How were the Europeans able to conquer and control large areas of the globe? What gave them a great advantage over other groups? The proximate cause of this advantage was their possession of guns, germs, and steel. But how is it that they possessed these things and others did not? Ultimate causes of the Europeans possession of these guns, germs, and steel could be “Divine Providence.” People at the time thought that God favored the Europeans over other groups. Another ultimate cause could have been “Scientific Racism.” Other people believed that the Europeans were genetically superior to the other regions of the world. Now, because of Jared Diamond’s thesis, we can conclude that the ultimate cause of European colonialism and imperialism was “Geographic Luck.”
One of the main reasons for European colonialism and imperialism was the axis and climate zones. Having a long east-west axis results in the same climate zone and same day lengths. Crops are spread easily on an east-west axis because, moving east to west, there isn’t much change in weather. This gave Eurasia an advantage because there was a large mass of crops spread east to west. There was also a lot of fighting in that area which spread ideas and technology through the conquering of other regions. The Americas had a disadvantage because they had a long north-south axis. In a long north-south axis, there are many different climate zones. In the Americas, the groups were isolated and ideas rarely spread among one another. There were more domesticated crops in Eurasia because of this east-west axis, and in the Americas the crops were not spread as much because of the change in climate zones throughout the north-south axis.
Eurasia also had a great advantage when it came to...
... middle of paper ...
...very separated by the geography, but China was just one area making it easy to have only one ruler.
Europe was able to conquer and control large areas of the globe because of Jared Diamond’s theory of “Geographic Luck.” God did not favor them more and their race was not genetically superior. Geographic luck is still affecting the world today. Trade is affected greatly, as well as the political unity in different countries. If everyone knew about this theory, I think the world would work together more. I think that more people would help the people who had a disadvantage because of the geography around them. Religions might also be affected if everyone knew about this theory. Some people may blame God for the way they live, but really God didn’t favor anyone. Wealth and the power in different societies that we have now I think are affected by the geography.
World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918, and had a huge impact on the world throughout the twentieth century. This conflict is commonly referred to as the Great War and primarily involved Europeans. Although, other countries, particularly European colonial holdings, did participate. Before World War I began, no one expected such a destructive conflict, as many nations approached the idea of war with enthusiasm. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European nations began to expand their colonial holdings, strengthen their militaries, and in 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot. The primary cause of World War I was nationalism, as European imperialism, militarism, and the assassination of Ferdinand are examples of nationalism
As you can see, geographical luck was the main reason europe was so powerful, and was able to conquer so much of the world. Farming allowed Europeans to form permanent settlements, and spend time coming up with new ideas instead of gathering food. It helped them develop immunities to diseases diseases like smallpox. Europe’s technological, advancements, and superior societies were all due to it’s geographic location. It’s location also helped them develop new metalworking techniques because of knowledge passed down from their ancestors from the Fertile Crescent, and brought them new technologies like gunpowder. In the end, Europe’s success was brought on by many factors, but the main one was their geographic luck.
Diamond wrote this book to answer the question of a New Guinean politician, Yali. He asked “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own.” Diamond set out to find the answer to this question, to find out why history unfolded like it did. Diamond credits the inequalities in history to differences in environments not biological differences as so many people like to say. Most of the advantages the Europeans had were a direct result of geography. The main points that Diamond attributes to European dominance are early plant and animal domestication and as a result of close contact to animals the deadliest germs were given to the Europeans. As result of its East-West axis the diffusion of food production, technologies, humans and ideas were easily spread throughout Europe. The axis mean that there were similar climatic, geographic, and disease conditions to migrants and no barriers. So anything that could be grown in one area was sure to quickly spread and thrive in the neighboring locations. Moreover, political administration, economic exchanges, incentive for exploration and conquest, and making information available to every individual were facilitated after the development of writing.
Europe, in the late 1800’s, was starting for a land grab in the African continent. Around 1878, most of Africa was unexplored, but by 1914, most of Africa, with the lucky exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was carved up between European powers. There were countless motivations that spurred the European powers to carve Africa, like economical, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation.
