Each country's greatest contributions to the world

[bossel]

Wasn't he living in the US when he invented the games? Took a few years until some bright spark decided to cut holes in the bottom of the peach baskets they used. Saved stopping the game and getting the ladders out to retrieve the ball.

Now, that's interesting. I always thought that a German invented the game. It's called Korbball (Korb = basket) here, with slightly different rules from basketball (which has many more players nowadays). After I read this, I looked it up & it seems there are at least 3 stories about the invention of "basketball":

1880 Otto Hermann Kluge developed the game in Germany for schools (Korbball)
1891 (or 92) the above mentioned James Naismith in Springfield (basketball)
1902 (or 01) Nico Broekhuysen, Dutchman who brought the game to Amsterdam (korfball), from a trip to Sweden (which probably means that the Swedes knew it much earlier, but no name of an inventor)

Don't know which story is closest to the truth, perhaps it's another instance of parallel development.

 

[Zauriel]

oh, maybe you are right
but i still think that the Chinese martial arts have contributed so much,
like nowadays when people talk about martial arts, the first ones they think of are karate, hapkido, taekwondo[korean and japanese inventions influenced by the chinese martial arts], shaolin, jeet kune do, wing chun, tai chi, wu shu...

:

I just remembered something interesting about Kung fu.

Kung Fu influenced Karate, Tae Kwon Do and other martial arts. Kung fu is the ancestor of Karate and Tae kwon Do.

Karate used to mean "China hand" before it changed to "empty Hand". I was told the kanji for "Kara" is the same as the kanji for China or Tang dynasty.
Karate was a mxture of Okinawan Te (martial art) and Chinese martial arts.

Tae Kwon Do was a mixture of Korean Tang Soo Do and Japanese karate. Tang Soo Do means "China Hand way". Tang Soo Do is a mixture of Korean Sobak and Chinese kempo martial arts.

 

[Davey]

What's that for a list ? These are not countries :
Azores (EU), Balearic Islands (EU), Canary Islands, Faroe Islands, Corsica (EU), Gibraltar, Greenland, Madeira (EU), Spitzbergen.

These are semi-countries : Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco (EU), San Marino (EU), Vatican City State.

I also don't know why you consider Monaco and San Marino as EU, and not Andorra and the Vatican. Officially none are EU countries, but all but Liechtenstein use the Euro and are dependent on EiU countries (eg. militarily).

These are not in Europe (Europe ends in Istabul) : Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

It is debatable whether these are part of Europe, as the largest part is in Asia : Russia, Turkey

So we are left with :

(Non-EU) former USSR : Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine

(Non-EU) former Yugoslavia : Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia

These used to be 2 countries only 16 years ago.

We are left with ( added "=> EU" to show the countries you forgot are part of the EU) :

Albania
Austria (EU)
Belgium (EU)
Bulgaria => scheduled to join EU in 2007
Cyprus => EU
Czech Republic => EU
Denmark (EU)
Estonia => EU
Finland (EU)
France (EU)
Germany (EU)
Greece (EU)
Hungary => EU
Iceland => partly EU (EEC & Schengen member)
Italy (EU)
Latvia => EU
Lithuania => EU
Luxembourg (EU)
Malta => EU
Netherlands (EU)
Norway => partly EU (EEC & Schengen member)
Poland => EU
Portugal (EU)
Romania => scheduled to join EU in 2007
Slovak Republic => EU
Slovenia => EU
Spain (EU)
Sweden (EU)
Switzerland

So that leaves us with Alabnia, ex-Yugoslavia (except Slovenia), ex-USSR (except 3 Baltic countries) and Switzerland as non-EU members. Switerland has many special treaties with te EU (eg. non passport required, just ID card), most places accept the Euro, and the 3 main languages are EU languages.



The USA is 3x bigger than the EU. Only 72% of the people in the USA are white, the other are from various ethnic groups from all over the world. In comparison about 99% of the EU is white. The USA is also more geographically different than Europe, as Europe doesn't really have tropical states like Florida or vast expanses of desert. But the USA is a country, right ?

India is only slightly smaller than the EU, has more official languages and much much more languages and ethnic groups in total. Do you consider India as a continent ?

