Week 16 History Essay

            This week, I learned about four new inventions. The inventions are chess, arquebus, the printing press, and the mainspring. First I will tell you about chess. Chess is a game based on Indian military strategy. It was invented by the Indians in the 6th Century AD. Chess is played by two players on a checkerboard of 64 squares, and each player gets 16 pieces. The pieces all have special names and rules they have to follow. For example, the Knight piece can only move in an L-shape. The players have to use a strategy to beat the other player and put their “king” piece in “checkmate”., which means it has nowhere to go on the board without getting captured. “Check” and “checkmate” are parts of the game that were added by the Persians. Next, I learned about the arquebus, which is basically an early gun. It was invented by China in the 13th century, and is the ancestor of the musket and rifle. Then I learned about the printing press, which is one of the most important inventions in history. It was kind of like a big stamp with wood or metal letters that can be put into words, and then stamped with ink on paper. It was invented by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440. It made a huge impact on history, because books, newspapers, and other printed materials could now be printed faster and cheaper, and ideas spread around the world quickly. Lastly, I learned about the mainspring. The mainspring is a thin, long piece of tempered steel that is wound tightly into a coil. It was used in clocks, pocket, and wrist watches. It made these things possible, because a person could wind up the mainspring, and the mainspring would unwind slowly and make the gears in the clock or watch turn. This made clocks and watches more accurate. My favorite invention this week was chess. I love to play chess with my sister, and I never knew it was invented in India as a military strategy game. This was very cool to learn.