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Until 10 000 B.C

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10 000 B.C to 3 000 B.C

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3 000 B.C to 500 A.D

(History starts when there are written records.)

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500 A.D 1500 A.D

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1500 A.D - 1750 A.D

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Around XIX century

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1900 - 2000 A.D

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Homo habilis (approximately 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago) learnt how to make stone

tools.

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People continued to live in “hunter – gatherer” small groups.

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THE HUNTER-GATHERERS:

From the start of mankind until the invention of agriculture,

people lived in small groups. They lived from hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants (fruits, etc.), occasionally also from fishing. Some human groups had a territory, some were nomadic.

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Homo erectus used and made fire at least 400,000 years ago.

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Working the animal skin to serve as vest.

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Tools of wood, bone and horn.

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The bow and arrow (evolved at the end of this period).

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The use of pigments for paintings and body decoration.

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THE TRADERS:

Farmers and artisans sometimes could trade their products. At the start it was the farmers and artisans who traded, but soon the “trader” appeared as a specialised profession. Traders did their job locally but also “long-distance”. The best known trader society were The Phoenicians.

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Nowadays

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HOUSES:

The first cities were the Sumerian cities, about 5,500 years ago, in northern Mesopotamia. There were several building techniques using mud, wood, stone, thatch or a combination of these materials.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETYS:

Thanks to the invention of agriculture the density of population grew very fast in the fertile valleys. The population growth created the need to develop construction techniques to make homes. People constructed villages in the centre or near their fertile land. The village was the centre of social live.

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AGRICULTURE:

Archaeological data indicates that the start of agriculture happened in separate locations worldwide. The first seeds used were wild seeds gathered from nature, then, harvest after harvest, farmers selected the plants with the best crops.

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DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS:

Dogs were domesticated at least 12,000 years ago. Sheep and goats: 9000 BC were the first animals domesticated as a source of

food, this happened in Northern Iraq. Cattle and pigs were domesticated

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CERAMICS:

There are ceramic figures from 24,000 BC. But it wasn’t until 10,000 BC that functional ceramics were made: bricks, tiles and pottery (in Mesopotamia and India).

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METALS:

Copper was the first metal to be used. At the beginning it was a material to make little ornaments, so it wasn’t really a technological tool, but its metallurgy was a technological process.

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The date history starts varies enormously from region to region. For example, in Egypt history started around 3200 BC, but in New Guinea history started in the 16th century AD.

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THE ARTISANS:

Also thanks to agriculture not everybody had to work to obtain

food, some people specialised in doing other jobs: there were

people specialised in construction, other people specialised in

making clothes...

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Navigation: we don’t know when we started to sail, maybe it happened in India. We know that during the ancient empires there were rowing boats with a sail that was good when the wind was in the same direction as the desired route

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Bronze: it was an alloy of copper and lead, it was harder and more resilient than copper. It was a good enough material to make swords so the societies that had the knowledge of its metallurgy became more powerful than their rivals.

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“Iron”: it was steel! (iron with 2% carbon), its metallurgy required higher temperatures, but the resulting metal was better than bronze for swords and lance heads.

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The wheel: People think of the wheel as primitive technology, but it is so ingenious that it wasn`t invented until 3500 B.C.

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Bronze: it was an alloy of copper and lead, it was harder and more resilient than copper. It was a good enough material to make swords so the societies that had the knowledge of its metallurgy became more powerful than their rivals.

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Architecture: it was the Romans that mastered construction techniques: the ceramic brick, mortar, the Roman arch, the paved road...

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Paper: invented in China in the 2nd Century BC, it was better than previously used papyrus because it is made of processed cellulose, while papyrus was simply the dried paste of the milled papyrus, a plant rich in cellulose. It wasn’t known in Europe until the Middle Ages.

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Steel metallurgy: there was a series of inventions during the Middle Ages in Europe hat improved the quality of steel and reduced its cost. Steel tools became common in agriculture, crafts, warfare, transport, etc.

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The plough. A series of inventions progressively evolved

the plough and resulted in different ploughs for different purposes. The increase in productivity resulted in an increase of the population and an increase in the proportion of people dedicated to other activities.

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Based on existing screw presses Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1439. The printing press incorporated “movable characters” to the press, making it easy to mass print books. Knowledge spread much more easily than before.

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The Kill + the “latin sail”: allowed ships to use wind from any direction to move in the desired direction.

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The compass: invented in China in ancient history, it became an important invention when European navigators started to use it at the end of the Middle Ages.

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The marine astrolabe, invented around 1480, was a graduated circle to measure vertical angles. By measuring the sun's midday angle to the horizon (Meridian Altitude) or the Meridian Altitude of a known star, navigators could determine the latitude of a ship at sea.

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THE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY:

The use of machines to mass produce standardised products in factories substituted the work of the artisans. Industry boomed so fast that many farmers also changed their jobs to work in the factories. In the industrial society most people work in factories. The job is repetitive, especially in the assembly lines. We say a society is “industrial” when there are more people working in industry than in farming.

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THE SOCIETY OF SERVICES: (or “post-industrial society”)

As the assembly lines became more and more productive, because of automation and many other advances, industry required less workers. Now that society had enough food supply with few workers and industrial production with few workers, more and more people started to dedicate to services (shops, restaurants, banking, holidays ...). We say a society is “post-industrial” when there are more people working in services than in industry.

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THE INFORMATION SOCIETY:

The information technology developments of the 20th century: telephone, internet, television... are the base for mass media communication. People have information about what happens far from them, because they watch the news, or communicate with other individuals or read blogs. The use of search engines on the Internet gives people easy

access to the information they want.

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WHAT SOCIETY DO WE LIVE IN?

We normally define our society as post-industrial or information or global society, because those are things that characterise it, but fishing is still a source of food, some people work in farming and in industry... There is a bit of all types of societies in the modern world.

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The Middle Ages had been a time of fast technological

development in Europe. At the start of the 16th century

Europeans were capable of sailing across oceans.

During the modern age, scientific research helped in the

technological race.

Now Europeans start to trade worldwide and conquer land in

other continents. It is the start of colonialism. Europe imports raw materials and exports manufactured goods.

The later Industrial Revolution in England will increase this

situation.

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In 1590 Dutchman Zacharias Janssen invents the

compound microscope (a microscope with more than

one lense).

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In 1593 Galileo Galilei invents the thermometer. It was

a glass bulb with water inside, the water moved up and down as the temperature changed.

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In 1636 W. Gascoigne invents the micrometer.

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In 1642 Frenchmen Blaise Pascal invents an adding machine.

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In 1643 Evangelista Torricelli invents the barometer.

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In 1650 Otto von Guericke invents the air pump.

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In 1709 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol

thermometer.

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In 1712 Thomas Newcomen builds a steam pump to

pump water out of mines, it is a step in a series of

inventions that will later lead to the invention of the

steam engine.

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In 1733 Stephen Hales takes measurements of blood

pressure.