We Spanish people had been using evaporative cooling since dogs bark. Botijo(spanish version is more complete): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botijo http://en.w

We Spanish people had been using evaporative cooling since dogs bark. Botijo(spanish version is more complete): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botijo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botijo Other methods that people used was making deep holes on the ground( > 30feet 10meters under ground level). Old houses in Madrid have (now sealed) passages and cellars under ground. They were used as pantries(in some cases they had snow with straw that lasted for months, now some are used for winery, but most are closed and owners only realize they exist when they remodelate their homes.