Early uses of
water power date back to
Mesopotamia and
ancient Egypt, where
irrigation has been used since the 6th millennium BC and
water clocks have been used since the early 2nd millennium BC. Other early examples of water power include the
Qanat system in ancient Persia, the
Turpan water system in ancient Central Asia, and the Piedras Bolas aqueduct in ancient Mexico.
Mayan Empire The
Maya at
Palenque (in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico) engineered the first known pressurized water system in the Americas. By constructing a subterranean aqueduct (the Piedras Bolas aqueduct) that narrowed significantly at the downstream end, they utilized hydraulic principles to create water pressure capable of shooting water upwards to a height of 6 meters (20 ft). This system was likely used for fountains or sanitary purposes, operating without the need for mechanical pumps.
Persian Empire and Urartu In the
Persian Empire or previous entities in Persia, the
Persians constructed an intricate system of water mills, canals and dams known as the
Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System. The project, commenced by
Achaemenid king
Darius the Great and finished by a group of Roman engineers captured by Sassanian king
Shapur I, has been referred to by
UNESCO as "a masterpiece of creative genius". of the
Qanat, an underground aqueduct, around the 9th century BC. Several of Iran's large, ancient gardens were irrigated thanks to Qanats. The Qanat spread to neighboring areas, including the
Armenian highlands. There, starting in the early 8th century BC, the
Kingdom of Urartu undertook significant hydraulic works, such as the
Menua canal. The earliest evidence of
water wheels and
watermills dates back to the
ancient Near East in the 4th century BC, specifically in the Persian Empire before 350 BC in the regions of
Iraq,
Iran, and
Egypt.
China In
ancient China there were
Sunshu Ao (6th century BC),
Ximen Bao (5th century BC),
Du Shi (circa 31 AD),
Zhang Heng (78 – 139 AD), and
Ma Jun (200 – 265 AD), while medieval China had
Su Song (1020 – 1101 AD) and
Shen Kuo (1031–1095). Du Shi employed a
waterwheel to power the
bellows of a
blast furnace producing
cast iron. Zhang Heng was the first to employ hydraulics to provide motive power in rotating an
armillary sphere for
astronomical observation.
Sri Lanka In ancient Sri Lanka, hydraulics were widely used in the ancient kingdoms of
Anuradhapura and
Polonnaruwa. The discovery of the principle of the valve tower, or valve pit, (Bisokotuwa in Sinhalese) for regulating the escape of water is credited to ingenuity more than 2,000 years ago. By the first century AD, several large-scale irrigation works had been completed. Macro- and micro-hydraulics to provide for domestic horticultural and agricultural needs, surface drainage and erosion control, ornamental and recreational water courses and retaining structures and also cooling systems were in place in
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. The coral on the massive rock at the site includes
cisterns for collecting water. Large ancient reservoirs of Sri Lanka are Kalawewa (King Dhatusena), Parakrama Samudra (King Parakrama Bahu), Tisa Wewa (King Dutugamunu), and Minneriya (King Mahasen).
Greco-Roman world In
Ancient Greece, the Greeks constructed sophisticated water and hydraulic power systems. An example is a construction by
Eupalinos, under a public contract, of a watering channel for
Samos, the
Tunnel of Eupalinos. An early example of the usage of a hydraulic wheel, likely the earliest in Europe, is the Perachora wheel (3rd century BC). In
Greco-Roman Egypt, the construction of the first hydraulic machine
automata by
Ctesibius (flourished c. 270 BC) and
Hero of Alexandria (c. 10 – 80 AD) is notable. Hero describes several working machines using hydraulic power, such as the
force pump, which is known from many Roman sites as having been used for raising water and in fire engines. , a 1st-century AD masterpiece In the
Roman Empire, different hydraulic applications were developed, including public water supplies, innumerable
aqueducts, power using watermills and
hydraulic mining. They were among the first to make use of the
siphon to carry water across valleys, and used
hushing on a large scale to prospect for and then extract metal
ores. They used
lead widely in
plumbing systems for domestic and public supply, such as feeding
thermae. Hydraulic mining was used in the gold-fields of northern Spain, which was conquered by
Augustus in 25 BC. The alluvial
gold mine of
Las Medulas was one of the largest of their mines. At least seven long aqueducts worked it, and the water streams were used to erode the soft deposits, and then wash the tailings for the valuable gold content.
Arabic-Islamic world In the
Muslim world during the
Islamic Golden Age and
Arab Agricultural Revolution (8th–13th centuries), engineers made wide use of
hydropower as well as early uses of
tidal power, and large hydraulic
factory complexes. A variety of water-powered industrial mills were used in the Islamic world, including
fulling mills,
gristmills,
paper mills,
hullers,
sawmills,
ship mills,
stamp mills,
steel mills,
sugar mills, and
tide mills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from
Al-Andalus and
North Africa to the
Middle East and
Central Asia. Muslim engineers also used
water turbines, employed
gears in watermills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.
Al-Jazari (1136–1206) described designs for 50 devices, many of them water-powered, in his book,
The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, including water clocks, a device to serve wine, and five devices to lift water from rivers or pools. These include
an endless belt with jugs attached and a reciprocating device with hinged valves. The earliest
programmable machines were water-powered devices developed in the Muslim world. A
music sequencer, a programmable
musical instrument, was the earliest type of programmable machine. The first music sequencer was an automated water-powered
flute player invented by the
Banu Musa brothers, described in their
Book of Ingenious Devices, in the 9th century. In 1206, Al-Jazari invented water-powered programmable automata/
robots. He described four automaton musicians, including drummers operated by a programmable
drum machine, where they could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns. == Modern history ==