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Fossil fuels were first found and used in China.
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During the Middle Ages small operations began to spread throughout Europe to supply forges, smithies, and breweries.
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When the British were running out of firewood to burn in the 1400’s, the invention of fire bricks made chimneys cheap to build. Then the market for coal was created.
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The growing popularity of coal decreased its availability on the surface of Earth.
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Coal miners started digging deeper beneath the Earth’s surface, creating coal mines which would fill with water as they were dug out.
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Ever since the Industrial Revolution took off in the 18th century, vast quantities of fossil fuels have been used to power the economy and deliver unprecedented affluence to huge numbers of people.
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Not only was a seemingly inexhaustible supply of coal available from easily exploited seams near the surface, but it could be used in its natural form. Japanese governments in the Meiji era realizing that the use of coal was synonymous with industrialization, encouraged the development of coal mines.
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The development of drilling technology for oil wells in mid-19th century America put the petroleum industry on a new footing, leading to mass-consumption of petroleum as a highly versatile fuel powering transportation in the form of automobiles, ships, airplanes and so on, applied to generate electricity, used for heating and to provide hot water supplies.
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Since the modest beginnings of the oil industry in the mid-19th century, petroleum has risen to global prominence. Initially, kerosene, used for lighting and heating, was the principal product derived from petroleum.
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Fossil fuels were prerequisites for the birth of a new industrial civilization that transformed our world.
