The exit of the 20th century and the advent of the new millennium has warranted humanity with cause for reflections on the last millennium. Scientific breakthroughs, social transformations, economic growth and political revolutions during the last 1000 years have left an indelible mark on the modern world that exists today.
Fundamentally, one of the best ways to examine the sprawling history of the second millennium is to consider the most influential people who immensely helped to move it forward. As American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “There is probably no history, only biography.”
Undeniably, one of the most complicated thing to do as a writer is choosing the best standard for selecting from 1000 years of history a representative group of the most influential people. Which individuals are their contributions most fully represented the accomplishments of the human race and greatly influenced the outcome of the millennium?
|Five different benchmarks are applied to make the selection. The first one is – whose contributions had a lasting influence on history? The second benchmark was based on the effect on the sum total of wisdom and beauty in the world. The next one was influence on contemporaries. How much did each individual affect the world during his or her own time? This standard allowed considerations of more modern figures, whose lasting contribution is difficult even more to gauge at the juncture in history.
Another benchmark applied for evaluation is the distinctiveness of contribution. If a single person had invented the automobile or the internet that genius might have been considered. However the innovations and inventions that made their mark on history were the result of collaborative efforts. The criterion of singularity of contribution recognised those whose singular brilliance charted entirely new territory. The fifth benchmark is charisma. This attribute brought to the selection process great leaders who may not have been intellectual giants noted for path breaking new discoveries, but who nevertheless exerted great influence by virtue of their ability to inspire other people to act.
Utilising these five benchmarks, the incredible individuals whose contributions most changed the world in ten different categories are:
- Johannes Gutenberg (Inventor)
- Christopher Columbus (Explorer)
- Michelangelo (Artist)
- Martin Luther (Religious Leader)
- William Shakespeare (Writer)
- Galileo Galilei (Scientist)
- George Washington (Statesman)
- Ludwig Van Beethoven (Music Composer)
- Elisabeth Cady Stanton (Activist)
- Mohandas Gandhi (Peacemaker)
Johannes Gutenberg (The Inventor)
One of the most remarkable achievements that most changed the new millennium and ultimately the course of human history is the invention of modern printing by Johannes Gutenberg. Gutenberg's innovation brought the printed word to a wide audience for the first time, changing the course of history with its profound influence on literacy and education.
Many efforts have been made by people from different ages in the past to devise printing methods for centuries before Gutenberg’s legendary breakthrough. Gutenberg started experimenting with printing methods in the 1430’s. His major innovation — the unique achievement that brought him such high colossal status — was a system of movable type. It involved a mold that had the outlines of letters or other characters stamped in it. Letters of type could be produced rapidly by pouring liquid metal into the pre-made molds. These letters were then assembled to make up pages for printing. With the printing press, reading and writing were no longer confined to religious orders and the rich. This altered the existing power structures. Radical ideas were more easily disseminated and people learned to question the authority of the ruling classes.
2. Christopher Columbus (The Explorer)
Although no longer generally recognised as the discoverer of Americas, the Italian-Spanish navigator, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) nevertheless is still credited for initiating the European Exploration of the ‘New World’ at the end of the 15th century. This single act of courage, brilliance, skill often thought impossible and foolish at that time, set in motion global population shifts and advances in human knowledge that profoundly changed the course of human history. Columbus was a leading navigational genius, completing four successful trips from Spain to the islands now known as the West Indies, he also conceived a plan to reach East Asia by sailing west from Europe. Finding royal backing for such a plan was never an easy task back then, however, it was almost ten years before King Ferdinand of Aragón and Queen Isabella of Castile agreed to support his voyage in 1492.
Columbus also based his calculations for the journey firmly on Biblical scriptures, specifically the books of Esdras in the Apocrypha. On August 3, 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, on the first of several voyages to what he later termed the “New World.”
Columbus who eventually died in 1506, just a few years after his last voyage never set foot on the North American mainland while many other explorers who followed him opened up the continent for European colonization, reshaping humanity's view of the world. Columbus's achievements were major keys in the transition from the middle ages to the modern age. More than 500 years later, Columbus's name still looms large over the millennium and has an indelible mark on the sands of time. He is undisputedly a great influencer of the last millennium.
