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The Neolithic Revolution impacted a part of the Middle East region called the Fertile Crescent. The Neolithic Revolution was a time when human agriculture and farming evolved tremendously. It introduces new tools like the reaper, cotton gin, and tractor. This revolution brought machinery and different technology into farming life. The Neolithic Revolution impacted the human race and cultural aspects throughout history. It helped change the way people lived and the way people got their food.

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The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. The Neolithic Revolution started around 10,000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent, a boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East where humans first took up farming. Shortly after, Stone Age humans in other parts of the world also began to practice agriculture. Civilizations and cities grew out of the innovations of the Neolithic Revolution.

Neolithic Age

The Neolithic Age is sometimes called the New Stone Age. Neolithic humans used stone tools like their earlier Stone Age ancestors, who eked out a marginal existence in small bands of hunter-gatherers during the last Ice Age.

Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe coined the term "Neolithic Revolution" in 1935 to describe the radical and important period of change in which humans began cultivating plants, breeding animals for food and forming permanent settlements. The advent of agriculture separated Neolithic people from their Paleolithic ancestors.

Many facets of modern civilization can be traced to this moment in history when people started living together in communities.

Causes of the Neolithic Revolution

There was no single factor that led humans to begin farming roughly 12,000 years ago. The causes of the Neolithic Revolution may have varied from region to region.

The Earth entered a warming trend around 14,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Some scientists theorize that climate changes drove the Agricultural Revolution.

In the Fertile Crescent, bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea and on the east by the Persian Gulf, wild wheat and barley began to grow as it got warmer. Pre-Neolithic people called Natufians started building permanent houses in the region.

Other scientists suggest that intellectual advances in the human brain may have caused people to settle down. Religious artifacts and artistic imagery-progenitors of human civilization-have been uncovered at the earliest Neolithic settlements.

The Neolithic Era began when some groups of humans gave up the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle completely to begin farming. It may have taken humans hundreds or even thousands of years to transition fully from a lifestyle of subsisting on wild plants to keeping small gardens and later tending large crop fields.

Neolithic Humans

The archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey is one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements. Studying Çatalhöyük has given researchers a better understanding of the transition from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering to an agriculture lifestyle.

Archaeologists have unearthed more than a dozen mud-brick dwellings at the 9,500 year-old Çatalhöyük. They estimate that as many as 8,000 people may have lived here at one time. The houses were clustered so closely back-to-back that residents had to enter the homes through a hole in the roof.

The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük appear to have valued art and spirituality. They buried their dead under the floors of their houses. The walls of the homes are covered with murals of men hunting, cattle and female goddesses.

Some of the earliest evidence of farming comes from the archaeological site of Tell Abu Hureyra, a small village located along the Euphrates River in modern Syria. The village was inhabited from roughly 11,500 to 7,000 B.C.

Inhabitants of Tell Abu Hureyra initially hunted gazelle and other game. Around 9,700 B.C. they began to harvest wild grains. Several large stone tools for grinding grain have been found at the site.

Agricultural Inventions

Plant domestication: Cereals such as emmer wheat, einkorn wheat and barley were among the first crops domesticated by Neolithic farming communities in the Fertile Crescent. These early farmers also domesticated lentils, chickpeas, peas and flax.

Domestication is the process by which farmers select for desirable traits by breeding successive generations of a plant or animal. Over time, a domestic species becomes different from its wild relative.

Neolithic farmers selected for crops that harvested easily. Wild wheat, for instance, falls to the ground and shatters when it is ripe. Early humans bred for wheat that stayed on the stem for easier harvesting.

Around the same time that farmers were beginning to sow wheat in the Fertile Crescent, people in Asia started to grow rice and millet. Scientists have discovered archaeological remnants of Stone Age rice paddies in Chinese swamps dating back at least 7,700 years.

In Mexico, squash cultivation began about 10,000 years ago, while maize-like crops emerged around 9,000 years ago.

Livestock: The first livestock were domesticated from animals that Neolithic humans hunted for meat. Domestic pigs were bred from wild boars, for instance, while goats came from the Persian ibex. Domesticated animals made the hard, physical labor of farming possible while their milk and meat added variety to the human diet. They also carried infectious diseases: smallpox, influenza and the measles all spread from domesticated animals to humans.

The first farm animals also included sheep and cattle. These originated in Mesopotamia between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago. Water buffalo and yak were domesticated shortly after in China, India and Tibet.

Draft animals including oxen, donkeys and camels appeared much later-around 4,000 B.C.-as humans developed trade routes for transporting goods.

