What is hydropowers history?
The mechanical power of falling water is an age old tool. It was used by the Greeks to turn water wheels for grinding wheat into flour, more than 2,000 years ago . The availability of cheap slave and animal labour, however, restricted its widespread application until about the 12th century. During the Middle Ages, large wooden waterwheels were developed with a maximum power output of about 50 hp. Modern large-scale water-power owes its development to the British civil engineer John Smeaton, who first built large waterwheels out of cast iron. Water-power played an important part in the Industrial Revolution. It gave impetus to the growth of the textile, leather, and machine-shop industries in the early 19th century. Although the steam engine had already been developed, coal was scarce and wood unsatisfactory as a fuel. Water-power helped to develop early industrial cities in Europe and the United States until the opening of the canals provided cheap coal by the middle of the 19th centur
