Europe and Asia At the zenith of the Roman Empire, overland trade joined the cultures of Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, China, and India. But the system of road transport was dependent on the Roman, Chinese, and Mauryan empires, and, as these great empires declined in the early Christian era, the trade routes became routes of invasion. Except in…
India The Indus civilization in Sindh, Balochistฤn, and the Punjab probably flourished in the period 3250โ2750 BC. Excavations indicate that the cities of this civilization paved their major streets with burned bricks cemented with bitumen. Great attention was devoted to drainage. The houses had drainpipes that carried the water to a street drain in the centre of the street,…
The Amber Routes During the 2nd millennium BC, trade ways developed in Europe. One route, for example, ran between Italy and Spain via Marseille and nearby Heraclea, close to present-day Avignon, France. Such ways were used for the movement of flints from Denmark, freestone from Belgium, salt from Austria, lead and tin from England, and amber from…
Roads and highways, traveled way on which people, animals, or wheeled vehicles move. In modern usage the term road describes a rural, lesser traveled way, while the word street denotes an urban roadway. Highway refers to a major rural traveled way; more recently it has been used for a road, in either a rural or urban area, where points of entrance and…
Military technology, range of weapons, equipment, structures, and vehicles used specifically for the purpose of warfare. It includes the knowledge required to construct such technology, to employ it in combat, and to repair and replenish it. Red ArmyCold War-era poster of Soviet army equipment. The technology of war may be divided into five categories. Offensive arms harm…
Energy conversion, the transformation of energy from forms provided by nature to forms that can be used by humans. Over the centuries a wide array of devices and systems has been developed for this purpose. Some of these energy converters are quite simple. The early windmills, for example, transformed the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy for pumping water and grinding grain. Other…
Manufacturing, any industry that makes products from raw materials by the use of manual labour or machinery and that is usually carried out systematically with a division of labour. (See industry.) In a more limited sense, manufacturing denotes the fabrication or assembly of components into finished products on a fairly large scale. Among the most important manufacturing industries are…
Transportation, the movement of goods and persons from place to place and the various means by which such movement is accomplished. The growth of the abilityโand the needโto transport large quantities of goods or numbers of people over long distances at high speeds in comfort and safety has been an index of civilization and in particular of…
A tall building like the “Burj” in Dubai is almost 818 meters (2684 feet) above the ground level, which is currently the worldโs tallest man-made structure. But how can you calculate it’s height? There are actually several methods of doing so without leaving the ground. Everyone is aware of the Empire State building or the Eiffel Tower….
The E indicates an exponent, as in scientific notation, followed by a positive or negative number, representing the power of 10 by which the given conversion factor is to be multiplied before use.