Effects of the Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution led to masses of people establishing permanent settlements supported by farming and agriculture. It paved the way for the innovations of the ensuing Bronze Age and Iron Age, when advancements in creating tools for farming, wars and art swept the world and brought civilizations together through trade and conquest.

Sources

The Development of Agriculture; National Geographic.
The Seeds of Civilization; Smithsonian Magazine.

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The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. It started around 10,000 B.C.

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The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks-480 B.C.E

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The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks-480 B.C.E

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The part of the world impacted by this battle was mainly Greece, but other places such as Sparta, and the Achaemenid Persian Empire were also impacted. When Xerxes won, the victory allowed further advancement into Southern Greece and made a huge expansion of the Persian empire. This event is used as an example of persistence throughout the world today.

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The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks-480 B.C.E

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The religion of Islam was founded in the year 610 CE.

The part of the world that the founding of Islam impacted was the Arabian peninsula.

The birth of Muhammad was crucial for the founding of Islam, a major religion. Without this event, Islam many people would not have their own "identity" based on where they are.

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The Spanish Reconquista began in 722 AD.

The areas in the world that The Spanish Reconquista impacted were Seville, Granada, and Cordoba.

A little bit like the Crusades, many Christian states went on a journey to take back land that the Muslims owned. During this time Spain was able to make Catholicism the main religion in their area, and this event resulted in the identity of the Spanish state.

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Gunpowder is invented- 850 AD/ 9th Century

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Gunpowder is invented- 850 AD/ 9th Century

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The parts of the world that the invention of gunpowder impacted were China, America, and Europe.

Gunpowder changed warfare forever. It was first invented in China during the 9th century and later introduced to Europe in the 13th century. This innovative invention allowed the creation of firearms and improved the effectiveness of cannons, enabling soldiers to fire projectiles with greater accuracy and distance. It also revolutionized the design and defense of fortifications. The impact of gunpowder on history has been significant.

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gunpowder, any of several low-explosive mixtures used as propelling charges in guns and as blasting agents in mining.

The first such explosive was black powder, which consists of a mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal. When prepared in roughly the correct proportions (75 percent saltpetre, 15 percent charcoal, and 10 percent sulfur), it burns rapidly when ignited and produces approximately 40 percent gaseous and 60 percent solid products, the latter mostly appearing as whitish smoke. In a confined space such as the breech of a gun, the pent-up gas can be used for propelling a missile such as a bullet or artillery shell. Black powder is relatively insensitive to shock and friction and must be ignited by flame or heat. Though it has largely been supplanted by smokeless powder as a propellant for ammunition in guns, black powder is still widely used for ignition charges, primers, fuses, and blank-fire charges in military ammunition. With varied proportions of ingredients, it is also used in fireworks, time fuses, signals, squibs, and spatting charges for practice bombs.

Black powder is thought to have originated in China, where it was being used in fireworks and signals by the 10th century. Between the 10th and 12th centuries, the Chinese developed the huo qiang ("fire lance"), a short-range proto- gun that channeled the explosive power of gunpowder through a cylinder-initially, a bamboo tube. Upon ignition, projectiles such as arrows or bits of metal would be forcefully ejected, along with an impressive gout of flame. By the late 13th century the Chinese were employing true guns, made of cast brass or iron. Guns began to appear in the West by 1304, when the Arabs produced a bamboo tube reinforced with iron that used a charge of black powder to shoot an arrow. Black powder was adopted for use in firearms in Europe from the 14th century but was not employed for peaceful purposes, such as mining and road building, until the late 17th century. It remained a useful explosive for breaking up coal and rock deposits until the early 20th century, when it was gradually replaced by dynamite for most mining purposes.

The preparation of black powder from solid ingredients requires uniform mixing and blending of the saltpetre, charcoal, and sulfur. The earliest manufacturing processes used hand methods; the ingredients were simply ground together into a powder using a mortar and pestle. Beginning in the 15th century, water-driven crushing devices of wood, called wooden stamps, came into use to grind the ingredients, and power-driven metallic crushing devices replaced the wooden stamp mills in the 19th century.

Because the burning of black powder is a surface phenomenon, a fine granulation burns faster than a coarse one. A fast burning rate is effective ballistically but tends to create excessive pressures in the gun barrel. Thus, black powder in its powdered form burned too rapidly to be a safe propellant in firearms. To remedy this, Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries began manufacturing powder in large grains of uniform size. The speed of burning could be varied by using a different size of granule. In the 19th century, as elongated projectiles replaced round balls and the rifling of gun tubes was adopted to rotate and stabilize the projectile, black powders were manufactured to burn even more slowly. In the 1850s Thomas J. Rodman of the U.S. Army developed black powder grains so shaped that they provided a progressively greater burning surface as the combustion progressed, with a resulting maximum energy release after the projectile had already begun to travel down the bore of the gun.

