Final answer:
ALGOL had the greatest influence on modern programming languages, shaping the development of important languages like C. The Maya developed the first writing system in the Western Hemisphere. Arabic's dominance during the Arab conquests facilitated trade and communication across the region.
Step-by-step explanation:
The language that had a great influence on modern languages was D. ALGOL. While Pascal, Visual BASIC, and Fortran all had their roles in the history of programming, ALGOL served as a cornerstone for many subsequent languages, introducing the concept of structured programming and influencing the design of languages like C, which became one of the most widely used languages and the basis for others like C++, Java, and Python.
History of Writing Systems
Regarding the first writing system in the Western Hemisphere, the correct answer is B. Maya. The Maya civilization is known for having developed one of the most sophisticated writing systems of the ancient Americas, which included glyphs that represented sounds as well as logograms, which are symbols that represent words or concepts.
Impact of Language on Culture and Trade
During the Arab conquests, Arabic replaced the vernacular languages in the conquered lands, excluding Persian, which evolved into modern Farsi, and Spanish in Spain. This lingual uniformity was immensely beneficial to trade, cultural, and intellectual exchange, allowing people to communicate across vast distances from Spain to India under a single administration.