Editing Windmill (section)

== Spread and decline ==

[[File:Near St. Donats.jpeg|thumb|upright|A windmill in [[Wales]], United Kingdom. 1815.]]

[[File:Don Quijote Illustration by Gustave Dore VII.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Don Quixote]] being struck by a windmill (1863 illustration by [[Gustave Doré]]).]]

[[File:Egbert Livensz van der Poel - Windmill Fire - MNK XII-A-166 (310355).jpg|thumb|upright|Egbert Livensz van der Poel, ''Windmill Fire'' (17th century), [[National Museum in Kraków]]]]

[[File:3 windmills.JPG|thumb|Oilmill [[De Zoeker, Zaandam|De Zoeker]], paintmill [[De Kat, Zaandam|De Kat]] and [[Paltrok mill|paltrok]] sawmill [[De Gekroonde Poelenburg, Zaandam|De Gekroonde Poelenburg]] at the [[Zaanse Schans]]]]

In the 14th century, windmills became popular in Europe; the total number of wind-powered mills is estimated to have been around 200,000 at the peak in 1850, which is close to half of the some 500,000 [[water wheel]]s.<ref name="lowtechmag">{{cite web |url=http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/10/history-of-industrial-windmills.html |title=Wind powered factories: history (and future) of industrial windmills |work=Low-tech Magazine |date=8 October 2009 |access-date=15 August 2013}}</ref> Windmills were applied in regions where there was too little water, where rivers freeze in winter and in flat lands where the flow of the river was too slow to provide the required power.<ref name="lowtechmag"/> With the coming of the [[Industrial Revolution]], the importance of wind and water as primary industrial energy sources declined, and they were eventually replaced by steam (in [[steam mill]]s) and [[internal combustion]] engines, although windmills continued to be built in large numbers until late in the nineteenth century. More recently, windmills have been preserved for their historic value, in some cases as static exhibits when the antique machinery is too fragile to be put in motion, and other cases as fully working mills.<ref name="Victorian Farm">''Victorian Farm'', Episode 1. Directed and produced by Naomi Benson. BBC Television</ref>

Of the 10,000 windmills in use in the Netherlands around 1850,<ref name="Stockhuyzen">Endedijk, L and others. Molens, De Nieuwe Stockhuyzen. Wanders. 2007. {{ISBN|978-90-400-8785-1}}</ref> about 1,000 are still standing. Most of these are being run by volunteers, though some grist mills are still operating commercially. Many of the drainage mills have been appointed as a backup to the modern pumping stations. The [[Zaanse Schans|Zaan district]] has been said to have been the first industrialized region of the world with around 600 operating wind-powered industries by the end of the eighteenth century.<ref name="Stockhuyzen" /> Economic fluctuations and the industrial revolution had a much greater impact on these industries than on grain and drainage mills, so only very few are left.

Construction of mills spread to the [[Cape Colony]] in the seventeenth century. The early tower mills did not survive the gales of the [[Cape Peninsula]], so in 1717 the [[Heeren XVII]] sent carpenters, masons, and materials to construct a durable mill. The mill, completed in 1718, became known as the ''Oude Molen'' and was located between Pinelands Station and the Black River. Long since demolished, its name lives on as that of a Technical school in [[Pinelands, Cape Town|Pinelands]]. By 1863, Cape Town had 11 mills stretching from Paarden Eiland to [[Mowbray, Cape Town|Mowbray]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mostertsmill.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=53 |title=Local Windmills |publisher=Mostertsmill.co.za |access-date=15 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808134216/http://mostertsmill.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=53 |archive-date=8 August 2013 }}</ref>