Editing Hydropower (section)

===Ancient history===
[[File:水击面罗.jpg|thumb|A water piston from the ''Nongshu'' by [[Wang Zhen (inventor)|Wang Zhen]] (fl. 1290–1333)]]
[[File:SaintAnthonyFalls.jpg|thumb|[[Saint Anthony Falls]], [[United States]]; hydropower was used here to mill flour.]]
[[File: WATER-POWERED ORE MILL, TAKEN FROM SOUTH - Liberty Historic District, Water Powered Ore Mill, Route 2, Cle Elum, Liberty, Kittitas County, WA HABS WASH,19-LIB,1W-1.tif|thumb|Directly water-powered ore mill, late nineteenth century]]
Evidence suggests that the fundamentals of hydropower date to [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek civilization]].<ref name="Munoz-Hernandez-2013">{{cite book |last1=Munoz-Hernandez |first1=German Ardul |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781447122906 |title=Modelling and Controlling Hydropower Plants |last2=Mansoor |first2=Sa'ad Petrous |last3=Jones |first3=Dewi Ieuan |date=2013 |publisher=Springer London |isbn=978-1-4471-2291-3 |location=London |page= |author-link1= |author-link2= |author-link3=}}</ref> Other evidence indicates that the waterwheel independently emerged in China around the same period.<ref name="Munoz-Hernandez-2013" /> Evidence of [[water wheel]]s and [[watermill]]s date to the [[ancient Near East]] in the 4th century BC.{{sfn|Reynolds|1983|p=14}} Moreover, evidence indicates the use of hydropower using irrigation machines to ancient civilizations such as [[Sumer]] and [[Babylonia]].{{sfn|Breeze|2018|p={{pn|date=March 2025}}}} Studies suggest that the water wheel was the initial form of water power.{{sfn|Breeze|2018|p={{pn|date=March 2025}}}}

In the [[Roman Empire]], water-powered mills were described by [[Vitruvius]] by the first century BC.<ref name="Oleson2">{{cite book |last=Oleson |first=John Peter |title=Greek and Roman mechanical water-lifting devices: the history of a technology |date=1984 |publisher=Springer |isbn=90-277-1693-5 |page=373 |id={{ASIN|9027716935|country=uk}} |author-link=John Peter Oleson |jstor=10.3138/j.ctvcj2t2n }}</ref> The [[Barbegal mill]], located in modern-day France, had 16 water wheels processing up to 28 tons of grain per day.<ref name="Hill-2013" /> Roman waterwheels were also used for sawing marble such as the [[Hierapolis sawmill]] of the late 3rd century AD.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Greene |first1=Kevin |date=1990 |title=Perspectives on Roman technology |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=209–219 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.1990.tb00223.x }}</ref> Such sawmills had a waterwheel that drove two crank-and-connecting rods to power two saws. It also appears in two 6th century [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman]] [[sawmill]]s excavated at [[Ephesus]] and [[Gerasa]] respectively. The [[Crank (mechanism)|crank]] and connecting rod mechanism of these [[List of Roman watermills|Roman watermills]] converted the rotary motion of the waterwheel into the linear movement of the saw blades.<ref>{{cite book |last=Magnusson |first=Roberta J. |url= |title=Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-6626-5 |location=Baltimore |page= |author-link=}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}</ref> 

Water-powered trip hammers and bellows in China, during the [[Han dynasty]] (202&nbsp;BC – 220&nbsp;AD), were initially thought to be powered by [[Water scoop (hydropower)|water scoops]].{{sfn|Reynolds|1983|pp=26–30}} However, some historians suggested that they were powered by waterwheels. This is since it was theorized that water scoops would not have had the motive force to operate their [[blast furnace]] bellows.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lucas |first=Adam |url= |title=Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology |date=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn= |location=Leiden |page=55 |author-link=}}</ref> Many texts describe the Hun waterwheel; some of the earliest ones are the ''[[Jijiupian]]'' dictionary of 40&nbsp;BC, [[Yang Xiong (author)|Yang Xiong]]'s text known as the ''[[Fangyan (book)|Fangyan]]'' of 15&nbsp;BC, as well as ''Xin Lun,'' written by [[Huan Tan]] about 20 AD.<ref name="Needham-1986">{{cite book |last=Needham |first=Joseph |url= |title=Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 4: Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering |date=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-05803-1 |location=Taipei |page=370 |author-link=Joseph Needham}}</ref> It was also during this time that the engineer [[Du Shi]] (c.&nbsp;AD&nbsp;31) applied the power of [[waterwheel]]s to [[piston]]-[[bellows]] in forging cast iron.<ref name="Needham-1986" />

Ancient Indian texts dating back to the 4th century BC refer to the term ''cakkavattaka'' (turning wheel), which commentaries explain as ''arahatta-ghati-yanta'' (machine with wheel-pots attached), however whether this is water or hand powered is disputed by scholars{{sfn|Reynolds|1983|p=14}} On this basis, [[Joseph Needham]] suggested that the machine was a [[noria]]. Terry S. Reynolds, however, argues that the "term used in Indian texts is ambiguous and does not clearly indicate a water-powered device."{{cite quote|date=March 2025}} Thorkild Schiøler argued that it is "more likely that these passages refer to some type of tread- or hand-operated water-lifting device, instead of a water-powered water-lifting wheel."{{cite quote|date=March 2025}}

