The first recorded windmills, used in Persia in the 9th century and later India and China, operated on the horizontal plane. When is the first definite record in Europe of the use of vertical windmills instead?
England in the Late Middle Ages the use of hand mills, with the older horizontal mills gradually supplanted by a new vertical mill design. Windmills began to be built in the late twelfth century and slowly became more common. Water-powered fulling mills and powered hammers first appeared in the twelfth century; water power was harnessed to assist in smelting by the fourteenth century, with the first blast furnace opening in 1496. New mining methods were developed and horse-powered pumps were installed in English mines by the end of the Middle Ages. The introduction of hopped beer transformed the brewing industry in the fourteenth century, and new
History of wind power Sistan, a region in Iran and bordering Afghanistan, at least by the 9th century and possibly as early as the 7th century. These "Panemone windmills" were horizontal windmills, which had long vertical driveshafts with six to twelve rectangular sails covered in reed matting or cloth. These windmills were used to pump water, and in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries. The use of windmills became widespread across the Middle East and Central Asia, and later spread to China and India. Vertical windmills were later used extensively in Northwestern Europe to grind flour beginning in the 1180s, and many examples still exist.