American revolution: English soldiers search a settler's house (1770s) Why did the Americans revolt? In 1763 AD England won the French and Indian War against France (which had been fought mainly in North America), [...]
Maerten van Heemskerck, Portrait of Anna Codde, 1529 In the 1500s AD, women in Europe were still getting used to using the spinning wheel instead of the drop spindle to make thread. The spinning wheel [...]
Ancient Indian science: Mohenjo Daro (ca. 2000 BC) From the time of the Harappans to the time of the Islamic conquests, Indian scientists and mathematicians were leaders. Ancient Indian science especially stood out in mathematics and [...]
Spinning wheel in China, Song Dynasty (the date is unknown) Why invent a spinning wheel? For more than three thousand years everybody used a hand spindle to spin wool, cotton, [...]
Early thimble-ring from Han Dynasty China (200 BC-200 AD) During the Han Dynasty, about 200 BC, Chinese blacksmiths started to make sharp, thin steel needles (this is about 100 years [...]
History of knitting: Nalbinding hat from Urumchi (ca. 1000 BC) Nalbinding and sprang Even before the invention of spinning and weaving, people were making cloth using early forms of knitting [...]
History of clothing: Venus of Lespugue, ca. 25000 BC, now in the Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, wearing a grass or string skirt The first clothing Clothing was very expensive [...]
Chinese science: a double-action piston box bellows (China) What are some Chinese inventions? Chinese scientists started inventing a lot of new things around 500 BC, during the Warring States period. [...]
Ancient China trade: Rice paddy with a Chinese man planting rice Farming in Ancient China In China, as in West Asia, India, or Africa, most people have spent most of [...]
Central Asian science: A clay pot with a drawing of a wheeled cart from what is now Poland, about 3500 BC What was invented in Central Asia? Many of the [...]
