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Inventions Search Results

Years : 1 to 1,000

92 Items listed

Generated : 19th April 2024

[1000 BCE to 1 BCE][1000 to 1500]

When	Invention	Place	Notes
10	Detergent	China	using soap beans
10	Magnetic Compass	China	using lodestone - an iron mineral
10	Smoking Pipes	North America	by Hopewell people
20	Residential Plumbing	Rome	with lead pipes and water taps
20	Water Powered Pounder	China
50	Iron Reaper	Rome
51	Aulos	Greece	a fore-runner of the bagpipes
100	Ball Bearings	Rome	used on turntables on decks of ships re-invented by Philip Vaughan (Wales, 1794)
100	Heavy Plough	Rome
100	Map Grids	China	by Chang Hing
100	Pontoon Bridge	Rome	used to cross the River Rhine
105	Paper	China	from mulberry bark by Tsai Lun made writing affordable
118	Wheelbarrow	China
128	Apartment Blocks	Rome
132	Seismograph	China	delicately balanced tiger head figures
140	Reconstructive Surgery	Mediterranean	in Sicily
150	Block Printing	China	using paper and inked stone
150	Modern Numbers and Zero	India	by Aryabhata (incorrectly called Arabic Numerals)
150	Oyster Farming	China
190	Abacus	China	the first calculator
190	Porcelain	China
200	Saddle and Stirrup	Central Asia	full control of horse possible
248	Zoo	Rome
265	Longitude, Latitude on Maps	China
275	Algebra	Greece	by Diophantus
300	Gas Street Lighting	Syria	in Caesarea (modern Israel)
300	Odometer	China	to measure distance travelled on carriage
300	Oil Street Lighting	Syria	in Antioch (modern Turkey)
347	Gas Piping	China	bamboo pipes to carry natural gas
350	Tea	China	used as a medicine
361	Licensing of Doctors	Byzantium	in Constantinople (modern Turkey)
370	Paddle Wheel Ships	Rome
400	Astrolabe	Egypt	for measurement of time and star positions in Alexandria
400	Butter	Europe	introduced by the Vandals
400	Hydrometer	Egypt	made of brass for weather prediction by Hypatia in Alexandria
450	Alcohol (Whiskey)	Europe	distilled in Ireland
500	Alcohol (Brandy)	China	produced by heating wine
500	Silk Screen Printing	China
500	Suspention Bridge	China	using iron chains
540	Toilet Paper	China
550	Carpets	Persia
577	Matches	China	sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur re-invented by by John Walker (England, 1826)
600	Drill Bits	China	made from cast iron
600	Earthquake Proof Buildings	Byzantium	using metal sheets and braces
600	Postal Service	Persia	by the Ummayad Caliphs used mounted couriers and 930 stations
600	Theraputic Sweat Houses	Central America	by the Maya in modern Mexico
604	Political Constitution	Japan	with 17 articals
621	Chess	India
630	Pigeon Mail	Arabia
640	Ski Boards	Siberia	around Lake Baikal (modern Russia)
673	Chemical Warfare	Byzantium	Greek fire by Callinicus which burnt on water
700	Blast Furnace	Europe	In Catalonia (modern Spain) re-invented in England, 1350
700	Folding Fan	Japan
765	Pictorial Book Printing	Japan
800	Comb	Europe	by the Vikings
800	Distillation	Arabia	by Jabir ibn Hayyan
800	Evaporation for Cooling	Europe	used for cooling water in Estonia
800	Kimono	Japan
800	Translucent Porcelain	China
810	Tin Glazed Pottery	Arabia	opaque
823	Canal Lock	China	by Chiao Wei-Yo
823	Rotary Grindstone	Europe	in Holland
825	Modern Arithmatic and Algebra	Persia	by al-Khwarizmi
850	Gunpowder	China
868	Printed Books	China
870	Candle Clocks	England	using calibrations to mark time
900	Fork	Byzantium	in modern Turkey
900	Lens	Europe	used for starting fires from sunlight
900	Plaster	Arabia	for pottery molds and setting broken bones
900	Spool Winder, Spoke Reel	Siam	for making silk thread (modern Thailand)
900	Wooden Milk Churn	Europe	in Ireland
910	Draft Animal Harness	Europe
931	Medical Entrance Exams	Persia	for entrance into medical schools
935	Golf	China	with tees and flagged holes
953	Fountain Pen	Egypt	reinvented in 1884 by Lewis Waterman (USA)
960	Wheel Clock	France	by Abbé Gilbert
970	Hospital	Arabia	with nurses, doctors and pharmacists in Baghdad (modern Iraq)
976	Mercury Clock	China	by Chang Su-Hsun
1000	Ambulance	Middle East	horse-drawn in Palestine by Crusaders re-invented by Dominique-Jean Larrey (France, 1792)
1000	Bars of Soft Soap	Arabia	made from olive oil and wood ash
1000	Cauterization	Moorish Spain	searing of tissue used in surgery by al-Bucasis
1000	Cheque	Arabia	in modern Iraq
1000	Clothes Iron	Europe	by the Vikings
1000	Gold Leaf Thread	Mediterranean	in Cyprus
1000	Grenades	Byzantium	filled with petrol / gasoline
1000	Kayak, Parka	Polar	by the Inuit
1000	Longbow	Wales
1000	Modern Sundial	Moorish Spain	shadow marker parallel to Earth's axis
1000	Pizza	Byzantium	in Constantinople (modern Turkey) spread West to Italy and East as Lahma
1000	Portable Flamethrower	China
1000	Thimble	Byzantium	in Corinth (modern Greece)
1000	Toothpaste	China	from soap bean powder

