***TECH TREE***: Read-Only

[yin26]

This is where the Tech Tree list stood as of a few months ago. The link for discussion follows. If anybody is interested in updating all this according to current debates, please let me know.

NOTE: Discussions/arguments should continue at:http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum6/HTML/001225.html. Thanks!



Please HELP! =)

As Markos said in the news item, I think it would be a great idea to get down all the actual/approximate dates of the units, improvements, advances, and wonders from Civ2. Future discoveries could be listed as 2020 AD and nothing should be earlier than 4000 BC, in which case we can just call it 'Pre-historic.'

This will be fun for a lot reasons: 1. As Markos mentioned, we can compare Civ and CtP to see which one is "truer" to history. 2. This will serve as a great resource for us as we play the game. 3. And, last but not least, I'm really hoping Firaxis might take these dates and be able to use them to do some cool indexing for the Civilopedia--if they aren't already planning such a thing.

Funny, actually, that the dates of these things were never included in the Civ games! Let's fix that.

I realize getting dates on some of these things will be impossible, but let's try our best. When possible, please include a link to your source if you found the information on-line, as I certainly will be doing it that way. This will allow us to compare sources if there is a dispute. Thanks guys!

Wonders of the Ancient World

• Colossus:
  
  292-280BC--S. Kroeze
  
  Rhodes, Colossus of: "Colossal statue of the sun god Helios that stood in the ancient Greek city of Rhodes and was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The sculptor Chares of Lyndus (another city on the island) created the statue, which commemorated the raising of Demetrius I Poliorcetes' long siege (305 BC) of Rhodes. Made of bronze and reinforced with iron, it was weighted with stones. The Colossus was said to be 70 cubits (105 feet [32 metres]) high and stood beside Mandr?ion harbour, perhaps shielding its eyes with one hand, as a representation in a relief suggests. It is technically impossible that the statue could have straddled the harbour entrance, and the popular belief that it did so dates only from the Middle Ages. The statue, which took 12 years to build (c. 294-282 BC), was toppled by an earthquake about 225/226 BC. The fallen Colossus was left in place until AD 654, when Arabian forces raided Rhodes and had the statue broken up and the bronze sold for scrap. Supposedly, the fragments totaled more than 900 camel loads."--Yin (http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...5066+1,00.html )
  
• Great Library:
  
  Became the intellectual centre of the Hellenistic world under Ptolemy II (283-247BC)--S. Kroeze
  
  Ptolemies: The large empire Alexander had conquered was too big for one successor. One general was entrusted with Macedonia another Thrace and a third Syria. One of Alexander's favorite generals Ptolemy was made governor of Egypt. The esteem was mutual as can be seen in Ptolemy's having Alexander's body brought for burial to Egypt where it was permanently interred at the city Alexander had founded and named after himself. Alexandria was the city Ptolemy made his capital. There he founded a museum and started collecting books for a library. For more than 350 years the Ptolemies ruled Egypt. Following the general was his son Ptolemy Philadelpus who made the library the best in the world. The books made of papyrus were in Greek or Latin. Ptolemy Philadelphus had the Jewish Bible translated into Greek for his library. He is also known for re-opening a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile providing access between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean which was important for the wheat trade and enabled Alexandria to become the richest city in the world. Under the Ptolemies learning was encouraged. Its students first taught that the earth is round and another determined almost the exact diameter of the earth. The most famous Ptolemy was Cleopatra."--Yin( http://ancienthistory.about.com/educ...lptolemies.htm )
  
  Ptolemy: fl. AD 127, -145, Alexandria--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...3344+1,00.html )
  
• The Great Wall:
  
  Linked together by Ch'in Shih Huang-ti (221-210BC); actually mainly built by the Ming (1368-1644AD)--S. Kroeze
  
  Great Wall of China: "Extensive bulwark erected in ancient China. It is one of the largest building-construction projects ever carried out, running (with all its branches) about 4,500 miles (7,300 km) east to west from Shan-hai Pass near Po Hai (Gulf of Chihli) to Chia-y?Pass (in modern Kansu province). Without its branches and other secondary sections, the wall extends for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km), often tracing the crestlines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese countryside. Large parts of the fortification date from the 7th through the 4th century BC. In the 3rd century BC Shih huang-ti, the first emperor of a united China, connected a number of existing defensive walls into a single system. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures on earth. The Great Wall was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...8652+1,00.html )
  
• Hanging Gardens:
  
  Legendary; if they ever existed tradition associates them with Semiramis/Sammuramat (~810-806BC) or Nebuchadrezzar II (604-562BC)--S. Kroeze
  
  Nebuchadnezzar II's palace with terraced gardens, built between shortly after 600 BC--The Mad Viking
  
  Hanging Gardens of Babylon: One of the Seven Wonders of the World. The gardens, built within the walls of the royal palace at Babylon, the capital of Babylonia (now in southern Iraq), did not actually "hang" but were instead "up in the air"--that is, they were roof gardens laid out on a series of ziggurat terraces that were irrigated by pumps from the Euphrates River. Traditionally, they were the work either of the semilegendary Queen Sammu-ramat (Greek Semiramis, mother of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III, who reigned from 810 to 783 BC) or of King Nebuchadrezzar II (reigned c. 605-c. 561 BC), who built them to console his Median wife, Amytis, because she missed the mountains and greenery of her homeland."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...9950+1,00.html )
  
• The Lighthouse:
  
  During the reign of Ptolemy I (305-283BC) and Ptolemy II (283-247BC); built by Sostratos of Knidos from ~285BC--S. Kroeze
  
  "The forerunners of lighthouses proper were beacon fires kindled on hilltops, the earliest references to which are contained in the Iliad and the Odyssey (c. 8th century BC). The first authenticated man-made lighthouse was the renowned Pharos of Alexandria, which stood some 350 feet (about 110 metres) high. The Romans erected many lighthouse towers in the course of expanding their empire, and by AD 400 there were some 30 in service from the Black Sea to the Atlantic. These included a famous lighthouse at Ostia, the port of Rome, completed in AD 50, and lighthouses at Boulogne, Fr., and Dover, Eng. A fragment of the original Roman lighthouse at Dover still survives. The Phoenicians, trading from the Mediterranean to Great Britain, marked their route with lighthouses. These early lighthouses had wood fires or torches burning in the open, sometimes protected by a roof. After the 1st century AD, candles or oil lamps were used in lanterns with panes of glass or horn."--Yin ( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...7655+2,00.html )
  
  "Pharos of Alexandria: One of the Seven Wonders of the World and the most famous lighthouse in antiquity. It was a technological triumph and is the archetype of all lighthouses since. Built by Sostratus of Cnidus, perhaps for Ptolemy I Soter, it was finished during the reign of Soter's son Ptolemy II of Egypt in about 280 BC. The lighthouse stood on the island of Pharos in the harbour of Alexandria and is said to have been more than 350 feet (110 metres) high; the only taller man-made structures at the time would have been the pyramids of Giza. Much of what is known about the structure of the lighthouse comes from a 1909 work by Hermann Thiersch, Pharos, antike, Islam und Occident. According to the ancient sources consulted by Thiersch, the lighthouse was built in three stages, all sloping slightly inward; the lowest was square, the next octagonal, and the top cylindrical. A broad spiral ramp led to the top, where a fire burned at night."--Yin ( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...592999,00.html )
  
• Oracle:
  
  Destruction of Krisa in 590BC opened free access to Delphi; the Pythian games were raised to Panhellenic status in 582BC; the prestige of the Oracle was now at its height--S. Kroeze
  
  DelphicOracle: "It was consulted not only on private matters but also on affairs of state, and its utterances often swayed public policy. It was also consulted whenever a colony was to be sent out from Greece proper, so that its fame spread to the limits of the Greek-speaking world. Such influence led to controversy, and several more sacred wars were waged over the oracle, with control of the site shifting between rival city-states."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...0338+1,00.html )
  
  
• Pyramids:
  
  of Khufu (~2590-2567BC), Khafre (~2540-~2514BC) and Menkaure (~2510-~2500BC)--S. Kroeze
  
  Masonry: The first stonebuild structure is the Step Pyramid and its Funerary Complex of Djoser (3rd Dynasty, 2630-2611 BC) in Saqqara, Egypt. It was build by the architect Imhotep who was later deified in the Ptolemaic era--Huey
  
