Dubai Post 73: The Seven Wonders of the World

Try and name the Seven Wonders of the World, see if you can.  If you can name them in one shot without cheating I will give you credit. It is a trick question (in its essence) because there are so many lists out there, that there is a lot of misconception.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World. 

It all started with the original Seven Wonders of the World now known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  This list originated as early as 485BCE but was collected mostly during the Medieval Ages. Of course, all of the wonders are no longer in existence with the exception of one: The Pyramids of Giza (Egypt). Others on the list include the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Colossus of Rhodes and Statue of Zeus at Olympia. 

Other lists have included the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World, Seven Wonders of the Natural World and Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.  USA Today actually released their Seven Wonders of the World list which included the internet. 

However, the most popular list today was one that was released in 2007.  There was an initiative started by the New7Wonders Foundation in 2001 to create a new list.  It started with 200 monuments and was narrowed down to 21 in 2006.  One year later, seven wonders were chosen to create a new Seven Wonder of the World List. This list included:

Chichen Itza (Mexico)

Colosseum (Italy)

The Great Wall of China (China)

Machu Picchu (Peru)

Chris the Redeemer (Brazil)

Taj Mahal (India)

Petra (Jordan and why I am writing this article)  By the way you might 

recognize Petra from the movie, Indiana Jones, The Last Crusade. 

*The Pyramids (Egypt – The Egyptians were pissed that they had to compete 

to be a Seven Wonder when they were part of the original list so they 

were granted an honorary 8^th spot automatically)

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this list.  Voters were allowed to cast their ballot as much as they wanted.  For instance, there were 14 million votes out of Jordan despite the fact the population is under 7 million. Also, specific countries would advertise to have their monument voted.  Either way I would say it is safe to say that this is a good list to go by.  I plan on visiting each one of these in my life time. Petra will be my first on Saturday.