Comrade Brian said:
Not exactly, China was more technologically advanced than most others for a long time(gunpowder, paper, etc.,etc.), Arabs were for long period too particularily in literature, steel, and medicine. Incas had some of the best advances in surgery for their time. Mesopaotamians were carving empires before any European unified themself. So no, Europe has many times lagged behind other civilisations.
Good try, but still wrong. You act like
Mesopotamia was an actual *single* civilization. What you fail to mention is that Mesopotamia was actually a place that was conquered and reconquered by my different groups. And it was settled by multiple ethnic groups and to this day historians still debate over the dates which these groups existed. But that was still about 12,000 years ago.
But you can go back even further to find the decendents of Europeans the "Paleolithics" of Europe who scientists credit as the first group of people to develope art, language, and religion some 37,000 years ago. I don't think you can beat that.
"They had significant knowledge about plants and herbs. Hence, their diet was rich in 'healthful' foods. We can tell this from coprolites.
Their technological skills are demonstrated by artifacts made from chipped stone and flint, and the use of wood, clay, and animal parts. Their tools kit was extensive: knives, axes, scrapers, hammers, awls, needles,spears, harpoons, clubs, shields, armor, blowguns, and bows and arrows.
They also made kayaks, snowhouses and outrigger canoes and knew poisons such as hydrocyanic acid, curare, snake venoms, hemlock, and alkaloids. They also used all the means which we use to preserve food: freezing, drying, sealing (in clay or bees wax).
Religion was epitropaic; specifically, it involved sympathetic magic. Toward the end of the Paleolithic in Europe (35,000 B.C.), art was invented. Paleolithics painted and sculpted. The level of skill in painting and sculpting animals is remarkably high. The function of art appears to be to ensure success in hunting and in the fertility of crops and women."
China was NEVER more technologically advanced than Europe and paper did NOT come from China. The word paper comes from the ancient Egyptian writing material called papyrus, which was woven from papyrus plants. Papyrus was produced as early as 3000 BCE in Egypt, and
in ancient Greece and Rome.
"Some historians speculate that paper was the key element in global cultural advancement. According to this theory, Chinese culture was less developed than the West in ancient times because bamboo, while abundant, was a clumsier writing material than papyrus; Chinese culture advanced during the Han Dynasty and preceding centuries due to the invention of modern paper; and Europe advanced during the Renaissance due to the introduction of paper and the printing press."
On gunpowder.
"he first type of gunpowder was black powder. Neither its inventors nor exact date of creation is known. Historians of various cultures have postulated that it was invented between the seventh or ninth centuries by either the Chinese or the Arabs. In the West, Roger Bacon was the first to describe the formula for gunpowder on the ground of a passage in his On Marvelous Power of Art and Nature in 1242, leading many in the ensuing centuries to the mistaken belief that Bacon invented gunpowder -- even though Bacon himself mentioned that gunpowder was known in diverse places (see Opus tertium, by order of Pope Clement IV in 1266). It is also possible that black powder was invented independently by more than one culture at around the same time. As James Partington states in A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder:
"Gunpowder is not, of course, an 'invention' in the modern sense, the product of a single time and place; no individual's name can be attached to it, nor can that of any single nation or region. Fire is one of the primordial forces of nature, and incendiary weapons have had a place in armies' toolkits for almost as long as civilized states have made war."
Regardless of origin, gunpowder was the first chemical propellant and the first explosive recorded in history.
The Arabs are generally credited with being the first to purify gunpowder to contain almost no sodium nitrate (only potassium nitrate) and to have a high enough quality to use effectively as a combat explosive."
So you have several civilizations inventing one or two major inventions. After 600 AD Arab civilizations were no longer advanced.
Now lets take a look at European inventions shall we? Oh wait, I won't have enough space on this post to list them all.
Semi Joseph Begun
Famous German Joseph Begun was a pioneer in the field of magnetic recording.
Martin Behaim
The first globe was made by famous German map-maker, Martin Behaim in 1492.
Karl Benz (Carl Benz)
Karl Benz was the German inventor and mechanical engineer who designed and in 1885 built the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine.
Emile Berliner
In 1887, the Famous German Emile Berliner invented a system of recording which could be used over and over again and many copies of the original recording could be made
Karl Ferdinand Braun
German Ferdinand Braun invented the cathode ray tube oscilloscope in 1897.
Wernher von Braun
The V-2 Missile was developed in Germany from 1936 through the efforts of scientists led by Wernher von Braun.
Gottlieb Daimler
In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler invented a gas engine that allowed for a revolution in car design.
Rudolf Diesel
Rudolf Diesel was the German inventor of the diesel fueled internal combustion engine
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was the German physicist who invented the alcohol thermometer and the mercury thermometer in 1714.
Heinrich Geissler
The geissler tube named after Heinrich Geissler, a German glassblower.
Edmund Germer
Edmund Germer invented a high pressure vapor lamp, his development of the improved fluorescent lamp and the high-pressure mercury-vapor lamp allowed for more economical lighting with less heat.
Otto von Guericke
The inventor of the nothing we call a vacuum.
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg is best known for the Gutenberg press, an innovative printing machine that used movable type.
Heinrich Hertz
The unit of frequency of a radio wave - one cycle per second - is named the hertz, in honor of Heinrich Hertz.
Felix Hoffmann
In 1899, a German chemist named Felix Hoffmann, who worked for a German company called Bayer, rediscovered aspirin.
Gabriele Knecht
Patented the Forward Sleeve design for creating clothing.
Hedy Lamarr
On June 10 1941 Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for their invention of a classified communication system that was especially useful for submarines.
Karl von Linde
German engineer, Carl von Linden, patented the process of liquifying gas in 1876 that is part of basic refrigeration technology.
Paul Nipkow
German engineering student - Paul Gottlieb Nipkow proposed and patented the first electromechanical television system in 1884.
Hermann Oberth
Hermann Oberth was a famous German rocket scientist
Nikolaus August Otto
Nicolaus Otto invented a "Four-Stroke Internal-Combustion Engine" in 1876. He named his invention the "Otto Cycle Engine". As soon as he had completed his engine, Otto invented a motorcycle to use it with.
Wilhelm Röntgen
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays.
Ernst Ruska
Germans, Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invented the electron microscope.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a pioneer in the field of electrical engineering who invented a commercially successful alternating current motor.
Werner von Siemens
The first electric elevator was built by the German inventor Werner von
Siemens in 1880.
Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin was the German military officer who developed the rigid dirigible a lighter-than-air vehicle that became known as the zeppelin.
Konrad Zuse
Konrad Zuse was the creator of the first freely programmable computer.
That's just the germans. Would you like me to mention the British, Italian, Spanish, Belgian, Russian, Swiss, French, American, and Canadian inventions as well? There are only about 200 more names to go from cpus to microwaves.
I think I've made my point about as clear as you can get. show me the 3-4 major inventions the Chinese made, the 1-2 the Arabs made and the 0-1 Africa and South America made. They all pale in comparison to the European civilization.
If you continue to argue this debate, I will fill up 5 pages more of European inventions which will cover virtually every single piece of equipment, every single measurement you use, and continue on and on until your head just explodes.