  Giza, Pyramids of: "4th-dynasty (c. 2575-c. 2465 BC) pyramids erected on a rocky plateau on the west bank of the Nile River near Al-Jizah (Giza), northern Egypt; in ancient times they were included among the Seven Wonders of the World. The ancient ruins of the Memphis area, including the Pyramids of Giza, Saqqarah, Dahshur, Abu Ruwaysh, and Abu Sir, were collectively designated a World Heritage site in 1979. The designations of the pyramids--Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure--correspond to the kings for whom they were built. The northernmost and oldest pyramid of the group was built for Khufu (Greek: Cheops), the second king of the 4th dynasty. Called the Great Pyramid, it is the largest of the three, the length of each side at the base averaging 7553/4 feet (230 metres) and its original height being 4812/5 feet (147 metres). The middle pyramid was built for Khafre (Greek: Chephren), the fourth of the eight kings of the 4th dynasty; the structure measures 7073/4 feet (216 metres) on each side and was originally 471 feet (143 metres) high. The southernmost and last pyramid to be built was that of Menkaure (Greek: Mykerinus), the fifth king of the 4th dynasty."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...7678+1,00.html )
  
• Sun Tzu's War Academy:
  
  I don't think there ever was a "Sun Tzu Academy"--Hugo Rune (can we get his birth and death dates?)==The problem with finding Sun Tzu's birth/death dates is that no-one knows who he really was or even if he existed at all...
  
  This is from Britannica.com-"The book is traditionally attributed to Sun Tzu (personal name Sun Wu), a military strategist and general who served the state of Wu near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). It is more likely, however, that it was written early in the Warring States period (475-221 BC), at a time when China was divided into six or seven states that often resorted to war with each other in their struggles for supremacy."--Hugo Rune([url]http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/8/0,5716,72168+1,00.htmlrl]

SOURCES: Encyclopedia Britannica; P. Green: "Alexander to Actium" (1990); J.F. Fairbank:"China, a New History" (1992)

Wonders of the Renaissance

• Copernicus' Observatory:
  
  ?? between 1512 and 1530--Atahualpa
  
  "Only 27 recorded observations are known for Copernicus's entire life 1473-1543 (he undoubtedly made more than that), most of them concerning eclipses, alignments, and conjunctions of planets and stars. The first such known observation occurred on March 9, 1497, at Bologna. In De revolutionibus, book 4, chapter 27, Copernicus reported that he had seen the Moon eclipse "the brightest star in the eye of the Bull," Alpha Tauri (Aldebaran)."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...8021+2,00.html )
  
• King Richard's Crusade:
  
  1191/1192--Atahualpa
  
  "Richard the Lionheart succeeded his father, Henry II, after winning a war against his father and forcing the dying man to surrender the throne to him at his death. After he was crowned in 1189, Richard joined the Third Crusade (1189-1192) with his friend Philip II of France."--Yin( http://library.thinkquest.org/11775/.../RichardI.html )
  
• Magellan's Expedition:
  
  August 10th, 1519--Atahualpa
  
  "Magellan, who in 1517 married Beatriz Barbosa, daughter of an important official in Seville, said farewell to his wife and infant son Rodrigo before his ships left Sanl?ar de Barrameda on Sept. 20, 1519, carrying about 270 men of various ethnic, racial, and national origins."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...1193+2,00.html )
  
• Marco Polo's Embassy:
  
  ?? lived from 1254 to 1324. 1292 he returned to europe from his journey--Atahualpa
  
  "When political events prevented their return to Venice, they traveled eastward to Bukhara (Bokhara), eventually ending their journey four years later (1265) at the Mongol court, probably at the summer residence of the grand khan--called Shang-tu (the Xanadu of the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge). Establishing friendly relations with the great Kublai Khan himself, they were eventually sent back to Europe as Kublai's ambassadors to the pope, carrying letters asking the pope to send Kublai one hundred intelligent men "acquainted with the Seven Arts"; they also bore gifts and were asked to bring back some oil from the lamp burning at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...2204+1,00.html )
  
• Michelangelo's Chapel:
  
  Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel from 1508-1512--Hugo Rune
  
  "Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel from 1508 to 1512, commissioned by Pope Julius II. On becoming pope in 1503, Julius II reasserted papal authority over the Roman barons and successfully backed the restauration of the Medici in Florence. He was a liberal patron of the arts, commissioning Bramante to build St Peter's Church, Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel, and Raphael to decorate the Vatican apartments."--Yin( http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/michelangelo/ )
  
• Shakespeare's Theatre:
  
  The Globe was built in 1599. An earlier "Shakespearean" theatre (The Theatre from 1576) existed, but it's not as famous as The Globe--Hugo Rune
  
  Globe Theatre: "Famous London theatre in which the plays of William Shakespeare were performed after 1599. It was built by two brothers, Cuthbert and Richard Burbage, who inherited its predecessor, The Theatre, from their father, James. The latter theatre had closed, ostensibly for good, in 1597, and the owner of the land on which it stood threatened to pull the building down once the lease expired. The Burbages and their associates anticipated the threat, however, and in late 1598 dismantled The Theatre and carried the materials to Bankside (a district of Southwark stretching for about half a mile west of London Bridge on the south bank of the River Thames), where the Swan and the Rose theatres already stood. To the east of these, they reassembled the timbers from the old theatre, calling the new building, which was probably completed by the autumn of 1599, the Globe Theatre."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...388041,00.html )
  
• Leonardo's Workshop: Leonardo's "Workshop," if you count it as the period he worked on his own, lasted from 1482-1519--Hugo Rune
  
  "He also worked in the next-door workshop of Antonio Pollaiuolo, where he was probably first drawn to the study of anatomy. In 1472 Leonardo was accepted in the painters' guild of Florence but remained five years more in his teacher's workshop. Then he worked independently in Florence until 1481."--Yin( http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/ar...4893+2,00.html )

SOURCES: Stefan Zweig: "Magellan," 1938, Herbert Reichner Verlag, Vienna, Austria; Harenberg lexika, 1994, Harenberg Lexikon Verlag, Dortmund, Germany

Wonders of the Industrial Age

• Adam Smith's Trading Co.: Adam Smith lived from 1730 to 1790, and is most famous for The Wealth of Nations from 1776. He never actually owned a "Trading Company"--Hugo Rune
• Darwin's Voyage: Darwin's Voyage on the Beagle lasted from 1831-1836--Hugo Rune
• Eiffel Tower: The Eiffel Tower was built in Paris for the World Exhibition in 1889--Hugo Rune
• Issac Newton's College: Isaac Newton was elected to a fellowship at the Trinity College as early as 1667, but his appointment as a professor did not come until 1671. You chose--Hugo Rune==1687 as the publication of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica including a full description of his 1665 experiments. He had corresponded with several people from 1679 onwards about centripetal forces and elliptical orbits, but let's use 1687 for the record.--don Don
• J. S. Bach's Cathedral: Bach was first appointed organist at the Arnstadt Church in 1703 at the age of 18, but it can hardly be said to be "his" cathedral. In 1723 he was appointed head of Church Music in Leipzig... He never had a "Cathedral" of his own--Hugo Rune
• Statue of Liberty: The Statue of Liberty was opened in 1886--Hugo Rune
• Women's Suffrage: Women's Suffrage was first achieved in 1893 in New Zealand--Hugo Rune==Women landowners in Massachusetts had the right to vote as early as 1691, though they lost it with the American Revolution (how ironic). But there are basically three dates to choose from: 1848, 1869, or 1919. The modern movement for female suffrage began with the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Wyoming gave women the right to vote in 1869 and in 1919 Congress ratified the 19th amendment--Stryfe
• Hoover Dam: The Hoover Dam was finished 1936--Hugo Rune

SOURCE: Britannica.com

Wonders of the Modern Age

• United Nations: The UN became what it is today in 1945--Hugo Rune
• SETI Program: SETI was started in 1962--Hugo Rune
• Manhattan Project: The Manhattan Project was completed in 1945--Hugo Rune
• Apollo Program: The Apollo Program was announced in 1961--Hugo Rune
• Cure for Cancer: There is as yet no cure for cancer--Hugo Rune (Let's call this one 2020)

