Lesson 1: Introduction and Early Technology
This lesson will run from the technology the Native Americans used through the technology of the early Pilgrims and settlers.
Introduction to the Course.
As I stated in my introduction, the history of technology in America dates back to BEFORE the first Pilgrims landed. Native Americans had their own technologies that had served them well for centuries. Although these were thought to be primitive technologies by most, if not all of the pilgrims that landed here, they did learn from them and adapt some of these technologies to their own settlements.
This first lesson will look at the technologies that Native Americans, or Indians as the pilgrims called them, were using and how the first pilgrims adapted them. This course is going to run chronologically throughout the history of America, so I figure that the Pilgrims are a good place to start. Remember as you go through this course that I am always available to answer any questions through the email address you will have received in your introduction letter.
It is my hope that as you go through this course two things will happen:
(1) That you will gain an appreciation for the technology that you use everyday, as well as an appreciation for the people who invented it, and what they had to go through to get to be functional.
(2) That you will gain an appreciation for what the history of technology means to the history of man in general. I will not lie; the history of technology is my favorite area of history. It encompasses so much, and my bias will more than likely show through my writing! James J. (J.J.) Hill, the founder of the Great Northern Railway once said, “When the history of transportation is written, it will be essentially the history of civilization”. This is true for technology in general; it has always and will always shape our civilization.
The text I will be using for this course will be “A Social History of American Technology”, which is written by Ruth Schwartz Cowan, the former president of the Society for the History of Technology. The course will follow along her text as much as possible. I am hoping to add and not retract from what she says. As this course is not being taken for credit, there will be no tests and you will not be REQUIRED to complete the assignments or read the text. However, there will be questions to consider at the end of each section of a lesson. The goal of these questions will be to assist you in getting more out of the course, and the history of American Technology in general.
Enjoy the course; enjoy learning about the history of technology, and thanks for reading!
Melissa
