Because the birth of Christianity can actually be verified by secular souces.
Yes, I’m a Christian.
More or less.
(To both)
I always like the one about glass; not the invention of glass per se but the point when we learned not only that it could be used to help people see (short/long-sighted) but how to manufacture tailored options.
That meant that all those guys whose eyesight was failing just as they became expert (working in poor light, age, etc) could continue – craftmanship, and the ability to create at a whole new level, opened up every area of technology like nothing before.
I think the unification of China under Qin Shi Huang-di. Plenty of information here, http://www.roc-taiwan.org.uk/taiwan/5-gp/zzz/history/1stunification.htm,. China is important in any study of history and will probably prove to be even more important in the future.
LMM, Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door in 1517, past the period in question.
And as to why I quoted the OP to respond to LMM I have no idea…
Cracking into the 4’s in the quarter mile. 500 HP daily drivers.
OK OK, lets just make it mass transportation
I’m taking the second half of that world civilization course, but I’ll gladly chip in.
[ul]
[li]The development of agriculture. Gotta feed people, y’know.[/li][li]The development of cities[/li][li]The discovery and development of a) numbers and b) geometry. Useful for building buildings and all[/li][li]The discovery of spoken and written language[/li][li]Columbus’ voyages and the Columbian Exchange.[/li][li]Of course, the development of the printing press[/li][li]The birth and rise of the Abrahamic religions[/li][li]The Roman empire, and especially the fall, because that gave birth to most of Western European culture[/li][li]Improvements in navigational skills and tools in China and Portugal.[/li]
[/ul]
That’s all I can really think of right now. I’ve deliberately not included military campaigns. I don’t believe in the concept of inevitability because it can’t be assumed that had battle x gone a different way, that consequence y would happen, especially for events that happened so long ago.
Robin
The assassination of Julius Caesar: ironically, it was historically important because it cleared the way for his nephew Octavian. If Julius Caesar had lived, he would probably have founded a empire that would have lasted a hundred years or so. But his nephew founded on that lasted 1500 years.
[QUOTE=MsRobyn]
I’m taking the second half of that world civilization course, but I’ll gladly chip in.
[ul]
[li]The development of agriculture. Gotta feed people, y’know.[/li][li]The development of cities[/li][li]The discovery and development of a) numbers and b) geometry. Useful for building buildings and all[/li][li]The discovery of spoken and written language[/li][li]Columbus’ voyages and the Columbian Exchange.[/li][li]Of course, the development of the printing press[/li][li]The birth and rise of the Abrahamic religions[/li][li]The Roman empire, and especially the fall, because that gave birth to most of Western European culture[/li][li]Improvements in navigational skills and tools in China and Portugal.[/li]
[/ul]
Yeah, but most of that list is vague (what year did we did we invent agriculture?) as well being so important and vital to the development of civilization that it sort of spoils the fun of picking specific dates and events.
Yes, but the reason I included the birth of Islam and not the birth of Christianity was that Islam became an important multinational faith almost immediately after its initial founding, whereas Christianity was an underground cult for the first 3 centuries of its existence. IMO, it was Constantine’s adoption of the faith that enabled it to break into the big time. I could also, I guess, have substituted St. Paul’s evangelism, because without his tireless spreading of Christianity throughout the Empire, Christianity would not have been as influential as it is.
I don’t think these have been mentioned yet
Rubicon crossing in 49 BC lead to the fall of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Empire.
Fall of Constantinopal in 1453 AD
Reconquista in 1492