This Fleeting World by David Christian

364 Words2 Pages
Although David Christian’s This Fleeting World is a very detailed short history of humanity, it leaves out many things. Three of these topics are major inventions, exploration of the new world and the arts. All of these have impacted history greatly. Many inventions have impacted society greatly in our early history and I believe it was important for David Christian to talk about them. One example would be the creation of gunpowder by the Chinese in 9th century. Gunpowder completely revolutionized military warfare. It made armies stronger and increased their range of attack greatly. Another major invention was paper and printing, another Chinese creation. The invention of paper and the ability to print on it allowed humans to record events, write literature, and easily communicate long distances by sending letters. Another thing Christian left out of his book was the exploration of the new world. I believe that once the Americas were discovered, it became a prime focus of several countries. Thus, starting the colonization period. The discovery of the Americas by Columbus opened many new opportunities for trade between Europe and America. Negative things also came from the period of colonization. Such as bringing disease to the Americas, increased u se of slave labor, and the demise of the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec empires. I believe Christian did not cover the arts in enough detail. Art and architecture had major impacts on humanity. For example, The Renaissance, which occurred from the 14th century to the 17th century. It rebirthed an age of learning. A major part of this was due to the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440. When people become more educated and literate, the started to question the authority and beliefs of the Catholic Church. This allowed people to think through their ideas find the truth rather than

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