Engineering in the Middle Ages

During a period in which large landowners sought to protect themselves and their properties, massive fortress homes or castles were built. The fortress-home was characterized by thick walls, tall protective towers, and an encircling wide ditch spanned by a single bridge. With the invention of gunpowder and cannons (circa A.D. 1500), the construction of medieval castles came to an end. 

Many of the improved engineering devices, materials, and techniques of the Middle Ages appeared first in the Far East, notably in Ghina. These advancements included the invention of gunpowder and the development of processes for the making of paper, the casting of iron, and the manufacture of textiles (2). 

The advancement of science during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries had a great impact on the technological and industrial developments that followed, and the contributions of the scientists of that time continue to be felt to the present day. Some of those scientists and their contributions to scientific knowledge are as follows. 

During the 150 years leading up to the twentieth century, there was progress in mining, manufacturing, and transportation. During the 1760s, James Watt 

Pictorial book printing was known in Japan as early as a.d. 765 and even earlier in China [14). 

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