Michelangelo (Artist)
Michelangelo (1475-1564), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet whose artistic accomplishments exerted a tremendous influence on his contemporaries and on subsequent European art. Michelangelo's influence on his contemporaries and on later artists was profound. Mannerism was an art movement based on exaggeration of aspects of the style of Michelangelo and other artists of the late Renaissance. The mannerists were particularly drawn to the complex poses and elongated elegance of some of his figures.
Michelangelo's best work offers a combination of detail and exquisite beauty that is unmatched, according to art historians. His attention to the technical aspects of human anatomy especially the male nude, is brilliant and influential. The artist's work is also intellectually stimulating deeply grounded in mythology, religion, and other notable references. Widely considered the greatest artist of his own time, Michelangelo is still seen as a key to the flowering of the Renaissance and is the standard against which all subsequent artists are measured.
Martin Luther (Religious Leader)
Martin Luther is a German theologian and religious reformer, who initiated the Protestant Reformation, and whose vast influence, extending beyond religion to politics, economics, education, and language, has made him one of the crucial figures in modern European history.
Luther became a public and controversial figure when he published (October 31, 1517) his Ninety-five Theses, Latin propositions opposing the manner in which indulgences (release from the temporal penalties for sin through the payment of money) were being sold in order to raise money for the building of Saint Peter’s in Rome. As an ordained priest, Luther began questioning some of Catholicism's main tenets after becoming a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in 1508. Although many others had decried the corruption of the papacy and the church before, Luther focused his disputes directly on certain church doctrines.
Chief among these was his belief that only God, not the Catholic Church, could grant redemption from sin. This directly conflicted with the church's policy of selling indulgences. The indulgence was a monetary payment that promised the soul's release from punishment after death for sins committed during a person's lifetime.
Luther was excommunicated in 1521, but he continued to agitate against the Roman Catholic Church for the rest of his life. He was also the principal figure behind translating the Bible from the ancient Hebrew and Greek into German; this translation was important in opening religious scholarship to those without training in the ancient languages. Luther died in 1546, but his influence lives on in the religious world. Protestantism stands beside Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy as one of the three main divisions of Christianity. Lutheranism, the religious denomination named after Luther, is just one of many Protestant denominations that exist today, denominations that by one estimate claim 316 million adherents.
Luther asserted that Christian theology is the theology of the cross rather than a theology of glory. Human beings cannot apprehend God by means of philosophy or ethics; they must let God be God and see him only where he chooses to make himself known. Thus, Luther stressed that God reveals his wisdom through the foolishness of preaching, his power through suffering, and the secret of meaningful life through Christ’s death on the cross.
William Shakespeare (Writer)
One of the direct significance of Gutenberg’s invention is the exponential growth in the volume of writings produced in the 20th century and many writers over the last 1000 years have incredibly influenced the human society, thinking and culture. However, there is only one person who is righty fit to be called the most influential writer of the last millennium – the English Playwright and Poet William Shakespeare. Numerous editions of Shakespeare plays have been published, including translations in all major languages. Scholars have written thousands of books and articles about his plots, characters, themes, and language. He is the most widely quoted author in history, and his plays have probably been performed more times than those of any other dramatist. His language, characters, plots and wits are all consistently brilliant. Brilliant dramas such as Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear have lived through the centuries with their beauty and power intact and remain some of the most popular and oft-produced plays.
Often popularly known as the Bard, Williams Shakespeare is reputed to possess a remarkable knowledge of human behaviour, which he was able to communicate through his portrayal of a wide variety of characters. He was able to enter fully into the point of view of each of his characters and to create vivid dramatic situations in which to explore human motivations and behaviour. Shakespeare has had a profound influence on the English Language which has emerged as the dominant tongue of the Western World. It is popularly said that many languages have their beloved writers, but all languages pay homage to Shakespeare.
Galileo Galilei (Scientist)
Galileo is an Italian physicist and astronomer who, with German astronomer Johannes Kepler, initiated the scientific revolution that flowered in the work of English physicist Sir Isaac Newton. Galileo’s main contributions were, in astronomy, the use of the telescope in observation and the discovery of sunspots, mountains and valleys on the Moon, the four largest satellites of Jupiter, and the phases of Venus. In physics, he discovered the laws of falling bodies and the motions of projectiles. In the history of culture, Galileo stands as a symbol of the battle against authority for freedom of inquiry. Galileo Galilei pioneered important aspects of what today is known as the scientific method.