The European conquest of the new world was most commonly attributed to the superiority of the Europeans in all the facets of their confrontation. They had the superior weaponry, and were thought to have a superior intellect. After all, they were just bringing "civilization" to the new world, right? It sounds nice when you are learning about Columbus in grade school, but the traditional story is pretty far from the truth. The truth is that the Europeans, when they discovered this was a brand new world and not the spice islands, sought to rape the land for its gold and natural resources and enslave the Amerindians (native Americans), who were regarded to be less than human. One has to wonder why it was so easy for the Europeans to impose their will on the Amerindians. Was it solely because the Europeans were superior technologically and intellectually? Unfortunately the answer is not that simple. The Europeans were superior in those areas, but the bulk of the disaster they imposed was not what they knew, but what they brought with them, disease. Disease, on the epidemic level, is thought to be the major factor in the decline of the Amerindians during the age of discovery.
After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.
The Europeans brought with them not only a desire and will to conquer the new continent f...
The Europeans also needed power so that they could control other countries. In order to earn control over other countries, the European countries had first to protect their resources so that they could grow economically and become superior.
Imperialism in America At the turn of the century, America and the views of its people changed. Many different ideas were surfacing about issues that affected the country as a whole. The Republican Party, led by William McKinley, was concentrating on the expansion of the United States and looking to excel in power and commerce. The Democratic Party at this time was led by William Jennings Bryan, who was absorbed in a sponge of morality and was concerned with the rights of man.
From 1700 to roughly 220 BCE (before the Common Era), the region currently known as China was divided into six states: Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan, each ruled by different kings. These inter-warring states were already familiar with wall building techniques, each having constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. When Shih Huangdi, the young king of the ancient Chinese state of Qin (also spelled Ch’in, from which the word China derives), conquered each of the remaining five states in 221 BCE, the continuous warring finally came to an end. By conquering these states, Shih Huangdi established the Qin Dynasty, thus creating the first unification of China, and the first Chinese central government. In his efforts to make this new concept of centralized rule “stick”, as well as prevent the reemergence of feudal lords, Shih Huangdi ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the forme...
...ther religions since they never really comitted to one main religion. Han China spread Confucianism by leading Confucius lives, they used Confucius ideas for their law codes and taught Confucius ideas to their children. The Confucian ideas spread by the Han helped rulers like Wudi have long reigns of power by embracing rule by morals and ethics. It also helped spread written exams as ways to determine peoples places and jobs in society based off of merit as opposed to putting anyone anywhere just to give people jobs. China also had a growing population of Daoists who believed in the power of nature. As time progressed both of their societies changed their religions. Rome slowly progressed from a basic Hellenistic polytheism to the once persecuted Christianity. Meanwhile China, which was mainly a Confucian and Daoist led society began to accept and embrace Buddhism.
There were two different time periods where Imperialism occurred. The first wave of imperialism, called the 'Old' Imperialism, lasted from around 1500 - 1800. The 'New' Imperialism lasted from around 1870 - 1914. The three main differences that we will discuss today are the differences in economics, politics, and the motive behind all of this.
European nations felt bored with what they had. They wanted to explore the world and spend and earn money. They wanted to control the countries also. Europe thought that expansion would get them resources and markets to trade with. Europeans were motivated to expand because they knew the economy would grow stronger, they did not want other untrusted countries gaining resources and goods, and they had pity on the countries that were not organized or governed.
Why do some countries become wealthy and dominant, while others remain stagnant and poor? Jared Diamond exclaimed the secret to countries that prosper are guns, germs and steel. Countries have conquered other countries with the same approach. This approach is the use of military power and advanced technology. All great civilizations have had the following in common: Geographic luck, advanced technology, food production, immunity to germs, domestication of crops, domestication of animals, the use of steel, and a well organized workforce
Although there are many other important factors, the main cause of the rise of imperialism was most certainly economic. The Age of Empire, by Eric J. Hobsbawn, provides an interpretation of New Imperialism. Hobsbawn calls imperialism “a natural by-product of the international economy” (Sherman pg 177). He is basically saying that imperialism is dependent on the rivalries of competing industries, which continually drive the international economy. Hobsbawn also dictates the need for external markets. The Industrial Revolution created many products that needed markets, thus creating a need of colonies. Hobsbawn believed that the overproduction of the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression could be solved. He also realized that many businessmen knew that they could make a large profit off of China’s large population. For example, if every one of the three hundred million Chinese purchased one box of tin-tacks the businessmen knew that there would be a huge profit, consequently increasing the desire for colonization of weaker countries.