Beginning in the 1860s, black powder was gradually supplanted for use in firearms by guncotton and other, more stable forms of nitrocellulose. Unlike black powder, which burns by the chemical reactions of its constituent ingredients, nitrocellulose is an inherently unstable compound that burns by decomposing rapidly, forming hot gases. In contrast to black powder, it produces almost all gas upon combustion, earning itself the appellation smokeless powder. Also unlike black powder, nitrocellulose burns progressively, generating more gas pressure as combustion proceeds. This results in higher muzzle velocities (for the projectile) and less strain exerted on the firearm.

Nitrocellulose is manufactured by nitrating cellulose fibres such as cotton or wood pulp with nitric and sulfuric acids. Early manufacturing techniques often failed to remove all traces of residual acids from the nitrocellulose, which then tended to undergo an unpredictable spontaneous decomposition resulting in explosion. In the 1880s European chemists began adding special stabilizers to neutralize the residual acids and other decomposition agents in nitrocellulose. The resulting stable and reliable product, known as smokeless powder, was widely adopted in all types of guns in the following decades and supplanted black powder as the propellant charge in artillery and small arms ammunition. (Black powder is still used to ignite the main [smokeless] propellant charge in large-bore artillery pieces, however.)

Nitrocellulose propellants produce much less smoke and flash than black powder and deliver much more mechanical work per unit of weight. The other advantages of smokeless powder are its improved stability in storage, its reduced erosive effects on gun bores, and the improved control obtainable over its rate of burning.

Most forms of gunpowder produced today are either single-base (i.e., consisting of nitrocellulose alone) or double-base (consisting of a combination of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin). Both types are prepared by plasticizing nitrocellulose with suitable solvents, rolling it into thin sheets, and cutting the sheets into small squares called granules or grains, which are then dried. Control of the burning rate is achieved by varying the composition, size, and geometric shape of the propellant grains and sometimes by surface treatment or coating of the grains. Generally, the goal is to produce a propellant that is slowly converted to gas in the initial stages of burning and more rapidly converted as burning progresses.

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Gunpowder | Facts, History, & Definition

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Gunpowder, any of several low-explosive mixtures used as propelling charges in guns and as blasting agents. The first such explosive was black powder-a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal-which is thought to have originated in China, where it was being used in fireworks by the 10th century.

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The First Crusade began on August 15, 1096.

The parts of the world that this event impacted were The Levant and Anatolia.

The First Crusade greatly impacted the world because multiple people were forced to convert to Christianity. Also, a lot of people died because they chose not to convert to Christianity. This crusade marked the time of a huge religion coming into place.

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This invention impacted the entire world.

When the printing press was invented multiple people used it to improve communication and to make their work more efficient. During the time of Martin Luther, the printing press was used to show his 95 Theses to the world and those copies created a huge change in the Catholic church.

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The Spanish Inquisition began on November 1, 1478.

The Americas and Europe were both impacted by the Spanish Inquisition.

The Spanish wanted to make sure that power was kept in the monarchy and many people were killed to have this goal achieved.

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Columbus “discovers” the Americas- October 12, 1492

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Columbus “discovers” the Americas- October 12, 1492

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This event impacted Europe and Africa, it also impacted both of the Americas.

When Columbus “discovers” the Americas this was the start of multiple trade routes that ran through (between) the Americas and Europe. His discovery impacted the route of the slave trade between Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The consequence of his discovery happened when many settlers came and affected the Native Americans with diseases they brought with them.

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Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492. His objective was to sail west until he reached Asia (the Indies) where the riches of gold, pearls and spice awaited. His first stop was the Canary Islands where the lack of wind left his expedition becalmed until September 6.

Once underway, Columbus benefited from calm seas and steady winds that pushed him steadily westward (Columbus had discovered the southern "Trades" that in the future would fuel the sailing ships carrying goods to the New World). However, the trip was long, longer than anticipated by either Columbus or his crew. In order to mollify his crew's apprehensions, Columbus kept two sets of logs: one showing the true distance traveled each day and one showing a lesser distance. The first log was kept secret. The latter log quieted the crew's anxiety by under-reporting the true distance they had traveled from their homeland.

This deception had only a temporary effect; by October 10 the crew's apprehension had increased to the point of near mutiny. Columbus headed off disaster by promising his crew that if land was not sighted in two days, they would return home. The next day land was discovered.

