History

Since the dawn of history, man has tried to conquer everything possible from the vastness of space to the innermost structures of the cell to the most intricate mechanisms of the human mind and from these, man has had numerous achievements. The word achievement actually includes both the tangible and the intangible. The tangible achievements of humankind refer to actual and concrete technological inventions. Examples are the printing press and the eyeglasses of the Middle Ages and the microscope and telescope of the Renaissance. Man had various other achievements in the fields of music, architecture, sculpture, literature and even military warfare and weaponry. The intangible achievements, on the other hand, include all of mans intellectual pursuits that bore fruit for the benefit of the whole humankind. Such achievements included the invention of language, the development of communities, the institution of educational and religious systems, as well as the advancement of thought through philosophy, medicine, science and politics.

The period in history from the ancient times to 1600 was indeed filled with everything good that can be considered an achievement. Nevertheless, one should realize that no great achievement of man would have been born without the thought of societys benefit behind it. Every tangible or intangible achievement has taken root from mans desire to better society. In other words, the creation of society and the community is the greatest achievement of man before 1600, for it gave rise to a multitude of other minor achievements while preserving those that have been achieved.

MANS DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY
Crude Altruism in the Hunter-Gatherer Stage. Man developed the first communities during the hunter-gatherer stage. Later on, this was followed by the agricultural stage and much later, the dawn of technological civilization.

The hunter-gatherer societies were the first societies created by man. They were non-hierarchical and egalitarian in nature. It was said that this stage of mans development marked the beginning of self-consciousness and the emergence of rudiments of culture (The Hunter-Gatherer Stages). The hunter-gatherer society, unlike modern human society, was a community void of hierarchy and other non-essential trappings yet it marked the beginning of mans greatest test in learning how to develop the community. Man had several minor achievements even as a hunter-gatherer. One of these was that during this time, man had learned how to communicate with his fellows in a crude way. Another one was that he was able to practice crude altruism in providing the weaker members of his tribe some of the food he had gathered. This marked the beginning of every other achievement of man directed towards humankind.

The hunter-gatherer community fostered a sense of altruism in man. Realizing that he lived and interacted with everyone around him and that he did not merely coexist with them somehow made man decide to learn the values of cooperation and unity. He did this not only for the purpose of serving mankind but also to further himself and his own development in the process.

Sharing in the Agricultural Stage. The agricultural human society started during the Neolithic Age at around 9400 BC when the ancient people grew fig trees, which makes fruit the earliest domesticated crop (Human Civilization). Two major things took place during the agriculture stage  the cultivation of crops and the domestication of animals, but the most important thing is that it was during this time that technologically, the human societies have become more complex. Agriculture emerged between 10000 BC and 6000 BC and has, at a number of times, caused damage to the environment at that time, yet it has led to various social changes that eventually shaped the modern civilization. (Human Civilization).

The increasing complexity of the human society helped strengthen the sense of community in man and this further led to the practice of sharing. What man caught by hunting, be it a tortoise, fish or a wild pig, he had to share and selfishness was discouraged (Human Civilization). This more developed form of altruism in man, crude as it may be, has led man to continue making more and more achievements for the benefit of the society as a whole. All other achievements that followed  both tangible and intangible  were simply results of this sense of community and altruism that has developed into a culture.

The Goal of the Improvement of Life in the Stage of Technological Civilization. From the time agriculture first developed until around 6000 BC, man has lived in small villages where society members had very few differences in wealth and status. Yet there was already sharing and a sense of community.  Now, sometime around 6000 BC, in parts of the Near East, a new transformation has begun with communities starting to differ in size and specializing in certain crafts. By 3500 BC, the civilization arose  with distinct architecture, system of writing, and a strong political system (Ember and Ember 158).

The beginning of the production of specialized products for the improvement of the quality of life was actually the beginning of mans technology (Human Civilization) and was another evidence of mans greatest achievement in the creation and development of the society and community. The sense of community that developed through the millennia between the hunter-gatherer stage and the age of civilization further reinforced mans desire to keep achieving higher and higher goals, all for the improvement of life  and this has become the goal of every other minor achievement that followed.
Fast forward to the second millennium, one looks back to the thousands of years that has passed and wonder what has brought humankind such great advancements in technology from ships to weapons to computers to the mobile phone. The answer lies neither in the companies that manufacture these nor in the products themselves. Everything began in mans creation of the society as well as in the development of that inner sense of belongingness and altruism that preserved the community and furthered all of mans other minor achievements in the name of social welfare and benefit.

CONCLUSION
Mans greatest achievement prior to 1600 was his creation of the society and the community. These communities, from the hunter-gatherer stage through the agricultural stage to the age of civilization, instilled in man a sense of permanence and altruism  both of which helped paved the way for increasingly greater achievements as time passed. All the various inventions, discoveries and intangible works of man from the ancients to the present would not have been realized without such societies and communities that preserved them and fostered their development.