SOURCE: Britannica.com

Stone Age-Medieval Era Units

• Warriors: Let's define this as the first orginized military force. It's hard to define a date, but I would say that the Minoun fall IN 2400 BC signify the existant of orginized forces at the other, primitive nations. How far we should go back is up to you--Harel=='6800BC The earliest known township of Jericho possesses a protective wall, a sign that organised raiding and warfare has appeared' (source: H.E.L.Mellersh:'Chronology of the Ancient World')--S. Kroeze
• Phalanx: My lexika (the Harenberg one) says that Phalanx came about 700BC. Although at school I remember we learned that Philipp II of Mazedonia "invented" them. He lived around 382BC to 336BC. So the timespan would be from around 700BC to around 300BC. Somewhere in between those dates, Phalanx were invented!--Atahualpa==The reason there are conflicting dates for the creation of the phalanx is because the name was originally applied to a military unit that the Greeks developed around 700BC; however, in the beginning of Philip's rule, he changed the unit from a javelin throwing unit into a spear wielding one. Prior to that, the phalanx had been nothing special; now it was the most powerful unit in the mediterrenean, most particularly because of its ability to destroy any unit foolish enough to charge it. Given how the phalanx functions in the game, I'm betting it's the one that Philip developed in 383BC, not the earlier one--Stryfe==Phalanx: I believe that the main advance represented by this unit marks the appearence of the greek phalanx (and not, IMO, the macedonian one). The greek phalanx consisted in heavy infantry in close order armed with spears. Philip's army added longer pikes - Sarissa, and a raised the depth of the formation giving it more impact/resistance to charge, but IMO the main tactical improvement was brought by the greek - Heavily armored infantery, closely packed, armed with spears, fighting as a single body! The first event where the phalanx made a "splash" was in the Battle of Marathon against an almost unbeaten persian army (somewhere in 510 BC - not sure, don't have the source at hand)--korn==Just to make my Greek vs Macedonian Phalanx issue clear. I believe that in tactical terms the difference of the Macedonian vs Greek phalanx isn't very big (The macedonians didn't try to invade sparta!, guess why :-)) Where the macedonian really shined was in the slick way that it was used with the macedonian/thessalian cavalry. The combined arms effect of a very strong defensive unit - the phalanx (specially against cavalry) and a very strong offensive unit - the heavy cavalry ("companions") was terribly destructive...specialy against the persian Heavy Cavalry/light infantry duet. So IMO if you wish to simulate the Macedonian combined arms effect then you chose ~390 BC as the date for Phalanx. But if you want to simulate the advent of the infantry unit that used its numbers to fight as a single body then you must chose the ~700 BC date of the greek phalanx!--Henrique Duarte==The kind of Greek heavy infantry armed with long spear and large round shield is called hoplite, from the name of the shield-hoplon, in Greek. The might of hoplite did not arise from the long spear, the large shield, or the dense formation, but the overwhelming discipline and harshness of the citizen-soldier. Phalanx is the name given to Philip's army when he reorganized the hoplite, grouping them into close, deep formation. Thus phalanx was a military formation of a particular unit, whereas hoplite was the name of the unit. Historically, hoplite came in the archaic period, circa 700B.C., and phalanx came with Philip, in around 340B.C.--colossus
• Archers: Developed by the Acadians, which came after the Sumerians and before the Assyrians and "Bailonyans". Can't give exact dates. (source? my teacher)--NoviceCEO==between 2500 and 2000 BC--The Mad Viking
• Legion: Legion: In the very beginning, the Legion meant the whole army; later (200BC) the Legion became a part of the army, with a strength of 6000 men which was reduced to 1000 men around 400AD. At times of Augustus, there were 25 legions ,and because they lowered the number of men per legion, the number of legions rose to 70 around 300AD--Atahualpa
• Horsemen: ~25th c. BCE Kurgans (Altaic horse tribes vaguely like Turks or Mongols) dominate most of Asia Superior (above Caucasus and Himalayan plateau and west of the Chinese coastal and piedmont regions)--don Don
• Chariot: Egyptian version drawn by donkeys ~15th c. BCE--don Don==The chariot (NB: not the war chariot) for carrying goods was invented ~3500BC. Soon after 1800BC: invention of light but sturdy two-wheeled vehicles that could dash about the field of battle behind a team of galloping horses without upsetting or breaking down. The compound bow was an important part of the charioteers' equipment. NB: the chariot is older than Horse back riding!--S. Kroeze
• Elephants: Use in India predates Alexander's invasion 327(?) BCE, probably by centuries--don Don
• Catapult: Onager ("wild ass") used by Romans prior to invasion of Gaul (1st c. BCE, right?)--don Don==During the Assyrian Empire 935-612BC a complex array of devices for besieging fortified cities was invented; they carried a siege train with them on campaign as a matter of course--S. Kroeze
• Triremes: 700-600 B.C. (Obviously the greeks, but maybe other cultures had inventented similar ships earlier)--Yuvo==Definitely between 600 (first) and 500 BC (dominant). Actually very little hold- had 170 oarsmen and only 14 to 20 soldiers. Used as an anti-shipping weapon--The Mad Viking

SOURCES: "History of Warfare" by John Keegan; Matthew Richardson, "The Penguin Book Of Firsts"

Early Medieval-Industrial Era

• Knights: Stirrup possibly invented by the Turks. Normans among the first Europeans to use them routinely, 11th c. CE--don Don
• Crusaders: What exactly makes these different from Knights, historically speaking? Nothing--don Don
• Fanatics: In the 11th-12th c. CE a group of hashish-crazed doomsday cult-like Muslims called Assassins (from the Arabic assas, "mission") would raid European camps in attempts to kill leaders. (Main reason why I think Fundies are way too late in the game)--don Don
• Dragoons: Rarely rode horseback into battle, actually considered "mounted infantry." Used pistols and sabers. 17th c.??--don Don==17th century AD is a bad guess. 16th century is a better guess Id say. I believe Francisco Coronado used some when he searched for the 7 Cities of Gold--Atahualpa
• Cavalry: Assyrians (probably from 722-626 B.C.)--NoviceCEO==Obviously refers to the innovations of Napoleonic tactics and the carbine rifle. Should not be placed in the earlier group--don Don
• Cannon: Cannon: ~1250 A.D. (Muslim armies)--Yuvo==First Western use in the seige of Constantinople 1453 CE. Chinese used small bronze cannon much earlier, but never made effective designs until after contact with European traders--don Don
• Musketeers: Greeks developed Ballistae (some with magazine-fed ammunition!) in the 5th c. BCE Peloponnesian Wars--don Don==First all-musket unit was the Russian strelzy ("archers") trained under Ivan (III or IV, can't remember) and sent against the Siberian Mongols in 1586. Earlier units were still primarily swordsmen who used muskets (or earlier guns) as one-shot charge-breakers (too clumsy and slow to reload)--don Don
• Caravel: 15th and 16th Century. Used for exploring purposes--Atahualpa==End of the 15th century. The version of caravel I'm talking about was the Portuguese one--NoviceCEO==To be acurate it should be called the Caravel of the Discoveries (the term caravel was used for several different ships) It wasPortuguese improvement on arab ship model, The main improvement was something that is called in portuguese (sorry don't know the translation) "Vela Latina" which is a sail that allowed navigation against main wind direction. This ship was able to sail in open ocean as well as close to shore. It was used in as early as the first quarter of the XV century (possibly even earlier) for systematic exploration by the portuguese. Yet note that the first official and documented appearence of the portuguese "Discoveries Caravel" was in 1450 in the Flanders, when portuguese constructers where sent there to build a few ships. (the evidence for earlier use is indirect, but quite good)--korn469==Really should be called the cog, decked & having a high sideboard, spelled the end of the longship/galley type design; at latest 14th c.--don Don
• Galleon: Should include the "caravel" Henrique refers to: 15th c. rigging improvement on cog or similar type hull--don Don
• Frigate: Different rigging, second gun deck. Definitely after the Drake's lauded defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588)
• Ironclad: 1861/62 devloped at the beginning of the American Civil War. The first two ironclads were the C.S.S. Virginia (the Unions called it: C.S.S. Merrimack) and the U.S.S. Monitor. (Yin's Note: I think we might consider Admiral Yi's (Korea) Ironclad Turtle Ship the first. I'll need to look up the date)==Expressly armed with cannon, so unless the "Turtle Ship" had something better than the little poppers that passed for cannon in China?--don Don==About the turtle ship: "The hull of his ship was designed for speed and manoeuvrability, and the deck was covered with tortoise-shell of iron plates, impervious to fire,arrows and bullets,with spikes on top to hamper boarders. The prow was strengthend so that it could be used offensively as a ram, and there were archery ports all round. The Japanese sailors fought bravely,but Yi-sun's ironclad battleships wrought irresistable destruction among their fleet. The effect of the Korean victory at sea was paralyze Hideyoshi's land offensive. Korean Source: "Yi-dynasty Korean warship design owes much to its predecessor Koryo-dynasty and a person named Choi Mu-sun. Mr Choi stole the secret of Gunpowder from Mongol China and invented several types of cannons. His sole purpose was to wipe out the Japanese pirates(Wako)and he succeded this objective by mounting cannons on the warships. The design of Turtle ship was simply equiping the present warship with armoured plates with some modifications."--Youngsun==(Yin's Note: My source gives a date of 1592)==The Ironclad is a steam vessel (it comes with Steam Engine advance, duh), so Yi-sun's Turtle Ship doesn't count--don Don

