Technology Chronology: 10,000 BC - AD 1600

From GLPS2 Wiki
Revision as of 19:56, 8 February 2015 by Administrator (Talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Material below is mainly adopted from Science & Technology: People, Dates & Events. Philips, 2000, pp. 2-21.

  Communications Transport Engineering Agriculture


c. 7500 BC Beer is brewed in Mesopotamia.
7000 BC   c. 7000 BC Dugout canoes are used in modern-day Europe; reed boats are used in what is today Egypt.    


c. 3500 BC Solid wheels are used in Mesopotamia.

c. 3500 BC Wine is made in the Middle East.

c. 2500 BC Positional number system is invented in Mesopotamia.



c. 2500 BC Bees are kept for honey in Egypt.

c. 1300 Musical notation is introduced in what is today Syria.




c. 2400 BC Bitumen is used for waterproofing in Mesopotamia.

c. 2000 BC Looms are used for weaving in Assyria.


c. 1450 BC Stonehenge is completed in its final form.



1000 BC 875 BC Symbol for zero (0) is invented in what is today India.

c. 580 BC Anaximandros (Anaximander) (c. 611 - 547 BC) is said to have made a map of the earth, which he conceived of as a self-supporting, immobile, cylindrical object at the center of the universe.



800 BC Pyramids are built in what is today Mexico by the Olmecs.

700 BC Pulleys are used in Assyria.

650 BC Aqueducts are built in Assyria.

600 BC Iron is widely used in Egypt.

550 BC Locks and keys are used in Egypt.

500 BC c. 430 BC Optical telegraph using burning torches to indicate coded letters is used in what is today Greece.   500 BC Dams are constructed in India. 500 BC Wheat becomes an important crop in Brittania; salt (useful both for preserving and as a medicine) and wool are traded there.


c. 350 BC Iron smelting is developed in central Africa.
350 BC Cultivation is well established in western Africa.
300 BC c. 280 BC Mathematician Eukleides (Euclid of Alexandria) (fl. 300 BC) is known for Elements, his influential text books on geometry for almost two-thousand years.

c. 240 BC Eratosthenes of Kyrēnē (c. 276 - 194 BC) invents a systematic method, known as Eratosthenes' Sieve, of identifying prime numbers; it is too slow to decide whether or not a very large number is prime.
c. 250 BC Collar and harness for horses is invented by the Chinese.

c. 300 BC Cast iron is invented in China.


290 BC Chest harness for horses is invented in China.


165 BC Parchment (vellum) is invented at the court of King Eumenes II of Pergamon (197 - 159 BC).
200 BC Three-masted ships are built in what is today Greece. c. 160 BC Astrolabe is invented possibly by Hipparkhos of Νikaia (Hipparchus of Nicaea) (c. 190 - 127 BC); it is later (c. AD 850) reinvented by the Arabs.

100 BC 100 BC Negative numbers are introduced by the Chinese.




c. 100 BC Bridge are constructed of masonry in Rome.



100 BC Oysters are raised (for food) in heated seawater tanks by the Romans near Naplestea; water wheels are used to drive mills for grinding grain in what is today Albania.

c. 50 BC Landscape gardening is practiced in Rome.


c. 105 Paper is made from bark and rags by Tsai Lun (Cai Lun) (c. 50 - 118).





90 Fan-like winnowing machine in invented in China.

200 200s Ascending lanterns (Kongming lanterns) are used as signalling devices by Zhuge Liang (181 - 234).


240 Wheelbarrow is used in China.

550 Wind-powered land vehicles are used in China.

767 Printed text (a million prayers) is produced in Yamato (modern-day Japan) by Empress Shokutu.

673 "Greek fire", likely a mixture of naphtha, quicklime and saltpeter or sulphur, is invented by Kallinikos of Heliopolis (Callinicus), a Syrian (b. c. 620).

600 Windmills are used to grind grain in Persia.


700 Tea is grown in China.
800 c. 820 Al-Khwarizmi is thought to have been the first to solve the quadratic equation ax2 + bx + c = 0; he also originates the term algebra from al-jabr.

868 Printed book (a Buddhist scripture) is produced by Wang Chieh.


852 First reported attempt at human flight is made by Abbas Ibn Firnas in Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain).

994 The canal lock is invented by Chiao Wei-yo
c. 840 dishes are used in China.

c. 850 Windmills are in use in Europe.


