History of coal mining

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The history of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity. Coal mining continues as an important economic activity today. Due to coal's strong contribution to global warming and environmental issues, coal is generally seen as a high impact fossil fuel. However, global demand consistently grows. Compared to wood fuels, coal yields a higher amount of energy per unit mass (sometimes known as specific energy or massic energy) and can often be obtained in areas where wood is not readily available. Though it was used historically as a domestic fuel, coal is now used mostly in industry, especially in smelting and alloy production, as well as electricity generation. Large-scale coal mining developed during the Industrial Revolution...

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