SOURCES: Almost any Portuguese school history book as well as several compediums by many authors - Prof. Jose Matoso, Prof. Francisco Bettencourt. Example: "Historia da Expans? Portuguesa", 5 vols. Coord. Francisco Bettencourt, ed. C?culo de Leitores. Lisbon, 1999.(transl. "History of Portuguese Expansion"); Matthew Richardson, "The Penguin Book Of Firsts"; "A History of Warfare" written by Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (page 390~391); "Folk Tales from Korea," Zong In-sob, 1982

Modern Era Units

• Tank: 1917/18 at the end of WWI--Atahualpa== Little Willie first ran on 3rd Dec 1915 by which time the battle model (44) - at first called "Centipede", then "Big Willie" and finally "Mother" - stood almost complete. She ran on 16th Jan. 1916 and showed beyound doubt that the specification had been satisfied and that the pioneers' claims were justified. The first fighting tanks went into action during the last phase of the Battle of the Somme on 15th Sep. 1916 and were (English) Mark 1s, almost identical to Mother--Joseph
• Partisans: The Spanish resisted Napoleon's occupation with relatively organized musket militia guerillas ~1800
• Riflemen: Really could not be equipped the way it is suggested in the game until 1849 with the invention of the Mini-Ball--Hugo Rune==It's "Mini?Ball", not Mini-ball. After the inventor--Hugo Rune
• Alpine Troops: The earliest "special forces" type unit was the colonial Roger's Rangers during the French and Indian War, 1760s. The British later copied the idea as the Queen's Rangers--don Don
• Marines: Troops trained expressly for deployment on ships. USA established a Marine Corps prior to War of 1812. Maybe the first, maybe not--don Don
• Paratroopers: "Mass drops of parachute troops had been pioneered by the Soviet Union in the 1930s, but the Luftwaffe first used the technique operationally, notably during the invasion of Crete, in which 15,000 airborne and parachute troops were landed onto that island by 700 transport aircraft and 80 gliders."--Yin
• Mechanized Infantry: I'd say 1940/41. This is just a guess. Fact is that they were first used in WWII, allowing the German Blitzkrieg tactic--Atahualpa
• Armor: Assyrians (probably from 722-626 B.C.)--NoviceCEO==Definitely Gudieren's blitzkrieg tactics (which date to 1936 or earlier, first used in Czeckoslovakia 1938-9). Tanks were lumbering targets prior to that--don Don
• Artillery: Perhaps this would be the breach-loader, which I don't think predated ACW (1861)--don Don==Breech loading is a good idea - but consider also the invention of the shell - I like it partly because the inventor was named Henry Shrapnel! The year was 1803.
• Howitzer: Unit probably modeled after the computer-controlled self-propelled 203mm howitzer unit of US design, 1980s--don Don
• Fighter: 1914/15--Atahualpa
• Bomber: 1915/16--Atahualpa==The first of the modern bombers was one of the Donier Bombers built by the Nazis. This happened in the mid 1930's--korn469
• Helicopter: The first reliable one was flown in 1936 A.D.--Yuvo
• Stealth Fighter: F-117 Stealth Fighter: (it's really an attack plane) First Flight: 18 June 1981...Tactical Air command received the first of its F-117As in 1982--korn469
• Stealth Bomber: B-2 Stealth Bomber: The first B-2 was publicly displayed on Nov. 22, 1988...Its first flight was July 17, 1989--korn469
• Destroyer: "The term destroyer was first used for the 250-ton vessels built in the 1890s to protect battleships from torpedo boats."--Yin
• Cruiser: "As the designation for a specific type of warship, cruiser did not become current until about 1880, when navies had settled on iron-hulled ships powered solely by steam. Cruisers became the frigates of the steam era."--Yin
• AEGIS Cruiser: First AEGIS cruiser is the US Virginia class, at 1971 AD--Harel
• Battleship: Battleship: "The battleship type had its genesis in the Gloire, a French oceangoing ironclad displacing 5,600 tons that was launched in 1859."--Yin
• Submarine: There existed a prototype during the American Civil War (1861-1865) but the first real submarines arrived during WWI around 1915 I guess--Atahualpa==David Bushnell's Turtle was the first Submarine during the War of Independence in America. The Turle made history by carrying out the first underwater war mission, when in Sept. 1776 and army sergeant paddled down the Hudson River to attack the 64 gun HMS Eagle. Did not succeed in sinking her. In the Civil War the CSS Hunley sunk the frigate USS Housatonic Feb. 1864, however the Hunley was lost with all hands in that incident. At the start of WW1 there were around 300 Sub. world wide, however it was the Germans that understood the important of submarine, and made great strid with them--Joseph
• Aircraft Carrier: The first practical demonstration of the ability to launch and land aircraft on naval vessels occurred on November 14, 1910--korn469
• Transport: The first iron-cast, military troop transports were first deployed at WWI, meaning it should be at 1918 AD--Harel
• Cruise Missile: "Beginning in the 1950s, the Soviet Union pioneered the development of tactical air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, and in 1984 a strategic cruise missile given the NATO designation AS-15 Kent became operational aboard Tu-95 bombers."--Yin
• Nuclear Weapons: 1945--Atahualpa

SOURCES: www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3098/carrier.htm ; www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3098/carrier.htm ; www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3098/carrier.htm ; http://www.bangalorenet.com/system1/chungw/stealth.html ; www.bangalorenet.com/system1/chungw/stealth.html ; www.bangalorenet.com/system1/chungw/stealth.html ; "Tank" by Kenneth Macksey and John H Batchelor, pages 24/25; "Submarine Warfare" by Antony Preston

