WONDERS OF THE WORLD

Various Wonders of the World lists have been compiled over the ages in order to catalogue the most spectacular natural and manmade constructions. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the first known list of remarkable manmade creations of classical antiquity, and was based on guide-books popular among Hellenic sight-seers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim. Later lists include those for the Medieval World and the Modern World.

Contents [hide]
1 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
2 Seven wonders of the middle ages
3 American Society of Civil Engineers Seven Wonders of the Modern World
4 Travel wonders
4.1 Man-made travel wonders
4.2 Natural travel wonders
5 Natural wonders
6 Underwater wonders
7 New Open World Corporation New Seven Wonders of the World
8 USA Today's New Seven Wonders
8.1 National lists of Seven Wonders
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links



[edit] Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Great Pyramid of GizaMain article: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The historian Herodotus (484 BC–ca. 425 BC), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305–240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of "Seven wonders" but their writings have not survived, except as references. They included the Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, and Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The Greek category was not "Wonders" but "theamata", which translates closer to "must-sees". The list that we know today was compiled in the Middle Ages—by which time many of the sites were no longer in existence.

See also: Eighth Wonder of the World


[edit] Seven wonders of the middle ages

StonehengeSeven Wonders lists about the Middle Ages are existing historical lists for which there is no unanimity of opinion about origin, content or name.[1] These historical lists go by names such as "Wonders of the Middle Ages" (implying no specific limitation to seven), "Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages", "Medieval Mind" and "Architectural Wonders of the Middle Ages". The lists are more properly seen as a continuing type or genre in the Seven Wonders tradition than a specific list.

It is unlikely the lists originated in the Middle Ages. Brewet's calls them "later list[s]"[2] suggesting the lists were created after the Middle Ages. This is supported because the word medieval was not even invented until the Enlightenment-era, and the concept of a "Middle Age" did not become popular until the 16th century. Further, the Romanticism movement glorified all things related to the Middle Ages, or more specifically anything pre-Enlightenment era, suggesting such lists would have found a popular audience in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some items found on some of the lists are not technically from the Middle Ages (according to modern historical standards), but we know the lists were not created by modern medieval historians, so such standards did not apply.

Typically representative of the seven:[1][3][4][2]


Taj MahalStonehenge
Colosseum
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Great Wall of China
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
Hagia Sophia
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Other sites that have been mentioned include:

Taj Mahal[5]
Cairo Citadel[6]
Ely Cathedral[7]
Cluny Abbey[8]


[edit] American Society of Civil Engineers Seven Wonders of the Modern World
In the tradition of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, many other lists of wonders have been proposed, including both human feats of engineering and wonders of Nature. However, these lists are rather informal, and there is no consensus on any particular list.


Golden Gate BridgeThe American Society of Civil Engineers compiled another list of wonders of the modern world:[9]

Wonder Date Started Date Finished Locations
Channel Tunnel December 1, 1987 May 6, 1994 Strait of Dover, between England and France
CN Tower February 6, 1973 June 26, 1976 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Empire State Building January 22, 1930 May 1, 1931 New York, NY, USA
Golden Gate Bridge January 5, 1933 May 27, 1937 Golden Gate Strait, north of San Francisco, California, USA
Itaipu Dam January 1970 May 5, 1984 Paraná River, between Brazil and Paraguay
Delta Works 1953 May 10, 1997 Netherlands, Europe
Panama Canal January 1, 1880 January 7, 1914 Isthmus of Panama, Central America


[edit] Travel wonders

Machu PicchuNoted travel writer Howard Hillman has compiled lists of the top man-made[10] and natural[11] tourist travel wonders of the world:


[edit] Man-made travel wonders
Great Pyramids of Giza
Great Wall of China
Taj Mahal
Machu Picchu
Bali
Angkor Wat
Forbidden City
Bagan Temples & Pagodas
Karnak Temple
Teotihuacán

[edit] Natural travel wonders

Grand CanyonSerengeti Migration
Galápagos Islands
Grand Canyon
Iguazu Falls
Amazon Rainforest
Ngorongoro Crater
Great Barrier Reef
Victoria Falls
Bora Bora
Cappadocia

[edit] Natural wonders

Polar auroraSimilar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of seven natural wonders of the world, as there has been debate over how large the list should be. One of the many lists was compiled by CNN:[12]

Grand Canyon
Great Barrier Reef
Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Mount Everest
Polar Aurora
Parícutin volcano
Victoria Falls

[edit] Underwater wonders

Lake BaikalThis list of underwater wonders is of unknown origin, but has been repeated sufficiently often to acquire a degree of notability:[13] [14]

Palau
Belize Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
Deep-Sea Vents
Galapagos Islands
Lake Baikal
Northern Red Sea