900 Wheeled ploughs are used in Europe.
1000 c. 1000 Camera obscura is invented in Arabia, described Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen) (c. 965 - 1040); the notion goes back earlier to Mozi (Mo-Ti or Micius) (470 BC - 390 BC), Aristotélēs (Aristotle) (384 BC - 322 BC), and Eukleides (Euclid of Alexandria) (c. 300 BC).




1050 Crossbow is in use in France.


c. 1100 Magnetic compass (pioneered by Shen Kuo) is in use by the Sung Chinese for maritime navigation. (Its use in orienting by the military goes back to 1040-1044)

1190 Sternpost rudder is used on European vessels.

1100 Wine is distilled to make brandy on the Italian peninsula.

1126 Artesian well is sunk at Lilliers in Artois (Roman province Artesium).
1200 1200 Liber abaci by Leonardo Fibonacci (c. 1170 - 1240) is the earliest Western work to propose the adoption of the Arabic (originally Hindu) numeral system; the system was described earlier in a work by Al-Khwarizmi.

1232 Kites are used for sending military messages by the Chinese.

1234 Movable metal type used for printing is developed in Goryeo (modern-day Korea) by Choe Yun-ui.


1230 Shrapnel-type bombs are used by the Chinese.



1280s Cannons are made in China.


1290s Rope cable suspension bridges are built by the South Americans.
1275 A whisky distillery is built in Ireland.

1307 Guillotine is used in Ireland.

1324 Forged iron cannons are constructed at Metz.


1340s Wind-driven water pumps are used to drain land in modern-day Netherlands.


1380s Weight-driven mechanical clocks are in use.

1380 Gunpowder rockets are used in warfare in Europe.
1400 1440s Printing press, in Europe, is invented by Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400 - 1468).

1450 Large (450-meter) portable astronomical observatory is built by Ulugh Beg (1394 - 1449).

1477 Intaglio printing, using engraved metal plates, is introduced.


1400s Three-masted ships are built in Europe.


1450s Caravel—to become the most common seagoing vessel—is developed in Portugal.

1460 Four-wheeled passenger coach is built in Hungary.




c. 1480 Astrolabe is developed as a navigational aid by Martin Behaim (c. 1459 - 1507).

1487 Land mines are used in warfare in Italy.

1494 Paper mill is constructed in England.

1495 Explosive land mine is invented by Francesco di Giorgio (1439 - 1502), although crude mines were used earlier (1487) by Genoese troops.
1400s Coffee is made into a beverage in Ethiopa.

1400 Beer is imported into England from Belgium.


1495 Whisky is distilled in Scotland by Friar John Cor.



1510     1517 Wheel-lock muskets are produced in Nuremberg.  

1530   1535 Glass diving bell is used in Italy.    

1554 Sealing wax is introduced by Gerhard Hermann.
  1550 Screwdriver is in use, at first by gunsmiths.

1551 Theodolite is invented by Leonard Digges (c. 1520 - 1559).

1552 New glass-making process is patented by "Smyth"; it is the first English patent ever issued for an invention.
1560 1569 World map is published by Gerardus Mercator (1512 - 1594); it employs a system of projection that has since borne his name.   1561 Dredger is invented by Pieter Breughel and, much later (1618), by naval officer John Gilbert. 1565 Potatoes are imported into Spain from South America.

1566 Seed drill in Europe is invented by Camillo Torello.
1570   1573 Ship's log, for measuring speed through the water, is invented by Humphrey Cole (d. 1580). 1570 Timber truss girder bridge is built by Andrea Paddadio (1508 - 1580). 1575 Commercial production of gin is introduced by Lucas Bols.
1580 1588 Type of modern shorthand, using hard-to-learn arbitrary characters, is invented by physician turned priest Timothy Bright (c. 1551 - 1615). 1580 Round-the-world voyage is completed by Francis Drake (1540 - 1596) in his ship the Golden Hind (ex Pelican), the only survivor of five ships that set out in 1577.

1589 Kites are described in detail by Giambattista della Porta, though known to the Chinese since 700 BC.
1585 Floating mines, detonated by a clockwork mechanism, are used by the Dutch navy against the Belgians.

1589 Knitting machine for making stockings (called a stocking frame) is invented by William Lee (d. 1610).

1589 Flush toilet is designed by John Harington (1561 - 1612).
1590   1596 Iron-spiked warship is built in Joseon (modern-day Korea). c. 1590 Compound microscope is reputedly invented by Hans Janssen and his son Zacharias.

1592 Air-filled thermometer is invented by Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642).

1598 Self-winding and regulating clock is invented by Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel (1572 - 1633).

See also


Personal tools