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    An Age of Asian Technology

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    John evergreen
    This document summarizes technological developments in Asia between AD 700-1100, a period of significant innovation. It discusses how increases in population drove new agricultural techniques in China, West Asia, and Europe. Trade along the Silk Road stimulated technological exchange, such as the spread of Chinese silk, paper-making, and different windmill designs between China and West Asia. Several key Asian inventions like the stirrup, iron plow, and hydraulic engineering helped drive economic and military growth. The growth of commerce in China influenced conditions worldwide. Metallurgy and military production expanded dramatically in northern China. Overall, this was a time of major technological and economic change across Asia and its trading partners.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    An Age of Asian Technology

    Uploaded by

    John evergreen
    142 views69 pages
    This document summarizes technological developments in Asia between AD 700-1100, a period of significant innovation. It discusses how increases in population drove new agricultural techniques in China, West Asia, and Europe. Trade along the Silk Road stimulated technological exchange, such as the spread of Chinese silk, paper-making, and different windmill designs between China and West Asia. Several key Asian inventions like the stirrup, iron plow, and hydraulic engineering helped drive economic and military growth. The growth of commerce in China influenced conditions worldwide. Metallurgy and military production expanded dramatically in northern China. Overall, this was a time of major technological and economic change across Asia and its trading partners.

    Original Description:

    History 108 Lecture notes about pre-modern civilizations

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    This document summarizes technological developments in Asia between AD 700-1100, a period of significant innovation. It discusses how increases in population drove new agricultural techniques in China, West Asia, and Europe. Trade along the Silk Road stimulated technological exchange, such as the spread of Chinese silk, paper-making, and different windmill designs between China and West Asia. Several key Asian inventions like the stirrup, iron plow, and hydraulic engineering helped drive economic and military growth. The growth of commerce in China influenced conditions worldwide. Metallurgy and military production expanded dramatically in northern China. Overall, this was a time of major technological and economic change across Asia and its trading partners.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    142 views69 pages

    An Age of Asian Technology

    Uploaded by

    John evergreen
    This document summarizes technological developments in Asia between AD 700-1100, a period of significant innovation. It discusses how increases in population drove new agricultural techniques in China, West Asia, and Europe. Trade along the Silk Road stimulated technological exchange, such as the spread of Chinese silk, paper-making, and different windmill designs between China and West Asia. Several key Asian inventions like the stirrup, iron plow, and hydraulic engineering helped drive economic and military growth. The growth of commerce in China influenced conditions worldwide. Metallurgy and military production expanded dramatically in northern China. Overall, this was a time of major technological and economic change across Asia and its trading partners.

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    An Age of Asian Technology, AD 700-1100

    History of Science & Technology in nonWestern Civilizations is a relatively new


    field of study.
    History of science and technology in
    China:
    Joseph Needham (1900 1995)

    SCIENCE AND
    CIVILISATION
    IN CHINA SERIES
    7 volumes

    The interaction between population


    and technology
    Increases in population have often been a
    spur to technological innovation,
    especially when more food and other
    necessities have to be produced from a
    fixed area or land.
    Survival technology >> New cropping
    patterns in China, West Asia, and Europe
    from AD 700 >>> technological change

    Great Silk Road >>


    technological change

    Trade and

    Trade in luxury goods


    between China and West
    Asia was a stimulating
    factor in technological
    change both in the West
    and the East.
    Export of Chinese silk
    was a stimulus to textile
    industry in the West.

    Chinese paper-making
    techniques spread as a
    result of contacts along
    the trade routes.

    Iranian windmills became


    known in China which
    eventually led to invention
    of a different type of
    windmill there.

    Trade links also means that commercial


    prosperity in one region could influence
    economic conditions in very distant
    areas.

    W. H. McNeil, historian,
    says: the growth of
    commerce in China
    during centuries on
    either side of the year
    1000 was such that it
    tipped a critical balance
    in world history.

    William Hardy McNeill, (born


    Oct. 31, 1917, Vancouver, B.C.,
    Can.), prominent historian whose
    The Rise of the West, covering
    the entire span of recorded human
    history, had a major effect on
    historical theory.
    (Encyclopedia Britannica)

    Rapid Expansion of Iron Industry in China


    Hebei and Henan provinces: Iron ore +
    coal
    Wood or charcoal fuel for furnaces was
    becoming scarce because of
    deforestation, and the expansion of the
    iron industry depended on an increased
    use of coal and coke.

