Walls, walls, walls and some more walls. In fact, walls forever. Once upon a time, it was all about building them walls. Wait, what?

Look at them walls.

People have been building walls ever since the 10.000 B.C. Apart from being practical and pretty much logical, they were necessary. How?

Walls were built for a number of reasons but the common idea usually was to keep outsiders out of your perimeter. You don’t trust them and you don’t want them. Ask the Spartans!

Whether to keep you in or out, I think we can all agree on the fact that the wall building practice is one of the smartest human creations ever.

The very first walls were actually city walls and they originated with the very first cities. Nearly all cities in the ancient world were walled and there is a simple logic behind that. It is pretty much the same as to why you have a lock on your door. By the way, the oldest known lock was found by archaeologists near Nineveh (ancient Assyrian city) and was estimated to be 4,000 years old.

Some smart people have mentioned that no invention in human history played a greater role in creating and shaping civilization than the WALLS did.

Think about it. In fact, dwell on it.

Walls were what gave people the security and the tranquility to sit, relax, live a little, and establish themselves. How can you do/create/achieve something remotely adequate if you live in constant fear? Can we safely assume that the security afforded by the wall building practice changed the inhabitants of the ancient cities? We sure can. People became accustomed to peace and security. This is what had to be achieved before they could achieve other things.

In the histories of most ancient civilizations but especially those of Rome, Persia, and China, there are some great wall-building stories. However, only one is spectacular enough for me to be told in this post and be nicknamed (why not) as the “Mother of all walls” – The Great China wall. Because let’s face it – it really is Great.

The Mother of all walls.

Everyone’s heard of it. Probably have even googled some images like the ones I have posted and most likely that’s about it. But there is so much about THAT wall that makes it not just ANY wall. Let’s have a look:

  • The official length is 21.000 km meaning that if you stretch the wall, it will go further than the distance between the North and the South pole. How cool is that?
  • It is the biggest man-made structure on the planet! (we are not counting Burj Khalifa’s 828 meters because let’s face it – it’s a “child” of the 21st century)
  • The Wall of China should be called the Walls of China as there are at least 16 and they were built over 2400 years by successive dynastines in response to changing threats.
  • Construction first started in 220 B.C. by Emperor Qin Shi Huang and the last sections of the wall were added during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644).
  • The wall is NOT one whole long, complete structure. There are actually large gaps between different sections.
  • Parts of the wall were built on extreme terrain even on impassable ridges. How were people able to reach it, let alone even build something is a huge mystery.
  • The earliest walls were short and scatered.
  • Long sections of the walls overlap or adapt to the terrain.
  • The walls are built with different materials – earlier walls with mud, later ones with bricks.
  • Both the brick tecnique and the color is some next-level special.
  • The walls are extremely resilient and the secret is in the mortar – it contains sticky rice!!! (There is a legend that says that human bones (oh my) were grinded and put in the mortar but alas, no traces of bones were found)
  • Sticky rice mortar is one of the most important Chinese inventions – it has helped the wall to stand for thousands of years! (the starch in the rice makes the mortar harder over time even up to – 40C degrees / cement gets weaker)
  • Along with the walls there are around 44.000 structures more including towers and forts.
  • The construction of the walls cost the lives of countless people. (It is estimated that as many as 400.000 people died building the wall)
  • You CANNOT see the Great wall of China from outer space. Sorry.

I think you got the idea. No other walls were the result of that much blood, sweat, tears and fears. Nowadays, approximately 1/3 of it is crumbling, 20% is in “reasonable” condition, and some parts are dissappearing. How? People are actually stealing bricks to build new things with them. In fact, Chairman Mao was the one to encourage the dismantling of the wall for second use. Gee, what a surprise.