City Improvements

• Airport: "It was not until the general introduction of heavy monoplanes for transport, such as the Douglas DC-3, during the late 1930s that extensive takeoff and landing distances were needed. Even then, the prewar airfields at New York City (La Guardia), London (Croydon), Paris (Le Bourget), and Berlin (Tempelhof) were laid out on sites close to the city centres. Because even transport aircraft of the period were relatively light, paved runways were a rarity. Croydon, Tempelhof, and Le Bourget, for example, all operated from grass strips only. Early airports were also major centres of leisure activity, often attracting more visitors than passengers. In 1939 La Guardia Airport attracted almost a quarter-million visitors per month, reaching a peak of 7,000 in one day, compared with a maximum daily throughput of only 3,000 passengers. In 1929 Berlin's airport reported 750,000 visitors and boasted a restaurant that could seat 3,000 people on the roof of the passenger terminal."--Yin
• Aqueduct: "Although the Romans are considered the greatest aqueduct builders of the ancient world, qanat systems were in use in ancient Persia, India, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries hundreds of years earlier. These systems utilized tunnels tapped into hillsides that brought water for irrigation to the plains below. Somewhat closer in appearance to the classic Roman structure was a limestone aqueduct built by the Assyrians around 691 BC to bring fresh water to the city of Nineveh. The elaborate system that served the capital of the Roman Empire, however, remains a major engineering achievement. Over a period of 500 years--from 312 BC to AD 226--11 aqueducts were built to bring water to Rome from as far away as 57 miles (92 kilometres)."--Yin
• Bank: "Banking is of ancient origin, though little is known about it prior to the 13th century. Many of the early "banks" dealt primarily in coin and bullion, much of their business being money changing and the supplying of foreign and domestic coin of the correct weight and fineness...English bankers in particular had by the 17th century begun to develop a deposit banking business, and the techniques they evolved were to prove influential elsewhere."--Yin=="In 1694 the Bank of England was established and almost immediately started to issue notes in return for deposits. The crucial feature that made Bank of England notes a means of exchange was the promise to pay the bearer the sum of the note on demand. This meant that the note could be redeemed at the Bank for gold or coinage by anyone presenting it for payment...In 1833 the Bank's notes were made legal tender for all sums above ? in England and Wales." Bank of England--don Don
• Barracks: Of course the concept of housing warriors must be as old as the concept of warriors itself, the word "Barracks" has this history: "Etymology: French baraque hut, from Catalan barraca; Date: 1686"--Yin
• Capitalization: I think the switch to paper money is much more accurate then CIVII defination. The first goverement-supported paper money was used by the France revolution govereement, a process which started at 1789 AD. Of course, like everything, China has paper money years before, but then it says we need to change our dated for coal, gunpowder, paper-press, and a lot of other things--Harel
• Cathedral: The Aachener Dom was started to build by Karl the Great around 800 A.D., the Hagia Sophia in Constantinopel earlier--Temudschin
• City Walls: City Walls must be pretty darn old! I mean, Jericho had them--but those were blown over by some trumpets. A great semi-modern example, though: "Old Walled City of Shibam, Yemen. Surrounded by a fortified wall, the 16th-century city of Shibam is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. Its impressive tower-like structures rise out of the cliff and have given the city the nickname of 'the Manhattan of the desert'."--Yin=="Great Wall" of Uruk, with 900 towers, built between 3000 and 2500 BC. This is probably a good date for first City Walls--The Mad Viking=='At Jericho, 600 feet below sea level in the arid valley of the Jordan, archaeologists have found the remains of what by 7000BC was an eight-acre town, housing 2000 or 3000 people, who made their living by cultivating the fertile zone in the surrounding oasis; their strains of wheat and barley were imported from elsewhere, as was the obsidian for some of their tools. (NB:Trade!!) Only a little later, at ?tal H??, in modern Turkey, a much larger town grew up, eventually covering thirty acres and accommodating between 5000 and 7000 people, living a life of considerable sophistication. Digging has disclosed the presence of a wide variety of imported goods, presumably traded, an equally wide variety of locally produced craft goods, suggesting a division of labour, and most arresting of all, traces of an irrigation system, indicating that the inhabitants were already practising a form of farming previously thought characteristic only of the much larger and later settlements in the great river valleys. Of key significance to military historians is the structure of these two towns. ?tal H?? is built with the outer walls of its outermost houses presenting a continuous blank face, so that even were an intruder to have broken a hole through it, or through a roof, he 'would find himself not inside the town but inside a single room'. Jericho, even more impressively, is surrounded by a continuous wall ten feet thick at the base, thirteen feet high and some 700 yards in circumference. At the foot of the wall lies a rock-cut moat thirty feet wide and ten feet deep, while inside the wall at one point stands a tower that overtops it by fifteen feet, providing a look-out place and, though it does not project beyond to form a flank as later bastions would, a dominant fighting-platform. Moreover, Jericho is built of stone, not the mud of ?tal H??, indicating that an intense and coordinated programme of work, consuming tens of thousands of man-hours, had been undertaken. While ?tal H??'s conformation might have been chosen simply to keep out the occasional robber or raider, Jericho's is quite different in purpose: incorporating as it does two elements that were to characterise military architecture until the coming of gunpowder, the curtain wall and the keep, as well as the even longer-lived moat, it constitutes a true fortified stronghold, proof against anything but prolonged attack with siege engines.' (source: J.Keegan:'A History of Warfare',1993; a brilliant book)--S. Kroeze
• Coastal Fortress:
• Colosseum: The first Amphitheater was built in Pompeji in the year 80 B.C.--Temudschin
• Courthouse: To my knowladge, the first offical courts were used in Egypt, after the Demotic tongue came to use. They should be put at 700 BC--Harel
• Factory: Basicly, it's automatazation that was only enabled by steam power, at least to some extent. Historians put the first factories to early 18th centaury England... so put it somewhere like 1810 AD--Harel
• Granary: The oldest relic that was identified as a Granary in India, and dated back to the seventh millenium BC--Harel
• Harbor:
• Hydro Plant:
• Library:
• Manufacturing Plant:
• Marketplace: If you just want to relate to the mere existant of marketplaces, then those date back to the start of humanity. It's probably the oldest human construction. But a trading SOCIETY, with it's set of rules to trade ( and indeed marketplaces requires currency in civ II ), date back to Egypt relations to the Levantine empire, which should be placed at 1100 BC, as the first fully-conducted as firm-based inter-national trade--Harel
• Mass Transit: First mass-transit system in London, 1863--Harel
• Nuclear Plant: 1956 A.D. (England)--Yuvo
• Off-shore Platform:
• Palace:
• Police Station: The first police station was the order of the vigiles, that was established at Rome at 6 AD, after a large fire--Harel
• Port Facility:
• Power Plant:
• Recycling Center:
• Research Lab:
• SAM Missile Battery:
• SDI Defense: SDI-Defense: 2020. This hasnt been invented yet--Atahualpa== SDI defence: Since the "Nautilus" Laser anti-rocket defensive system has passed with flying colors all tests a few weeks ago, I think we can say full anti-IBCM SDI should be available in 2005 AD. BTW, The "Hetz" anti-IBCM system goes online tommorow--Harel
• Sewer System: ~2700 B.C. (Small ones in towns in southern Mesopotamia)--Yuvo
• Solar Plant:
• Spaceship Component: 1957-1961 A.D.+ ~2020 A.D. (Most of these parts were invented by th Russians, but there are still some we haven't worked out, and we cetainly aren't (as yet) capable of getting to Alpha Centauri)--Yuvo
• Spaceship Module:
• Spaceship Structural:
• Stock Exchange:
• Superhighway:
• Supermarket:
• Temple: 'That southern Iraq had been inhabited long before the middle of the fifth millennium was demonstrated in 1946-49 by the excavations conducted at Eridu (Abu Shahrain, twelve miles to the south-west of Ur). The ruins of Eridu are now marked by low mounds and sand dunes surrounding a much dilapidated 'ziqqurat', or stage-tower, erected by Amar-Sin, king of the Third Dynasty of Ur(2046-2028BC), but under one corner of the ziqqurat Seton Lloyd and Fuad Safar unearthed an impressive series of seventeen temples built one above the other in proto-historic times. The lowest and earliest of these temples (levels XVII-XV) were small, one-roomed buildings which contained altars, offering tables and a fine quality pottery (Eridu ware) decorated with elaborate, often elegant geometric designs in dark-brown colour and presenting affinities with the Choga Mami transitional ware. The poorly preserved remains of temples XIV-XII yielded a slighly different ceramic characterized by its crowded designs and 'reserve slip' decoration, which was identical with the pottery found in 1937-39 by German archaeologists at Qal‘at Hajji Muhammad, near Uruk. This Hajji Muhammad ware, as it is called, is also present on other sites of southern Iraq, notably Ras el ‘Amiya, five miles north of Kish, where , it must be noted, fragments of walls, clay vessels and other objects lay buried under several feet of alluvium and were discovered by chance. Finally, temples XI to VI, generally well preserved, contained numerous specimens of standard Ubaid ware, whilst temples VI-I could be dated to the early stages of the Uruk period(~3750-3150BC). Since the Eridu, and Hajji Muhammad wares are closely related to the early and late Ubaid ware, these four types of pottery are now commonly called Ubaid 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. While a progressive architectural development can be followed throughout the superimposed temples of Eridu, there is no break in ceramic styles or techniques. Another, inescapable, conclusion to be drawn from the Eridu temples is that the same religious traditions were handed down from century to century on the same spot from about the middle of the sixth millennium BC until historical times, and from the relatively recent finding of two Ubaid shrines near to Anu's 'White Temple' at Uruk. (One of these lowermost temples at Uruk, built on limestone foundations, measured 87 by 33 metres) Thus the more we dig, the more we find that the Sumerian civilization was very deeply rooted in the past.' (source: G.Roux:'Ancient Iraq',1992)--S. Kroeze
• University: 335 B.C. (Athens)--Yuvo==First German-Speaking University founded in Praha in 1340 by Karl IV--Temudschin

