Science of North America after 1500
European trade goods
(thanks to Nebraska Game and Parks Division)
North American people made rapid scientific advances
in the course of the 1500's AD, inspired by
contacts with traders and explorers from Europe. People learned how to tame
horses and ride them, and
they learned how to use guns. They also began to use a lot more iron
knives and tools than they had before, and learned how to make good iron
themselves.
At first these new ideas were mainly known to people like the Cherokee and Pueblo who lived near the European explorers, along the Atlantic coast and in the Southwest. But in the 1600's and 1700's AD these people taught the new ideas to their neighbors, and soon people who had never seen anyone from Europe had also learned to use guns and ride horses.
At first these new ideas were mainly known to people like the Cherokee and Pueblo who lived near the European explorers, along the Atlantic coast and in the Southwest. But in the 1600's and 1700's AD these people taught the new ideas to their neighbors, and soon people who had never seen anyone from Europe had also learned to use guns and ride horses.
Settlers using a canoe, from Manitoba, 1824 AD
At the same time, people from Europe who came to live
in North America were learning North American scientific discoveries. They
learned how to farm corn and squash,
and how to use fish for fertilizer. They also learned to make canoes and
kayaks, which were very useful to them. Both groups of people learned to
use each others' herbal medicines, though most of these medicines were pretty useless
anyway.
People from Africa, who came to North America as slaves, also brought with them new knowledge, like the best ways to grow rice and cotton, which became the most important crops of the southern part of North America. An African man, Onesimus, also brought knowledge of how to innoculate people against smallpox. At the very end of the 1700's, Eli Whitney improved the cotton gin, which made growing cotton even more important, and helped create the slave economy in the South.
People from Africa, who came to North America as slaves, also brought with them new knowledge, like the best ways to grow rice and cotton, which became the most important crops of the southern part of North America. An African man, Onesimus, also brought knowledge of how to innoculate people against smallpox. At the very end of the 1700's, Eli Whitney improved the cotton gin, which made growing cotton even more important, and helped create the slave economy in the South.
In the 1800's, people living in North America learned
to use many new inventions from Europe, like big canals, and railroad trains,
and better guns. Photography also came to North America from Europe at this
time. But some major inventions were made in North America - Samuel Morse
developed the telegraph in 1838, and Alexander Graham Bell invented the
telephone in 1876.
The 1900's saw many new inventions in North America. Most of them fall into four main kinds:
The 1900's saw many new inventions in North America. Most of them fall into four main kinds:
- the development of oil and different ways to use oil, like machinery, fertilizer, and plastic
- the use of electricity, wires, and waves, like electric lights, radio, television, and the Internet
- the development of medical techniques and medicines, like antibiotics and anesthetics
- the use of radioactivity, as in nuclear power, x-rays, and nuclear bombs
Interested in the history of medicine in North America? Check out this cool website about a woman who worked as a midwife in the 1700's in what is now Maine.
Return to main North America page (after 1500)
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