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Answers to the World History Quiz

1. Who invented writing?
   People in ancient Sumer in what is now Iraq in about 3500 B.C.
   For more information: http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/MESO/writing.html
2. Who were the first farmers?
   People in southwestern Asia: Pacific islanders in the Solomon Islands
   For more information: First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies By Peter S. Bellwood (2005)
3. Who were the first city dwellers?
   Apparently the people who lived in Jericho, believed to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world. Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of over 20 successive settlements there, dating back to 9000 BC.
4. Who invented paper?
   The first papermaking process was developed in China during the early 2nd century. The Han Dynasty Chinese court official Cai Lun is widely regarded to have invented the modern method of papermaking (inspired from wasps and bees) from wood pulp in AD 105 although paper was used earlier for wrapping and padding.
5. Who invented the axle, the drill, and the chisel?
   Northeast Africans
6. Who invented the compass and the abacus?
   The Chinese invented both the compass and the abacus. The abacus as we know it today, appeared about 1200 A.D. in China; in Chinese, it is called suan-pan. The magnetic compass was probably first made in China during the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.).
7. Who invented the wheel?
   The oldest wheel found in archeological excavations was discovered in what was Mesopotamia and is believed to be over fifty-five hundred years old.
8. Who invented metalworking?
   The peoples of the Balkans and western Asia
9. Who invented the watermill and the windmill?
   A windmill operating an organ is described as early as the 1st century AD by Hero of Alexandria, marking probably the first instance of a wind powering machine in history.Vertical axle windmills were first used in eastern Persia (Sistan) by the 9th century AD as described by Muslim geographers.Horizontal axle windmills of the type generally used today were invented in Northwestern Europe in the 1180s.
10. Who invented cement, porcelain, and enamel?
    Cement: The earliest construction cements such as clay slurry were used with primitive mud bricks. Mud-based materials were also used for rendering on the walls of timber or wattle and daub structures. When fired bricks began to be used in larger structures, various cultures started to experiment with higher-strength mortars based on bitumen (in Mesopotamia), gypsum (in Egypt) and lime (in many parts of the world). Concrete was first used on a large scale by the Romans.
    Porcelain: Experts believe the first true porcelain was made in the province of Zhejiang during the Eastern Han period (100 to 200 AD).
    Enamel: The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to pottery and stone objects. Other practitioners include the ancient Greeks, Celts, Russians, and the Chinese
11. Who bred potatoes, beans, strawberries, tomatoes, chocolate beans, and corn?
    Native Americans
12. Who bred tea?
    Asians
13. Who bred coffee?
    Ethiopians
14. Who developed modern textile techniques?
    The peoples of India
15. Who invented animal drawn two and four wheeled carts and ocean going ships?
    The people who lived in the river valeys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India
16. Who were the first people to organize food growing using irrigation and drainage systems?
    The peoples of Egypt and Mesopotamia
17. Who invented pottery?
    The peoples who lived in southeast and western Asia
18. Who were the first to use chariots and long range bows?
    The Hyksos of western Asia
19. Who invented the concept of zero and the placement of number of tens, hundreds, and thousands?
    The people of India
20. Who invented geometry and trigonometry?
    The Greeks
21. Who invented gunpowder?
    The Chinese
22. Who invented the gun?
    Europeans
23. Who built the most extensive empire in world history?
    The Ottoman Turks