Though gunpowder along with other weapons had been started by Chinese, it was the Europeans who developed and perfected its military potential, precipitating European expansion and eventual imperialism in the Modern Era.Īlso significant in this respect were advances in maritime technology. Often, the revolutionary aspect lay not in the act of invention itself, but in its technological refinement and application to political and economic power. Many European technical advancements from the 12th to 14th centuries were either built on long-established techniques in medieval Europe, originating from Roman and Byzantine antecedents, or adapted from cross-cultural exchanges through trading networks with the Islamic world, China, and India. Water-power was also widely used in mining for raising ore from shafts, crushing ore, and even powering bellows.
By the time of the Domesday Book, most large villages had turnable mills, around 6,500 in England alone. The development of water mills from their ancient origins was impressive, and extended from agriculture to sawmills both for timber and stone.
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