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Index
1. Introduction, 3
2. Classical Antiquity,
3. The Middle Ages,
4. The Renaissance and Beyond: Technology 1500-1750,
5. The Years of Miracles: The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1830,
6. The Later Nineteenth Century: 1830-1914,
7. Understanding Technological Progress,
8. Classical and Medieval Technology,
9. China and Europe,
10. The Industrial Revolution: Britain and Europe,
11. Evolution and the Dynamics of Technological Change,
12. Epilogue,
Bibliography,
Index,
This view of technological change is inconsistent with one of the most pervasive half-truths that ec
2. Commercial expansion. It is the standard fare of intermediate courses in microeconomics to illust
The literature produced by modern economists on technological change is vast.'
Before we rashly decide that inventions should not be the focus of the study of the economic history
Until recently, the consensus on classical civilizations ((',reek, Hellenistic, and Roman) was that
What technological progress there was in the classical world, especially in Roman times, served the
The Roman Empire, which commanded enormous resources, brought public-good engineering to great hei
cribed to the Romans."t
The economic significance of' Roman roads should not be exaggerated. The roads that survived deep
Another area in which technical ingenuity improved efficiency in the public sector was in the constr
A recent discovery that reveals the technical genius of Hellenism is the famous Antikythera mechanis
In the private sectors, such as agriculture, textiles, and the use of power and materials, the progr
outside the Mediterranean perimeter. The Gauls and other Celtic people improved harvesting equipment
engineer Vitruvius, who lived in the second half of the first century B.C., describes a waterwheel i
In assessing classical technology, then, it is important not to overemphasize the lack of achievemen
1 Can archaeology shed more light on the issue? Archaeological evidence has demonstrated recently
original, and in(luisitive. But it was not particularly technologically creative. It built waterwhee
When classical civilization succeeded in creating it novel technique it was often unable or unwillin
The essential elements of the agricultural evolution were the introduction of the heavy plow and the
it required a team of oxen to pull it.'
A second area in which early medieval Europe was successful was energy utilization. Energy takes two
the ninth century their use had become common and their economic effects had been felt throughout Eu
By increasing the stability and comfort of the ride, the stirrup made the horse an increasingly im
The Moslems' most original contribution was in chemical technology. Al Jabir'and Al Razi (known in t
tends that it is difficult to discover anything that could be called an enrichment of acquired knowl
the water mill and the sail. It, too, may have been imported to Europe by Moslems (from central Asia
A third area of progress was metallurgical engineering. Mining and metallurgy were especially highly
Of' equal technical brilliance was the weight-driven mechanical clock. Its inventor is unknown, but
Another important mechanical idea was the flywheel, which had previously been used only for grindsto
Some other useful inventions (late from the thirteenth century. Spectacles were invented around 1285
As noted, by I50(1 Europe was no longer the technological backwater it had been in 900, nor was it t
Yet in the two centuries before 1500, Europe's technological creativity had become increasingly or
On or immediately below the surface of Europe lay vast supplies of stored-up solar energy in the for
nent, including the Principality of Liege in what is today eastern Belgium, coal was used in iron fo
most detailed books on mining engineering ever written.'
From it we can infer the improvements introduced into mining after 1450. Agricola describes the ma
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