Thinking Comparatively

The World in 1492

Which civilization Invented the clock, the printing press, gunpowder, and spaghetti? China.

Which civilization had the world’s largest city in 1492? Probably the Aztec.

Which civilizations domesticated at least half of the foods eaten in the world today?The New World Indians.

Even a cursory familiarity with world history should remind us innovation has never been confined to a single geographical region. Apparently, writing was invented by the people in ancient Sumer in what is now Iraq. It appears the first farmers lived in southwestern Asia. 

The Chinese are thought to have invented paper, the compass, gunpowder and the abacus. Northeast Africa was the birthplace of the axle, drill, and chisel. The wheel appears to have originated in ancient Iraq. The watermill and windmill were invented in ancient Iran, textile-making in India, and metalworking in the Balkans and western Asia.

What is striking is the diversity of inventiveness. Cement, porcelain, and enamel were produced in the ancient Americas and in China. Coffee was first bred in Ethiopia; sugar came from Southeast Asia. Potatoes, beans, strawberries, tomatoes, chocolate, beans, and corn came from the Americas.