CH 13: "SEEKING THE MAIN POINT"
In what ways did European empires
in the Americas resemble their Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman
counterparts, and in what respects
were they different? Do you find the
similarities or the differences more
striking?
"European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, and ship design — building on earlier models from the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Chinese regions — likewise enabled Europeans to penetrate the Atlantic Ocean. The enormously rich markets of the Indian Ocean world provided little incentive for its Chinese, Indian, or Muslim participants to venture much beyond their own waters. Europeans, however, were powerfully motivated to do so. After 1200 or so, European elites were increasingly aware of their region’s marginal position in the rich world of Eurasian commerce and were determined to gain access to that world. Once the Americas were discovered, windfalls of natural resources, including highly productive agricultural lands, drove further expansion, ultimately underpinning the long-term growth of the European economy into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, (pg. 555)."
Europe's American colonies brought new diseases that killed off a very large portion of the natives. This didn't occur with the other empires because they were all on the same continent and had built up an immunity. The outcome of this was american colonies could expand easier because the disease damaged surrounding competition.
Europeans however, had certain advantages, despite their distance from home. Their states and trading companies enabled the effective mobilization of both human and material resources. Their seafaring technology, built on Chinese and Islamic precedents, allowed them to cross the Atlantic with growing ease, transporting people and supplies across great distances. Their ironworking technology, gunpowder weapons, and horses initially had no parallel in the Americas, although many peoples subsequently acquired them.
I found the differences more striking, because of what the Europeans in the Americas were able to accomplish by branching out. Even the tools that they discovered prior to even learning about the Americas were awe-inspiring. They used their resources to expand their knowledge and wealth.
"European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, and ship design — building on earlier models from the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Chinese regions — likewise enabled Europeans to penetrate the Atlantic Ocean. The enormously rich markets of the Indian Ocean world provided little incentive for its Chinese, Indian, or Muslim participants to venture much beyond their own waters. Europeans, however, were powerfully motivated to do so. After 1200 or so, European elites were increasingly aware of their region’s marginal position in the rich world of Eurasian commerce and were determined to gain access to that world. Once the Americas were discovered, windfalls of natural resources, including highly productive agricultural lands, drove further expansion, ultimately underpinning the long-term growth of the European economy into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, (pg. 555)."
Europe's American colonies brought new diseases that killed off a very large portion of the natives. This didn't occur with the other empires because they were all on the same continent and had built up an immunity. The outcome of this was american colonies could expand easier because the disease damaged surrounding competition.
Europeans however, had certain advantages, despite their distance from home. Their states and trading companies enabled the effective mobilization of both human and material resources. Their seafaring technology, built on Chinese and Islamic precedents, allowed them to cross the Atlantic with growing ease, transporting people and supplies across great distances. Their ironworking technology, gunpowder weapons, and horses initially had no parallel in the Americas, although many peoples subsequently acquired them.
I found the differences more striking, because of what the Europeans in the Americas were able to accomplish by branching out. Even the tools that they discovered prior to even learning about the Americas were awe-inspiring. They used their resources to expand their knowledge and wealth.
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