For example, until the invention of gunpowder, mining was a difficult task. Large rocks could only be broken up with hard labor or heating massive fires followed by rapid quenching. The earliest record indicating the use of gunpowder in mining is from Hungary in1627. Mining with gunpowder was very dangerous until the invention of the safety fuse by William Bickford in 1831(Carr). The first time that gunpowder was used on a large scale engineering project was the construction of the Canal du Midi in Southern France. It was completed in 1681 and linked the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. An additional noteworthy canal made possible by this black powder was the Erie Canal in New York which took 8 years to complete (Impact of China). Another incredible use of gunpowder was the construction of railways in America and around the world. Railways first ran along the contours of the land, but with the use of gunpowder, the explosions created a way to make tunnels for the railways to cross through large barriers of rock …show more content…
During the age of exploration, Europeans used guns and cannons on their ships during battle to attack ports. When the gunpowder was inserted into the barrel of a handgun, it was essentially a cannon shrunk down to portable size. Guns literally put weaponry into the hands of the individual, creating a new class of soldier, and giving birth to the modern army. “They were an important part of the expansion process and allowed the Spanish to conquer the Aztec and Inca civilizations in the Americas” (Impact of China). Outside of Europe, other civilizations also used guns to conquer during this time. “The Ottoman Empire, for instance, used cannons to capture Constantinople in 1453” (Impact of