Editing Windmill (section)

{{Short description|Machine that makes use of wind energy}}
{{For|the wind-driven water pump| Windpump}}
{{Other uses}}
{{pp-move}}

[[File:KinderdijkWindmills.jpg|thumb|right|The [[windmills at Kinderdijk]] in the village of [[Kinderdijk]], Netherlands is a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]]]

A '''windmill''' is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or [[windmill sail|sails]] to [[mill (grinding)|mill]] grain ([[gristmill]]s), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/windmill |title=Windmill  |publisher=Merriam-webster.com |date=31 August 2012 |access-date=15 August 2013}}
"a mill or machine operated by the wind usually acting on oblique vanes or sails that radiate from a horizontal shaft, especially: (a) wind-driven water pump or electric generator, (b) the wind-driven wheel of a windmill".</ref>
Windmills were used throughout the [[High Middle Ages|high medieval]] and [[early modern period]]s; the horizontal or [[panemone windmill]] first appeared in [[Persia]] during the 9th century, and the vertical windmill first appeared in [[northwestern Europe]] in the 12th century.<ref>Glick, Thomas F., Steven Livesey, and Faith Wallis. Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia. Routledge, 2014, 519.</ref><ref>[https://www.engr.psu.edu/mtah/articles/geography_landscape_mills.htm#wind Geography, Landscape and Mills]. Pennsylvania State University.</ref> Regarded as an icon of [[Culture of the Netherlands|Dutch culture]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://m.theindependentbd.com//magazine/details/7145/Amsterdam-%E2%80%93-Venice-of-the-North|title=Amsterdam {{•}} Venice of the North|website=theindependentbd.com|publisher=The Independent|first=Shamim|last=Ahmed|access-date=15 June 2022|date=10 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615062341/https://m.theindependentbd.com//magazine/details/7145/Amsterdam-%E2%80%93-Venice-of-the-North|archive-date=15 June 2022}}</ref> there are approximately 1,000 windmills in the [[Netherlands]] today.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Dutch windmill making artisanal bread |url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20191114-the-dutch-windmill-making-artisanal-bread |access-date=8 February 2021 |agency=BBC}}</ref>