Civilization Advances

• Advanced Flight: 1913 A.D. (The first heavy bomber)--Yuvo==I don't think the bomber in Civ2 is the lousy bomber used in ww1. I would say sometime in the 1930s--The Joker== The DC-2 and DC-3 marked the development of the semi-monocoque airframe, in which the "skin" is part of the load-carrying structure instead of just plating applied to an open framework. I think it was '33--don Don
• Alphabet: 1700 B.C. (Semites, 30 letters, no vowels)--Yuvo==About the Alphabet: I don't think it's a good idea to define it the way it is in this list but broaden it to include pictograms and ideograms also (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese etc). That would make the tech tree more accurate (alphabet before writing ). This means of course that they were "invented" at the same time, somewhere between 3500 and 3000 BC--Huey==Developed as pictographs reduced to more abstract symbols. Sumerian Cuneiform, by about 3000BC had reduced pictographs still in use to about 550--The Mad Viking=='The evolution of the alphabet involved two important achievements. The first was the step taken by a group of Semitic-speaking people, perhaps the Phoenicians, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean between 1700 and 1500 BC. This was the invention of a consonantal writing system known as North Semitic. The second was the invention, by the Greeks, of characters for representing vowels. This step occurred between 800 and 700BC. While some scholars consider the Semitic writing system an unvocalized syllabary and the Greek system the true alphabet, both are treated here as forms of the alphabet.' I would argue that an alphabet without signs for vowels essentially is not yet a true alphabet.--S. Kroeze==In which case Hebrew is not a language. I disagree. Personally I think even pictogrammatical alphabets like the Hieroglyphs of Egypt are "True Alphabets"--Hugo Rune
• Amphibious Warfare: Most widely developed for island warfare in the Pacific during WWII. 1942 for the Japanese--Sten Sture==started the first time someone loaded two or more soldier in a ship or boat and went to another shore line and landed them there so they could attack someone or something. I have read that the Greek, Egyption, Romans all use amphibious warfare--Joseph
• Astronomy: 2700 B.C. (Chinese)--Yuvo==Astronomical Instruments in 1438, Korea--Yin==Tied to Copernicus, it refers to the advances in both physical measurement and accurate timekeeping that began 15th c. and was fully realized in Brahe's measurements and Kepler's mathematical analysis. Copernicus' analysis was more conceptual than rigorously mathematical, but he was the forerunner--don Don==I disagree about Astronomy. We're talking astronomy as a means of navigation here, and that is way before Copernicus--Hugo Rune
• Atomic Theory: John Dalton in the early 20th century. Around 1920 IIRC--Atahualpa==I would say it was invented between the time that Mendelejev made the periodic system some time in the 1870s (not sure) to when Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg finished quantum mechanics in the mid/late 1920s--The Joker==There was a Greek philosopher who first proposed that each metal and other "pure" substance was composed of invisibly small, indivisible units called "atoms." What we call atomic theory today is really sub-atomic theory, which might be pinpointed to the discovery of the electron by, um, Johnson? 1880s?--don Don==Atom theory is the theory about the atom not that atoms exist and I would put it to Bohr (but some would argue rutherford)a little after the turn of the century--Jon Miller==Atomic theory, in civII, related to the GREEK idea that everything can be broken, and be broken again, until you reach the most basical unit, called "ATOM". The atomic theory signify the greek understaning of the scientific nature of the world--Harel==I know about the greek idea and that is where we get the word from. However that idea was a philosophical idea not a scientific and does not fit the picture (or I belive the tech tree). The idea was not all matter was made up of the smallest division, but there was no science here just philosophy that happened to have some small truth (or actually no truth but it helped form a coherent model for a very short while). I beleive it requires physics, which I was the time when natural philophy began being a science (and became physics in the highest state)--Jon Miller==I think it's clear, both from the name and the location in the tech tree, that Atomic Theory is a theory, (not an idea or even a hyptothesis) about matter being composed of massive, positively charged nucleii, with highly mobile, negatively charge electrons on the perimeter--The Mad Viking
• Automobile: Around 1880--Atahualpa==Automobile - the very first was actually in 1769, a steam carriage using a prototype engine, developed by N.J.Cugnot. I think, however, that the Automobile in Civ2 uses an internal combustion engine--The Mad Viking==The auto was the toy of the rich until Ford made it practical. That's why I have long said that in Civ terms Auto and Mass Production are redundant--don Don
• Banking: 605-562 B.C. (The "Egibi" bank in the new babylonian empire)--Yuvo==Seems to refer to the credit draft banking developed first by Jewish merchants scattered throughout Europe prior to 12th c. but idealized in the Reserve Bank of England chartered under William II to finance a war with France, ~1695--don Don
• Bridge Building: 127 B.C. (The first arch bridge was built by the romans in 127 B.C.)--Yuvo==Babylon (7th c. BCE) stradled the Euphrates and had bridges between the two parts; I doubt those were the first true bridges--don Don
• Bronze Working: 3500 B.C. (Mesopotamia)--Yuvo==The introcuction of bronze weapons and armour, starting in Mesopotamia about 3500BC--S. Kroeze
• Ceremonial Burial: Prehistoric--Yuvo
• Chemistry: Early 19th c., Mendeleev in particular. And who was the German guy who isolated potassium?--don Don==The german guy was August Wiliham Fon Hofman. Chemistry should be set to the Offical "Crystal palace" exhibit, 1851 AD--Harel
• Chivalry: Karl Martell (714-741 A.D) the grandfather of Karl the Great needed a weapon to defeat the Islamic Fighters who had conquered whole spain and tried this also with the Franko-Empire. He made a new mounted troop called the Mail-Riders who were the ancestors of the knights--Temudschin
• Code of Laws: 2700 B.C. (First written)--Yuvo==Hamurabian Code, know as "Eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth."--NoviceCEO (Yin's Note: Any date?)==Hammurabi was 18th c. BCE, IIRC--don Don==I don't think that the basical written law should be defined as the age for code of law... I think it should be set to the first written SET of laws, or the first written rules that the ENTIRE empire followed. This should be placed somewhere a little after the establishment of unified Egypt, somewhere at 2400 BC--Harel
• Combined Arms: The first paratroopers were used by germans in the WWII in 1940--Temudschin
• Combustion: I don't know about combustion itself, but internal combustion happened in 1892 A.D.--Yuvo
• Communism: Either the time when Marx made the Communistic Manifest or when Das Kapital was published. I would pick the first, meaning around 1850--The Joker==The Communist Manifesto was published in 1848--Stryfe==I would say 1917 is the date, because Marx's idea has nothing to do with the later founded so called "socialist states" (Lenin said that the russian people is to stupid to understand Marx's theories, so that he would not use them)--Temudschin
• Computers: Between when IBM made the first around 1945 and Apple's first PC in 1979 or so--The Joker
• Conscription:
• Construction:
• Corporation: While you could use many dates for this, I think the most logical one would be 1901 when Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, Elbert Gary, and Charles Schwab combined 10 steel companies to put together US Steel. It was the first billion dollar company and at the time produced 67% of the steel in the US--Sten Sture
• Currency: 2000-1000 B.C. (Ancient Mesopotamia, only cowrie shells)--Yuvo==Sumerian metal coins were replacing barley as legal tender by 2500BC--The Mad Viking
• Democracy: I hope they include both the Ancient and Modern kind in the game for SE purposes, but in Civ2 Democracy was the new one, meaning some time in the 18th century (the French philosophers like Montesqeu)--The Joker
• Economics: Economics as a science was first invented with Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations--The Joker
• Electricity: First observed at 1780 AD, when the effect of electricty was observed on dead animals. However, Volta expriments with battaries should be the first date. His batteries became famoused in 1800 AD--Harel
• Electronics: It's hard to define when we got electronics, but the real development in using electricty was by Telsa. He's famous Telsa generator was built in 1899 AD--Harel==IMO, would be the discovery of the transistor, as previously mentioned under Miniaturization. (Bell Laboratories 1947) Miniaturization is a little vague, since it after electronics as a prereq. to Offshore Platforms--The Mad Viking
