Which culture, empire or civilization studied so far made the greatest contribution to world history?

In my opinion, the Sumerians have made the greatest and most useful contribution to world history, specifically, the wheel. Although there is some question as to whether or not they actually invented it, most experts will agree that this society perfected it, for the wheel is not that useful unless coupled with an axle and socket. The wheel is arguably the most widely used, useful technological development in history. I bid you to count how many uses it has just inside your home.

The wheel has enabled countless tasks to be performed with greater ease. Ancient Sumerians used the wheel to develop trade and enable goods to be traded farther away from home using horse drawn carts. During times of war, wheels were affixed to chariots in which a person could ride and cover ground more quickly. This let the warrior slay more enemies in a shorter length of time and also provided some protection. There are burial sites dating back to 3700 B.C.E. that have been excavated and findings include people who were buried on carts and wagons. The concept of the wheel was probably also used in the building of the ziggurats through either transporting construction materials or helped with putting those materials in place.

There are countless examples of how the wheel has helped develop global societies today. The wheel is used in almost every facet imaginable. It has promoted and enabled trade by truck, train and plane. The wheel has given rise to construction, tourism, and agriculture, to name a few examples. It was instrumental in the settling of the west in our own country, moving people over large landmasses by wagon train. Even something as simple as keeping time on a wristwatch or the mobility of your vacuum cleaner can be credited to the wheel.

I think that there are MANY developments through history that have been important and imperative to the evolution of modern societies, including writing, but the wheel has allowed humans to go places and explore; to build structures and reap harvests with ease. Without the wheel, we might not have developed as we are today. I can speculate that we probably wouldn't have settled as much of the globe, the population might be smaller, structures would be more primitive, and the entire face of the planet would be different today if it weren't for the wheel.

The Rise and fall of the Great Kingdoms of W. Africa such as Ghana and Mali

 

 

Islam and trade were monumental reasons for both the rise and fall of these ancient societies. West Africa, more specifically the ancient Ghanaian Empire, was incredibly rich in desirable resources like gold and salt. In addition, as with the seat of many ancient civilizations, it was located between two rivers which provided an abundant supply of food conducive to building a nation. Ghana's government was lead by a king who was its spiritual leader as well as its political leader and also in control of trade routes from north to south. Gold trade along this path was extremely lucrative and made the kingdom of Ghana very wealthy. Salt, used to dry meats to prevent spoiling, was also exchanged along these routes by the Sanhaja people and was traded for gold in the capital city of Kumbi. The Sanhaja people brought the Islam faith with them as well as their salt and before long, Ghana's rulers learned Arabic and accepted help from the Muslims in setting up their government structure to accommodate the growth and change the empire was experiencing. They may not have realized it but they were laying the groundwork for a major shakeup of the kingdom.

The next century saw expansion of the empire due to amassed wealth of the kings through gold trade. In the process of northward expansion, the salt trade routes of the Sanhaja were absorbed and taken over by the kingdom. This conflict, coupled with pressure and competition from the Berbers for sub-Saharan routes provided a motivation for the Sanhaja to follow an extremist sect of Islam called al-Mirabitun. The Almoravids, or followers of this cult sect, began to fight back for the overtaking of their trade routes and after conquering Morocco and southern Iberia, they finally conquered Ghana and converted its people to Islam. This basically made the king obsolete and they regained control of their trade routes in Ghana as well as presided over additional routes stretching from central Spain. They did not replace the government structure after quashing it. The removal of central authority and the fact that the Almoravids were based in the north and preoccupied with affairs there promoted political unrest in the region. Additionally, Ghana's agricultural base was ruined by grazing flocks of animals owned by Almoravids and never recovered. These factors impelled trans-Saharan caravans to circumvent Ghana in favor of less tumultuous areas and suffocated its commerce, the source of what had made it a great nation in the first place.

Although the introduction of Islam by the Sanhaja people was innocent enough in the beginning bringing with it centralized and structured organization to the government, it also was responsible for its demise. For Ghana, the growth of the empire into the north upset the regional balance of trade routes. This provoked the Sanhaja, a group of Muslims, and provided the catalyst pushing them toward an extremist sect of Islam which proved to be far more dangerous to the empire than one could have probably speculated. Unfortunately for Ghana, through tyrannical expansion, it ultimately crippled itself.

A Brief Comparison of Ancient Incan and Mayan Cultures

A Brief Comparison of Ancient Incan and Mayan Cultures

 

    The ancient Inca and Maya had many common traits as societies. Location probably contributed too many of these reasons. These societies, due to their geography, both developed independently of any other societies that they may have been able to borrow ideas from and develop similar cultural or technological advancements. Maturity and isolation of these societies also contributed to their ultimate demise. Within a fifteen year time frame, the Spanish conquered both of these major empires. The ease of this domination was made possible by their use of archaic technology, the absence of immunities to European diseases like smallpox and an absence of domestication of animals used for transportation and moving supplies. Both of these empires left power and authority to an emperor, who, through no fault of his own, was naive to the outside world and not sophisticated enough in the art of war to stave off attack when opportunity first arose. The Inca and the Maya were both polytheistic societies and believed in human sacrifice.