Columbus's journal of his first voyage to America has been lost. However, we do have an accurate abstract of the journal written by Bartolome de las Casas in the 1530s. Las Casas was an historian and Columbus's biographer who had access to the original journal of the voyage. We join Columbus's account as his expedition approaches the islands of the Bahamas. Throughout the account, Columbus refers to himself in the third person as the "Admiral":

"Thursday October 11

The course was W.S.W., and there was more sea than there had been during the whole of the voyage. They saw sand-pipers, and a green reed near the ship. Those of the caravel Pinta saw a cane and a pole, and they took up another small pole which appeared to have been worked with iron; also another bit of cane, a land-plant, and a small board. The crew of the caravel Nia also saw signs of land, and a small branch covered with berries. Everyone breathed afresh and rejoiced at these signs. The run until sunset was 27 leagues.

After sunset the Admiral returned to his original west course, and they went along at the rate of 12 miles an hour. Up to two hours after midnight they had gone 90 miles, equal to 22 1/2 leagues. As the caravel Pinta was a better sailer, and went ahead of the Admiral, she found the land, and made the signals ordered by the Admiral. The land was first seen by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana. But the Admiral, at ten o'clock, being on the castle of the poop, saw a light, though it was so uncertain that he could not affirm it was land. He called Pero Gutierrez, a gentleman of the King's bedchamber, and said that there seemed to be a light, and that he should look at it. He did so, and saw it. The Admiral said the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the fleet as inspector, but he could see nothing, because he was not in a place whence anything could be seen.

After the Admiral had spoken he saw the light once or twice, and it was like a wax candle rising and failing. It seemed to few to be an indication of land; but the Admiral made certain that land was close. When they said the Salve, (Salve Regina) which all the sailors were accustomed to sing in their way, the Admiral asked and admonished the men to keep a good look-out on the forecastle, and to watch well for land; and to him who should first cry out that he saw land, he would give a silk doublet, besides the other rewards promised by the Sovereigns, which were 10,000 maravedis to him who should first saw it. At two hours after midnight the land was sighted at a distance of two leagues."

Columbus ordered the three ships to halt and wait for daylight before venturing further. His journal continues:

"Friday October 12

The vessels were hove to, waiting for daylight; and on Friday they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos, called, in the language of the Indians, Guanahani. Presently they saw naked people. The Admiral went on shore in the armed boat, and Martin Alonso Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez, his brother, who was captain of the Nia. The Admiral took the royal standard, and the captains went with two banners of the green cross, which the Admiral took in all the ships as a sign, with an F and a Y and a crown over each letter, one on one side of the cross and the other on the other.
Having landed, they saw trees very green, and much water, and fruits of diverse kinds. The Admiral called to the two captains, and to the others who leaped on shore, and to Rodrigo Escovedo, secretary of the whole fleet, and to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, and said that they should bear faithful testimony that he, in presence of all, had taken, as he now took, possession of the said island for the King and for the Queen his Lords, making the declarations that are required, as is now largely set forth in the testimonies which were then made in writing."

Shortly after landing, many of the island's inhabitants assembled on the beach and Columbus gave them gifts of red hats and beads. The natives reciprocated with gifts of parrots, cotton and other goods. In describing the natives, Columbus wrote: "They go as naked as when their mothers bore them, and so do the women, although I did not see more than one girl. They are very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances."

References:
Columbus's journal appears in Olson, Julius, The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 (1926); Dyson, John, Columbus: for Gold, God, and Glory (1991); Morrison, Samuel Eliot, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942);

How To Cite This Article:
"Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2004).

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Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492

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An eyewitness account of Columbus's first landfall in the New World.

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The Industrial Revolution impacted The U.S.A., Britain, Europe, and North America.

During this time manufacturers used new inventions and created products that shaped America today. The Industrial Revolution input new laws for food safety and it helped consumers understand what foods were safe and what foods were dangerous. Other businessmen such as Henry Ford made huge impacts on American society by modernizing previous inventions such as the car.

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Industrial Revolution | Definition, History, Dates, Summary, & Facts

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Industrial Revolution, in modern history, the process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. The process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world, driving changes in energy use, socioecon…

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The creation of plastic impacted the entire world. Originating in New York, it soon became known worldwide.

Plastic is widely used worldwide for its convenience and durability, but it is entirely man-made and harmful to the environment. In 2023, an estimated 158,943,925 tonnes of plastic waste will be produced.

creation

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Leo Baekeland (born November 14, 1863, Ghent, Belgium-died February 23, 1944, Beacon, New York, U.S.) was a U.S. industrial chemist who helped found the modern plastics industry through his invention of Bakelite, the first thermosetting plastic (a plastic that does not soften when heated).

