A History of Science and Technology

* BCE- before common era, corresponds to before christ

CE- common era, corresponds to Anno Domini

Througout time, the major driving forces behind S&T are:

1. The need to survive in their environment.
2. Improve the quality of life.
3. Make every day tasks easier.

Early concerns then included the need for the following:

1. Transportation
2. Communication
3. Weapons and armors
4. Conservation of life
5. Architecture (which later became a symbol of power and might of the major civilizations)

Major Civilizations and Historical Antecedents of S&T

I. Ancient Times

A. Asia and Africa

Chinese Civilization
China is considered to be the most isolated oa all the ancient civilizations. It was isolated from
outside influences which resulted in agriculture and metalworking originating independently in Chian.
It is not very clear when agriculture was first practiced and China. But once it came into place, the
entire civilization became rested on agrarian foundations.
The country is divided into the dry northern flatlands and the better-watterd southern valleys.
Late Paleolithic Chinese roamed the grasslands of the great Northern Plain, surviving by gathering wild
varieties of millet. Around 7000-6000 BCe, they started to settle along the Yellow River. They elevated
rheir villages above the floodplain by earth platforms and surrounding them with earthen walls. They
developed terracing and irrigation techniques. They planted millet barley, soy and hemp in yellow,
windblown soil called loess. The Yellow River is named for the color it assumes because of loess being
windblown and deposited in it. The river causes floods that were damaging and had to be controlled.
Another river would later prove significant in shaping Chinese history: the Yangtze River. This
river runs far to the south through a warmer and wetter landscape. South of the Yangtze, non-Chinese
people hunted pigs and gathered wild varieties of rice in swamplands along the river. Between 10,000
and 7000 BCE, settled farm life established the wet rice culture of China. Everntually the north
conquered the south and the rice of the Yangtze became even more important than millet.

In summary, the following are key characteristics of Chinese civilization: reverence for ancestors,
big importance of family and prestige of educated and of the written word.

(some) Claim to Fame:

- bronze ware
- ceramics
- silk
- historical literature
- poetry
- metallurgy
- gunpowder
- The Great Wall

Around 15,000 BCE, warmer global climate began melting glaciers in the northern hemisphere.
This raised sea levels, exposing the land masses. Later on, ir exposed inland lakes, streams and forests.
In Southeast Asia, a group of hunter-gatherers called the Natufians flourished in the Near and Middle
East.
 Around 11,000 BCE however, the Younger Dryar Event caused accumulated glacial melt water in
Northern Canada to suddenly burst into the Atlantic Gulf Stream. This once again caused in drier and
cooler conditions which characterized the late Ice Age. The Natufians were forced to congregate in
small, semi-permanent villages near surviving streams and rivers.
These events caused small groups of Western Asians to switch from hunter-gatherers to planting
and domestication (early agriculture). In the Near East, the first farming settlements appeared in a
section called the Levantine Corridor. This arc of land has high water tables and included much of
present day Israel, Syria and the Euphrates River Valley. The communities here planted mostly cereals
and domesticated goats, sheep and later cattle (mostly from Africa). Switching to agriculture is one
major occurence that leads to the rise of major civilizations. One such example is the part of the
Levantine Corridor which included the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, a land which the Greeks
called Mesopotamia (land between the rivers). This corresponds to southeastern Iraq today.

Sumerian Civilization
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers originate from Turkey, flowing parallel to each other for about 644 km
to join together and flow into the Persian gulf. The Sumerians established the first uran civilization and
did extensive irrigation farming in the lower Mesopotamia around 5000 BCE. The environment is arid
with unpredictable annual flood caused by the 2 rivers. The rise of this civilization is a tale of
technological and cultural advances.
The following are the key characteristics and contributions of the civilization:

1. Created the first large cities with more than 100,000 people each city. Each city is encircled bu
farmers who built canals and provided agricultural surplus that he elite depended on.
2. They developed a system of writing. This is because they needed to record their calendar, so they
can predict seasonal changes, commercial and religious taxation, marital inheritance conracts. They
used clay, paper and stone as medium. This system of writing started our as pictography but later
evolved inro phonetic written language (written signs that indicate sounds of spoken language). About
3500 BCE, a basic format of written language was developed, the cunieform, and written on clay
tablets.
3. Post and lintel systems (beams held up by columns)
4. Probably invented the wheel.
5. Irrigation system powered by gravity.
6. Use of plow and among the 1st to use bronze metal.
7. Developed a calendar based on the cyclic nature of seasonal changes.
8. Ziggurats- stepped pyramids where priests and dependents ritually prayed and made offerings.