Interestingly, Galileo was born near Pisa in 1564—the same year Shakespeare was born and Michelangelo died. In 1589, while a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa, Galileo began to conduct experiments testing Aristotle's theory that the speed of a fall is dependent on the weight of the falling object. He was widely credited for bringing science as a whole out of the realm of natural philosophy and into the modern era.
Galileo’s contributions to scientific knowledge is colossal. He is widely credited for inventing the first telescope for astronomical purposes, observed that the milky way consisted of stars, articulated the laws of bodies in motion, and discovered the Moon’s craters, Jupiter’s largest four satellites, sun spots and the phases of Venus. Galileo argued for the Copernican theory, which held that the Sun was the centre of the solar system. After the book was published, Galileo was charged with and found guilty of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. He died in 1642, but the fires of scientific revolution that he started still burn bright. Galileo’s enduring fight to free scientific inquiry from restriction by philosophical and theological interference is also remembered as a major contribution to the development of science.
George Washington (Statesman)
George Washington (1732-1799) was the first president of the United States (1789-1797), the very first leader of the ‘Free World’ and one of the most important figures in the history of the United States. His influential role in gaining independence for the American colonies and later in unifying them under the new U.S. Federal Government can never be overemphasised, a feat widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements by an American. Labouring against great difficulties and daunting challenges, he founded the Continental Army, which fought and won the American Revolution (1775-1783), out of what was little more than an armed mob. Washington and his troops fought bravely for eight long years, overcoming a more powerful enemy to win independence from Britain and establish a new nation based on the principle of liberty. He is also known to be the only American President to have been elected unanimously. Even though he was greatly deteriorated by years of service to his country, Washington unwillingly accepted the presidency of the United States. There is arguably no other man that could have succeeded in welding the fledgling states of American colonies into a lasting union. Washington fully understood the significance of his presidency. During eight years in office, Washington laid down the guidelines for future presidents. He is essentially one of the most important figures in American History and he embodied a towering symbol of American Independence. Washington who later lived only two years after relinquishing the presidency to his successor, John Adams is exceedingly revered for generations by his contemporaries, admirers, and fellow countrymen. The famous tribute by General Henry Lee, “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” deeply reflected the emotions and sentiment that sparked the death of George Washington. Later generations have crowned this tribute with the simple title “Father of His Country.” A noble title he fittingly deserved.
While George Washington cannot be regarded as a social philosopher who helped develop the concept of democracy, he significantly advanced it and defended its success as a political system, a colossal accomplishment that deservingly made him to be heralded as an ‘undisputed champion of liberty’ and ‘a sage of unparalleled achievement’.
