Most Important City in History?

[Anubisdk2]

Originally posted by XIII
Not pure physical science perhaps but it's hard to see how well the West would do without the basic inventions of paper, gunpowder and the compass by the Chinese and transmitted westwards, amongst other things.

XIII, I will agree with you that the Chinese were WAY ahead of the west when it came to inventions, but they were not very good at sharing. Sure, some of the technology came from that, but to be honest, Europe had to do much of its own inventing or rediscovering and got little from the East.

BTW, Rome, I think was the most influential city, but a case could be made for many of the cities on that list. I just chose Rome for the influence the Catholic Church has had on the world.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Anubisdk2
XIII, I will agree with you that the Chinese were WAY ahead of the west when it came to inventions, but they were not very good at sharing. Sure, some of the technology came from that, but to be honest, Europe had to do much of its own inventing or rediscovering and got little from the East.

It's hard to share when there're no nearby 'sizeable' neighbours to share it with. And the Chinese were stay-at-home types, for the most part, except for a few times.

Though there're no restrictions on technological transfers to Korea or Japan.

 

[stormbind]

What exactly does China's inventions have to do with a most important city?

 

[Unexpected]

I voted London for obvious reasons, Rome's a closesecond though.

 

[Anubisdk2]

Originally posted by stormbind
What exactly does China's inventions have to do with a most important city?

We were talking about strength of of a city/culture/country and their influence on others.

XIII You have a point, but I just think it shows how unhelpful the East was to the boom of the West.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Anubisdk2
We were talking about strength of of a city/culture/country and their influence on others.

XIII You have a point, but I just think it shows how unhelpful the East was to the boom of the West.

I never claimed that a Chinese city was the paramount in world history or that Chinese science aided world progress. I merely responded to one poster's assertion IIRC that the Chinese had no science to speak of.

 

[Anubisdk2]

Originally posted by XIII
I never claimed that a Chinese city was the paramount in world history or that Chinese science aided world progress. I merely responded to one poster's assertion IIRC that the Chinese had no science to speak of.

Oh, I realized that, I just think I was trying to answer that guys question and ask you one as well.