifted water above the canals. Food surpluses supported massive stone works. This culture in various forms lasted 3,000 years.

The Indus River flowed into Pakistan, with the Indus Valley like Mesopotamia: rich soil, hot, dry climate, and a flooding river. Flood control started between 3200-2600 BCE with irrigations and drainage canals and embankments, growing wheat, barley, with trade for Metals, gems, timber, and livestock (sheep and goats). It collapsed after 1700 BCE.

East China started on the Yellow River using dry-land crops of millet and wheat. Flood control started under Yu or the Xia dynasty around 2200 BCE. By the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE) thousands of villages grew millet and wheat, and raised pigs and silkworms. Mexico grew corn, beans, squash, and peppers, with dogs and turkeys. In Mexico City (Teotihuacan; Tenochtitlan under the Aztecs) were islands (chinampas) separated by canals for planting, with seeds sprouted in nurseries. Cortes conquered it from 1519-1521. The west coast of South America (with the Andes close to the Pacific with rich fishing grounds). Warm-climate crops were corn, beans, squash, and potatoes up the Andes. The Moche beginning around 200 BCE used seabird guano to fertilize, built terraces to grow potatoes and other crops on hillsides. They were replaced by the Tiwanaku around Lake Titicaca and the Chimu on the northern coast (p. 24). Cooperation and obedience resulted in engineering projects of the elites.

The Sumerians used sundried bricks for massive building projects. Cities grew beginning with Ubaid before 4000 BCE. Wars required walls around cities.

Pharaoh Sneferu (2613-2589 BCE) built three pyramids using stone blocks, starting with a step pyramid, then bent pyramid, and Red Pyramid. Khufu and Khafre built the famous ones at Giza. Egyptians dressed in linen from flax, made in workshops (from 4500 BCE, p. 28).  Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were cities in the Indus Valley built in rectangular grids.

Olmecs built stone statues. First century BCE had temples and pyramids at Monte Alban in Oaxaca. Mayans built temple complexes in southern Mexico and Guatemala including Tikal. Peru had El Paraiso (1800 BCE). Wool was the textile used in Peru: llamas plus alpacas for elites. In China elites used silk robes, ordinary people dressed in hemp, ramie (another vegetable fiber), or cotton.

The first potters were the Jomon of Japan (p. 29). People in the Zagros Mountains started making pots by 6000 BCE, fired in a kiln: storage, smaller ones to carry water, cook, and eat and drink from. Decorations made them useful for archaeologists to identify. The potters wheel appeared around 5000 BCE in Mesopotamia.

Copper ore was localized in Anatolia, Iran, Sinai Peninsula, Oman, Cyprus, and Nubia (p. 29), becoming an important trade item. Smelting required hot furnaces, using bellows. Results were tools like axes, adze heads, saw blades, drainpipes, knives, swords, and armor. With tin, bronze was created. The Chinese used molds. There was copper casting in Columbia, Peru, and Mexico.

The wheel was used for carts and wagons pulled by oxen. Small horses pulled chariots, warriors rode on horseback with bigger horses.

The Sumerians created cuneiform writing, evolving from tokens used for inventory keeping. Progress developed from food surpluses, used by elites to rule growing civilizations.

Chapter 3: Iron, Horses, and Empires (1500 BCE-500 CE, p. 35). Iron and horses allowed massive conquest, plus centralized governments of Assyria, Persia, Rome, China, and India: public works and crafts. Hittites smelted iron into wrought iron. Blacksmiths improved the metal. Iron smelting was in China by 700 BCE, then attached bellows to waterwheels using a mixture of ore, charcoal, and lime (p. 36), then casting into molds. Increased farm yields with tools. Tropical climates grew rice and yams; further south bananas.

Chandragupta Maurya conquered from the Indus to Bay of Bengal in 4th century BCE, largest kingdom in India.

Chi Huangdi conquered China in 221 BCE, creating the Qin Dynasty, the most despotic government in China. The Han Dynasty conquered and ruled (202 BCE to 220 CE). They “established large foundries with thousands of workers. Casting molten iron into durable molds, these foundries turned out identical objects in large quantities, the first known instance of mass production” (p. 40).

“From 1500 BCE to 500 CE, four major regions of Eurasia—southern Europe, the Middle East, India, and China—were ruled by successions of empires. … Population growth and new technologies, especially iron, made agriculture in rain-watered area productive enough to support cities, governments, and armies—in other words, civilizations” (p. 40). Elites built roads and public works. Romans created arches to form barrel vaults. Also, the Pantheon and Colosseum. They discovered that volcanic earth when mixed with lime formed a cement that was not affected by water or fire. For Rome they built nine canals and aqueducts across valleys. The first major road was the Via Appia from Rome to Capua near Naples.

China used hydraulics for expand rice production, including dams, canals, and terraces. Roads were used for trade, communications and troop movements. Construction process on p. 44.