Ludwig Van Beethoven (Music Composer)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer widely considered as one of the greatest musicians of all time. Beethoven works is widely known to have stood the test of time. Beethoven was one of the most skilled and innovative keyboardists of his time, but it was his compositional gift that was really unrivalled, and made him stood out among his contemporaries in the world of music. Beethoven composing brilliance spread out to every genre of classical music, from concertos to symphonies, from sonatas to operas and string quartets. Beethoven continued to compose string quartets and other kinds of chamber music, songs, two masses, an opera, and nine symphonies. His Symphony No. 9 in D minor op. 125 (Choral, completed 1824), perhaps the most famous work of classical music in existence, culminates in a choral finale based on the poem “Ode to Joy” by German writer Friedrich von Schiller. Ludwig van Beethoven ingeniously amalgamated the dramatic classical style of lively contrasts and symmetrical forms, which was brought to its highest development by Mozart, with the older tradition of unified musical character that he found in the music of J. S. Bach. The exciting reality that Beethoven discovered his artistic ambitions in spite of his hearing impairment added to the fascination and inspiration of his life for posterity, and the extraordinary richness and complexity of his later works insured that no later generation would fail to find challenge in his music. Many music scholars credit Beethoven with actually changing the way instrumental music, and music in general, is viewed in the pantheon of art. In the late 18th century, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music, and music itself was deemed inferior to painting or literature. Beethoven artistic and musical success ultimately set a standard against which later composers would measure their work.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Activist)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) is an American social reformer, who was widely known for championing the struggle for women suffrage. Elizabeth Cady who was born on November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York, and the fourth of six children never went to college but studied subjects such as Greek, Latin, and mathematics. Cady Stanton was an influential activist for women's causes including liberalizing divorce laws and laws affecting women's rights to own property. On February 8, 1861, Cady Stanton addressed the Judiciary Committee of the New York Senate in support of a divorce bill. Speaking of the existing divorce laws, she said, “The laws on divorce are quite as unequal as those on marriage; yes, far more so. The advantages seem to be all on one side, and the penalties on the other.” Cady Stanton's efforts were largely responsible for the introduction in the United States of America in 1878 of a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage. The amendment was reintroduced until it became law as the 19th Amendment in 1920. Cady Stanton's staunch views on critical subjects, including divorce, reproduction, and religion, isolated her from more conservative advocates of women's rights and the publication of her two-volume book The Woman's Bible (1895, 1898), a commentary on women in the Bible, further alienated her from the National-American Woman Suffrage Association. History has largely justified Stanton's beliefs, and eighteen years after her death, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was finally passed, giving U.S. women the vote. Stanton was also active in international affairs and immensely contributed to the founding of the International Council of Women in 1888. She was co-author, with Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage, of the first three volumes of A History of Woman Suffrage (6 volumes, 1881-1922).
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Pacifist)
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) is an Indian nationalist leader, who helped gained his country's freedom through a nonviolent revolution. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma (meaning esteemed one – a title reserved to individual who is deeply revered for wisdom and virtue) Gandhi, was born in Porbandar in the present state of Gujarat on October 2, 1869, and educated in law at University College, London. For more than 20 years, Gandhi organised protests against discriminatory and unfair treatment of Indian immigrants, and he suffered imprisonment for many years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi formulated his policy of passive resistance to authorities, largely influenced by the writings of Russian author Leo Tolstoy and American author Henry David Thoreau, as well as on the teachings of Jesus Christ the founder of the Christian Religion.
In 1910, Gandhi founded Tolstoy Farm with his followers, near Johannesburg, which served as a cooperative colony for Indians. In 1914 the government of the Union of South Africa made important concessions to Gandhi's demands, including recognition of Indian marriages and abolition of the poll tax for them. Gandhi who later travelled back to India after completing his civil responsibilities for the Indian people in South Africa and become the preeminent leader of the struggle for independence and the most powerful individual in all of India, championing and teaching his policies of passive resistance and non-violent revolution to independence albeit living a simple lifestyle of the country's most impoverished.
Gandhi successfully demonstrated to whole humanity that violence is never the most effective way to overthrow an empire, achieve emancipation from discrimination, halt political oppression or change the course of history. As a deeply spiritual man, his message extended beyond politics and penetrated deeply into the universal realms of human nature.
Consequently, Gandhi’s teachings came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere, particularly in the United States under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Mohandas Gandhi’s place and tremendous achievement in humanity was measured not in terms of the twentieth century but in terms of history.
The whole human race is forever indebted to these great souls who have tremendously helped in shaping the second millennium consequently pushing the modern world forward to the next levels. These colossal achievements by these brave minds were by no means a product of accident or chance nor do they accomplish these feats on the platter of gold. Their indispensable contributions to mankind were crowning efforts of their toil, hardship, ingenuity, creative thinking, radicalism, pain, hard work, persistence, special gifts and abilities, courage, exposure to risk, radical thinking and many times controversy. Humanity would never forget the indelible mark they left on the sands of time nor can it let their ideals and fade. It is valid to assert that without their dreams, breakthroughs, struggles, ideologies, ingenuity, imagination, achievements, success, fame and even their failures as a whole, labouring humanity would be stagnant, grind to a halt or even wipe out of existence. These amazing individuals are collectively the saviours of the world, they are our demigods, our compass that leads us to the unknown future, and a shining beacon through which we view and enter the future of human development and progress.
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