Week 12 History Essay

            The four inventions that I learned about this week are the trebuchet, distilled spirits, the vertical windmill, and the stern-mounted rudder. First, I’ll talk about the trebuchet. The trebuchet is basically like a catapult, and it throws large boulders to knock down city walls or buildings. It was first invented by the Chinese in 300 BC, but was also used by the Byzantine Empire to help them recapture Nycea from the Muslims. Next, I learned about distilled spirits, which is a type of alcohol like brandy, vodka, whiskey, etc. Distilled spirits are made by fermenting grains or fruits. The first distilled spirit was brandy in southern Europe. The Bible describes the benefits of “strong drink”, which means distilled spirits. But if you drink too much of it, you get drunk and have bad judgment. The next thing I learned about is the vertical windmill. The vertical windmill is a tower with many sails in the shape of a circle that catches the wind and creates energy to do some other kind of work. It was invented by Hero of Alexandria around 50 AD. Hero was a Greek mathematician and engineer. We still use windmills today to create energy for electricity. The last invention I learned about this week is the stern-mounted rudder, which is basically a wooden fin on the stern or the back of a boat or ship. It helps to steer the ship. It was invented by the Chinese, but introduced by the Europeans. It helped make trade across the ocean easier and faster to increase profits. Those are the four inventions that I learned about this week.