Advantages/Consequences/implication or Significances of Iron
THE IRON AGE
The Iron Age was a period during which man made and used iron tools.
The people who specialized in making iron tools were known as Blacksmith.
It is not clear how ancient man discovered iron. This is because iron only occurs as iron ore which looks like ordinary rock. Using the naked eyes, is always difficult to differentiate between the rocks that contain iron and the one that does not.
There two theories which try to explain the discovery of iron.
1. Mistaken theory. According to this theory, iron was discovered when man mistakenly mined iron ore instead of copper ore. It true that before the discovery of iron, copper was the only metal that was used to make tools, so when man was extracting copper, he mistakenly extracted IRON and this was marked the discovery of iron.
2. Forest fire theory. According to this theory, forest fire melted iron ore that was on the earth’s surface. This left lumps of iron on the ground.
The Hittites who lived-in modern-day Turkey are believed to be the earliest people to smelt and use iron tools. They were practicing ironworking as early as 1500 BC.
In African Egyptians were the first people to make and use iron tools. Other ancient areas where iron was extracted in Africa incleds Meroe (the Birmingharm of Africa), Axum, Nok (Taruga), the Carthage, Engaruka and Ugweno in North Easter Tanzania, Bunyoro, Geita (Zinza), Manganja, Kapwirimbwe, Ufipa, Karagwe, Mwavarambo village in the Karonga district in Malawi, to name a few.
Advantages/Consequences/implication or Significances of Iron
1. Improvement of agriculture
2. Increased food supplies led to an increase in population. This in turn caused overpopulation in some areas and led to migration.
3. Rise and development of trade. Iron stimulated rise and development of trade two major ways firstly, iron was an important commodity in trade because iron smelting societies sold their items to other societies which were not smelting iron and secondly, iron stimulated trade because the use of iron in production led to surplus production an important factor in development of trade.
4. Growth of towns and cities, certain areas became centres for smelting, working and trading in iron For Example, Meroe, Cairo, Tunis and Axum.
5. Division of labour, the blacksmiths specialized in making iron tools while others were engaging in other activities such as crafts, farming or fishing.
6. Increase in production, due to increase in specialization and agricultural production trade activities between people of different societies increased. People from places with no iron needed iron tools in exchange for what they produced. For Example, food crops, animals or pottery items.
7. Expansion of human settlement, this was due to fact that the use of iron tools made it easier for people to clear bushes and establish new settlements hence iron led to the expansion of human settlement.