Boats included the papyrus reeds in neolithic Egypt with square sales. Mesopotamia used boats of animal skins. Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans sailed the Mediterranean, using both merchant ships and warships. Greeks specialized in grapes and olives.

Xenophon noted about the Persian Empire there was specialization by individuals, in towns a workman did many skills. China invented ceramics by glazing pottery, then paper (initially out of silk), crossbows, and the horse collar to pull heavy loads.

Wealth, power, and conquest ability depended on surpluses by poor peasants, slaves, and women.

Chapter 4: Postclassical and Medieval Revolutions (500-1400). Marco Polo in China. They developed the mold-board plow, harrows that broke up clods, and seed drills. Rice grew in warmer southern China, importing Champa rice seed from Vietnam, which grew only in water. The land had to be plowed, seedlings prepared in boxes and transplanted by hand, and fields weeded, fertilized with ashes, silt, and refuse, with algae adding nitrogen. Level terraces were used on hillsides, held by stone walls, water control systems, canals and ditches, and ability to lift water into and out of paddies. Land grants were made to the wealthy, who supplied tools and seeds to tenants and loans. Productivity then depended on the amount of labor, which supported high density of poor farmers. 

Women in China spun hemp into cloth and silkworms. Crafts included weaving, silk, tea leave preparation, charcoal, or rice wines.

The fall of Rome meant Europe became decentralized, initially to the village level. Then came the feudal system of king and vassals: lords, knights, clergy, and peasants. Land was often a third in wheat, rye, or oats, a third in legumes like peas, and a third fallow, with livestock on it. Horseshoes increased the use of horses and the need for blacksmiths and oats. The stirrup enhanced the use of cavalry about the year 100. Water wheels for mills were built, plus sawmills, and bellows.

Arab traders brought crops from China (oranges and lemons), India (sugar cane and cotton), and Southeast Asia west—plus melons, asparagus, bananas, and spinach. The wheelbarrow originated in China.

Chinese iron used water-powered air pumps and used coal for fuel, then creating coke to reduce impurities. To supply weapons and armor to a large army required massive blast furnaces (p. 64). Mongol control of Chinese ironworks led to their conquering China and much of Eurasia. Iron making in Europe was decentralized to every village and blacksmiths.

Locks improved the use of canals. Arabs used camels. The Romans depended on roads. Horse-drawn carts were used in the Middle Ages, with great fairs used for the woolen trade and metalworks in France, Germany, and England.

In the Middle East, China, and South America, labor was abundant but land cheap. Europe had lower per capita density, relying on more animal power.

Chapter 5: Age of Global Interventions (1300-1800). Portuguese sailed around Africa to the Far East with violence in mind for trade and conquest—one of the “gunpowder empires.” The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur (Tiger) in 1526 by conquest. The Chinese mastered the Junk as a sailing ship, used magnets, and drew marine charts, with Zheng He sailed a huge fleet as far as East Africa. With a new emperor, China turned inward, destroying oceangoing ships. Muslim ships sailed the Indian Ocean. Persians first used the astrolabe to determine latitude. Mediterranean sailing ships were built for fickle storms and limited sailing.

“In the fifteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese shipbuilders combined the best features of galleys and cogs to produce a craft called a caravel, which was able to navigate any ocean in the world. Its hull had a skeleton of beams and ribs on which planks were nailed edge to edge, making it sturdy yet inexpensive. Besides the mainmast, it had a foremast carrying a square sail and a mizzenmast at the stern with a lateen sail. The addition of a sternpost rudder in the 13th century made it maneuverable in any wind. This was the type of ship used by de Gama, Columbus, and Magellan. Larger versions, the carrack and the galleon, became the mainstay of European navigation for the next four centuries” (p. 75).

The first European reference to a compass was 1190, the discovery of wind patterns in the North Atlantic—then the South Atlantic. The result was the Age of Exploration, beginning with Prince Henry the Navigator followed by Columbus. In the 1730s John Harrison built a precision clock to determine longitude.

Chinese chemists discovered gunpowder (called “Chinese snow” by Arabs) using sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate). Roger Bacon described gunpowder in 1216.  They learned to cast iron cannonballs and barrels, then compress gunpowder into pellets (corning), then cannon called bombards could breach walls. Ottoman Turks conquered much of the Arab world and beyond with siege artillery, then Constantinople. They advanced as far as Vienna in 1529 and 1683. The Safavid dynasty of Persia (1501-1794) stayed in power using artillery. Mughals conquered India in the 16th century. Ivan IV (“the Terrible”) captured much of central Asia and Siberia with cannon and muskets. Japan discovered firearms and their blacksmiths produced them in massive quantities.

Europeans developed canons for ships, including the Portuguese caravels exploring the Atlantic beginning in the 15th century. Portuguese traded in India against Muslims with guns, capturing Goa, Malacca, and Hormuz. Merchant ships were armed also to protect against pirates. England used cast iron cannon for use on ships and developed the largest and most heavily armed fleet by the 18th century.

