In ancient China, windmills were used to power water pumps. In ancient Persia, in what is now eastern Iran, windmills, called asbads, captured the shamal, strong winds from the north that blow continuously during certain parts of the year and used them to turn gears to grind. Wind-powered machines used to grind grain and pump water — the windmill and wind pump — were developed in what is now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan by the 9th century. Wind power was widely available and not confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later, requiring sources of. People used wind energy to propel boats along the Nile River as early as 5,000 BC. By 200 BC, simple wind-powered water pumps were used in China, and windmills with woven-reed blades were grinding grain in Persia and the Middle East. Ingrained in our world history, people have been using wind energy for thousands of years. By the 11th. Through history, the use of wind power has waxed and waned, from the use of windmills in centuries past to high tech wind turbines on wind farms today, and nowhere in history is that more evident than in the last century and a half. Wind Energy: Energy generated from the wind using turbines.