Europe's Rise to Power
Scholars have been debating Europe's rise to power for centuries. In the earliest history, it was due to God's will. Then, many promoted the race theory. Now, the argument comes down to a combination of environment and culture says Harvard historian David Landes. He argues that argues in his books Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor and The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe From 1750 to the Present that Europe has been more progressive than all other civilizations for thousands of years at first because of a number of different factors, including geography (climate), sociology, anthropology and culture and economics. Landes cites several reasons for his argument (xxi): better climate, soils, topography, natural vegetation, health, nutrition, reproductive habits, values, politics, institutions (family, church, market, state, city,) inventiveness, innovativeness, and venturesome spirit. In addition to having the foundation of climate, "If we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that culture makes all the difference," he says. In general, Landes explains that the more wealthy society will be one that 1)Knew how to oper
In Western Europe, winters were mild and thus "Europeans were able to grow crops year round. Later these developed into the inventions of telescopes and microscopes, which the Europeans monopolized for centuries. Work had been farmed out to agricultural laborers who toiled by hand to card, spun and wove the cotton and wool into the material. In The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe From 1750 to the Present, Landes summarizes the highlights of this development that led to the Industrial Revolution and beyond: First, the water power produced machines that replaced human skill. As a result, problems result in the amount of food supply, due to shifting agriculture that is unproductive. The previous system of manufacture of textiles had reached its progressive peak. ate, manage and build the instruments of production and to create, adapt and master new techniques; 2) Could impart this knowledge and know-how to the young; 3) Elected individuals for jobs by competence as well as promoted them on the basis of performance; 4) Afforded the opportunity to individual or collective enterprise; 5) Encouraged initiative, competition and emulation; and lastly5) Permitted citizens to enjoy and employ the extra fruits of their labor and enterprise (217-219). Under all of this existed the cultural aspect of curiosity that evolved into the science, which first grew into the Industrial Revolution and then continually evolved thinking in the seventeenth century and beyond. " Also, Western Europe had "warm winds and gentle rain, water in all seasons, and low rates of evaporation" (18). In fact, he adds, climate is part of the reason for slavery: "It is no accident that slave labor has historically been associated with tropical and semitropical climes" (7) and "The solution [for the large farms to the heat] was found in slavery" (9).
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