Most Significant Event in History from 1000 to 1500 C.E.

Hello everyone!

Originally posted by Imperator Invictus Who is ready for another discussion in world history? <span style="font-weight: bold;">What was the most Important Event in History from 1000 to 1500 C.E.?</span> Overview of Events: <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Seljuk Emipre:</span> Political reorganization of SW Asia, decline of Byzantium      <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Crusades:</span> Renewal of contact between Europe and the Middle East. Influence of the church. The decline of Byzantium.      <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Mongol Conquest</span>: Near-Global reorganization of political power. Revival of global land trade.      <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Hundred Years' War</span>: Reorganization of power in Europe      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Establishment of the Ming Dynasty</span>: Reorganization of power in China and the far east. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rise of the Ottoman Empire</span>: Reorganization of power in SW Asia and nearby areas. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Voyages of Columbus</span>: Symbolic beginning of colonization      <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Italian Rennaissance</span>: Turning point in intellecutal and cultural history of Europe      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gutenberg's Printing Press</span>: allowed wide-spread distribution of literature.      Another event not listed above.

Don't you mean A.D.?

Originally posted by Maharbbal Originally posted by Crusader3943 I voted for the Crusades. Almost all of Christian Europe left to go to the Holy Land in order to regain the sacred places that were now under control of the Turks, who were also threatening to overtake all of Europe. For your information, those holding Jerusalem at the time of the first crusade were North African, there was absolutely no threat for Europe from the Fatimides or the Seldjukides, the Crusaders were a few tens of thousands in a population of several millions, the economic, political and social impact of the Crusades in Europe was negligeable and absolutely inexistant for the world outside of the Middle East. If you compare it with say the black death, the Mongol invasions, the discovery of America and the rounding of the Cape or the invention of powder, the Crusades appear totally drawfed. A famous French historian said that the Crusades brought nothing to Europe but the Abricot. Which is not even true as it had been around for longer�

Actually, the first Crusade was launched because the emperor of Constantinople requested aid from Europe, as the Turks had come right up to his doorstep. Oh, and I think that they were Seljuk Turks.

From my POV, it is almost certainly the voyages of Columbus, without which the European culture would've remained hemmed in on one corner of the world by hostile Muslims and the vast expanse of Russia to its south and east and perilous oceans to its north and west.  Losing the opportunity to enrich itself with the opportunity provided with global navigation, the Europeans would've probably stagnated in much the same way that the Chinese did after their decision not to do the same, even if they were able to flank the Moroccan caliphs and take much of coastal Africa.

I'm not so sure about qualifying the battle of Hastings as the beginning of modern European civilization. That's a fairly Anglo-centric view. Could not Saxon England have developed into a strong mercantile state, the way Norman England did? In my opinion, picking this battle as a turning point is arbitrarily setting a date and a specific place for a process which took centuries to occur throughout the whole of Europe. Besides, the modern foundations of Europe were laid in Italy, and were also due to developments in Spain, Sicily and the Eastern Empire. England was still peripheral at this stage.

Quite clearly Gutenberg�s Printing Press. All the rest are important for limited number of today's people and their choice is to an extent indicative of the area they live.

Originally posted by NeuralDream Quite clearly Gutenberg�s Printing Press. All the rest are important for limited number of today's people and their choice is to an extent indicative of the area they live.

Not saying it was the "most significant", but just one of the "mosts".

Edited by Penelope - 31-Mar-2007 at 00:42

Really people?

You cant think of anything outside these wars ? Wouldn't civilization have carried on much better if all these war mongers just dropped dead?

Because I can tell you without an iota of doubt that the most important event in these 500 years was the invention of Calculus by Madhavacharya and his disciples.

Not much of the technological refinement we enjoy today would have come about without Calculus.

Newton, Maxwell, Einstein and Schrodinger etc etc wouldn't have derived any of their theorems without this precious calculus that reached Europe in the 16th century.

Originally posted by TheAlaniDragonRising Before Leibniz and his calculus(probably not such a good idea to talk about Newton's shame here) the term calculus was loosely used to mean any branch of mathematics. However there are what is considered to be precursors to calculus are known to go right back to at least ancient Greece.

I'll cut to the core Alani

The so called Greek miracles you allude to ,allegedly performed by the legendary Greeks like Euclid and Archimedes do not seem to stand the test of verification.

The Greeks did not have the decimal system or the place value system .

Without these , you cannot solve serious fractions . Infact the Greek numerals was even less sophisticated than the Roman numerals. Its horribly tedious to solve even a simple 367 x 24 with the Roman numerals. How then the Greek numerals.

The Greeks, by common sense, wouldn't even  say the correct length of the year (365.256363004)

Dont believe me? Try to think of how the Greeks would represent a fraction like 0.000030009. You need the place value system for that.

Or how they solved a simple 0.0003/35 .They wouldn't even think  of such a thing Today any child can multiply the denominator and numerator by equivalent tens. All you need is the Vedic decimal system.

And its not their fault. The alphabetical numerals completely besieged their capabilities .

And you honestly believe Archimedes had a method of Exhaustion . Have you ever thought how thats possible with just alphabet like numbers ?

Calculus is much about infinite series. It cannnot be conceived without atleast the decimal system(Madhava further invented a floating point system ,today used by computers ). The decimal system was understood and accepted in Europe only in the 17th century before which the Vatican held that the Indian numerals were demoniacal.


Conclusion.

1. Greeks simply did not have the numerals for advanced Algebra, Trigonometry and Arithmetic. 

2. No original manuscript or atleast their reliable copies or an oral tradition exists for any of the alleged Greek supermen(Pythagoras, Archimedes, Euclid etc)

3. No contemporaneous literature exists explicating or citing the work of these said personages.

4. Much of what the world believes about Greek Mathematics is a result of Eurocentric history writing that has been taking place since 1500s.


Still not convinced? I have a stronger treatment of this if you wish....

Just see what historical text you can find to substantiate your statement.


Edited by SuryaVajra - 13-Jun-2013 at 13:44