BellaOnline Forums Education History Most Important Event in History

In your opinion what is the most important event in history?

It is impossible to single out one event as the most important.
However, the most important would probably the development of human speech and the invention of language. We do not know exactly when or how that occurred in early human evolution, but it is an extremely important development in the rise of the human species.

I had my list of events that I would consider but speech was not one of them. But you are so right. I had listed the alphabet and the written language but I think we don't usually go beyond that to the original speech.

It had to have changed the world. How could it now?

OK, let's get a little more specific and see what we come up with.

What is the single most important scientific event in history?

A Big Event in scientific history must be one that fundamentally changes our world view.
I nominate Galileo's invention of the telescope.
True, people were making lenses in the Netherlands at that time, and the Heliocentric view of the heavens was an idea that was being considered by some philosophers, but when Galileo put 2 lenses together and aimed them at the sky he forever altered our perception of the earth's position in the cosmos.
His discovery and observations of the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the mountainous surface of the Moon demonstrated the true structure of the solar system and opened the universe to astronomers. The scientific journey he began still continues.

I would consider the invention of the compass and gunpowder as the most significant scientific creations. The compass allowed ships to sail beyond the sight of shore. This eventually leads to the discovery of foriegn lands by Europeans. The impact of the Europeans discovering the Western Hemisphere, The Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia is still with us today. Gunpower, while not a positive development, has changed the world forever. The widespread impact of gunpower on the world since the 1500s is beyond measure.

These are excellent events that did in fact chance the entire world. Two of them, the telescope and the compass, pushed man outside their own worlds and got them to explore more of what is out there. The gunpowder invention was significant but put our focus back on ourselves by drawing out the violent nature in man.

Redirect again.

What was the most significant event in history in the area of politics?

I would say there are two significant events in politics and those would be declaring our independence from England and electing an African American to the presidency.

The creation of the U.S. Constitution during the summer of 1787.



An excellent book on the subject is "Miracle at Philadelphia : The Story of the Constitutional Convention, May to September 1787" by Catherine Drinker Bowen