A German manuscript page teaching use of arabic numerals
(Talhoffer Thott, 1459).
At this time, knowledge of the numerals was still widely seen
as esoteric
During the 12th century in Europe, there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions and innovations
in the ways of managing traditional means of production and economic growth. In less than a century, there
were more inventions developed and applied usefully than in the previous thousand years of human history all
over the globe. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption or invention of printing, gunpowder, spectacles, a better clock, the astrolabe, and greatly improved ships.
The latter two advances made possible the dawn of the Age of Exploration.
Alfred Crosby described some of this technological revolution in The Measure of Reality :
Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 and other major historians of technology have also noted it.
The earliest written record of a windmill is from Yorkshire, England, dated 1185.
Paper manufacture began in Italy around 1270.
The spinning wheel was brought to Europe (probably from India) in the 13th century.
The magnetic compass aided navigation, first reaching Europe some time in the late 12th century.
Eyeglasses were invented in Italy in the late 1280s.
The astrolabe returned to Europe via Islamic Spain.
Leonardo of Pisa introduces Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe with his book Liber Abaci in 1202.
The West's oldest known depiction of a stern-mounted rudder can be found on church carvings
dating to around 1180.
