The Rise of The Western World
During the sixteenth century, the world powers weren’t the same as today. At the time, no country was greater than China. China’s advanced technology, fertile and irrigated plains, great canal system, and well run administration, were some of its numerous advantages over the rival countries. Although China was unquestionably superior when compared to all other world powers, some civilizations were not far behind. The Muslim world was quickly expanding during the sixteenth century. The Ottoman Turks’ strong army was rapidly conquering countries and their naval power was growing. The Turks’ were also able to accomplish what many other civilizations couldn’t. They were able to unify an official faith, language, and culture over a large population. Japan and Russia weren’t as powerful as the Turks, but they were still considered a world power. These two countries both had geographic advantages and expanding militaries. Europe was considered a world power, but the weaknesses of the continent were more apparent than strengths.
So how could Europe manage to rise to the top? Europe would need a miracle in order for that to happen. Today Europe’s emergence to the height all the world’s civilizations during the sixteenth century is called the “European Miracle.” Several reasons for this miracle include Europe’s geographic location, increase in shipbuilding, political fragmentation, improvement of weaponry and defense, and the use of the “New Worlds” resources.
Europe’s geographic location was very important for its growth. Because Europe’s landscape consisted of mountain ranges and large forests, conquering the continent would be very difficult for anyone. Geography was very important in water tran...
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...ces, whale oil, seal oil, sugar, indigo, tobacco, rice, furs, timber, potatoes, and maize. All these materials greatly increased the wealth of Europe.
The “European Miracle” was able to happen due to many things. Europe’s geographic location, increase in shipbuilding, political fragmentation, improvements in weaponry and defense, and the use of the “New Worlds” resources all contributed to the “European Miracle.” I believe that political fragmentation is the main factor that made this miracle happen. The political fragmentation in Europe helped each country and city-state believe in improvement and experimentation. If Europe was centralized they wouldn’t have any competition and they would be content with their current status. This happened to China and they let Europe get past them. You should always strive to better in every aspect even if you’re on top.
Due to the explorations of the Iberians, Dutch, English, French and Russians, lands were discovered that encompass a large portion of the world as we know it today. Due to many advances in maritime technology, geography and military powers, these groups were able to conquer much of the world in a relatively short amount of time.
The European monarchs and rulers of the 17th and 18th centuries wanted to increase their power both domestically and globally by adding to their territories and populations. Both in merging their power internally and expanding their power externally, they employed three features of state-building: control, extraction, and integration. In the late 1700s, both the Industrial revolution and French revolution of 1789 strengthened the idea that Europeans were different from the rest of the world. It also strengthened that Europeans were “succeeding” promptly while the rest of the world seemed to be declining, that Europeans were somehow extraordinary and better than the rest.” (Robert Marks page 10).
...c economic system. Furthermore, there were political changes occurring during this era. The concept of the state coupled with the idea of sovereignty further enhanced the growth of modern states. These economic and political contributions brought about the rise of the modern European states.
...n made ships carrying the products Europeans most desired, and the rough outline of the worlds continents were mapped (Parry, 322-323). Needless to say, the European countries were a lot better off after the Age of Reconnaissance concluded.
During the eighteenth century Europe increased its ability to win wars. Through advances in weaponry and fighting formations, they were able to dominant adversaries with an almost unfair edge. Technology and military strategy both played a significant part in placing European countries at the front of world powers, but it was the ability to integrate and leverage the governments’ economic resources, that separated them from most of the world, when it came to battlefield superiority.
The demand for agricultural goods in European countries created the Atlantic Economy. Europeans wanted certain things that were too expensive if bought from Asia, one of the most important of these being sugar. Other important trading commodities were tobacco, cotton, rice, cacao and coffee.
The once great Ottoman Empire led the world from the fifteenth century until the early twentieth
When Europe began to industrialize, it brought about a lot of change within the different nations.
How the Western civilization did begin? It all started about 2 billion years ago where there was animal life in the planet. Then about 65 million years ago, a meteor struck earth and wipe out about every living life, killing about 70% of life in earth including the dinosaurs. Then years later the western civilization began in the Middle East and generally spread western in contrast to eastern civilization. During the earliest civilizations which it was influenced the development of the western culture were those of Mesopotamia.
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.
The Europeans were facing overproduction and under consumption. This led to a need for new markets and need for new consumers. They were also in need for raw materials. Materials such as tin, rubber, gold, oil, copper, and cotton. Some nations had these resources easily available. This interested the strong and powerful nations who were lacking these materials.
In the article review “ How the West was Lost” the author, William T. Hagan explains that in a brief thirty-eight year period between 1848 and 1886, the Indians of the Western United States lost their fight with the United States to keep their lands. While nothing in the article tells us who Hagan is, or when the article was written, his central theme of the article is to inform us of how the Indians lost their lands to the white settlers. I found three main ideas in the article that I feel that Hagan was trying to get across to us. Hagan put these events geographically and chronologically in order first by Plains Indians, then by the Western Indians.
The Ottoman Empire reached the peak of its power in the 1500s. While other empires were experiencing their downfalls, the Ottoman Empire’s power seemed to be increasing. In fact, this empire can be ranked as the strongest power due to its tactical internal organization of power, minorities, and religion, due to its physical expansion which provided more resources, more advancements, and more people to support the empire, and due to its large military strength that provided security, reduced rebellion, and challenged the other powers.
Europe will not run the 21st century because of a combination of economic, institutional, and cultural factors. However, for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the economic aspects of European society that will impede EU ascendency. I do not believe that the EU will cease to exist in the coming century, but I do believe it will become obsolete because it will be unable to make the necessary changes to their demographic problems, defense policies, and economic culture in response to the increasing American ascendency. Europe has long been known as the continent home to the great powers of the world. From Caesar to Napoleon to the British Empire, the European empires have continuously been at the helm of the ship of progress. The wars of the 20th century however, left Europe in a wake of destruction and chaos period before. The continent was devastated and had little hope to recover. In this new era of European descent, the great American Era came into existence. The US, one of the remaining superpowers, became the helping hand that Europe needed. With the aid allocated by the Marshall Plan and the creation of programs and institutions, Europe had a future. The creation of the European Union (EU) united the European countries over the common goal of preventing war another war. The United States intended for these programs to be a stepping-stone to build the economic and institutional powers of Europe, because a stronger Europe was good for the US. However, instead of using these as a springboard to create self-reliant union, the EU remains reliant on US military and hard power to support them their social efforts.
The Western culture has evolved over a span of several years with various civilizations specializing in specific aspects of life or nature. In essence, Western civilization dates back to the BCE periods when Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Rome reigned. Each of the Western civilizations came with a clear lineage that portrayed such attributes as property rights, free market economy, competition, personal freedoms, and innovation (Perry, 2013). Besides, the western civilizations came at different periods with some of the attributes evolving or remaining unchanged throughout the lineage. However, the non-western civilizations contributed towards such attributes to a given extent, primarily because of the interactions among