Rusted windmill with cosmos flowers and storm clouds in the background
Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The use of wind pumps became widespread across the Muslim world and later spread to China and India. Windmills were later used extensively in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and the East Anglia area of Great Britain, from the late Middle Ages onwards, to drain land for agricultural or building purposes. The American windmill, or wind engine, was invented by Daniel Halladay in 1854 and was used mostly for lifting water from wells. South Africa is no stranger to windmills. The figure doing the rounds is 280 000 – the number we claim to have on farms spread across the country. But the windmills of modern day are actually windpumps, rather than mills. Most of them pump water from the ground, although a few may be attached to saw mills and feed mills. Cosmos is native to scrub and meadowland in Mexico where most of the species occur, as well as the United States], as far north as the Olympic Pennsula in Washington, Central America, and to South America as far south as Paraguay. One species, C. bipinnatus, is naturalized across much of the eastern United States and eastern Canada.[5] It is also widespread over the high eastern plains of South Africa, where it was introduced via contaminated horsefeed imported from Argentina during the Anglo-Boer War.
Size: 5184px × 3456px
Location: Sasolburg area, Free State, South Africa
Photo credit: © Hein Von Hörsten / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: &, africa, agriculture, bipinnatus, climax, clouds, color, cosmos, dark, flowers, free, horizontal, image, lloyds, nature, outdoor, pump, sky, south, state, stewart, storm, water, wind, windmill, windpumps
