What was so different that they could? Europe was a backwater part of the world through medieval times. How it did spring board to dominating the world?
Not sure if people will want to hear this, but Christianity is the reason. It provided a worldview that eventually allowed for free markets and stable political systems to evolve and flourish. Human rights, concern for the poor, an eternal sense of right and wrong, disdain for public and private corruption, are products of Christianity, and were necessary inputs for world-class civilizations.
Before Christianity, Western Europe and America were backwaters, populated by primitive people who had no chance to build civilizations that would last.
Fantastic question, by the way.
This is stupid. The ancient Greeks and Romans dominated long before Christianity emerged, and those civilizations thrived.
The Greeks and Romans had pagan belief systems that could not support the widespread adoption of individual liberty and the free markets, limited state, and free market economies that evolved from the European systems.
When you worship your emperor as a god, as the Romans did, it’s very hard to develop a political and economic system that will thrive over time, win the loyalty of its adherents, and support ordered liberty and free markets.
Not sure if people will want to hear this, but Christianity is the reason. It provided a worldview that eventually allowed for free markets and stable political systems to evolve and flourish. Human rights, concern for the poor, an eternal sense of right and wrong, disdain for public and private corruption, are products of Christianity, and were necessary inputs for world-class civilizations.
Before Christianity, Western Europe and America were backwaters, populated by primitive people who had no chance to build civilizations that would last.
Fantastic question, by the way.
Not so much “Christianity” as the rise of various “Protestant” sects that accompanied the growth and valorization of a rising middle class. I agree with posters who mention technological advancements like reliable ocean going ships, etc., but those advancements were enabled and supported by belief systems and economic innovations (e.g., banks) that allowed for the ongoing creation, distribution and accumulation of wealth through large segments of European populations at a rate faster than on other continents.
Your post made me think about interest, which had been largely forbidden by the Catholic Church, but which was allowed again by Protestant Europe. At least, that is my understanding, based on what I’ve read. Allowing for charging interest probably helped a great deal with economic expansion.
The Greece of Socrates, Plato and Pericles and the Rome of Cicero, Augustus and Marcus Aurelius could hardly be described as backwaters populated by primitive people who had no chance to build civilizations that would last.
Their civilizations live on today. We have democracies, republics, senates, consuls, tribunes and magistrates. “E Pluribus Unum” is on the Great Seal of the United States, even though Roman ships never reached America. US bank notes feature neoclassical style buildings on their reverse side.
Even the church is full of classical holdovers: Vicars were once officials subordinate to the praetorian prefects. Pastors were shepherds. Parish is from Greek and refers to a parcel of foreign land. Dioceses were originally Roman administrative districts. Then there is the concept of patron saints and guardian angels which draws heavily of the Roman polytheism with its concept of Lares, Penates and Genuis. As Christianity grew it co-opted a lot from the classical world.
I’m talking about the pre-Christian Europe of Gaul and the Saxon’s etc, that took down Rome but could replace it only with chaos.
Short answer: Guns, Germs, and Steel. longer answer is how do you define Europe? It wasn’t the necessary backwater people say as the Romans were a very advanced society and controlled all of Modern day Italy, Greece, Spain, parts of Eastern Europe, France and part if England and Germany. not to mention most of North Africa. The Romans influenced a huge amount of Europe setting up the Spanish, Portugués, and French Empires not to mention Austro-Hungarian.
What was so different that they could? Europe was a backwater part of the world through medieval times. How it did spring board to dominating the world?
Have you seen what's happened/happening in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and South Africa?
The answer to that is extremely complex (there's probably thousands of reasons that all add up to make a whole).
However, my short answer is:
Geography - Europe is crisscrossed with many large rivers, and for the most part, has no major barriers preventing people, information, trade and ideas from spreading. This allowed a shared culture of innovation to flourish.
You could argue that there are other specific cultural attributes and structural policies that harnessed people's productivity and spurned on innovation e.g. a greater emphasis on individualism, property rights, etc. But those seem less straightforward than the clear geographical advantage. However, as I said, there are probably a thousand different components that all added up to the end result.
The answer to that is extremely complex (there's probably thousands of reasons that all add up to make a whole).
However, my short answer is:
Geography - Europe is crisscrossed with many large rivers, and for the most part, has no major barriers preventing people, information, trade and ideas from spreading. This allowed a shared culture of innovation to flourish.
You could argue that there are other specific cultural attributes and structural policies that harnessed people's productivity and spurned on innovation e.g. a greater emphasis on individualism, property rights, etc. But those seem less straightforward than the clear geographical advantage. However, as I said, there are probably a thousand different components that all added up to the end result.
North America's geography is much more conducive to success than Europe's.
We have more navigable rivers. Those rivers are closer to the fertile lands suitable for farming. The lands suitable for farming are vast ranging much further north and south then Europe's and thus much less susceptible to climate changes.
Geography isn't the answer or the indigenous people in North America wouldn't have peaked in the stone age.
Not sure if people will want to hear this, but Christianity is the reason. It provided a worldview that eventually allowed for free markets and stable political systems to evolve and flourish. Human rights, concern for the poor, an eternal sense of right and wrong, disdain for public and private corruption, are products of Christianity, and were necessary inputs for world-class civilizations.
Before Christianity, Western Europe and America were backwaters, populated by primitive people who had no chance to build civilizations that would last.
Fantastic question, by the way.
Not so much “Christianity” as the rise of various “Protestant” sects that accompanied the growth and valorization of a rising middle class. I agree with posters who mention technological advancements like reliable ocean going ships, etc., but those advancements were enabled and supported by belief systems and economic innovations (e.g., banks) that allowed for the ongoing creation, distribution and accumulation of wealth through large segments of European populations at a rate faster than on other continents.
Protestantism, but not Catholicism? Which produced the rise of the hospital? Catholicism. Which produced the first few dozen universities? Catholicism. I'm not knocking the contributions of Protestantism, but it gave us neither the hospital, the university or the glories of a place such as Florence (I don't deny that there were great Protestant artists of northern Europe, but compare Florence with say Amsterdam or anywhere else). And "bank" has its origins in the Italian language. Here's an excerpt from Merriam-Webster for "bank:"
"The literal meaning of Italian banca was “bench,” but the word was also used for the benchlike counter at which an early money changer transacted business, and later to describe the money changer’s shop itself—the bank. When the banking trade spread from Italy to France, and then to England, the Italian word went with it and became our English bank."
The banking trade certainly has a root in Catholic culture.
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