Egyptian Civilization
Egypt forms the valley of the Nile River, which flows for 6400 km (longest in the world, flows in a
northward direction). The Nile River is considered as a benevolent one compared to the unpredictable
Tigris and Euphrates. It swells gently in the late summer until in overflows in the low banks and spread
out over the valley floor. It carries with it a load of fertile silt, which after 2-3 weeks renews the valley
with fresh layer of good topsoil.
Egypt is geographically isolated, protecting it from invasion. On the East and West are deserts.
The northerly flowing Nile forms rapids known as the cataracts which prevents easy passage into
Egypt. On the north, the sea gave the Nile Delta some protection from intruders while still allowing
some maritime operations.
The population is composed mostly of peasants. Farmers engage in labor intensive farming with
the aid of some animals to do digging repairing of channels, turning the soil, planting, weeding and
harvesting. The Egyptiants are known to have intimate relationship with their natural environment,
making it productive and passing it on to their descendants.
The pharaohs that ruled them are known as god-kings. Meaning they are considered as gods that
lived among men, not merely being like gods.
Egyptian life is different from MEsopotamian. The Egyptians enjoyed stability, punctuated by
occasional decades-long floods. This is brought about by the predictability of the Nile and the
protection from invasion provided by its geography.

(Some) Claim to Fame:

-mastery of stone
- pyramids
- Hieroglyphics
- cosmetics

II. Europe

Greek Civilization
- descendant of nomadic Indo-European group of people. Ancient Greek history is divided into 3
epochs:
1. Minoan- Mycenean Age- 2000 BCE- 1100 BCE
2. Hellenic Period- Time of Homer to mid 300 BCE; this includes the Classical Period which is the
golden age of Greek philosophy and art
3. Hellenistic Age- final blossoming from 300 BCE to 1st Century CE (99 to 0 BCE)

The geography of Greece is characterized by small island of the Aegean, the western end of Asia Minor
and the mountainous southern tip of European mainland. It has little land for large scale farming with
no broad river valleys of expansive plains. It is composed on dozens of protected harbors and bays
along its coast.

Because of this, the Greeks were known as espert sailors from the beginning, with ships and
shipping being a major part of their livelihood. The mountain were difficult to traveres so it was easy
to travel by sea. They established a seaborne commercial network that spanned most of the easterm
Mediterranean. This made them very wealthy and resulted in the establishment of small but powerful
states ruled by palace- dwelling kings. This later on led to the development of Greek architecture, with
the palaces being a symbol of power and wealth.

Claim to Fame:
- contributions to architecture, literature, arts, science and philosophy
- system of government (Monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy and democracy)
- engagement in wars (Eg. Persian, Peloponnesian)
Roman Civilization
Roman civilization is considered to be a successor to Hellenistic Greece even if the two actually
overlapped in time. Rome is situated about halfway down the western coast of the Italian peninsula,
where the Tiber River flows through fertile plains before opening to the sea.
They are also descendants of the Indo-Europeans who settled in Central and Southern Italy
around 1500 BCE. There, they developed farming villages but were not as advanced as their East
Mediterranean counterparts. About 800 BCR, 3 groups of people from the East entered and colonized
Italy:
A. Etruscans- already very highly civlized, established a series of small city states and ruled with
their superior weaponry and organization. They left very little written records but left behind
underground tombs.
B. Greeks- impressed the early Romans with their advanced culture; they moved to rome
because of overcrowding in Corinth, Thebes and other Greek cities They transformed south Italy into a
prosperous and commercially advanced civilization. But in the process, they had to constanty fight off
the Etruscans and Phoenicians.
C. Phoenicians- came to Rome via Carthage. Carthage wa a powerful force that sent ships to as
far away places as Britain, The North Sea, up the Nile, Spain and France.

Claim to fame: Romans were known for applying scientific knowledge to everyday problems of society.

Source: World Civilizations by Philip J. Adler and Randall L. Pouwels, 2008.