Most significant event in History

[Tyr]

What is the most important event in history? It doesn't have to be beneficial or need be a single event but should be within the last 10,000 yrs

The list below is from Wikipedia

1. The birth of Christianity

2. The invention of gunpowder.

3. The invention of the printing press.

4. The development of written language by the Sumerians.

5. The colonization of the "new world" by Europe.

6. The signing of the Constitution of the United States

7. The outbreak of World War II

8. The birth of Islam

9. The tearing down the Berlin Wall.

10. Ongoing civil rights movement.

​

I tend to think it was a year - 1520

Events of 1520

January - June

• January 18 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde.
• June - Moctezuma II, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, is declared deposed due to his captivity by conquistador Hernán Cortés. His brother Cuitláhuac rises to the throne.
• June 7 - King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France meet at the famous Field of Cloth of Gold.
• June 15 - Pope Leo X issues the bull Exsurge Domine (Arise O Lord), threatening Martin Luther with excommunication if he does not recant his position on indulgences and other Catholic doctrines.
• July 1 - La Noche Triste (Night of Sorrow): The forces of Cuitláhuac, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, gain a major victory against the forces of conquistador Hernán Cortés. This results in the death of about 400 conquistadors and some 2,000 of their Native American allies. However, Cortés and the most skilled of his men manage to escape and later regroup.
• July 20 - The Spaniards defeat the Aztecs at Otumba near Lake Texcaco.
• September 22 - Suleiman I succeeds his father Selim I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
• October - Cuitláhuac, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies from smallpox. He is succeeded by his nephew Cuauhtémoc.
• November 8 - Stockholm Bloodbath: A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under the command of Christian II of Denmark results in the execution of around 100 persons (mostly nobility and clergy involved in the previous Swedish war effort).
• November 28 - After navigating through the South American strait, three ships under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific (the strait was later named the Strait of Magellan).
• December 10 - Martin Luther burns a copy of The Book of Canon Law (see Canon Law) and his copy of the Papal bull Exsurge Domine.

 

[Ron in Regina]

How about the "Big Bang?" That would be significant....8O

YouTube - family guy the big bang

 

[SirJosephPorter]

How about the "Big Bang?" That would be significant....8O

YouTube - family guy the big bang

Ron, I believe Tyr said within the last 10,000 years. Unless you are a Fundamentalist who believes that the universe was created 5000 years ago in six days, the big bang doesn’t qualify.

I would put the rise of Hitler (not the outbreak of World War 2) and the invention of the Internet very high on the list.

 

[Ron in Regina]

I totally missed the "last 10,000yrs" qualifier. My mistake. Sorry...
How about the origin and development of Agriculture that allowed
mankind to develop beyond the small tribe hunter/gatherer stage.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I totally missed the "last 10,000yrs" qualifier. My mistake. Sorry...
How about the origin and development of Agriculture that allowed
mankind to develop beyond the small tribe hunter/gatherer stage.

Yes, that is the story of Garden of Eden (according to Isaac Asimov, Garden of Eden describes the transition from hunter/gatherer society to farming society).

But nobody knows when that really happened, it could have happened more than 10,000 tears ago.

 

[earth_as_one]

I'd tend to agree that the development of agriculture is the most significant event in human history. If you go back further it would be the development of tools. But if you want a more recent event, I'd say the industrial revolution when we started to replace beasts of burden with mechanical contraptions which led to the assembly line and replaceable parts.

Currently the information revolution is changing our lives in profound ways. That includes computers and internet. The genetic engineering and nano technology revolutions have only just begun.

But progress isn't necessarily a good thing.

[FONT=verdana,helvetica,sans-serif]Pg 1 of 11 [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Why the future doesn't need us.
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]By Bill Joy[/FONT]

Wired 8.04: Why the future doesn't need us.

 

[Cannuck]

The Renaissance - It was the catalyst for so many things

 

[L Gilbert]

The birth of our 1st daughter by far overshadows the rest of my history. Apr. 1984

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I'd put agriculture pretty near the top of the list, though as SJP remarked, it may not meet the "within the last 10,000 years" criterion. Wikipedia says "Agriculture was developed at least 10,000 years ago..." [my emphasis]. Tyr, would you consider loosening that restriction so we can consider events in the entire span of humanity's time on the planet? Then we could argue about things like the discovery of fire's many uses...

But before any of those things could happen, some anonymous genius had to have an idea: "Hey, we don't have to just take what nature gives us, we can consciously manipulate it to our own advantage." No other critter on the planet can do that, or even think at that level of abstraction. That insight is the critical event in my view.

 

[darkbeaver]

Why on earth restrict the event to the last ten thousand years? I say it's the lever.
Chimpanzies use tools and ants have domesticated aphids, millions of birds construct nests. Ants are quite the engineers as well.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Then we could argue about things like the discovery of fire's many uses..

Dexter, I have another invention in mind, perhaps as important as discovery of fire. Before the discovery of fire humans used to eat their meat (when they could get it) raw. Now think of the genius who decided to dunk the meat in sea water before eating it.

That was the beginning of good food, gourmet cuisine. Without that discovery, imagine how bland the food would be today.

 

[L Gilbert]

How about the discovery and uses of ANY kind of energy?

 

[Tyr]

I totally missed the "last 10,000yrs" qualifier. My mistake. Sorry...
How about the origin and development of Agriculture that allowed
mankind to develop beyond the small tribe hunter/gatherer stage.

Perfect choice. There are some that currently disagree with the theory that Agriculture was/is a better choice than hunting/gathering, but hey, that's them

http://www.environnement.ens.fr/perso/claessen/agriculture/mistake_jared_diamond.pdf

 

[Tyr]

The Renaissance - It was the catalyst for so many things

Which one? Europe from the 14th to the 17th century?

 

[Cannuck]

Renaissance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Tyr]

The eruption of Krakatoa 1883...

 

[Tyr]

What started me going was this book. Some of it's "tripe, but parts are interesting. 1520 in partiucular to me anyways



What if? : the world's foremost military historians imagine what might have been : essays / by Stephen E. Ambrose ... [et al.] ; edited by Robert Cowley.

 

[CanadianLove]

Birth of the first religion.

It is the ability to herd and manipulate the masses with not real evidence other then a sheet of paper, sheep skin, or stone with written word on it.

Wars have been one and lost with its use. Civilizations have been destroyed, even eliminated, on its behalf.

It is the ultimate manipulation. God Bless.

 

[mit]

The first commercial oilwell near Petrolia Ontario from which a new industry was formed. All commercial oilfields and refineries in the world will trace their roots back to this discovery.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

The first commercial oilwell near Petrolia Ontario from which a new industry was formed. All commercial oilfields and refineries in the world will trace their roots back to this discovery.

One of the very first oil wells in Oil City or Oil Springs is still operational. I remember taking the Oil Heritage Tour a few years back.