Since ancient times, people have harnessed wind energy. Wind energy propelled boats along the Nile River as early as 5000 B.C. By 200 B.C., simple windmills in China were pumping water, while vertical-axis windmills were used for grinding grain in Persia and the Middle East. Newer and newer ways of utilizing the wind energy eventually spread across the world. By the 11th century, people in the Middle East started using windmills comprehensively for food production. The Dutch refined the windmill and adapted it for draining lakes and marshes in the Rhine River Delta. When settlers took this technology to the New World in the late 19th century, they began using windmills to pump water for farms and ranches and later to generate electricity for
