Magna Carta (see here).
From Magna Carta to WikiLeaks
SCOTT CHRISTIANSON
For Eve, Michael, Adam, Joel and Julia
Contents
Introduction
2800 BC
I Ching
1754 BC
Code of Hammurabi
c. 750 BC
Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey
512 BC
The Art of War
408 BC–AD 318
Dead Sea Scrolls
c. 400 BC
Mahabharata
400 BC–AD 200
Kama Sutra
c. 380 BC
Plato’s Republic
AD 50
Gandharan Buddhist Texts
AD 609–632
The Quran
1215
Magna Carta
1252
Ad Extirpanda
1265–74
Summa Theologica
1280–1300
Hereford Mappa Mundi
1450s
Gutenberg Bible
1478–1519
Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebooks
1492
Alhambra Decree
1493
Christopher Columbus’s Letter
1501
Petrucci’s Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A
1517
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses
1521
Edict of Worms
1522–25
Journal of Magellan’s Voyage
1542
Destruction of the Indies
1582
Gregorian Calendar
1611
King James Bible
1620
Mayflower Compact
1623
Shakespeare’s First Folio
1632
Galileo’s Dialogue
1649
Execution Warrant of Charles I
1660–69
1660s–1727
Isaac Newton Papers
1665
First Printed Newspaper in English
1689
English Bill of Rights
1755
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
1776
Declaration of Independence
1776
The Wealth of Nations
1787
Constitution of the United States
1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
1791
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen
1803
Louisiana Purchase
1803
Meriwether Lewis’s List of Expenses
1804
Napoléonic Code
1822
Deciphering the Rosetta Stone
1826
First Photograph
1833
Slavery Abolition Act
1837–59
Charles Darwin on Natural Selection
1844
First Telegram
1848
The Communist Manifesto
1852
Roget’s Thesaurus
1854
John Snow’s Cholera Map
1854–63
First Underground Train System
1861
Fort Sumter Telegram
1863
Emancipation Proclamation
1868
Alaska Purchase Cheque
1869
War and Peace
1878
Phonograph
1899
The Interpretation of Dreams
1912
Sinking of the Titanic
1916
Sykes–Picot Agreement
1917
Balfour Declaration
1917
The Zimmermann Telegram
1918
Wilson’s 14 Points
1919
19th Amendment
1919
Treaty of Versailles
1920
Hitler’s 25-Point Programme
1922
Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb
1929–31
Empire State Building
1936
Edward VIII’s Instrument of Abdication
1936
Television Listings
1938
Munich Agreement
1939
The Hitler–Stalin Non-Aggression Pact
1941
Declaration of War Against Japan
1942
Manhattan Project Notebook
1942
Wannsee Protocol
1942–44
Anne Frank’s Diary
1945
Germany’s Instrument of Surrender
1945
United Nations Charter
1946–49
George Orwell’s 1984
1947
Marshall Plan
1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1949
Geneva Convention
1950
Population Registration Act
1953
DNA
1957
Treaty of Rome
1961
John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
1962
Beatles’ Recording Contract with EMI
1963
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
“I Have a Dream”
1964
Quotations from
Chairman Mao Tse-tung
1964
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1969
Apollo 11 Flight Plan
1976
Apple Computer Company
1981
Internet Protocol
1990
Two Plus Four Treaty
1991
First Website
“Bin Laden Determined to
Strike in US”
2002
Iraq War Resolution
2006
First Tweet
2007
WikiLeaks
2011
3D Map of the Universe
2013
Edward Snowden Files
Acknowledgements
Index
The Declaration of Independence – the birth of a nation and one of the most significant landmarks in the history of democracy (see hee).
doc·u·ment
noun dä-ky -mÉ™nt, -kyü-
an official paper that gives information about something or
that is used as proof of something
a computer file that contains written text
1. a:
an original or official paper relied on as the basis, proof or support of something
b:
something (as a photograph or a recording) that serves as evidence or proof
2. a:
a writing conveying information
b:
a material substance (as a coin or stone) having on it a representation of thoughts by means of some conventional mark or symbol
3. a:
a computer file containing information input by a computer user
ORIGIN Middle English, precept, teaching, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin documentum official paper, from Latin, lesson, proof, from docere to teach.
FIRST KNOWN USE 15th century
Introduction
We live in the Age of Documents. They are the signposts of our history and the currency of 21st-century life. In the d
igital era documents have become even more ubiquitous as they are infinitely viewed, produced, reproduced and archived. We are flooded by them in our everyday existence; they both enrich and clutter our lives. Documents have become integral to the way people think; we use them to navigate through our current world and connect to the past.
Of course not all documents are in themselves important or worth saving. Yet we rely on certain documents to tell us what is new and important, just as we consult others to learn about history. Without authentic documentation, recorded and preserved, there would be no inscribed remembered history and we would have no knowledge of the distant past.
Although the definition of ‘document’ has continued to evolve and expand, as evident from the dictionary meanings shown opposite, it seems reasonable to expect that documents will continue to be even more important in the digital future and beyond. How could they not?
By viewing documents in historical perspective, as this book does, we gain a window onto the vast artefactual record of knowledge, civilization, power, and society. 100 Documents That Changed the World presents a variety of notable examples in all forms, from the last 5,000 years of human existence. The documents are time capsules that take us into the minds of their creators and the historical situations that impelled their creation.
The chronological listing reflects the changing material form of documents, as the historical record shows the earliest documents recorded in bamboo, silk slips, carved stones, and papyri, to finely printed manuscripts, paper documents in hand-print and type, and computerized files that collect and synthesize big data.
The different types or genres of documents presented include decrees and proclamations, holy books, legal codes, treaties and secret agreements, official warrants and certificates, patents, literary classics, philosophical treatises, diaries and letters, business contracts and commercial records, memoranda and electronic messages, and data maps, all of which made a significant mark in history.
