Discoveries That Changed Our World Quiz

Answer: Agriculture

Once our ancestors knew how to work the land they had a permanent source of food. From then on they didn't have to follow the animals they were hunting any more. Soon villages and cities emerged on the spots that had the most arable land. It's no coincidence that the first civilizations emerged along the banks of great rivers, such as the Nile, where the land is very fertile.

Answer: To write on

When early civilizations started trading with each other they needed something to keep track of what and how much they were trading. The Sumerians (who lived in present day Iraq) did this by making wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets. This developed into an early form of writing. Later other forms of writing emerged, such as hieroglyphs and the alphabet we still use today.

Answer: Iron

For a very long time our ancestors could only work with stone. Eventually they learnt the art of metallurgy. This means they could smelt the metal ore they found and make tools from it. Bronze is a mixture of copper and tin. Because copper is difficult to find only the rich could afford bronze tools. Bronze is also a soft material what means the tools broke easily.

Smelting iron ore is more difficult because you need to generate more heat. Once our ancestors discovered how to smelt iron they could make much better tools. Unfortunately they also used iron to make better weapons.

Answer: Aqueducts

Aqueducts are small canals in which water is transported from its source to the city. Usually they run underground but sometimes they had to cross a gorge. In that case the Romans they built large structures to cross those gorges.

Having lots of water in the cities was vital for drinking and hygiene. Because of the invention of aqueducts cities could grow bigger than ever before. This also allowed the Romans to build their famous bath houses. They also built sewage systems to get rid of the contaminated water.

Answer: Gunpowder

At first the Chinese used gunpowder only for fireworks during festivities. Later they discovered that the explosive force coming from gunpowder could propel heavy objects. That's how the first guns and cannons were invented. In the 14th century gunpowder became known in the west and from then on knights and archers in armies of that time were steadily replaced by firearms.

The three wrong answers are Chinese inventions, too.

Answer: Printing press

The Chinese had already invented printing long before Gutenberg but he adapted this invention in such a way that books could be produced in large quantities. Before the invention of the printing press every book had to be written manually. This made books extremely expensive. Only a few people could read anyway.

The printing press made it possible to print a lot of books very fast. This also meant that more people could afford books. In 1517 a priest called Martin Luther didn't agree with the pope and used the printing press to spread his ideas. This started a religious revolution we call the reformation.

Answer: America

While schoolchildren were taught for many years to consider Christopher Columbus as the European discoverer of the New World, the Vikings had arrived in what is now Canada centuries earlier. Columbus was attempting to find a sea route to Asia by travelling west, instead of south and east, sailing around Africa to reach the Indian Ocean to reach India and the East Indies.

When he reached the Caribbean, he actually believed that he had reached islands that lay off the coast of Asia (hence their name, West Indies), and only suggested that there was a large landmass nearby, without actually going there. So he never really confirmed the presence of north America at all! But when he reported the islands after returning to Europe, more explorers followed across the Atlantic.

Mainland America was discovered later by Amerigo Vespucci. From him America got its name. The discovery of America brought Europe many new products such as potatoes and tomatoes. Lots of Europeans went to America to gain new lands. They also took lots of gold and silver from America.

Unfortunately, many Native Americans were killed by the Europeans or died of European diseases. Many people started plantations in America to produce sugar, tobacco and coffee for the European markets. They imported slaves from Africa to work in those plantations.

Answer: The steam engine

Steam engines already existed before Watt made his invention but they didn't work very well. Watt's invention made many applications possible, such as steam trains or textile machines. All sorts of goods that previously were made by hand could now be made by machines in large quantities. This is what we call the industrial revolution. Roads and canals were built to transport all those new products to markets all over the world.

Many people who previously lived in the country moved to the city to work in factories. The people who worked in those new factories were very poorly paid and lived in miserable circumstances. Children from the age of six had to do dirty and dangerous work. Another drawback of all this is that all those machines need energy to work. Fossil fuels like coal or oil were burnt to provide that energy. This has led to pollution and the problem of global warming we're facing today.

Answer: Vaccination

Milkmaids work with cows a lot and often contract cowpox. This disease is quite harmless for humans. It also makes them immune for the far more dangerous smallpox disease, from which many people were suffering in the 18th century. This gave Jenner the idea to inject people with cowpox. This way the person who is injected will develop antibodies against smallpox and can't contract that disease any more.

Later vaccines for all sorts of diseases were developed. Before the invention of vaccination a third of all children died before the age of five due to all sorts of diseases that cause few troubles today.

Answer: Television

There are many people who made inventions that made the television possible but it was John Logie Baird who was the first to publicly demonstrate a television system. Although this happened in the 1920s it wasn't until the 1950s that the television became commonplace in most homes. Since then television has been the most popular medium for news and entertainment.

This popularity made it suitable for advertising and a good way for politicians to present their policies.