History Unplugged Podcast · History Unplugged
The Sawmill – Along With Gunpowder and the Printing Press – Created the Modern World
·34 min·3 clips
The sawmill wasn't just a new invention—it was an early assembly line factory that created the entire system of global finance.
As heard by us
A Dutch sawmill becomes an overlooked engine behind shipbuilding, trade, and the Dutch East India Company's rise.
The sawmill does not usually sit alongside gunpowder, the steam engine, compasses, blast furnaces, or the printing press in the usual roll call of world-shaping inventions.
Why you'd press play
If you think modern power began with gunpowder and print, let a Dutch wind-powered sawmill complicate the list.
Listen to the show on