The original Seven Wonders of the World were not declared by a single authority. The list is often attributed to various ancient Greek historians and writers, including Antipater of Sidon, Philo of Byzantium, and Herodotus. The Seven Wonders were recognized for their extraordinary cultural and artistic significance, and the list was compiled during the Hellenistic period.
The exact date of its creation is uncertain, but it is generally believed to have been in the 2nd century BCE. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World included the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
7 Natural Wonders of the World
The original 7 Wonders of Nature were declared by an investigative reporter from CNN. This reporter leveraged investigative skills laying aside personal bias to identify wonder candidates. Statistical significance served as the cornerstone for wonder consideration. For example, the Great Barrier Reef was selected as the largest coral reef system in the world and Mount Everest represented the highest point on earth.
The original 7 Wonders of Nature included the following: Aurora Borealis, Grand Canyon, Paricutin Volcano, Harbor or Rio de Janeiro, Victoria Falls, Mount Everest and the Great Barrier Reef.
New 7 Wonders & New Wonders
The New7Wonders Foundation, a Swiss-based organization, conducted a global poll to determine the New Seven Wonders of the World. This campaign made sense because six of the original seven wonders of the world were no longer in existence.
The campaign occurred over several years with the winners being declared July 7th, 2007.
There are several concerns related to this campaign and the validity of the outcomes. Here are the factors that raise the doubt about the validity of the outcome:
- Statistical Significance: The statistical significance when comparing similar type wonders was no longer an expectation opening the door for personal bias and preferences.
- Financial Motivation: The N7W campaign was financial driven and motivated. Wonder candidates had to have financial sponsors pay a fee to remain and be considered as a wonder candidate. Additional financial fees were added as things progressed towards selecting the winners.
- Funding Wonder Sponsorship: Some counties opted to pay the fees allowing their wonder(s) to participate and others did not. This led to valid candidates being removed from consideration.
- Public Voting: Although public voting itself is not bad, the campaign allowed for individuals to return and vote multiple times. If a public vote was to be held, each person should be allowed to vote one time.
- Social Media: Similar to the funding sponsorship challenge, some tourism boards and country officials became fully engaged in the campaign spending thousands and thousands of dollars on voting promotions. This combined with the public voting principle opened the door for heavily favored voting in one particular country or region. This opens the door to the anticipation that a wonder was selected because more money was invested to secure its position.
New 7 Wonders & New Wonders of Nature
After completing the campaign for the new 7 Wonders of the World, the New7Wonders Foundation launched a new campaign to establish the a new list for the 7 Wonders of Nature. The first problem with this campaign, unlike the first campaign, is that the original 7 Wonders of Nature are all still here. There was no void to fill because of disappearing or destroyed wonders.
The additional concerns are the same as the above mentioned financial motivation, sponsorship, public voting and social media. The wonders no longer represented statistical significance.
Birth of Seven Natural Wonders
Seven Natural Wonders was created to honor and protect the originally declared 7 Natural Wonders of the World. It is imperative that originality and original vision be honored and recognized. A “Wonder” designation should not be something that is secured by a financial transaction. The wonder should stand on its own based on statistical significance and uniqueness.
Seven Natural Wonders did recognize a global conundrum. Our world is full of so many things that could easily be argued to one of the world’s natural wonders. To address this reality, SNW launched a campaign that would identify a subset of wonders by continent. The original 7 Natural Wonders of the World would serve as Ambassador wonders were appropriate.
The objective was to establish the 7 Natural Wonders of Africa, & Natural Wonders of Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania. These would be a subset to the world wonders adding 49 additional world wonders. Statistical significance was still the foundational factor for consideration at the continent level.
SNW laughed the public voting campaign, however, each person was only allowed to vote once. Additionally, there were no financial fees or sponsorships of any kind.
Under the counsel from UNESCO, SNW leveraged members of the IUCN, conservation organizations, respective educators, and tourism professionals who would step aside personal bias and focus on statistical significance and uniqueness.
The public vote continued simultaneously for two reasons. First, it was to see if the outcomes differed from the list of expert voters. Second, the public outcomes might serve as a tie breaker for a 7th and 8th wonder if needed. The good news was that a public voting tie breaker was not needed and the public vote aligned with the votes from the scientists and experts.
World and Continent Wonders
The world and continent wonder winners were determined by statistical significance and uniqueness. There were no sponsorships or financial transactions of any kind. These wonders earned their position on their own merits and not the influence of social media, financial fees, or personal bias and popularity. They represent pure awe and wonder.