Baekeland received his doctorate maxima cum laude from the University of Ghent at the age of 21 and taught there until 1889, when he went to the U.S. and joined a photographic firm. He soon set up his own company to manufacture his invention, Velox, a photographic paper that could be developed under artificial light. Velox was the first commercially successful photographic paper. In 1899 Baekeland sold his company and rights to the paper to the U.S. inventor George Eastman for $1,000,000.

Baekeland's search, begun in 1905, for a synthetic substitute for shellac led to the discovery of Bakelite, a condensation product of formaldehyde and phenol that is produced at high temperature and pressure. Though the material had been reported earlier, Baekeland was the first to find a method of forming it into the thermosetting plastic. Baekeland received many honours for his invention and served as president of the American Chemical Society in 1924.

Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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Leo Baekeland | Inventor, Bakelite, Plastics

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Leo Baekeland was a U.S. industrial chemist who helped found the modern plastics industry through his invention of Bakelite, the first thermosetting plastic (a plastic that does not soften when heated). Baekeland received his doctorate maxima cum laude from the University of Ghent at the age of 21

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The Sykes-Picot Treaty was created on May 16, 1916.

The parts of the world that The Sykes-Picot Treaty impacted were Iraq and Syria.

The Sykes-Picot Treaty was important because it divided Arabian regions into 4 parts, these places were also the territory of the Ottoman Empire. All of this took place after the First World War. These 4 regions were divided into French and British hands and soon became their territory.

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The Battle of the Somme begins-July 1, 1916

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The Battle of the Somme begins-July 1, 1916

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The parts of the world that were impacted were Britain and France.

This battle was crucial as it established the foundations for multiple advanced battle techniques in later wars. Also, it compelled the German army near the Somme to retreat.

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The treaty ended the first World War, it placed blame for the war on Germany, and it didn't do a good job of preventing future wars.

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Hitler was appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933

Germany

He became Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi party took over. This granted Hitler extensive power to carry out his desires, ultimately resulting in the Holocaust and other catastrophic occurrences.

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The Holocaust began in 1941.

The parts of the world that The Holocaust impacted were Germany, Hungary, and Eastern/Western Europe.

The Holocaust was marked as the most devastating time for the Jews because of the death rate during this time. The Holocaust is also known as one of the biggest genocides of that time, after the Holocaust the people that survived waited for moments to go back home. Soon, many things started to change; Israel became part of the world, Jews became independent, and much more.

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The D-Day invasion happened on June 6, 1944.

It impacted Germany along with many countries Allies.

Allied troops landed on the coast of Normandy. They took the beach by storm and many were killed. It was and still is the largest seaborne invasion in history.

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An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki-August 6, 1945

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An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki-August 6, 1945

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The parts of the world that were impacted were Japan, the U.S., and the Allied Powers.

The Nagasaki bombing showed the effect of new technologies from the United States. It helped people understand the meaning of a nuclear war and let them see the outcomes of the nuclear bombs. This war had multiple casualties and a tremendous amount of deaths. According to History.com around 120,000 people died (adding both deaths from Little Boy and Fat Man).

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An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki-An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki

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The creation of Israel happened on May 14, 1948.

The creation of Israel impacted Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan.

When  Israel became part of the world, Jews became independent and they were able to have a safe community. The Jews practice their religion freely in their areas no matter who is around. They introduced their version of the bible to the world and showed people the significance of their existence.

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Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon-21 July 1969

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Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon-21 July 1969

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Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the moon impacted America as a whole because they were the first country to send someone to the moon and bring them back safely.

This event hugely changed the world because of the impact it had. Neil Armstrong became the 1st man on the moon and was able to come back to Earth safely. This was a mission known across the world as “ The Apollo 11 Mission”, it was made by the president of that time (John F. Kennedy). He wanted to be the first to make a safe solar landing and come back to planet Earth without any danger in their way.

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Summer 2003, Vol. 35, No. 2

By Bruce I. Bustard

What would it be like if we could recreate a single day in our past? Not just the parts we remember, the events to which we attribute great significance, but the whole day filled with all its interacting parts. This is the premise behind one of the new exhibits under development for the National Archives Experience, "20 July 1969." Millions of Americans- and millions of others around the globe- remember the summer of 1969 as the time humans first landed on the Moon. Culminating with Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong's first step onto the Moon on July 20, 1969, the space flight, the lunar landing, and the crew's safe return to earth were seen as epochal events, worthy of intense media coverage, international celebration, and careful social analysis. The events surrounding the Moon mission were recorded and noted in great detail. Nowhere was this truer than in the many agencies that make up the federal government of the United States. "20 July 1969" will show how this momentous episode in American history affected the work of the entire government and how the world reacted to Armstrong's "giant leap for all mankind." Using original documents, photographs, and video clips set in an environment reminiscent of a NASA "mission control" station, the exhibit will recreate this one historic day in the nation's history.

