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3.5 Modernity and ColonialismVersion 1.4 February 2023                                          (Previous Version) These are the questions we ask in the introduction (Section 0.1.6 – paragraph 18): How did the Europeans come to dominate the world? Was it due to Europe’s geography or that it wasn’t controlled by a single emperor? Was it because Europeans were intellectually and morally superior? Or was it that Europeans were actually morally inferior, more racist, ruthless, and arrogant?   Did Europeans invent modernity? What started the Industrial Revolution? Was China repressed by Confucianism, India by Hinduism and the Middle East by Mohammedism? Was European religion or its practice superior, or did Europeans ride to success on the backs of slaves? Was it just an accident? This chapter covers the rise of modern scientific, religious and political thinking, especially in Western Europe, and the three waves of European colonial expansion. There is a huge volume of literature on these issues that presents a wide range of views. We attempt to summarise the major events of the period so that we can work out reasonable global beliefs and values that affect our everyday life. The major themes in this period are: in Europe, the rise of science and decline of religious authority; worldwide progress in the development of modern states; the spread of commence and technology; and the causes and effects of European colonialism in the context of other global political changes. The Industrial Revolution began in about 1750 CE in Britain then spread rapidly to Western Europe, and more gradually to the rest of the world. The rise of factories and the industrialised working class led to the ideological clash between Communism and Capitalism. The First World War (WWI, 1914-18) was like a European civil war that involved its colonies around the world. This set the conditions for the Second World War (WWII, 1939-45). After that, the world had changed. There is of course some overlap in these trends with the periods before and after this one. We look at how we know what we know under the following topic headings:
This is the current summary of our current conclusions in this area: Western Europe adapted Asian technology and its own to colonise the nearby Americas, then much of the rest of world, accidentally spreading Eurasian diseases, exploiting local allies who sided with the invaders, exploiting the Atlantic slave trade, capitalising on technological advantages and developing industrial superiority.  more                                                             Statement 18 We see the benefit of effecting values such as sovereignty (as opposed to colonialism), human rights, and democracy, for had these been valued there would have been no European colonial empires. We value prosperity, starting to spread beyond the few. We value respect, especially for those with different ethnicity and culture whose attitudes and opinions are new to us and perhaps challenging.
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