Cast-iron mouldboard plough
Arado de hierro fundido con vertedera
- Date
- c. 100 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- North China Plain (Henan, Shandong)
- Credited to
- Han farmers; spread by minister Zhao Guo
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A plough with a cast-iron share and a curved mouldboard that turns the soil and forms furrows, drawn by oxen. It efficiently broke up the heavy, wet soils of the North China Plain and provided drainage.
The Romans had rudimentary mouldboard ploughs in Gaul (Pliny); the curved Chinese design is clearly superior.
What it led to
- The alternating-furrow system (daitian) and intensive cultivation of northern China
- Han demographic growth to 60 million people
- Its arrival in Europe (17th century, via Holland), which triggered the British agricultural revolution
- The need for powerful draught animals and effective harnesses
Built on
- Early ironworking (bloomery iron)c. 1400 BCE
- Widespread iron smeltingc. 1200 BCE
- Blast furnace and cast ironc. 400 BCE
- Malleable cast iron by annealingc. 400-300 BCE
- Chinese blast furnace
- Wooden ploughshare plough
- Ox yoke
Made possible
- Breast-strap harness and horse collarc. 300 BCE
- Multi-tube seed drillc. 90 BCE
- Rotherham plough1730
- Rotherham plough
- Chinese hopper seed drill
- Horse collar