On the morning of July 16, 1969, an enormous three-stage Saturn V rocket- the largest rocket ever built- stood on launch pad 39A at Cape Kennedy, Florida. The Saturn V stood 281 feet high and weighed 6.2 million pounds. Its first-stage liquid fuel engines produced 7.5 millions pounds of thrust- enough power to light up all of New York City for an hour and a half. On top of the Saturn V, three Apollo 11 astronauts- Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin- waited in their tiny "Command Module," over three hundred feet above the ground. Attached below them were a "Service Module," whose engine would be used to take them out of Earth orbit, and a "Lunar Module," named Eagle, which would be used to take Armstrong and Aldrin to the surface of the Moon and back to Collins, who would orbit the Moon in the Command Module, for the trip home. At just after 9:30 A.M., the long countdown ended, and the Saturn rocket's engines ignited. The huge rocket rose off the ground. In minutes, the crew was in Earth orbit. Shortly afterward, the single booster in the Service Module launched them out of orbit and toward the Moon. For the next eight days, the world watched as Apollo 11 flew to the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin landed and explored its surface, linked up with Collins, and returned to Earth. While they were away, much of the federal government focused on their voyage.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which ran the mission, was of course fully devoted to Apollo 11. But other agencies integrated the Moon landings into their work as well. The White House planned for "Presidential Activities" related to the mission. The State Department accepted the best wishes and congratulations of foreign governments. The United States Information Agency, which was responsible for keeping foreign populations informed of the progress of the flight, sponsored public television viewings of mission events for citizens of other countries at American cultural centers. The U.S. Navy rehearsed its role in the successful recovery of the spacecraft at sea. Congress considered how to honor the nation's newest heroes.

Documents from the National Archives record the history of Apollo 11 and the world's reaction to it. A NASA "Data Card Kit," for example, provides a record of the astronauts' activities on the lunar surface. These cards detailed the procedures followed during Armstrong and Aldrin's "extra vehicular activity" (EVA) on the Moon such as photography, inspecting equipment, and collecting samples of lunar soil. A similar checklist describes the countdown for the crucial "TLI" (Translunar Injection), which would fire the rocket on the third stage of the Saturn and accelerate the astronauts out of Earth orbit. The backside of a photography checklist, labeled "Ye Ole Lunar Scratch Pad," strikes a more whimsical note. These pads gave the astronauts space to write notes with grease pencils that had been sewn onto their uniforms. All the checklists have small squares of Velcro that could be attached to other Velcro squares on space suits or in the crew compartments.

Among military records in the National Archives, the log book for the aircraft carrier USS Hornet chronicles the ship's preparation for Apollo 11's Pacific Ocean landing and its role in recovering the astronauts and their spacecraft. On July 20 the Hornet' s officer of the deck, Lt. (jg) J. S. Lauck, noted only briefly that the "Apollo Eleven Lunar Module has landed safely on the Moon." Four days later, Lt. W. M. Wasson's more detailed entry describes the launch of aircraft used in the recovery operations, the landing of "R. M. Nixon, President of the United States," the "splash-down" of the Command Module, and the safe recovery of "N. A. Armstrong, LCOL M. Collins, USAF, and Col. E. E. Aldrin, Jr., USAF."

Thousands of miles away, near Hue, South Vietnam- where July 20 was already July 21- the men of another military unit, the Second Brigade of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, were equally busy. The brigade's Daily Staff Journal describes spotting North Vietnamese soldiers, destroying unexploded rockets, and blowing up enemy bunkers. Nevertheless, despite the pressures of war, Capt. David T. Gibson still found time to note in the diary, "At 1103 hrs the first man walked on the moon."

When Armstrong took those first few steps away from Eagle, nearly 600 million people watched. The Moon landing was the most watched event in television history; such an unprecedented audience provided unprecedented media opportunities. At the Nixon White House, presidential advisers had been planning for weeks how the chief executive and first lady would respond to Apollo 11. The President would call the astronauts the day before their liftoff, while the first lady would call the astronauts' wives. After a successful Translunar Injection, Nixon would proclaim July 20 a holiday- Moon Day- "allowing all Americans to watch the Astronauts' activity." Once Armstrong and Aldrin were safely on the surface, the President would make the world's first "interplanetary" congratulatory telephone call from the Oval Office, during which he would express his pride in the American space program's achievement. He would also state his belief that the Moon landing had given the world "one priceless moment, in the whole history of man [in which] all the people on this earth are truly one."