Already explained above for China.

What's more the EU has a flag, a national anthem, a currency, a parliament, a government, a nationality (in addition to member's states'), and soon maybe a constitution. Why wouldn't that be a country ? 150 years ago, most places in the world didn't have these.

And here is the factsheet of the EU as a country

My excuse for the bad post . i paste some text to fast, without thinking good ( and checking it... ) thanks for relplying on this, ill learn from it!! next time ill underbuild my meaning bettr

greetings Dutch Baka,,,

p.s yes maybe we should post a thread about it, because i really do not see my country as europe, but as Netherlands, and i think almost everybody in europe see there country like that... OFF TOPIC.. SOrry once more

 

[Maciamo]

p.s yes maybe we should post a thread about it, because i really do not see my country as europe, but as Netherlands, and i think almost everybody in europe see there country like that... OFF TOPIC.. SOrry once more

Please check this thread about the EU, and see the official statistics as how many percent of European in each country consider themselves as European, and how many as European first, then their nationality. I personally feel first European. It is true that the Netherlands has the 3rd lowest percentage for "feeling attached to Europe", but still 49% of the people feel attached to Europe. 55% of the Dutch feel European, so you are in the (large) minority of those who don't.

 

[Zauriel]

Australia's greatest contributions to the world
1. Boomerangs

Arabia's greatest contributions to the world
1. Islam
2. Supplies of oil

 

[Nuala]

Without fast food, I'm sure some lower class citizens would be starving. So <3 to America.

 

[Zauriel]

New World's greatest contributions to the world REVISED:
1. chocolate, corn, potatoes, pumpkins, tobacco
2. canoes and kayaks
3. mohawk hairstyle

India's greatest contributions to the world REVISED:
1. Arabic numerals and mathematics
2. Kama Sutra- the world's greatest love-making manual
3. Buddhism

So-called Arabic numerals were invented by an Indian but were introduced by Arabs. I can't believe Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese have not devised the numeral of zero which made the mathematics all the easier to handle. Because of the Arabic numerals, we have an easier time calculating, counting, adding, subtracting multiplying, and dividing the numbers. Imagine a world without the Indian-invented numerals. Imagine a world in which the Roman numerals such as I, II, III, IV, V, VI, etc are still existing. Since Roman numerals doesn't have the zero, after all.

 

[bossel]

I can't believe Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese have not devised the numeral of zero which made the mathematics all the easier to handle. Because of the Arabic numerals, we have an easier time calculating, counting, adding, subtracting multiplying, and dividing the numbers. Imagine a world without the Indian-invented numerals.

In those days you didn't really need zero to count, or at least you didn't need a particular symbol for it. IIRC, the Babylonians simply left a blank (or a place holder?) where zero should be. The Greeks had the concept of zero (although rather late), the Olmecs as well (even earlier than the Greeks, I think).

BTW, the Egyptians did very well in calculating astronomic events without zero.

 

[Zauriel]

In those days you didn't really need zero to count, or at least you didn't need a particular symbol for it. IIRC, the Babylonians simply left a blank (or a place holder?) where zero should be. The Greeks had the concept of zero (although rather late), the Olmecs as well (even earlier than the Greeks, I think).

BTW, the Egyptians did very well in calculating astronomic events without zero.

Ahhh. Ich sehe, mein Herr.

 

[Maciamo]

New World's greatest contributions to the world REVISED:
1. chocolate, corn, potatoes, pumpkins, tobacco
2. canoes and kayaks
3. mohawk hairstyle

1. I'd add tomatoes ! Without them, no great pasta and pizza and plenty of other dishes. However you can't really call it a contribution from people living there. Otherwise, we could claim that rice, pigs, oranges and apricots are from China, goats, sheep, wheat and barley are from the middle east, horses are from around the Black Sea (original Aryan territory), etc.
2. also snowshoes
3. is that "mohican" hairstyle ?

India's greatest contributions to the world REVISED:
3. Buddhism

3. What about Hinduism, Jainism, Sikkhism... These religions are now well represented in the UK and US. Hinduism had a tremendous influence in South--East Asia (e.g. Angkor Wat, Prambanan, Bali...) in past centuries, and Hindu gods have been "imported" even in Japanese Buddhism (e.g. Kannon, aka Avalokiteshvara).