    Hebei iron-working
    The drawing based on the
    earliest known picture of a
    blast furnace in China,
    dating from 1334

    Bellows
    (sometimes driven
    by watermills)

    Liao Empire

    Hebei& Henan
    Iron Industry
    Canals

    Chinese
    Iron
    Industry

    Chinese Hydraulic Engineering


    Spillways + Pound locks

    Total output reported by tax officials:


    32,500 tons per year in AD 998
    - 90,400 tons in 1064
    - 125,000 tons in 1078

    Liao threat:
    Song China built up an
    enormous army, exceeding
    1000,000 men by the 1040s

    Much of the iron produced in the Hebei


    region went to manufacture military
    equipment:
    suits of armor,
    Arrow-heads (16,000,000 iron arrow-heads
    per year for the crossbow men.
    Other users of iron:
    Buddhist temples (to make bells)
    Farmers: to make ploughs and farm tools

    The north of the country, in the Yellow


    River basin, has a cool climate, and the
    economy depended on wheat and millet
    crops rather than rice.
    >> Gradual movement of farmers to the
    warmer, wetter southern regions (also
    because of the Jin tartars threat)
    A smaller area of land
    there had to support the
    growing population
    and feed the army.

    The Government Interference:


    Introduction of a new variety of rice from
    Champa, in what is now Vietnam: Champa
    rice >>> quick-growing rice
    Could be planted early, leaving time after it was
    harvested for a second crop to be grown.
    It could be grown on land where there was an
    insufficient water supply for ordinary rice.

    - Pre-modern R&D

    Geography and Technology:


    Islamic territories:
    Dry climates
    Importance of irrigated agriculture

    <<< Survival Technology>>>>


    The problem of water:
    Dry lands in the Middle East

    Qanats
    Dams

    the Qanat

    the Qanat

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?
    v=La76Yl1wuGM

    Noria

    Persian Windmill

    Indian Ocean Trade

    Spread of:
    Indian Cotton Industry
    Steel Making >> Damascus steel
    Irrigation/ Windmills/labor-saving
    techniques
    Ship-making technology
    Spice / Food trade
    Gunpowder
    Compass
    Printing press

    One of the major themes of Asian history is


    the relationship between the nomadic
    peoples of the northern grasslands and
    the settled civilizations of China, India
    and Iranian plateau.

    Mongols:
    Invasion of both Iran and China: 1260s

    Mongols:
    Economy: sheep and horse raising
    No knowledge of irrigated farming systems
    Major damages in irrigation canals and
    qanats
    Decrease in food production led to decline of
    population in central Iran and Iraq

    Social turbulence in Islamic states>>


    migration of scholars/scientists/engineers
    to more westerly locations

    Horses were central to the nomadic


    economy
    Export
    Transport
    Milk + fermented milk >> alcoholic drink
    Riding for hunting / war

    The key technology associated with the


    nomads horses was the harness, and the
    key element here was the iron stirrup

    The stirrup had evolved in


    China and Mongolia in the 6th
    century, but was still not
    universally used. This gave
    the nomadic armies with their
    mounted archers a decisive
    advantage in many conflicts.
    The bow used by Turkish and
    Mongol archers was a
    compound device used
    animal products such as
    horn and sinew as well as
    having a wooden frame.
    It was stiffer to pull than the
    English longbow, even
    though it was fired from
    horseback. It had
    considerable range and a
    lethal effect.

    The consequences of Mongols invasion to Iran and India

    Destructive effects in learning, technology,


    Destruction of libraries, educational institutes,
    observatories, irrigation systems
    Elimination of Buddhism in N. India
    Spread of some technologies such as
    stirrup/harness making, spinning
    wheels

    Spinning wheels:
    The earliest clear illustrations of the spinning
    wheel come from Baghdad (1237), China
    (1270), and Europe (c. 1280)
    It is said that the spinning wheel has an Iranian
    origin.
    Technological dialogue: there might be
    numerous minor innovations, and once the winding
    wheel was known, some form of wheel for spinning
    may have been suggested to the minds of a
    number of individuals in quite different places.

    Independent regional inventions:


    Thread produced in the Islamic countries
    (and Europe) was always twisted to make it
    stronger, whereas Chinese manufacturers
    avoided it.
    Mechanical devices to twist the thread have
    been invented in the West rather than in
    China.

    Culture, Religion and technology


    Buddhist technology:
    - Bells
    - Status >> Bronze Buddha: 13 meters
    height, 380 tons
    - metal structures
    - Bridge construction / repair
    (example: impact of Islamic
    rituals on astronomy)
    - Printing

    The concept of Tool Complex and Technology


    Complex in Survival Technology
    No sign of complicated labor-saving
    technologies (such as water mills, compound
    pulleys, transfer of force using gears, etc.) in
    India before the 1200s.
    Was India backward compared to Iran?
    Complementary tools
    Role of Environmental conditions (climate, soil,
    ecology) + Kind of ownership + population density

    Patronage: Science and Technology


    Islamic fine technology
    The concept of prestige technology
    Technology connected with gardens
    Technology connected with
    astronomy
    Automata ( Banu Musa brothers, alJazari: book on Mecanical Devices)

    Fine Technology in Islam: Sophisticated mechanisms employed in gardens


    (fountain systems, pumps, water jets, etc.) and
    Astronomy (astrolabes, clocks, map making tools, etc.)