Documents from the Nixon presidential materials in the National Archives capture the painstaking preparation and planning for these events. A commemorative "first-day issue" stamp, made from a die carried to and from the Moon by Apollo 11 and held among the Nixon presidential materials, preserves the words of that telephone conversation.

For some Americans, simply watching and listening as history was being made was not enough. On July 20, 1969, Americans held "Moon Parties," recorded their thoughts in letters, or took family photographs. Shortly after Thaddeus Zagorewicz and his family watched the momentous events on television, he put his feelings down on paper. "I am," he wrote President Nixon, "a naturalized citizen of this wonderful country and I am proud to be one of You." Watching Americans walk on the Moon and hearing Nixon's conversation with "our national heroes" had moved him deeply. "When we looked at our flag waving on the surface of the moon - my wife and I had tears in our eyes."

Zagorewicz's heartfelt comments, as well as the other records described in this article, will be displayed in "20 July 1969" when the Public Vaults of the National Archives Experience open to the public in Fall 2004 in the newly renovated National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

Bruce I. Bustard is on NARA's public programs staff and was the curator of "Picturing the Century: One Hundred Years of Photographs from the National Archives." He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Iowa.

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Summer 2003, Vol. 35, No. 2 By Bruce I. Bustard [table striped="true" responsive="true"] "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for all mankind." - Astronaut Neil Armstrong's words as he made his first step onto the surface of the Moon July 20, 1969 Image: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, July 20, 1969.

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The Bosnian Civil War began on April 6, 1992.

The parts of the world that the Bosnian Civil War impacted were Kosovo, Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Croatia.

The Bosnian Civil War was marked by complex political and ethnic dynamics, leading to the rise of an authoritarian government, an economic crisis, and deep social divisions along ethnic lines.

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Apartheid ended on April 27, 1994.

The parts of the world that were impacted by the ending of Apartheid were multiple African countries.

The creation of Israel resulted in the Jewish people being able to have their independence. They also made the world realize their significance in the world. The inhabitants of Israel soon introduced their Bible to the rest of the world.

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The World Trade Organization is founded-January 1, 1995 

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The World Trade Organization is founded-January 1, 1995 

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The whole world was impacted by the founding of the WTO (164 global countries are involved in the WTO).

The WTO helped organize the world’s trade to help it move more efficiently and to make sure conflicts don’t arise from any misunderstandings. This allowed countries all over the world to buy and sell from others without any problems.

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The Green Revolution impacted Mexico, the Philippines, India, China, Afghanistan, and more.

Technology transfer initiatives increased crop yields, boosted food production, enhanced agricultural productivity, improved sustainability, and contributed to economic growth.

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The entire world was impacted by the launching of Facebook because many people all over the globe use it.

Facebook helped social media increase communication around the world. It gave people the opportunity to choose who they decided to share information with instead of posting something for the world to see. Facebook is still used today allowing people to connect with new people, create new relationships, and show people the fun parts of their lives.

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This war impacted multiple parts of the world. These include Egypt, Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

The Syrian people were tired of their government and how they were treated, so they started to protest for a new auto-democracy. This uprising and peaceful protesting began to escalate and it soon turned into a war.

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What began as protests against President Assad's regime in 2011 quickly escalated into a full-scale war between the Syrian government-backed by Russia and Iran-and anti-government rebel groups-backed by the United States and a rotating number of U.S. allies, including European allies like France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, as well as regional players like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, and the UAE. Three campaigns drive the conflict: coalition efforts to defeat the self-proclaimed Islamic State, violence between the Syrian government and opposition forces, and military operations against Syrian Kurds by Turkish forces.

The Islamic State began seizing control of territory in Syria in 2013. After a series of terrorist attacks coordinated by the Islamic State across Europe in 2015, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France-with the support of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab partners-expanded their air campaign in Iraq to include Syria. Together, these nations have conducted over eleven thousand air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, while the U.S.-led coalition has continued its support for ground operations by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkish troops have been involved in ground operations against the Islamic State since 2016 and have launched attacks against armed Kurdish groups in Syria. Meanwhile, at the request of the Syrian government in September 2015, Russia began launching air strikes against what it claimed were Islamic State targets, while Syrian government forces achieved several notable victories over the Islamic State, including the reclamation of Palmyra. According to the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, Iraqi security forces and the SDF have reclaimed 98 percent of the territory formerly held by the group in Iraq and Syria, including Raqqa and Deir al-Zour.

With Russian and Iranian support, the Syrian government has steadily regained control of territory from opposition forces, including the opposition's stronghold in Aleppo in 2016. The regime has been accused of using chemical weapons numerous times over the course of the conflict, resulting in international condemnation in 2013, 2017, and 2018. Opposition forces have maintained limited control in Idlib, in northwestern Syria, and on the Iraq-Syria border. However, the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake has made effective governance nearly impossible, as the opposition forces have scrambled to meet the needs of citizens.