 

[Zauriel]

2. also snowshoes
3. is that "mohican" hairstyle ?

I'm not sure. But "mohawk", the term for that kind of hairstyle is used in the Merriam-Webster dictionary

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=mohawk

Main Entry: Mo&middot;hawk
Pronunciation: 'mO-"hok
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural Mohawk or Mohawks
Etymology: of Algonquian origin; akin to Narraganset or Massachuset Mohowawog Mohawk, literally, cannibal
3 : a hairstyle with a narrow center strip of upright hair and the sides shaved

3. What about Hinduism, Jainism, Sikkhism... These religions are now well represented in the UK and US. Hinduism had a tremendous influence in South--East Asia (e.g. Angkor Wat, Prambanan, Bali...) in past centuries, and Hindu gods have been "imported" even in Japanese Buddhism (e.g. Kannon, aka Avalokiteshvara).

I stand corrected. I agree with you

I forgot to add one more contribution from India.

India's greatest contribution to the world
4. Yoga

 

[Zauriel]

Wait a minute. You don't get chocolate from the land. You get it from the people. Chocolate had to be made by a man's hand.

So the Aztecs did invent the chocolate out from processing cacao .

 

[Index]

3. is that "mohican" hairstyle ?

Here it's mohawk. Only ever heard 'mohican' in Japan.

 

[Maciamo]

Here it's mohawk. Only ever heard 'mohican' in Japan.

I checked the Oxford dictionary and Mohican is the term used in British English, while Mohawk is the AmE version. In BrE Mohawk refers to the tribe itself, not the hairstyle.

Index, didn't you grow up in Australia ? Do Australians use the AmE term ?

 

[Doc]

I wonder which country we should thank for giving us the wonderful gift known as pornography?

Doc:ramen:

 

[Index]

I checked the Oxford dictionary and Mohican is the term used in British English, while Mohawk is the AmE version. In BrE Mohawk refers to the tribe itself, not the hairstyle.

Index, didn't you grow up in Australia ? Do Australians use the AmE term ?

Oh really? I didn't know about the use of mohican. In Australia it's mohawk as far as I know, so I suppose that means AmE.

Interestingly, dictionary.com has 'mohawk' as a tribe, whilst 'mohican' refers to a confedaracy of sub-tribes.

 

[Zauriel]

Germany's greatest contribution to the world:
1. Protestantism
2. Beer

Italy's greatest contribution to the world:
1. Roman Catholicism
2. Pasta and Pizza

Switzerland's greatest contribution to the world:
1. production of the world's finest chocolates

 

[Mycernius]

I wonder which country we should thank for giving us the wonderful gift known as pornography?

Doc:ramen:

That can be found as far back as ancient Egypt. It's a wonder they had time for building pyramids
Tiberius Caeser was said to fond of a bit of porn. If you believe some things he also liked a bit more than porn.

 

[bossel]

That can be found as far back as ancient Egypt. It's a wonder they had time for building pyramids

Even further back in time. Pornographic cave paintings have been found, IIRC. Recently 2 figurines, 7000 years old, have been found in Germany, One female, the other male. The positions of their bodies & esp. genitals fitted exactly.

 

[kamaru]

Phoenician alphabet

I'd like to add another contribution.Actually the first alphabet was created by the phoenicians in modern lebanon and then spread through Europe to become later the latin alphabet!It dates 4000 years!

 

[DmJapan]

as how many percent of European in each country consider themselves as European, and how many as European first, then their nationality. I personally feel first European. It is true that the Netherlands has the 3rd lowest percentage for "feeling attached to Europe", but still 49% of the people feel attached to Europe. 55% of the Dutch feel European, so you are in the (large) minority of those who don't.

Hm....Feel European???
For me but EU is nothing but a big bank.Controls the economical relationship between the country-members and nothing else....
I am Greek and i feel nothing else but Agreek citizen whose country is participating in a bigger idea called European Union.

Oh i got a liitle off-topic here huh???

Well which country do we have to thank for Role Playing Games???
Never really searched for it.....