Who were the most geopolitically significant individuals in world history? Columbus is the first obvious example, given the holiday. He served as the catalyst for the Western migration to the Americas. Who else ranks up there? The first three names that come to mind are Jesus, Mohammed, and Karl Marx, the founders of Western civilization, Islamic civilization, and world Communism, respectively. Communism is relatively new compared too many past civilizations, but the scale of its global impact far exceeds that of the greatest individual empires. Any other nominations?
Man what a great post.
I like your top three, though I would pick Karl Marx not just for Communism per se but also how his critique of society will cause the suicide of the West and close out the era begun by Columbus. Accordingly I like your addition of Columbus.
Who else? Thirty years you could make a case for the “End of History” with Thomas Jefferson or Adam Smith but not now, the best you can say is about their global impact is the jury still out.
I cannot think of a single person to embody the development of modernity.
What about James Watt? His refinement of the steam engine led to the steam ship and train which began the process of tightly tying the world together. I know there were global empires before that, but nothing to the scale of after.
Moses, Genghis Khan
Jesus or Paul?
Martin Luther, Calvin, Elizabeth 1
Gavrilo Princip
Many others. . .