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Appendix B |
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World Leadership Civilizations - leaders and contributions |
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Start date |
Civilization |
Influential person* |
Major contributions of civilization** |
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4300BC |
Sumerian |
Gilgamesh |
Writing, wheel, city administration |
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2700 |
Egyptian |
Ramses II |
Pyramids, stable government |
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1075 |
Phoenician |
Queen Dido of Carthage |
Alphabet, maritime trade, colonies |
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745 |
Assyrian |
Sargon II |
Governing dissimilar groups |
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612 |
Babylonian |
Nebuchadnezzer |
Large, well-functioning capital city |
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539 |
Persian |
Darius |
Facilitating trade, roads |
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478 |
Greek |
Aristotle |
Philosophy, science, ethics |
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323 |
Hellenistic |
Archimedes |
Science experiments, libraries, widespread culture |
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197BC |
Roman |
Augustus Caesar |
Organization, military power, civil engineering |
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378AD |
Hindu (Gupta) |
Chandragupta II |
Decimal numbers, Hinduism revival, literature, art |
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467 |
Byzantine |
Justinian |
Hagia Sophia church, law code, Christian organization |
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589 |
Chinese (T'ang) |
Empress Wu |
Civil administration, canals, Buddhism state religion, arts |
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756 |
Islamic |
Harun al-Rashid |
Mathematics, medicine, Islamic culture |
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945 |
Byzantine |
Basil II |
Revival of classic Greek learning, culture to Russia |
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1071 |
Sung & Mongol |
Kublai Kahn |
Gunpowder, printing, paper money |
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1294 |
Venice |
Marco Polo |
Wealth from trade, republican government, ambassadors |
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1434 |
Florence |
Cosimo de Medici |
Modern finance, art, support of arts, cathedral dome |
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1508 |
Rome |
Michangelo |
Art (like Sistine ceiling), architecture |
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1527 |
Spanish |
Philip II |
Ocean exploration, developing Americas |
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1588 |
English |
Shakespeare |
Drama, philosophy of science, settle America |
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1609 |
Rembrandt |
Art, corporate organizations, free trade, settle New York |
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1672 |
French |
Napoleon |
Versailles, rights of man, metric system, law code |
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1814 |
Austrian |
Beethoven |
Orchestral music, diplomacy |
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1830 |
British |
Darwin |
Railroads, factory production, parliament, spread English in world |
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1918 |
American |
F.D. and Eleanor Roosevelt |
Free/ mass markets, globalization, computers |
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*Religious leaders like Buddha and Jesus are not included in the list of influential people above because they speak to a timeless, often worldwide audience. See separate outline of the impact of
religious thinking on history.** While a large number of important technological and cultural achievements were made by the above leading civilizations, there were others developed elsewhere. One example is moveable type, probably the most influential achievement in history. It was demonstrated in 1456 by Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany. But most printing soon was being done in the leading Italian cities of the time.
When an area becomes a World Leadership Center (as above), it tends to produce some outstanding artists and scientists. In Human Accomplishment, Murray details this phenomenon and describes how it
applies to Netherlands in the 1600's.
Go to:
Cities, empires and dates of above civilizationsGo to: outline of this World Civilizations section of the website
Comments to: VanSloan@yahoo.com