India received Roman water mills and baths in the early 4th century AD when a certain according to Greek sources.<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=400}}: {{blockquote|This is also the period when water-mills started to spread outside the former Empire. According to [[Cedrenus]] (Historiarum compendium), a certain Metrodoros who went to India in c. A.D. 325 "constructed water-mills and baths, unknown among them [the Brahmans] till then".}}</ref> Dams, spillways, reservoirs, channels, and water balance would develop in India during the [[Maurya Empire|Mauryan]], [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] and [[Chola Empire|Chola]] empires.<ref name="Hill2008">{{cite book |author=Christopher V. Hill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9D4Ob1YcJgC&pg=PA33 |title=South Asia: An Environmental History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-85109-925-2 |pages=33–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-87067-6_18 |chapter=Evolution of Water Management Practices in India |title=Riverine Systems |date=2022 |last1=Jain |first1=Sharad |last2=Sharma |first2=Aisha |last3=Mujumdar |first3=P. P. |pages=325–349 |isbn=978-3-030-87066-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Pushpendra Kumar |last2=Dey |first2=Pankaj |last3=Jain |first3=Sharad Kumar |last4=Mujumdar |first4=Pradeep P. |title=Hydrology and water resources management in ancient India |journal=Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |date=5 October 2020 |volume=24 |issue=10 |pages=4691–4707 |doi=10.5194/hess-24-4691-2020 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020HESS...24.4691S }}</ref>

Another example of the early use of hydropower is seen in [[hushing]], a historic method of mining that uses flood or torrent of water to reveal mineral veins. The method was first used at the [[Dolaucothi Gold Mines]] in [[Wales]] from 75 AD onwards. This method was further developed in Spain in mines such as [[Las Médulas]]. Hushing was also widely used in [[Great Britain|Britain]] in the [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] and later periods to extract [[lead]] and [[tin]] ores. It later evolved into [[hydraulic mining]] when used during the [[California Gold Rush]] in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nakamura |first1=Tyler K. |last2=Singer |first2=Michael Bliss |last3=Gabet |first3=Emmanuel J. |date=2018 |title=Remains of the 19th Century: Deep storage of contaminated hydraulic mining sediment along the Lower Yuba River, California |journal=Elem Sci Anth |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=70 |doi=10.1525/elementa.333 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018EleSA...6...70N }}</ref>

The [[Islamic Empire]] spanned a large region, mainly in Asia and Africa, along with other surrounding areas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoyland |first=Robert G. |url= |title=In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-991636-8 |location=Oxford |page= |author-link=Robert G. Hoyland}}</ref> During the [[Islamic Golden Age]] and the [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]] (8th–13th centuries), hydropower was widely used and developed. Early uses of [[tidal power]] emerged along with large hydraulic [[factory]] complexes.<ref name="al-Hassan-1976">{{cite book |last1=al-Hassan |first1=Ahmad Y. |date=1976 |title=Taqī-al-Dīn and Arabic Mechanical Engineering. With the Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines. An Arabic Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century |publisher=Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo |pages=34–35 |oclc=7902681 }}</ref> A wide range of water-powered industrial mills were used in the region including [[fulling]] mills, [[gristmill]]s, [[paper mill]]s, [[Rice huller|hullers]], [[sawmill]]s, [[ship mill]]s, [[stamp mill]]s, [[steel mill]]s, [[Sugar refinery|sugar mills]], and [[tide mill]]s. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic Empire had these industrial mills in operation, from [[Al-Andalus]] and [[North Africa]] to the [[Middle East]] and [[Central Asia]].<ref name="Lucas2">{{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Adam Robert |date=2005 |title=Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1353/tech.2005.0026 |jstor=40060793 }}</ref>{{rp|10}} Muslim engineers also used [[water turbine]]s while employing [[gear]]s in watermills and water-raising machines. They also pioneered the use of [[dams]] as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.<ref name="Hassan2">{{cite web |last=al-Hassan |first=Ahmad Y. |date= |title=Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering |url=http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2071.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218171021/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2071.htm |archive-date=18 February 2008 |access-date= |website=History of Science and Technology in Islam |publisher= |quote=}}</ref> Islamic irriguation techniques including [[Saqiyah|Persian Wheels]] would be introduced to India, and would be combined with local methods, during the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and the [[Mughal Empire]].<ref>Siddiqui{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>

Furthermore, in his book, ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'', the Muslim mechanical engineer, [[Al-Jazari]] (1136–1206) described designs for 50 devices. Many of these devices were water-powered, including clocks, a device to serve wine, and five devices to lift water from rivers or pools, where three of them are animal-powered and one can be powered by animal or water. Moreover, they included an endless belt with jugs attached, a cow-powered [[shadoof]] (a crane-like irrigation tool), and a reciprocating device with hinged valves.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=R V |title=The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices |journal=Physics Bulletin |date=October 1974 |volume=25 |issue=10 |pages=474 |doi=10.1088/0031-9112/25/10/040 }}</ref>
[[File:Benoît Fourneyron portrait.jpg|thumb|Benoît Fourneyron, the French engineer who developed the first hydropower turbine]]