There are government documents, church records and private communications, some of which appear as works of art but most of them simply impart important information – plain documents that nevertheless started or ended wars, inspired religious worship for millions, or advanced the cause of science or human rights to new heights.
The Gutenberg Bible – the first book to be printed with metal movable type – changed the nature of document production (see here).
Jean-François Champollion’s code for deciphering the Rosetta Stone held the key to two forgotten languages (see here).
Several of the authors of these documents are among the great figures in history: Christopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Edison and Martin Luther King, Jr. Others are lesser known players: Shakespeare’s appreciative fellow actors; the guilt-ridden conquistador Bartolomé de las Casas; the eccentric lexicographer Samuel Johnson; the meticulous polymath Peter Mark Roget who always sought to use the right word; and the eighteenth-century French feminist Olympe de Gouges, who was beheaded for her courageous women’s rights manifesto. There are also kings and queens, generals, popes, presidents, bureaucrats and computer hackers.
While we generally need not consult the original handwritten manuscript of the Declaration of Independence in order to grasp the meaning of such a document, the artefact itself has enormous symbolic importance and the act of looking at it takes on the quality of ritual. Important original documents possess an ‘aura’ that transcends their content and purpose, and renders them enormously valuable – even priceless – in need of state protection and conservation. Such documents embody and encode such large-scale, historic concepts as national identity, human rights, world-changing wars, massive transfers of wealth and population, and seminal scholarship in the arts and sciences. Thus readers of this book who cannot travel to the institutions in which the documents are housed, get to glimpse the oldest known versions as well as images of some of their makers and learn something of their background and context.
Some of the documents described here clearly altered the course of history – legal documents such as the Code of Hammurabi, Magna Carta, or United States Constitution; rulers’ decrees such as the Alhambra Decree, Edict of Worms, or Emancipation Proclamation; famous treaties and secret pacts such as the Sykes-Picot Agreement and Treaty of Versailles; religious tracts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Quran; and assorted other accounts.
There are also a few iconic documents that have influenced popular culture and modern media – the Beatles’ EMI recording contract, the first TV listings, the documents that founded the Apple Computer Company, as well as the first website and the first tweet.
Each carries a story, and many of these are woven with the others to form a documentary history.
Human beings have sought to preserve important documents for as long as civilizations have existed. Archaeologists have discovered archives of records made of clay tablets, papyrus, and other materials, going back to the ancient Mesopotamians, Chinese, Persians, Greeks and Romans (who called them tabularia) in the third and second millennia BC. Such accumulated historical records were important in their day for helping to maintain order and continuity in legal, military, administrative, commercial and social affairs, keeping track of taxes, crimes, victories and other vital statistics. Long kept by governments, churches, corporations and other private entities, archives have also provided a key building block of historiography, communicating to posterity historical information about previous regimes, cultures and events. Archivists have always been selective, however, saving only those records deemed worthy of retention and special care.
In the beginning, each document was unique, like a work of handmade art. But as its stature grew, copies or replicas were made, and as those copies deteriorated more copies of copies were made by scribes so as to preserve the sacred work. Unfortunately, many of these manuscripts perished over time. But some ancient works survived – the I Ching, Dead Sea Scrolls, Mahabharata and Plato’s Republic being a few examples.
Later there were also translations and copies made that had been mechanically reproduced by printing and other means. In some instances the printing of an authorized version, such as the King James Bible or Mao Tse-tung’s ‘Little Red Book’, took on enormous political significance.
Today, there is yet another new twist to some of the copying. Governments and corporations have been relentlessly and intrusively compiling secret documents and dossiers on a scale that is mind boggling. But lately, as evidenced by such phenomena as WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing, a small but effective movement of computer hackers has turned the tables on the document keepers to make them the document leakers. Huge batches of hitherto secret, private or classified files are now being released en masse to the public, to expose wrongdoing.
The term document used to simply mean an official written proof used as evidence. However, the Dutch documentalist Frits Donker Duyvis (1894–1961), who was a pioneer in information science, nevertheless contended that since a document is the ‘repository of an expressed thought’, its contents have a ‘spiritual character’.
Many of the documents included in this book do seem to possess an aura that can still be felt, decades or even centuries after their creation and following countless reproductions. Maybe this unique human quality shining through is one of the attributes contributing to their power. In some instances that power was used as an instrument of the king, the pope, the state or the corporation, or as a ‘prop’ in the theatre of ruling and policing. The document may have embodied the governmental power to command a specific action, the sacred or artistic power to reach the reader in a profound way, the messianic power to convey a vital message at the right moment, or the power of an inventor to conceive a revolutionary new idea in its simplest form.
All evinced some power to make things happen either now or in the future. To make it so, and in some cases to change the world. Here are 100 of t
hose documents.
Anne Frank’s diary has become the most famous account of life during the Holocaust, read by tens of millions of people (see here).
A page from a Song Dynasty (AD 960–1279) version of the I Ching, complete with scholarly commentary.
I Ching
(2800 BC)
An ancient Chinese manual of divination employs patterns of trigrams and hexagrams, interpreted according to the principles of Yin and Yang, to offer sage guidance about an individual’s present situation and future. Scholars consider it the epitome of Chinese philosophy.
No philosophical work has exerted more influence in Chinese culture over the millennia than the ancient I Ching, the ‘Book of Changes’.
While its origins remain shrouded in legend, some historians trace its evolution back more than 5,000 years to a mythical emperor, Fu-Hsi, followed by other holy men, including King Wên who lived in the Shang dynasty of 1766–1121 BC and his son the Duke of Chou, and later Confucius (Kung Fu-Tze) who lived from 551 to 479 BC. It appears to be the oldest document still in continuous use.