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Period: 500 to
history of mining
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Jan 1, 700
i'm back!
It wasn’t until the 7th century that trade had begun to revive itself. After that mining made a comeback in Europe during the dark ages. -
Jan 1, 1000
why do you need so much metal?
Due to innovation in mining technology, the art of mining improved in production and quality. This was necessary because the population increase was increasing the demand for metals. -
Jan 1, 1100
water power!
By now they started to use water to power machinery that drained the underground mines -
Jan 1, 1200
Who produces the best metals?
At this time mining mostly took place near the Alps. The greatest producer of base metals was central Europe. The most famous areas for metal production were The Black Forest, Bohemia, England, France, Hungary, Saxony, Silesia, Spain, Styria and Upper Harz. -
Jan 1, 1400
Where did all the miners go?
We see a pause in mining at this time because of local impacts like The Great Famine or The Black Death and let’s not forget the Hundred Years War. Also a lot of the easy mines had been exhausted at this period. -
Jan 1, 1500
I’m down at the bottom of the well.
Mining again was starting to pick up the pieces and with new improvements, they were able to dig deeper mines into the earth. They also started to use acids to separate gold from silver. It was around this time that the new world also started to play a role in mining
Side note: the title is from the wheel of time books, I just thought it fit. -
Good bye wood and hello coal.
Due to new industries like coal-fired glassmaking and some areas that had wood shortages, coal became the better and cheaper fuel to use. -
3, 2, 1, fire in the hole.
The invention of explosives rocked the industry. Imagine what would take you all week, could be done in a day. -
Look ma, no horses.
With the invention of steam power and the locomotive, the mines could now move more ore and do it faster than with horse drawn carts. -
Let there be light.
The invention of electrical power and the combustion engine led to ore being processed faster and set up the foundation of modern mining to this day. -
50,000 tons a day.
We have now progressed to current day mining. It is amazing! The amount of ore that mines go thought in a day, just for small amounts of metals is crazy. -
got metal?
This is right after the collapse of the Roman Empire. All mining has stopped in the western half of the empire but the eastern half (Byzantine- Empire) was still mining. -
you want more metal?
At this point the demand for metals has increased dramatically. Mostly for iron, silver and gold.
