Top 10 Events and

Persons in the
Development of
Mankind
Angelika Bodden & Vaughn Whittaker
World Civilization
Instructor: Odale Mulgrave

Topics
Iron
Phoenician Alphabet
The Silk Road
Chinese Crossbows
Mega city (Rome)
Worlds first Aviator
The Plague
Salt
Marco Polo
The Printing Press

Iron

The craftsmen of Cyprus, Circa were running out of

resources for bronze and so shifted to the smelting of Iron.

Iron was important to the progression of mankind because:

It cut better than bronze

Used to make weapons to fight wars and conquer lands

Made axes used for farming and other farm tools

Iron nails were made to build better ships

Africans in central Niger were credited for ironworking

before the Mediterranean smelters and the metal was later
smelted in Egypt and Cyprus.

Phoenician Alphabet

Phoenician Alphabet

The Phoenicians were credited with the creation of the alphabet.

The alphabet was created as a way for the Phoenicians to keep

record of the trading.

The combination of the letters could be used to describe any

sound in any language.

The Phoenician alphabet was easy to learn and therefore

simplified reading and writing so everyone was able to use it.

The Phoenician alphabet was adopted by the Greeks and then

later by the Romans which by extension contributed to the
current alphabet we use today.

The Silk Road

Romans travelled to China in pursuit of Chinese Silk.

The constant travel back and forth from China created

the Silk Road.

The silk road is very important for the following reasons:

Languages

Religion

Ideas

Cultures

Facilitated migration

Chinese Crossbows

Chinese Crossbows
Contd

The Chinese invention of the crossbow in the sixth of fifth

BCE transformed Chinese warfare.

This invention allowed a soldier to draw the bowstring, load

the arrow, and aim in three separate motions instead of one.

The weapon was a wooden bow mounted horizontally on a

wooden stock with a metal trigger.

The Chinese crossbow was the first mass-produced weapon.

Interchangeable parts made a very efficient and low

maintenance weapon as it was easily repaired if broken.

First Mega City- Rome

The First Mega CityRome

Rome became the worlds first mega city due to its

technological innovation and construction.

The city would have big apartments, libraries, a sewer

system, police station, and temples.

Running water which was supplied by eleven aqueducts

constructed over five hundred years by hundreds of
slaves, skilled laborers and freemen.

The aqueducts powered by gravity alone supplied

enough water to service about 1300 fountains, 900
baths, and 144 public toilets.

The worlds first

Aviator

The worlds first

Aviator Contd

875 CE. 65 year old scientist Abbas Ibn Firnas leapt of a palace
roof in a device made of feathers attached to a wooden frame.

Glider design from watching birds in flight, and was able to

glide of air currents, able to adjust his altitude and steer
towards a targeted landing spot.

Landing was rough due to not adding a tail apparatus to the

glider.

He was not well-known in the west, but was honored for his
feat in the Arab-speaking world.

Moon crater and an airport in Baghdad named after him.

The Plague

The Plague Contd

The plague also known as Black Death was the first

known plague epidemic to hit China in 1331 claiming 90
percent of the population of Hopei province.

The disease travelled from China along trade routes by black

rats infested with disease-laden fleas with caravans in grain
wagons and bundles of trade goods.

The plague, Black Death would peak from 1348 to 1350

decimating between one-third and half of the Wests
population of 90 million due to trade ships.

Densely populated towns and religious communities was hit

harder than rural regions.

Salt

Salt was traded between Ibn Battuta and the Tuareg.

Salt was important because it could preserve food for

soldiers during times of war. It is estimated that salted
food could last up to one year without going bad.

Salt was often referred to as white gold because it was

so valuable it could be used to pay soldiers when
curretncy was scarce.

Salt absorbed water which did not facilitate the growth

of bacteria.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo Contd

Marco Polo was the son of an Italian merchant named Niccolo and was
17 years old when he travelled with his father and uncle on a 4 year
voyage across the Near East and Central Asia.

Marco Polo became the favorite of Kublai Khan and traveled with
diplomatic missions to Persia, India, and Southeast Asia.

He served under the emperors council as a tax collector in the city of

Yangzhou for 3 years and never learnt Chinese; but became fluent in
the languages of the Mongolians and Persians.

He left China after 17 years as a royal escort of a Mongolian princess

promised to the Khan of Persia reaching Venice in 1295.

Marco Polos capture and a year in prison he amused fellow inmates

with stories of his travels one of them being a writer who urged Polo
to write down the stories of his travels.

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg created techniques and materials to make the print

press work:

A metal alloy strong enough to allow repeated impressions of a piece of paper

Ink that would stick to the metal

Paper with the right weight and density

And the flat, shallow frame called a chase the locks type together into text.

Before the creation of the printing press it took three years to produce a
copy of the Bible. Therefore Guttenbergs creation of the printing press aided
in the spread of the Bible.

Printing laid the foundation for the Renaissance and the Protestant
Reformation. It also ignited the machine age and set the stage for the
industrial revolution.

Johannes Gutenbergs creation paved the way for many of our modern day
inventions such as The Internet.

References

Toler, P. D. (2012). The story of all of us MANKIND. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book.

Phoenician Alphabet [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2017, from

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/69/58/82/ 69588258e98cd5b4a1579f42f848c84f.jpg

[Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from https://s-media-cache

ak0.pinimg.com/564x/07/a3/eb/ 07a3eb65dfacdea219887ac30276d0b6.jpg

[Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from

https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main- qimgcf0e91eb641316c19afe0abe02aaa80a-c?convert_to_webp= true

[Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from

http://www.webjazba.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/
167092_300983959956_4774956_n.jpg

[Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1587572/images/o-PLAGUE-DNA- facebook.jpg

Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from

http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/renaissance/graphics/ marcopolotwo.jpg