Throughout history events, actions, tools, and places have been labeled as “important” or “worthless.” It is through this process as regarding some things to have a larger effect on the outcome of history than other things that raises questions in the community most that begin with the word why. Why was this certain monument praised and this one cast away. Why did no one settle in this particular place? Why was this country better at spreading across the nation? These are questions that cannot be answered simply, but take years of research and labor. There are tiers of importance, each having some consequence on the next tier, and other tiers under or above it. Throughout history, though, on aspect has stood out prominent in every single civilization. Without this certain variable, history as we know it would never have formed. Civilizations would not have been founded and nothing would be here at all. The single most important aspect of the entirety of history is humans. Humans are at the pinnacle of the tower of importance and the things they create take on lesser roles in the spectrum of importance. Indeed, without the human factor, life would not be the same. Humans undoubtedly take precedence over all things deemed “important” as it is that most of those items are man-made. The other things that are important in history are directly man-made tools, environment, and the interrelation of other peoples. Simple man-made artifacts and monuments are still astounding scholars today. Man came from humble beginnings but soon developed a thirst for development. As seen in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the ape-like creature picked up a bone, let it gleam in the sun, and brought it down with force upon the sun-baked bones of a dead animal. These were the beginnings of technology (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhffK5EPlNc&feature=related). These first men felt the need to be dominant over God’s other creatures and were granted that desire with the mental capacity to wield simple bones. It cannot be disputed that this was a breakthrough in history and was astronomically important. Monuments that were created from painstaking labor and required quite a bit of intelligence also proved to be important in the creation of history. The most recent monuments that we have studied are the Pyramids in Egypt (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/great_pyramid_01.shtml). It is not only the glorious architecture that has held importance throughout the tide of history, but what the mere creation of the pyramids stood for. They were, in fact, giant tombs for royal dynasties to be placed after death. These enormous burial grounds proved to be more than just an order a pharaoh commanded of his underlings, but a breakthrough in culture, organized religion. Egyptian life centered on religious beliefs and the pyramids showed that feasibly (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/magic_01.shtml). Culture came a long distance from where it first began and people are beginning to realize that they are becoming organized, a culture.
Another tier of the Importance hierarchy is the environment. This importance is highlighted by a man by the name of Jared Diamond. His book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, describes how certain nations had a head start in the process of civilization because of where they began. He says that it ultimately boils down to “luck” (http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/34.2/mcneill.html). The most prominent form of environmental importance is the Fertile Crescent. In this area domesticatable animals and crops were plentiful as a result of the fertile land. This allowed the process of civilizing occur more rapidly than it did in other parts of the world as people were already given the crops and animals and only had to do a little bit of Neolithic experimentation to bring these factors under their control. The environment, along with humanity’s necessity to adapt, had an enormous impact on the outcome of a civilization. The environment in essence created the diverse populous of separate cultures we know in the world today.
The final rung or tier in the Importance chain is the way people interact with other people. Cultures and civilizations inevitably cross paths with each other and either disagree or mingle. In the case of a disagreement, nations may fight and go to war. This is a significant instance of how interrelation can lead to something bad. On the opposite side of the spectrum, when separate civilizations interact in a positive, a completely new hybrid of the two cultures can form. The most well-known instance of interrelation of people having a positive outcome is that of the United States of America. America has been given the nickname of the “Melting Pot” because so many different ethnicities and cultures have found safety within our boundaries. But it does not stop there. The reason the United States has been given the affectionate name of the “Melting Pot” is because the people who come into the region do not isolate themselves completely. Throughout history, and even in this day and age, the different cultures have assimilated some aspects of their culture into ours. People have retained their own, original culture but also have some parts of other cultures mixed in. When this happens, no one culture is eliminated, but all of the mixture of ethnics creates a new, powerful culture made from many unique cultures all blended in to one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_Pot#cite_note-Hollinger-3). Every culture has gone through many changes throughout the course of history. Some have disappeared and some have grown into massive nations. Every culture is unique and individualized. Every single culture has aspects of themselves similar to that of others and some have traits that are only expressed in their society. All of these aspects are important in the creation of history. The things that define a society are the truly important things when studying civilizations. Nothing ever matters more than what makes you you, what makes society a society, and what makes the world, the world. Some things from certain societies have withstood the tests of time and still have an impact on us today, but that does not make them important. Importance is not easily defined but when everything comes together and history can be put together to make sense, that is truly important.
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