    Islam in North Africa


    Transfer of:
    Islamic schools / Mosques
    Irrigation systems/ watermills
    Social revolution in dress
    in some parts:
    Rich people adopted Islam but poorer
    people continued to go nearly
    naked!

    Europe after the 12th century


    Improved agriculture
    Strong economy
    Trade with other states, especially Muslims
    Development in educational system
    Need to learn practical knowledge, such as
    arithmetic, medicine, astronomy
    Translation Movement

    The Diffusion of
    Paper Making

    Translation from Arabic to Latin

    Translations 2.pdf

    Star Names: Arabic to Latin

    ..\HIST 104- F08\Star Names-Arabic-Latin.xls

    Translation:
    Arabic to Latin
    Greek, Syriac (ancient languages) to Latin
    Expansion of knowledge + Educational
    reform>>
    Establishment of the first universities in Europe
    (University of Paris: 1150; Oxford: 1167;
    Cambridge: 1209; Padua: 1222)

    Development of the critical and combative


    philosophical tradition known as
    scholasticism.
    Aristotles scholastic critics
    developed important alternatives
    for some of his doctrines.

    Before 1450: Three mechanically minded


    cultures>> China, Islamic countries, western
    Europe

    After 1450 European technology was developing


    faster than that of other countries, and in new
    directions.

    Social and political institutions in Europe

    Multiplication of points of creativity

    Major disasters had befallen the Islamic world


    and China

    >Gunpowder (had been known in China


    before AD 900)
    Deployment of Chinese engineers in Iran in the 1270s
    Two books from E. Mediterranean regions in 1280 describe bombs,
    rockets and fire-lances very similar to some types of

    >Availability of high-nitrate
    powder + development
    of the fire-lance

    Chinese weaponry.

    Transfer of technology >>


    transformation
    The transfer of technology nearly always involve
    modifications to suit new conditions, and often
    stimulate fresh innovations.

    >Transfer of gunpowder recipes and some


    primitive hand-guns to Europe
    > Invention of the Canon in Europe

    Independent inventions
    Sometimes quite vague information from another country,
    or an unusual artifact, is sufficient by itself to stimulate
    innovation in the recipient country >> the telescope
    Sometimes two artifacts are so difference that they must
    be regarded as independent inventions>>>Persian
    windmills vs. European windmills

    Earliest picture of a
    European cannon, 1326

    The parts of a cannon described in John Roberts' The Compleat Cannoniere, London,
    1652

    America Before Columbus


    Scandinavian
    Visits of
    N. America
    Before 1400
    To collect timber.
    Danish and
    English seafarers
    followed up
    information from
    Scandinavian
    sources in
    voyages to
    Labrador and
    Newfoundland in
    1476 and 1497

    The possibility of highly developed civilizations in America was hardly


    grasped before Cortes arrived in Mexico in 1519.
    Three major civilizations: Mayan, Aztec, and the Incas

    Agriculture in the Mayan civilization

    Land: ~ 6 meters by ~ 100 meters

    water
    Irrigation systems of the Incas
    No iron, no wheel, no pulleys,
    Technology Complex!
    The arrival of Europeans on the mainland of
    Central America in 1513: A real disaster!
    Combination of military conquest and epidemic
    diseases = disaster

    Smallpox
    Measles
    No natural immunity
    Mexico is thought to have had a population of 2530 million in 1500; by 1567, only about 3 million
    remained!
    Such a catastrophe led people to lose
    confidence in their own culture and institutions.
    Effect on language
    Effect on religion

    In Peru, irrigation based on rivers developed before the rise of Incas (13 th century) , with long canals fed from diversion dams. One canal was 110 kilometers long
    and had been carefully surveyed.

    The Mongols of the seas


    It seems unlikely that Chinese ships
    ever visited the Americas before
    Columbus
    Chinese voyages in the 1400s
    While the largest European vessels were
    about 30 m long, Chinese ships were
    mostly over 100 m long.

    Joseph Needhams argument:


    Independent invention is not an adequate
    explanation for similarities between terraced
    cultivation in Peru and China.
    Rope suspension bridges in the Americas and
    China
    Maya calendar and Chinese Calendar
    Mulberry-bark paper

    The concept of step-by-step diffusion of


    techniques

    Zheng He (1371-1435); Seven Voyages: 1405-1433

    Transfer of shipbuilding technology


    The effect of humidity and heat on iron
    nails
    European ships could not be used for
    more than 2-3 years in the seas
    around Southeast Asia
    Oak Plank worm
    Use of Indian wood
    Danish seamen+ Arab merchants +
    Jewish cartographers

    Exchange with Europe before 1500s


    Development of mining in Europe,
    especially Germany
    The importance of central American
    exploration

    Chinese travels to Africa:


    First description of the African
    Flora and fauna

    Europe in the 15th century

    The Renaissance
    The Scientific Revolution

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