• Engineering: I'd say Yuvo's 127 BCE first arched masonry bridge is the advent of engineering, since wooden beam bridges had been around for centuries--don Don
• Environmentalism: ~2200 B.C.(Chinese)(I know this doesn't fit with civ environmentalism, so maybe someone could find a good modern date)--Yuvo==http://www.junkscience.com/sep98/learnjun.htm quote: "The environmental movement in the U.S. sprouted in '62 with the publication of the semi-apocalyptic ''Silent Spring.'' In '69, Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act.
  One year later came the Clean Air Act Amendments and the first Earth Day. That same year, Congress passed the National Environmental Education Act to promote and fund environmental education in grades K-12"--Huey
• Espionage:
• Explosives: First bomb, 1592, Korea--Yin==Refers to invention of dynamite by Nobel, 1867. Everyone thought it was cool to blow up things without blowing up yourself in the process--don Don
• Feudalism: ~800s A.D.--Yuvo==(You are not going to like this, it will turn things in the game upside-down). Geneva, Switzerland, late 1500's (Calvin)--Olle Wiman
• Flight: The problem here will be defining who invented it: Santos Dummont or the Wright brothers?--NoviceCEO==I'm saying Clement Ader in 1890 A.D.--Yuvo==For all practical purposes the Warplane came into being at the end of 1914, with adoption of the machine gun. The early reconnaissance planes shot at each other with pistols and rifles, or threw items at one another. The first bombers appears to be the Sikorsky Ilya Mouremetz V (Russia) 1915, Voisin 5 (French) 1915, Siemens-Schuckert R1 (German) 1915, RAF R.E. 7 (Britain) 1915--Joseph=="Becoming interested in aerial flight, he made a balloon ascent in 1898 and then began to construct dirigible airships. After many failures he built one that in 1901 won the Deutsch Prize and a prize from the Brazilian government for the first flight in a given time from Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and return. Shortly after the Wright brothers' flights in 1903, Santos-Dumont turned his attention to heavier-than-air machines. After experimenting with a vertical-propeller model, in 1906 he built a machine, the 14-bis, on the principle of the box kite, and in October he won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize for the first officially observed powered flight in Europe; in November he flew 220 metres in 21 seconds." Dummont is had as the official inventor of Flight (at least for the patriot Brazilians), as he build and flew the first "heavier-than-air" machine. Unlike the Wright's flight, his' was obsorved by plenty of witness. Date:1906. Take a look at Wright, Wilbur and Orville, also from britannica.com: "American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight (1903) and built and flew the first fully practical airplane (1905)."--NoviceCEO==1933 as first flight of the DC-2 and first production run of the DC-3
• Fundamentalism:
• Fusion Power:
• Genetic Engineering: 1972 A.D.--Yuvo
• Guerilla Warfare:
• Gunpowder: Medicinal-581-682 A.D., In combat-970 A.D.--Yuvo==The earliest decisive use in battle would be the seige of Constantinople, 1453. The Turks used fixed position 1m diameter wooden cannon firing stone shot. Later cannon ~½m dia. were carved of stone. Bronze cannon and compact iron shot were much less unwieldy, thus the military unit is tied instead to a vague advance called Metallurgy. As previously noted, Musketeers were first used as a distinct military unit in 1586, and since that is the unit made available that should be the date. I believe that an Italian militarist trained squads of men armed with arquebus in close formation drill a century earlier, but the idea didn't catch on--don Don
• Horseback Riding:
• Industrialization: Between 1750 and 1850. It was a process going on in UK for a long time--The Joker
• Invention: Who invented Invention?--NoviceCEO==(totally arbitrary) but I like Pappus of Alexandria, who described the use of the cogwheel (gears) levers, pulleys, screws and wedges, in 285AD. DaVinci invented the parachute in 1480, and the water wheel in 1510. They don't say if he was in his workshop at the time...--The Mad Viking==The paradigm shift from the ancient and medieval wholistic view of mechanical devices to the analytical view of parts being separate things that could be improved or used in other mechanical constructions—credited to good ol' Leonardo da Vinci. He worked with a German locksmith and used the mechanical parts of a door lock to make a friction wheel igniter for a pistol: the wheel-lock. This "invention" idea spread to Germany when the locksmith returned there--don Don
• Iron Working: Prehistoric. IV Millenium B.C.--NoviceCEO==~3000 B.C.==Iron Age in Syria and Palestine started about 1500 BC. Iron was noted in Greece between 1000 and 900BC, and soldering of iron inveneted by Glaucus of Chios between 700 and 600 BC--The Mad Viking==(Anatolia)--Yuvo==The discovery of how to make serviceable tools and weapons of iron occurred somewhere in eastern Asia Minor about 1400BC--S. Kroeze==Hittites, 14th c. BCE. (Novice & Yuvo are thinking of bronze smelting when they say IV Millenium BCE. Note also that the Iron Age didn't begin until after 1000 BCE even though iron had been around for several centuries. Like Civ Advances, the named archeological periods are not established by the first use.)--don Don
• Labor Union: The first movement toward a labor union was at the US, starting at 1866 AD--Harel
• The Laser: The move from the basic MAZER to a useful LASER was at 1960 AD, by Charles H Toans--Harel
• Leadership: Pre-historic. Monkeys already knew it--NoviceCEO==What Civ2 is referring to is beyond me, but it must have to do with some sort of tactical improvement. I'd guess that the date for this should be the same date as when France began to use Dragoons. I don't know when that is though--Stryfe
• Literacy: (Literature) ~3500-2500 B.C.(Egypt)--Yuvo
• Machine Tools: Machine Tools is rather generic, but what they mean, I'm sure, is the tools and skills to cut, drill and plane iron and steel. This should be put as about 1860, IMHO. Even then, most work was still done with castings, and wrought iron--The Mad Viking
• Magnetism: Could mean anything. Given how it fits into the advances, you could argue that it refers to the Mariner's Compass. This is accounted first by Alexader Neckam in 1125. (the Chinese were probably playing with some form of compass back in 271AD but that didn't give them Galleons or Frigates...)--The Mad Viking
• Map Making: ~3500 B.C.(First proper map, Mesopotamia)--Yuvo
• Masonry: Masonry: The first stonebuild structure is the Step Pyramid and its Funerary Complex of Djoser (3rd Dynasty, 2630-2611 BC) in Saqqara, Egypt. It was build by the architect Imhotep who was later deified in the Ptolemaic era--Huey==I like 3500 BC, Masons noted as craftsmen and temples built in Eridu, Al Ubaid and Uruk. (by 3000BC)--The Mad Viking
• Mass Production: Ford - 1908 with the introduction of the moving assembly line to produce the Model T--Sten Sture==Factories existed as early as the middle ages, but I don't think we ought to count those since it was on a very limited basis. There are a number of important dates we could use, but 1793 and the invention of the power loom is as good a date as any. 1913 might also work; that's when the first automobile was mass produced by Ford--Stryfe
• Mathematics: Obviously people have been using math since prehistory, but perhaps the invention of place value notation in ~2000-1000 B.C. could be a good date--Yuvo==Could use the Chinese from between 1000 and 1500BC, who developed mathematic permuations, magic squares and the "Pythagorean" concept of right angle triangles--The Mad Viking==Arabs got the decimal number system and the "zero" from India ~9th c. The invention of Algebra (by Arabs playing with the decimal system) predates the capture of Toledo, 1085, as there were texts on algebra in that library--don Don
• Medicine:
• Metallurgy: In 1762, in the Carron Ironworks in Stirlingshire Scotland, cast iron was first converted into malleable iron. Then in 1784, Heny Cort developed the pudding process for wrought iron. Of course we should probably go back to an advance in the foundry process and plain old cast iron. This advance ties to cannon - when did cannon become a major element of field armies (as opposed to a siege weapon)--The Mad Viking
• Miniaturization: Can only be applied to the discovery of the Transistor, at 1947 AD--Harel
• Mobile Warfare:
• Monarchy: The most logical date: ~3100BC Unification of Egypt by Mena (Menes), resulting in the first 'national' state. Monarchy, supported by gods and priests, is certainly older than Despotism Sargon of Akkad (~2334-2279BC), (dates contested), who plundered all the lands of Mesopotamia around his capitol city of Kish, was the first king whose power rested as much on the army as upon religion--S. Kroeze
• Monotheism:
• Moveable Type: 1403, Korea--Yin
• Mysticism: Pre-historic--NoviceCEO==Mysticism comes about later at about 500 B.C.E. If you take the strict definition of Greek "mysteries" being the first Mysticism--Hugo Rune