Columbus started the Columbian Exchange taking New World seeds and plants to Europe and Eurasia seeds and cuttings (bananas, grapevines, olives, sugar cane, fruits, and vegetables) to the New World. Spaniards brought wheat, livestock, and more.

Paper and printing started in China, including movable type. Gutenberg invented movable metal type and printing on paper, useful for the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. The multiple new technologies (ships, printing, firearms) favored Europe. The case for technology as a cause of the Great Divergence. The small states of Europe were in competition with each other.

Mandarins (bureaucrats) ran the Chinese empire under the Ming, with little interest in merchants, craftspeople, or the military. This was after regaining control from the Mongols. The country remained prosperous, without much advancement. With massive labor, there was no need for labor-saving devices. The Japanese favored technology including sanitation and clean water in cities (bathing daily), metallurgy and firearms. Muslims focused mainly on the Middle East.

Chapter 6: The First Industrial Revolution (1750-1869). The Lunar Society of Birmingham met monthly beginning in 1765, including iron maker Mtthew Boulton, pottery maker Josiah Wedgwood, chemist Joseph Priestly, technologist James Watt, and Erasmus Darwin. They shared ideas that enhanced the Industrial Revolution.

“Industrialization has four essential characteristics. The first is dividing work into a series of simple tasks carried out in factories and plantations and on construction sites. The second is using machines to replace labor and to speed up production, transportation, and communications. The third is result of the first two—namely, mass-producing goods at a lower cost than by older methods. And the fourth is generating mechanical energy from fossil fuels” (p. 91).

England had coal, iron, copper, and tin, rivers for transportation. It was a trading nation with involvement in commerce, shipping, and finance. That encouraged innovation, entrepreneurship, and wealth. There was a strong patent system, property rights, and rule of law. Farm owners moved toward increased production of crops and animals. Textiles initially came from India, but inventors learned to process cotton fibers, then invented Hargreaves’ spinning jenny in 1764. Arkwright built a water frame, them Crompton built a mule for producing strong yarn. Whitney made the cotton gin. This gave weavers cheap yarn. Cartwright built the power loom in 1806 and mills produced both yarn and cloth.

The Jacquard loom from France used punched cards to weave patterns using silk threads (1801-6). Engineers planned designs to maximize efficiency. The cotton demand fueled Southern slavery with new plantations created. Abraham Darby began smelting with coke on a large scale in 1709. Then the reverberating furnace produced wrought iron. Iron Bridge was built in 1779. Cast-iron stoves were built.

The first steam engine was by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, but inefficient. James Watt built an efficient machine in 1769 and started manufacturing with Matthew Boulton in 1776. Josiah Wedgwood was the first buyer. Richard Trevithick built an early locomotive. The Stockton and Darlington Railroad was the first in 1825. Robert Fulton put steam engines on boats for use on the Hudson River from NYC to Albany. The first American railroad was the Baltimore & Ohio (1827-1830), using British locomotives.

Volta built the first battery in 1800. Telegraph started in England in 1837 along a railroad. Samuel Morse built a line from Baltimore to Washington in 1844 and created the Morse Code. Then ocean cables. Regulations were eventually passed to clean the environment in the UK.

Samuel Slater set up a cotton mill in the US in 1789, followed by Francis Cabot Lowell after 1810.

Chapter 7: The Acceleration of Change (1869-1939). Steel: William Kelly in 1860s blowing air through pig iron. Bessemer process, then Siemens-Martin open-health method, finally Gilcrest-Thomas in 1875 using phosphoric iron ores. Electric power from Volta’s battery in 1800, Siemens in 1870s, dynamos by Gramme. Joseph Swan inf England in 1878 and Edison in 1879 created light bulbs, then Edison built a generating plant. Bell invented the telephone in 1876. Electric motors replaced steam engines in 1920s. Westinghouse and Tesla used alternating current. General Electric, Westinghouse, and Siemens led to power companies by 1920s.

Organic chemistry led to dyes, Bayer, BASF, DuPont, Kodak. Standard Oil dominated oil. Fritz Haber produced nitrogen and fertilizer in 1909. Then rubber, nylon, plastics, aspirin, and more. Gasoline tractors and cars used internal combustion engines. Edison created a science lab at Menlo Park. There were a couple thousand research labs, mainly corporate. ATT had Bell Labs. Marconi led to radio. Broadcasting started in 1920. Ford created the Model T. The Wright brothers invented airplanes.

Factory-processed foods increased in canning and cereals, then frozen foods. Weapons became deadly, especially during WWI, then WWII.

Chapter 8: Toward a Postindustrial World (1939-2007). Airplanes, expanded automobiles, radar, weapons including artillery. Computers expanded with transistors. Rockets and satellites. Nuclear weapons and electricity.

Norman Borlaug created “dwarf wheat” resistant disease and responsive with fertilizer, increased yields in developing countries like India—the “Green Revolution.”