HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY
Eng. M. N. Kyalo
1
Introduction
• What is History?
A chronological record of significant events often including an
explanation of their causes
• What is Technology?
The application and knowledge, tools and skills to solve problems and
extend human capabilities
• History of Technology
History of technology helps people understand the world around them
by seeing how people of all times and places have increased their
capability by using their unique skills to innovate and improvise.
2
Aim of this course
• understand the main lines of the history of technical development in
society,
• appreciate the processes of various revolutions that have shaped the
technical world, namely the industrial, scientific electronic and ICT,
• learn the roles of an engineer in the society.
Learning outcomes
1. explain main lines and stages of technical development in a societal
context,
2.explain societal processes that determine these developments, and
3. participate in debates around new technologies and industrial
development and demonstrate how they affect development in other
countries as well as in Kenya
3
Topics Coverage
1. Early history of technical development: Early stages; iron making; African
society; mills.
2. Industrial Revolution:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Textile industry,
steam power, oil and gas, and transport systems, metals
machine tools and, mechanization and automation;
chemicals and electrical industries,
internal combustion engine; and nuclear power;
Communication systems, electronic age; information society.
3. Case studies of industrial revolution: Japan, South East-Asia countries; Kenya’s
4. Engineering and Society: Realization process on technical changes in society,
role of Engineer, individuals, organizations, institutes, state.
5. Development of technology: Global, regional and national/local perceptions;
arguments, judgments, limits on growth and economical consequences;
alternatives; the complexity of large projects- past, present and future.
4
History of technical development
• Paleolithic age 500,000 BC – 10,000 BC
• Mesolithic age 10,000 BC – 4000 BC
• Neolithic age 4000 BC – 2300 BC
• Bronze age 2300 BC – 700 BC
• Iron age 700 BC – 450 AD
• Middle ages 450 –1400 AD
• Renaissance 1400-1750 AD
• Industrial age 1750-1950 AD
• Information age 1950 AD–Present
5
PALEOLITHIC AGE
• 500,000 BC – 10,000 BC
• Emergence of a complex set of behaviors and tool use, believed by many
archaeologists to be connected to the development of modern language
• Earliest known stone tools
• Axes, knives, scrapers, cleavers
• Bone needles
• Impact of technology
• Improved health
• Enhanced security
• Enabled humans to increase population
6
MESOLITHIC AGE
• 10,000 BC – 4000 BC
• Development of composite tools
• Leatherwork, basketry, fishing tackle
• Domestication of animals
• Impacts of Technology
• Farming, domestication of animals, beginning of settled
communities
7
NEOLITHIC AGE
• 4000 BC – 2300 BC
• Development of agriculture, year round settlements
• Pottery, polished stone tools, spinning and weaving tools,
wooden and stone plows, sickles
• Impacts of Technology –
• Dependable year round food, division of labor that spurs invention
and innovation
8
BRONZE AGE
• 2300 BC – 700 BC
• Earliest civilizations - the development of metallurgy, mainly
the combining of copper and tin to make bronze
• Bronze jewelry, tools, and weapons
• Impact of Technology
• Stone tools were gradually replaced by metal ones. Enabled
humans to alter their environment at a greater rate
9
IRON AGE
• 700 BC – 450 AD
• The use of iron as the main metal.
• Iron dagger, iron chisels, small figurines, ornamental jewelry,
swords, axes, spearheads
• Impact of technology •
• Military dominance for uses of iron weapons and the use of iron
bladed plows enabled humans to cultivate heavier soils and
increase food production
10
MIDDLE AGES
• 450 –1400 AD
• The period of European history between fall of Rome and the
Renaissance
• Wheeled plow, improved harness for horses, horseshoes,
stirrups, waterwheels, crank, windmill, cast iron, cannons,
mechanical clock, compass, ocean-going ships
• Impact of technology
• The rise and decline of serfdom and feudalism, the rise of the money
economy and capitalism, the expansion and contraction of economic
activity, and the beginnings of urbanization and industrialization
11
RENAISSANCE
• 1400-1750 AD
• The transitional movement in Europe between the middle
ages and modern times, marked by a humanistic revival of
classical influence
• Telescope, microscope, thermometer, clocks, barometer
• Impact of technology
• Instrumentation enabled early scientists to observe and quantify
natural phenomena
12
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• 1750-1950 AD
• The cultural stage characterized by the first use of complex
machinery, factories, urbanization, and other economic and
general social changes from strictly agricultural societies
• Steam engine, electricity, automobile, airplane, radio, television,
telephone, and rocket
• Impact of technology
• The Industrial Revolution gave rise to urban centers requiring vast
municipal services, created a specialized and interdependent economic
life, and provided the economic base for the rise of the professions,
population expansion, and improvement in living standards
13
INFORMATION AGE
• 1950 AD–Present
• Starting in the 1950s and continuing today in which the
gathering, manipulation, classification, storage, and retrieval of
information is central to the workings of society
• Transistor, integrated circuit, computer, communication satellite,
digital photography, artificial heart, nuclear power plant, space
shuttle
• Impact of technology
• As information becomes more widely available, increasing numbers of
individuals and organizations will be in a better position to make
decisions that “experts” now make, decentralizing decision making and
empowering more people
14
Assignment 1
Write an essay on ‘Achievements in science and technology in ancient
Africa’
(approx. 800 words)
List four great technology inventors and briefly outline their inventions
during each of the following periods in history
a. Renaissance
b. Industrial age
c. Information age
(approx. 400 words)
Cite your sources using IEEE style
Submit on Tuesday, 8th February 2020
15
References
1. https://www.britannica.com/technology/history-of-technology
2. Zimmerman, Kathy Ann (September 7, 2017). "History of
Computers: A Brief Timeline". livescience.com.
3. Berlanstein, Lenard R., ed. (1992). The Industrial Revolution and
work in nineteenth-century Europe. London and New York:
Routledge.
16
End
17