This document summarizes 10 medieval inventions that changed the world: 1) the mechanical clock, which allowed for accurate time measurement and changed work schedules; 2) the printing press, which enabled mass book production; 3) gunpowder, which revolutionized warfare; 4) water and wind mills, which harnessed natural energy; 5) banknotes, a precursor to modern paper currency; 6) cafes, which became popular social spaces; and 7) glasses, which corrected vision problems. Overall, while the Middle Ages had difficulties, it was also a period of important inventions that helped advance humanity.

1. THE INVENTIONS

2. INDEX
• 0-INTRODUCCIÓN
• 1-EL RELOJ MECÁNICO
• 2-LA IMPRENTA
• 3-LA PÓLVORA
• 4-LOS MOLINOS DE AGUA Y VIENTO
• 5-EL BILLETE
• 6-LAS CAFETERÍAS
• 7-LAS GAFAS

3. INTRODUCTION
• The Middle Ages were not a dark period. Yes, there were very
complicated periods, wars, diseases, pests and weather
calamities. But, in those years, a lot of inventions that helped the
evolution of humanity were discovered. Of all those here we have
the 10 medieval inventions that changed the world.

4. 1-EL RELOJ MECÁNICO
• Time measuring devices were known from
antiquity but it wasn't until the Middle Ages
that technology allowed mechanical
watches to accurately measure time.
• The knowledge of minute and second would
change the way people organized their days
and their work schedules, especially in
urban areas.
•

5. 2-LA IMPRENTA
• The technology was developed in China to
be able to print on materials such as paper,
but it was in the fifteenth century, on
horseback between the Middle Ages and the
Modern Ages, that the German Johannes
Gutenberg and his printing press began a
new era of the mass production of books.

6. 3-LA PÓLVORA
• Gunpowder was invented in China
sometime between the 9th and 11th
centuries, and it did not take long to
be used in weapons.
• The Mongols spread their knowledge
through Eurasia in the 13th century,
which would revolutionize the art of
war, leaving much of military
technology obsolete.

7. 4-LOS MOLINOS DE AGUA Y VIENTO
• The mills were used by man from the
time of the Neolithic but it was in the
Middle Ages that they became very
popular.
• In this medieval period new and
ingenious forms of mills were invented,
allowing the population to use the
energy of elements of nature such as
river water or wind.
•

8. 5-EL BILLETE
• The first time the banknote is used is in the 7th
century. It was much easier to transport with the
consequent benefit to merchants.
• However, the concept of giving value to a marked
sheet of paper did not become popular. A tribe of
Africa in the 13th century tried to introduce currency
paper to the Middle East but it was a failure.
• Banknotes would not circulate in Europe until the
17th century. German
Banknote

9. 6- LAS CAFETERÍAS
• The habit of drinking coffee arose around
the 15th century in the Arabian Peninsula.
• Cafés became very popular there and on
Ottoman lands.
• These establishments would not reach
Europe until the Modern Ages, changing not
only the way people ate and drank, but
creating new ways of social interaction.
Tallinn cafeteria (Capital of Estonia)

10. 7-LAS GAFAS
• We are not sure who was the
inventor of glasses, an artifact
that was first used in Western
Europe in the late 13th century.
• These glasses allowed to correct
vision problems, being one of the
most useful medieval inventions.

11. By Víctor González Amieva