[1000 BCE to 1 BCE][1000 to 1500]

Key Moments

Christianity developed as a new religion based on a combination of Jewish Messianic and Greek Gnostic ideas. Its scriptures combined the Jewish writings about law and the sayings of the prophets (Old Testament) with a new set of documents (New Testament) composed between c70 and 325 about the life, sayings and miracles of a person called Jesus Christ. In the Roman Empire, it was recognised as the state religion in 313 after centuries of persecution. By 380 it was declared the sole religion of the Empire.

The Roman Empire reached its maximum extent in 117. In 395 it spilt into two portions: a Latin speaking Western part with its capital in Rome and a Greek speaking Eastern part based in Constantinople (modern Istanbul in Turkey). The latter became known as the Byzantine Empire. This split was reflected in the religion of Christianity. The Latin speaking Catholics lived in Western Europe while the Greek speaking Orthodox Christians lived in Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and the Middle East.

The Western Roman Empire broke up in 476. This event is known as "the fall of the Roman Empire".

Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, was born in the Arabian Peninsula around 580. He began preaching in 620 in the city of Mecca. His move to Medina in 622 marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. In 632, the religion split into two sects, the majority Sunni and a minority Shia. The preachings of Mohammad were put together into the Muslim scriptures (The Quran) around 655. Muslims believe the contents of the Quran were revealed by God.

Muslim armies conquered much of the Middle East (including Jerusalem in 636), Persia and North Africa (including Egypt in 641 and Carthage in 698). In the East, Afghanistan (664) and Uzbekistan (676) were conquered.

In 711 Tariq ibn Ziyad lead a Moorish army from North Africa into Spain which would remain Muslim for 800 years when it was known as Moorish Spain. The Battle of Tours (732) saw Islam stopped in Southern France by the Franks (who were Christians lead by Charles Martel, born 688). In 673 the Arabs failed to conquer Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, thanks in part to the use of Greek fire.

Arab traders reached the islands of Indonesia in 701, bringing back spices that preserved food and improved its taste.

After about 650, the torch of innovation passed to the Muslim world, dominated by two Arab Empires: Firstly, the Ommayad Empire, centred in Damascus (modern Syria). Later the Abbasid Empire with its capital in Baghdad (modern Iraq). Many classical Greek writings were translated to Arabic, helping preserve them through the northern European dark ages.

During this period, China continued developing and producing many of the items taken for granted in the modern world. Japan, Byzantium and India also made significant contributions.

Around 456, Celtic Britain was invaded by Angles, Saxons and Jutes from northern Germany and southern Denmark: these were the ancestors of the English. Their language would eventually dominate the modern world. The English scholar, Alcuin (born 732) living in (modern) France developed miniscule writing, the "small letters" of the alphabet.

The Vikings, a Scandinavian people, began a series of sea explorations: Ottar became the first person to cross the Arctic Circle by sea in 870; Ingolfur Arnarson sailed to Iceland in 874; Erik Thorvaldson reached Greenland in 982; Leif Erikson reached the coast of (modern day) Canada in 1002. This was the first historical contact between Europe and the Americas.

