Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 4: Harnessing Power: How the Stirrup and Collar Revolutionized Medieval Mobility
Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS 1 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 1: Polynesian Wayfinding: Reading the Water Without Instruments 2 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 2: The Qhapaq Ñan: Governing a 25,000-Mile Empire Without the Wheel 3 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 3: Inca Suspension Bridges & State Supply Depots 4 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 4: Harnessing Power: How the Stirrup and Collar Revolutionized Medieval Mobility 5 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 5: The Quiet Engine of Commerce: The Wooden Barrel and the Packaging Revolution ← Series Home The Unseen Revolution in Muscle Power Centuries before the industrial application of steam, two deceptively simple innovations—the padded horse collar and the stirrup—unlocked enormous potential in human and animal mobility across Europe. These forgotten breakthroughs fundamentally transformed the agricultural economy and the structure of medieval warfare, sparking the continent’s first renaissance not by abstract ideas, but by tangible ingenuity. By optimizing the connection between human and horse, these devices achieved a profound leap in leveraging muscle power, permanently altering the daily fabric of society. ...