    Conversely, these two civilizations had different thoughts on human sacrifice. The Maya followed the Cosmic Mission Theory which justified human sacrifice and they were really not selective about whom they sacrificed. In fact this was a very common practice. Unlike the Maya, strong and fierce warriors who sacrificed the majority of their human prisoners of war, the Inca tried to assimilate and integrate the peoples they conquered through a practice called Mitima. The Inca also announced intentional take overs and only used force if they could not persuade the group to join their ranks. The Inca also had fewer and more relaxed rules for their social classes than the Maya. Another difference was the Inca's lack of an organized, written language. The Maya had become fairly sophisticated with writing and timekeeping while the Inca used a stick with attached cords in a series of knots and tangles, called a quipu, to keep track of information. The Inca Empire was also huge in comparison to the Maya, stretching about 3,000 miles from north to south.

 

The Influence of Ancient China on the World

Ancient China can be accredited with many innovative inventions that, without which, world history would have been considerably different. In fact, there are so many inventions and improvements the Chinese have contributed to every facet of life imaginable, that I will focus on a few that I find interesting.

We certainly are familiar with a few well known inventions attributed to the Tang and Song Dynasties such as the compass, paper making, gunpowder, the rudder and the abacus but the Chinese also invented paper money, clocks, the seismograph, kites and pasta.

Paper money, called flying money, emerged in the eighth century during the Tang Dynasty. Chinese merchants and traders began printing and using paper money when finding that strings of copper coins were cumbersome and impractical to travel around with. This enabled banking to develop more rapidly and the Chinese employed the abacus to help them keep track of complicated transactions. The problem with paper money in commerce, however, was that it was not backed by coin or precious metal and therefore lead to price inflation.

The first clocks were devised to keep track of astronomical events to help the Emperor determine his heir. Part of the selection process involved knowing the precise time of conception of the child in question. Since the Emperor's life was planned out concurrent to astrological events, there had to be a way to determine the best time to try and conceive a child with him. Clocks helped to pinpoint these times so that the highest ranking wives and concubines had access to him at those precise moments. Later clocks, like Su Sung's Cosmic Engine in 1092 C.E. were mechanical in nature and were constructed of many components. The top of the clock was a spherical bronze mechanism that was used to check the position of the stars. That was driven by a chain-drive (also invented by the Chinese) powered by a water escapement wheel. This clock was the most precise time keeping device the world had known until Invading Tartars stole the clock in 1126 C.E. when they ended the Sung Dynasty.

 

The Dragon Jar was invented around 132 C.E. by Zhang Heng during the Han Dynasty. A large bronze vessel adorned with eight dragon heads representing the points of the compass at the top and below those at the foot of the jar were eight open-mouthed frogs. In the mouth of each dragon was a small ball that was released into the open mouth of the frog situated in the direction of an occurring earthquake. It is the assumption of scientists that some sort of pendulum device was on the inside of the jar which swung toward the location of the earthquake and prompted the dragon to release its ball. Voila! The world's first seismograph. Legend has it that Heng's Dragon Jar was able to detect an earthquake 400 miles from its location.

Travel to any beach in America or take a walk through your local park on a blustery day, kites are a favorite pastime amongst the old and young alike. Their colorful sails and serpentines make them a popular child's toy today. Kites have a long and beloved history in China, they were invented as early as 475 B.C.E and the earliest were made of wood. After the advent of paper, this was used to make them. The first kites were not toys at all but used by the military for communications and observation. According to one story, the Emperor Wudi of the Liang Dynasty used a kite to send an SOS, while engulfed by hostile troops at Taicheng. The people of the Tang Dynasty attached bamboo strips to the back of the kite which made noise while in the breeze and they called the kite Fenzheng. A zheng is a Chinese stringed instrument and fengzheng means wind zheng. In the Qing Dynasty, it was believed that flying a kite and letting it go would send off illness and bad luck but finding a lost kite and picking it up would bestow that bad luck upon the finder.

Pasta is another invention of the Chinese. Most people assume that the Italians are responsible for this staple of their diet but in fact, the Chinese introduced pasta too. There is evidence of the Chinese eating pasta dating back to 5000 B.C.E. The Chinese made their pasta with 2 kinds of millet as opposed to European pasta which we are accustomed to today made with wheat or flour. Scientists have determined that broomcorn and foxtail millets were ground into flour, made into dough and then rolled and stretched into noodle form. In 2005, a 4000 year old bowl of pasta that had overturned was found perfectly preserved in the Lajia archeological dig site in northwestern China

The fore mentioned articles don't begin to scratch the surface of what China has introduced to the world. China has also influenced art, culture, medicine, religion, commerce, agriculture, mathematics and science in a way that is woven through the fabric of our lives to this day and surely will continue to do so for many millennia to come.