[edit] New Open World Corporation New Seven Wonders of the World

Chichen ItzaMain article: New Seven Wonders of the World
In 2001 an initiative was started by Swiss corporation New Open World Corporation (NOWC) to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments for profit.[15] Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006.[16] Egypt was not happy with the fact that the only original wonder would have to compete with the likes of the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, the Taj Mahal, and other landmarks; and called the project absurd. To solve this, Giza was named an honorary Candidate.[17] The results were announced on July 7, 2007[18] and are:

Wonder Date of construction Location
Great Wall of China 5th century BC – 16th century China
Petra unknown Jordan
Christ the Redeemer (statue) Opened 12 October 1931 Brazil
Machu Picchu c.1450 Peru
Chichen Itza c.600 Mexico
Colosseum Completed 80 AD Italy
Taj Mahal Completed c.1648 India
Great Pyramid (Honorary Candidate) Completed c.2560 BC Egypt

Potala Palace

[edit] USA Today's New Seven Wonders
In November 2006 the American national newspaper USA Today in conjunction with the American television show Good Morning America revealed a list of "New Seven Wonders" as chosen by six judges.[19] The wonders were announced one per day over a week on Good Morning America. An eighth wonder was chosen on November 24 from viewer feedback.[20]

Number Wonder Location
1 Potala Palace Tibet, China
2 Old City of Jerusalem Israel
3 Polar ice caps Polar regions
4 Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Hawaii, United States
5 Internet N/A
6 Mayan ruins Yucatán Peninsula, México
7 Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara Tanzania and Kenya
8 Grand Canyon (viewer-chosen eighth wonder) Arizona, United States


[edit] National lists of Seven Wonders
Seven Wonders of Canada
Seven Wonders of Portugal
Seven Wonders of Wales
Seven Wonders of Ukraine

[edit] See also
Seven Blunders of the World — a list by Mahatma Gandhi

[edit] References
^ a b Hereward Carrington (1880-1958), "The Seven Wonders of the World: ancient, medieval and modern", reprinted in the Carington Collection (2003) ISBN 0-7661-4378-3, page 14.
^ a b I H Evans (reviser), Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Centenary edition Fourth impression (corrected); London: Cassell, 1975), page 1163
^ Edward Latham. A Dictionary of Names, Nicknames and Surnames, of Persons, Places and Things (1904), page 280.
^ Francis Trevelyan Miller, Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt. America, the Land We Love (1915), page 201.
^ Palpa, as You Like it, page 67)
^ The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Crusades (2001, page 153))
^ The Rough Guide To England (1994, page 596))
^ The Catholic Encyclopedia, v.16 (1913), page 74
^ American Society of Civil Engineers Seven Wonders
^ Hillman, Howard. World's top 10 man-made travel wonders. Hillman Quality Publications. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
^ Hillman, Howard. World's top 10 natural travel wonders. Hillman Quality Publications. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
^ CNN Natural Wonders
^ Underwater Wonders of the World
^ 2nd list of Underwater Wonder
^ New Seven Wonders
^ Finalist Page
^ Egypt Angered at New Wonders Idea
^ Reuters via ABC News Australia "Opera House snubbed as new Wonders unveiled" 7 July 2007
^ New Seven Wonders panel
^ The world's 8th wonder: Readers pick the Grand Canyon

[edit] Further reading
Cox, Reg, and Neil Morris, "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October 2000. ISBN 0-7910-6048-9
Cox, Reg, Neil Morris, and James Field, "The Seven Wonders of the Medieval World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October 2000. ISBN 0-7910-6047-0
D'Epiro, Peter, and Mary Desmond Pinkowish, "What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? and 100 Other Great Cultural Lists". Anchor. December 1, 1998. ISBN 0-385-49062-3
Morris, Neil, "The Seven Wonders of the Natural World". Chrysalis Books. December 30, 2002. ISBN 1-84138-495-X

[edit] External links
The World's Top 100 Wonders - a list of architectural, engineering and natural wonders by Howard Hillman, a renowned travel writer.
WonderClub.com - a "list of lists", with information about most wonders.
Seven Wonders of the Modern World - a list of modern wonders compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers
Video about the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, a virtual satellite tour made with Google Earth [02:38]
Seven Wonders of Chicago - A list compiled by the Chicago Tribune and voted on by readers.
Wonders of the World - a website with info and photographs, describing about 30 of the greatest human construction achievements.
Europe's Greatest Wonders - a website searching for the greatest human construction achievements in Europe.
The New 7 Wonders of the World - vote for a new list of seven wonders of the world, promoted for purposes of profit, to be announced on July 7, 2007.
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