Before the rise of the Industrial era, people used energy in different ways than modern times. Energy for people in the past was mostly based on what was found in nature. First people were hunters and gatherers and their activities depended on human work for the energy to complete any task. Slowly, people began to devise plans to more efficiently gather and hunt food while conserving human energy output. New tools and ideas like land clearing lead to the rise of shifting cultivation allowed more food collection to maintain optimal human energy levels. Then animals were domesticated. With the domestication of animals and use of plows allowed for a lower human energy needed and a higher concern on getting the most energy out of animals. The advantages of cattle and then horses for work were analyzed and adapted over the years to create the largest energy output from each animal. Plus, people investigate the use of wood and charcoal as fuel for providing external energy. The search for external energy sources lead to the harvesting of water power with waterwheels from streams and rivers. Then the wind with windmills was utilized, both of which produced higher energy output than previous sources. Also, with the wind came sail ships, which would allow long transportation of people across the oceans, again utilizing external energy. Finally copper, iron, and steel were used to create better tools and items to allow for the highest energy to be obtained from other sources. Along with these was the introduction of gunpowder, a high energy origin that people could harvest for multiple uses.

Answers:
The ultimate energy source in a pre-industrial society would be the muscular exertions of people and animals as these were the backbone of “over a millennia of settled societies.”
An innovation from pre-industrial societies was the creation of the windmill because it allowed people to harvest an external energy source that was located in almost any area almost every day.
Disadvantages in the energy sources from the past were that there was not a very high energy output and several sources even needed more energy input to obtain optimal performance, so they were not cost effective.

Questions:
1-When discussing sail ships, the book mentions how the first ship to sail around the world was much smaller than some the ships used by the Romans centuries before, why did the naval technologies of people not be advanced higher earlier in time?
2-Does it seem that the foods from European agriculture allowed for larger densities of settlements and consequently the technological advantage enjoyed by Europe populations for so many centuries?3- Was it the large sailing ships or the revolution of using gunpowder that allowed for European dominance around the 16th century or was it the ability to combine the two?