Efforts to reach a diplomatic resolution have been unsuccessful. Geneva peace talks on Syria-a UN-backed conference for facilitating a political transition led by UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura-have been unsuccessful in reaching a political resolution, as opposition groups and Syrian regime officials struggle to find mutually acceptable terms for resolving the conflict. A new round of peace talks began in Geneva in May 2017 with an eighteen-person delegation from Syria but has since stalled. Also in 2017, peace talks initiated by Russia in Astana, Kazakhstan, with Iran, Turkey, and members of Syria's government and armed opposition leaders resulted in a cease-fire agreement and the establishment of four de-escalation zones. However, shortly after the cease-fire was announced, attacks by Syrian government forces against rebel-held areas in the de-escalation zones resumed.

According to estimates from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 600,000 people have been killed since the start of the war. In its 2023 Global Appeal, the UN reported that more than 6.9 million are currently internally displaced, with more than 5.4 million living as refugees abroad. Many refugees have fled to Jordan and Lebanon, straining already weak infrastructures and limited resources. More than 3.4 million Syrians have fled to Turkey, and many have attempted to seek refuge in Europe.

Under the President Donald J. Trump administration, the United States largely withdrew from Syria, leaving only about 400 U.S. troopsas a contingency force. On January 16, 2019, an attack in Manbij claimed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State killed at least nineteen people, including four Americans. Prior to that attack, only two Americans had been killed in action in Syria since the U.S.-led campaign began. The U.S.-led international coalition continues to carry out military strikes against the remnants of the Islamic State, as well as a number of Iranian-backed militias.

The departure of most U.S. troops has increased uncertainty around the role of other external parties to the conflict-including Iran, Israel, Russia, and Turkey-as well as the future of internal actors. Growing Russian involvement has been instrumental in the Syrian government's success in reclaiming territory. While Russia has publicly stated that it only provides air support to the regime, it has sent the Wagner Group, a private military contractor, to fight in Syria. Outside actors-namely Iran, Israel, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the U.S.-led coalition-increasingly operate in proximity to one another, complicating the civil war and raising concerns over an unintended escalation. Ongoing violence and proxy conflicts have also facilitated the resurgence of extremist groups.

On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and 7.5 magnitude aftershock struck southeast Turkey and northwest Syria, representing one of the worst natural disasters of this century. As of May 2023, the number of lives lost is estimated to be almost 60,000, with 50,700 casualtiesin Turkey and 8,400 in Syria. Syria's twelve years of conflict have severely hindered its relief efforts-the head of the World Food Programme described the situation as a "catastrophe on top of catastrophe." In Syria alone, the earthquake is estimated to have caused $5.1 billion in damages.

Earthquake response efforts are complicated by the territorial divisions stemming from Syria's civil war. The northwest corner of Syria most affected by the earthquake is held by rebel forces, and the Syrian government has long restricted access to the region. Consequently, international aid must be approved by the Turkish government to transit the sole humanitarian aid corridor between Syria and Turkey, known as the Bab al-Hawa crossing. However, the earthquake badly damaged the roads linking Turkey to Syria, and the Turkish government has been absorbed with its own relief efforts. The first United Nations aid convoy reached Bab al-Hawa on Thursday, February 9. On Friday, February 10, the Syrian government announced it would grant permission to international aid groups to access rebel-held areas of Syria, but did not provide a timeline for doing so.

In May 2023, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to strengthen economic cooperation-marking the first visit of an Iranian president to Syria since the war. Later that month, the Arab League agreed to re-admit Syria after a twelve-year suspension, despite the persistence of Western sanctions against President Assad's government that could deter oil-rich Arab countries from investment in Syria. In July 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudan discussed drug trafficking, the return of Syrian refugees, and the removal of the Western sanctions with President Assad in Damascus.

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Conflict in Syria | Global Conflict Tracker

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Learn about the world's top hotspots with this interactive Global Conflict Tracker from the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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 Cambridge Analytica goes Bankrupt-May 18, 2018

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 Cambridge Analytica goes Bankrupt-May 18, 2018

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The parts of the world that were impacted by this event were the U.K. and the U.S.

Cambridge Analytica was confronted about scandals they committed under the presidential run of Donald Trump. This showed people that even though not all social media is bad there are still parts of it that negatively impact society. Cambridge was found guilty of using people’s profiles to create fake posts based on the interests of others, because of this they were sued by the FTC and soon filed for bankruptcy.