Around 400, paper was invented in Teotihuacan (modern Mexico) using fig tree bark; ginger began to be used extensively in China. Around 650 the windmill arrived in Europe via the Arabs. Glass for windows and stone for churches began to be used in England in 674. In 785, China was using a floating version of the magnetic compass for navigation. Nitric Acid was produced in the Arab Empires around 750. Hops for brewing beer were first used in Germany around 800. The astrolabe was perfected into an accurate portable timepiece in Persia by 850. In China, the year 910 recorded the first use of gunpowder in war. China was using strike matches by 1000.

Some important people from this period include:

Pliny The Elder (Roman historian and scholar) was born in 23; he died observing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79.
The Roman Emperor, Nero was born in 37.
The Greek mathematician and astronomer, Ptolemy, summaried the astronomical knowledge of the ancients in the book, The Almagest, in 145. This work would be translated into Arabic and eventually Latin; it would eventually help start the European Renaissance.
The warrior, Attila (The Hun) was born in 406.
The Byzantine Emperor, Justinian, was born in 483; he had silk worm eggs smuggled from China and set up Europe's first silk production.
The Arab alchemist, Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan (known as Geber) was born in (what is now) Iraq in 721; he was the first to write down his experiments systematically.
The Frankish king, Charlemagne, was born in 742.
The Arab mathematician, Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, was born in Uzbekistan c750. He popularised the use of Indian numbers (see below) and developed modern algebra.

Between 629 and 645, Hsuang-Tsang travelled from China to India and Afghanistan to collect Buddhist teachings and wrote up the account of his travels.

The city of Venice was founded in swampy lagoons in 452 by people fleeing Attila The Hun. Chichen Itza (in modern Mexico) was settled by the Mayans in 455. Paris became the capital of the Frankish Kingdom in 508. Mombassa (modern Kenya) was settled c700 as a result of Swahili-Arab trade. Dublin was founded on the Irish coast in 841 by Norse raiders.

The Dome of the Rock Mosque was built in Jerusalem in 691. The Potola Palace was built in Lhasa (Tibet) in 700 as the home of the Dalai Lama. In 752, Great Buddha in the Todai Temple (in Nara capital of Japan) was constructed. Between 800 and 900, Angkor Wat, the world's largest temple complex, was constructed in Cambodia and Borobudur (the world's largest Buddhist monument) was built in Java (modern Indonesia). The golden domed Shrine of Imam Ali was built in Najaf (modern Iraq) in 977.

Numbers

Before 150, numbers had been recorded with letters or symbols that required new ones as numbers grew larger. For example, the Roman system used I for 1, V for 5, X for 10, L for 50, C for 100, D for 500 and M for 1000. For example, the number 1967 would be written MCMLXVII where M stood for 1000, CM was "one hundred less than a thousand" (900), LX was 50 plus 10 (60) and VII was 5 and 1 and 1 (7). 1000 + 900 + 60 + 7 = 1967.

These types of numbers were very awkward to write and impossible to calculate with. They were only used for recording purposes. Fingers or the abacus were used for actual calculations. Multiplication tables were horrendous and time consuming to learn as can be seen from the partial example below.

III

VIII

DCCC

MDCCC

III

XII

XXX

CCC

MCC

MMDCC

MMM

XXV

CCL

MMD

MMMMD

MMMMM

XXX

MMMM

MMMMM

The modern numbers (1 to 9) were invented in India and were more efficient since they were positional. The figure 3 could mean three or thirty or three hundred depending on its position. Only these symbols were required for any number however large. The key to this was the invention of the zero (0). This allowed numbers like 34, 304 and 340 to be distinguished. A number like 1967 means 1 thousand (1000) plus 9 hundred (900) plus 6 tens (60) plus 7 units.

In 825 the Persians living in the Arabic speaking Abbasid Empire worked out that the Indian numbers could be used for calculation by learning a few simple rules. This was the beginning of modern arithmatic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) using pensil and paper rather than calculating tools. Multiplication tables were simple as position did not affect the result: 2 times 3 was 6 regardless of whether we were talking about units, tens or hundreds.

The Indian numbers eventually reached Europe (where they are known as Arabic Numerals) in time for the scientific revolutions of the 1500s.

By not using letters for numbers, the letters could ber used for unknown or general numbers - algebra was born, a tool now used to solve equations in all branches of science.

Books From Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

[Top]

Inventions Search Results

Years : 1 to 1,000

92 Items listed

Key Moments

Numbers

Books From Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

KryssTal Related Pages

Introduction to Numbers

Introduction to Algebra

Spherical Trigonometry

The English Language

Borrowed Words From Greek

Borrowed Words From Latin

Borrowed Words From Arabic

Borrowed Words From Mandarin