• Navigation: ~3500 B.C.(when people started using the stars)--Yuvo==Mariner's compass, 1535, Korea--Yin==Well, in 850AD the astrolabe was perfected by the Arabs--The Mad Viking==Refers to the invention of the astrolabe and the declination table, no later than 10th c. CE.--don Don
• Nuclear Fission: Has not been achieved for commercial use yet. (Put it down as 2010, I'd say)--Hugo Rune==Both nuclear fission and fusion have been reproduced in labratory environment. Fission is what we use in our nuclear reactors, fusion is not yet economical(we put more power in then we get out)--Jon Miller
• Nuclear Power: "In 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States announced the Atoms for Peace program. This program established the groundwork for a formal U.S. nuclear power program and expedited international cooperation on nuclear power.""During the late 1950s and early 1960s a number of true commercial prototype nuclear power plants were built."--Hugo Rune
• Observation Balloon: 16th century, Korea--Yin
• Philosophy: "There is a consensus, dating back at least to the 4th century BC and continuing to the present, that the first Greek philosopher was Thales of Miletus, who flourished in the first half of the 6th century BC."--Hugo Rune==while I think we all agree that philosphoical thoughts date back to the evolution of mankind, we must use the first date the TERM itself was declared. It was Pythagoras that created the title Philosphy. He lived between 500 B.c to 580 BC, which probably put the reasonable date at 550 B.c.
• Physics: Are we talking Greek physics here? Otherwise (which I suspect) We're talking the Scientific revolution which could be said to have started in 1543 with Copernicus' theory of the Universe, or the final breakdown of Aristotle which came with Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principa Matematica in 1687--Hugo Rune==The conept of PHSYICS, AKA research of the primal forces of the universe, was only first announced after the discovery of radioactivity, in the late 19th centaury AD--Harel
• Plastics: "The first such material to be manufactured was Parkesine, developed by the British inventor Alexander Parkes. Parkesine, made from a mixture of chloroform and castor oil, was "a substance hard as horn, but as flexible as leather, capable of being cast or stamped, painted, dyed or carved . . . " The words are from a guide to the International Exhibition of 1862 in London, at which Parkesine won a bronze medal for its inventor."--Hugo Rune
• Polytheism: Pre-historic. Has been there since man exists--NoviceCEO==Polytheism as we know it developed in the Third Millennium B.C. in Mesopotamia--Hugo Rune==NoviceCEO, I really have to disagree about polytheism. The Pantheon of Gods kind of thing came about long after religion, before there was Animism represented in the game by Ceremonial Burial, which basically consisted of worshipping the spirits of the land, and maybe unnamed non-humanoid sun and moon gods--Hugo Rune
• Pottery: Pottery is at least 6500 years old--Hugo Rune=='In the early 1960s, excavations at a Neolithic settlement at Catalh??, on the Anatolian Plateau of Turkey, revealed a variety of crude, soft earthenware estimated to be approximately 9,000 years old. A more advanced variety of handmade pottery, hardfired and burnished, has proved to be as early as 6500 BC. The use of a red slip covering and molded ornament came a little later. The earliest building period at ?talh?? is tentatively dated to about 6700 BC and the latest to about 5650 BC. The inhabitants lived in rectangular mud-brick houses probably entered from roof level, presumably by a wooden ladder. In addition to a hearth and an oven, houses had platforms for sleeping, sitting, or working.' (source: Britannica.com)--S. Kroeze
• Radio: The Radio for practical use was invented in 1896--Hugo Rune
• Railroad: Developed in the first third of the 19th century. (By this we mean a steam engine pulling cars on rails spiked to wooden cross ties.)--The Mad Viking==Railroad (more precise): The first commercial railroad opened in France in 1828, and began carrying passengers in 1832. The Liverpool to Manchester line opened in 1830--The Mad Viking
• Recycling:
• Refining: "The refining of crude petroleum owes its origin to the successful drilling of the first oil well in Titusville, Pa., in 1859."--Hugo Rune
• Refrigeration: "Commercial refrigeration is believed to have been initiated by an American businessman, Alexander C. Twinning, in 1856."--Hugo Rune
• Republic: The roman republic was first founded in 509 BC, after the throw of Lucius Superbus--Harel
• Robotics:
• Rocketry:
• Sanitation:
• Seafaring:
• Space Flight:
• Spinning Wheel: 1376, Korea--Yin
• Stealth:
• Steam Engine: Steam Engine -after working with prototypes for several years, James Watt developed a functional steam engine in 1775--The Mad Viking==It doesn't say "Steam Power". The Roman devices could not be IMHO be classified as "engines". French Engineer Denis Papin made a steam piston driven pump in 1690. It might qualify for the 1st use, and Watts may get undue credit in English texts vs. French - but his work was remarkable--The Mad Viking
• Steel: Steel- modern steel could be said to be invented with the development of the crucible smelting process by English inventor Benjamin Huntsman, in 1740. Possible use of carbon and iron goes way way back...--The Mad Viking
• Superconductor: The concept was first observed in 1973 AD, but the first material to achieve super--Harel
• Tactics:
• Theology:
• Theory of Gravity: Newton, published 1682 I think. Technically called "universal gravitation" as opposed to the "elemental gravitation" (Earth > Water > Air > Fire) of Aristotelian science--don Don
• Trade: I vote for betwen 700 and 600 BC in Babylonia (Ninevah, where documents show sales, exchange, rentals, leases, loan interest and mortgages.) Obviously "trade" existed much earlier (prehistoric) but this is sophisticated trade. You could go with the Egyptions, who did a lot of trading in 1500 to 1000BC or the Phoenicians--The Mad Viking
• The University: Constaninople University founded in 425AD. Salerno University founded 850AD was major factor, founding a medical school in 900 and publishing the important medical work "Practica" (Petrocellus) in 1040--The Mad Viking==As a structured system with uniform curriculum was a medieval ecclesiastical development. Originally there were three courses of study: Law, Theology, and Natural Philosophy ("science," sort of). It served more as a brake against loss of knowledge than as a prime mover of progress. That required the moveable type printing press (1495), which allowed books that cost less than a nobleman's yearly income--don Don
• Warrior Code: In my opinion there are two possible candidates of people who developed a martial style of life: the Indo-Europeans, whose migration started before 2000BC; or the Assyrians, who from about 900BC started their period of expansion--S. Kroeze
• The Wheel: Pre-History--NoviceCEO==~4000-3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia(No it wasn't prehistoric, real wheels are harder to make and use than you might think, since you need to design axles etc. to make it worth using for anything)--Yuvo==The chariot (NB: not the war chariot) for carrying goods was invented ~3500BC--S. Kroeze
• Writing: Invented by the Sumerians; it represents the advance from Pre-History to History. IV Millenium B.C.--NoviceCEO==New researches found out that the Egyptians discovered writing some centuries (~3400 B.C.) before the Sumerians (~3200 B.C)--Temudschin=='A greatly elaborated set of these clay shapes, some shaped like jars and some like various animals, and occasionally inserted in clay envelopes, date from 3500BC, about the time of the rise of cities. Some of the envelopes have markings corresponding to the clay shapes inside. Moreover, these markings are more or less similar to the shapes drawn on clay tablets that date back to about 3100 BC and that are unambiguously related to the Sumerian language. These markings are thought to constitute a logographic form of writing consisting of some 1,200 different characters representing numerals, names, and such material objects as cloth and cow.' source: Britannica.com, article 'Sumerian writing'; this view is supported by G.Roux: "Ancient Iraq",1992 So I still think it highly probable writing was invented here, not in Egypt. There seems also some confusion about the chronological order of writing and alphabet, though the two are essentially different. This is clearly a grave mistake of the CivII tech tree, which we shouldn't try to argue away! There are a lot more. Mick Uhl, in my opinion the best scenario editor, corrected it in his scenarios--S. Kroeze

SOURCES: Matthew Richardson, "The Penguin Book Of Firsts"; Ran McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft; "The Railroad, What It Is, What It Does." John H Armstrong. 1977; "Folk Tales from Korea," Zong In-sob, 1982; "The Timetables of History," Bernard Grun. Translated from German in 1975 and updated in 1979 (Not the most up to date, but certainly comprehensive!); Encyclopaedia Britannica; W.H.McNeill: "The Pursuit of Power," 1983; F.G.Naerebout/H.W.Singor: "De oudheid," 1995; G.Roux: "Ancient Iraq," 1992



[This message has been edited by yin26 (edited January 09, 2001).]