The 10 Most Important Events of Mankind
Since we first appeared on Earth, we’ve created some awesome stuff.
We went from scavenging bone marrow to building bridges. That’s why they say there’s nothing new under the sun, but who knows what’s next.
Let’s take a look at some of the most important events that made us… us.
The Discovery of Fire
Homo Sapiens have been on Earth for 200,000 years, but we didn’t discover fire.
Campfires in the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa date back 1 million years.
That means another species of human was using fire for 800,000 years before we (Sapiens) appeared on Earth.
One of the most significant uses for fire was cooking.
Lions, tigers, and bears have strong jaws and sharp teeth. So did the first humans. It’s necessary for eating raw meat.
Once we started cooking, our teeth, jaws, and tastes evolved to reflect that.
The discovery of fire didn’t just keep us warm, it changed our physical and biological makeups.
Domestication of Dogs
Who domesticated who is a matter of viewpoint.
Reality is: Where would we be without our best friend?
A dog’s loyalty is more loyal than a human’s loyalty. It has evolved over several millennia.
Dogs were the first animal to be domesticated by humans.
The theory goes: One day a man and a wolf encountered each other. They didn’t attack each other, but the wolf ate some leftovers. Then the wolf expected leftovers. Then the humans expected security. We used wolves, wolves used us, and we co-evolved to the point where we could communicate and empathize with each other very well.
Archaeologists even found a 12,000-year-old tomb where the skeleton of a woman was laid next to the skeleton of a puppy.
Invention of the Wheel
They say the wheel is the greatest invention because it’s purely man-made.
There is no wheel in nature to draw inspiration from.
Tree limbs inspired spears. The sun inspired light. Leaves inspired clothing.
The wheel was the pure imagination of man.
Who imagined it?
We don’t know.
Most believe the wheel was invented in Mesopotamia, but the world’s oldest wheel was discovered in Slovenia in 3330 BC.
Furthermore, the world’s first engraving of a wheeled cart was found in Poland in 3600 BC.
The wheel is impressive, but a wheel connected to an axle is way more impressive.
Society as we know it flourished because of the invention of the wheel.
Creation of Currency
There was a time when we had to make our own clothes and grow our own food. Then we realized we couldn’t do everything ourselves so we began trading goods. The system broke down pretty quickly and around 3000 B.C. Sumerians started using barley money. Barley in itself held value because it could be eaten and sowed, but around that same time the Mesopotamians started using silver shekels. Silver held little intrinsic value because it couldn’t be eaten or sowed and it’s too soft for building and tool-making. The concept of its value sparked a major shift in society.
Around 600 B.C., King Alyattes of Lydia started printing coins. They were gold and silver alloy and guaranteed by the King. Anyone caught making counterfeits paid a price.
Almost every coin today is a descendant of the Lydian coin and the world has never been the same.
Invention of the Alphabet
Socrates said the alphabet made us dumber, science said dedicating brain power to memorization made us inferior, but…
…it would have been impossible to spread knowledge without the written language.
Around 3000 B.C. Sumerians and Egyptians created cuneiform and hieroglyphics, respectively. These were incomprehensible pictograms that represented concepts. They were like iPhone emojis.
Around 1200 B.C. Phoenicians created the oldest verifiable alphabet. It was made up of 22 letters — all consonants.
Around 800 B.C., the Greeks created the first true alphabet — an alphabet with both consonants and vowels.
The Greek alphabet had 24 letters — Alpha to Omega — contained consonants and vowels, and also differentiated between upper- and lower-case letters. It was the start of many alphabets of today.
Intelligence is widely measured by one’s ability to read and write. The alphabet is the reason for that.
Creation of Religion
Ancient Greeks, Aztecs and Egyptians believed in deities, but they never coined a name for their belief system.
They say Hinduism is the first religion in the world.
Sometime between 1700 - 1100 BC, somebody wrote the oldest sacred texts in history — The Vedas.
It was the dominant religion in the world until Buddhism became the world’s most popular religion.
Most money makes reference to God, and most people tell time in terms of B.C. and A.D., which signifies the time of Christ.
Whether you’re a believer or not, religion runs the world.
It’s one of the most significant imaginations ever.
Advent of Timekeeping
Why do you care what time it is?
Ancient Greeks, Chinese, Sumerians and Egyptians used things like sundials, hourglasses, water clocks, and obelisks to measure the earth’s rotation. But Christian monks in the Middle Ages — who followed rigorous prayer schedules — were the first to slice up the day into hours.
They wanted to designate certain times of the day for prayer, so they started ringing bells to signify important times of the day.
Today time is everything.
It’s everywhere at all times. It’s all judging and forgiving. It’s the most powerful thing in the universe. It’s pretty much God.
Time controls us, but there was a time when nobody cared about time.
Invention of the Printing Press
The alphabet was cool, but the printing press was social mobility.
Before the invention of the printing press, everything was written or carved by hand. Everyone didn’t have access to the written word.
That all changed when a German goldsmith and blacksmith named Johannes Gutenberg unveiled his master invention — the printing press.
It changed everything.
Before the printing press, nobody wasted time carving script into stone unless it was for religious purposes, but because people could now print fast and accurately, scientific material started spreading across the world.
It led to the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and written language as we know it today.
The Renaissance
Way too much happened during the Renaissance to list here, but it changed the world forever.
It pretty much created the modern world.
It started in the 14th century right after the Black Plague and continued throughout the 17th century.
Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses. Martin Behaim created the globe. Magellan circled the globe. Columbus landed on the Americas. Shakespeare wrote. Michelangelo painted. Leonardo da Vinci did everything. Bartolomeu Diaz explored. Feudalism fell. Capitalism rose. Copernicus redefined the solar system. Galileo explored space. Isaac Newton discovered gravity.
Science, art, philosophy, society, language, government, religion, and everything in between changed forever.
Industrial Revolution
Once upon a time, somebody realized those vapors rising from boiled water could move things around, and steam power was born.
From 1760 to 1840 the world saw chemical manufacturing, steam power, iron production, high-powered boats, steam-powered trains, railroads, efficient travel, precise time-keeping, textiles, factories, mass production, mass consumption, capitalism, the free market, and pretty much everything we take for granted today.
This led to urbanization, workers’ rights, labor laws, the emergence of the middle class, wealth, income, and more.
Mass consumerism was born, and it was the beginning of modern-day society. The once-powerless could compete with the elite classes.
We’re now amid a tech revolution and the powerless are becoming even more empowered.
Only time will tell what happens next.
