History of the world
The
history of the world, in popular parlance, is
human history, from the first appearance of
Homo sapiens to the present.
Paleolithic means "old stone age." In other words, this is the first period of the stone age.
Scientific evidence based on
genetics and the
study of fossils, places the origin of modern
Homo sapiens in
Africa . This occurred about 200,000 years ago during the
Palaeolithic period, after a long period of
evolution. Ancestors of humans, such as
Homo erectus, had been using simple tools for many millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex. Humans also developed
language sometime during the Paleolithic period, as well as a conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead, which suggests a development of
foresight after being consistently exposed to rotting bodies after some previously misunderstood event of
death.
Humans of this age also decorated themselves with objects to improve their appearance. During this period, all humans lived as
hunter-gatherers, who were generally
nomadic.
Modern humans spread rapidly over the globe from
Africa and the frost-free zones of
Europe and
Asia. The rapid expansion of humankind to
North America and
Oceania took place at the climax of the most recent
Ice Age, when today's temperate regions were extremely inhospitable. Yet, by the end of the Ice Age some 12,000 years ago, humans had colonised nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe.
Hunter-gatherer societies have tended to be very small, although in some cases they have developed social stratification, and long-distance contacts are possible as in the case of
Indigenous Australian 'highways' in
Australia.
Eventually most hunter-gatherer societies either developed, or were absorbed into, larger agricultural states. Those that did not were either exterminated, or remained in isolation, such as small hunter-gatherer societies which are still present today in remote regions.
The
Mesolithic (
Greek mesos=middle and
lithos=stone or the 'Middle Stone Age') was a period in the development of
human technology between the
Paleolithic and
Neolithic periods of the
Stone Age. It began at the end of the
Pleistocene epoch around 10,000 years ago and ended with
the introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical region. In some areas, such as the
Near East farming was already in use by the end of the
Pleistocene and there the Mesolithic is short and poorly defined. In areas with limited glacial impact, the term
Epipaleolithic is sometimes preferred. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the
last ice age ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In Northern Europe for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours which are preserved in the material record, such as the
Maglemosian and
Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000 BCE in Northern Europe.
Remains from this period are few and far between, often limited to
middens (rubbish heaps which grew over time). In forested areas of the world, the first signs of
deforestation have been found, although this would only start in earnest during the
Neolithic, when extra space for farming was needed.
The mesolithic is characterized by small composite
flint tools (
microliths and
microburins) in most areas. Fishing
tackle, stone
adzes and wooden objects such as
canoes and
bows have been found preserved at some sites.
Neolithic means "new stone age", a period of primitive technological and social development towards the end of the stone age. Beginning in the 10th millennium BCE, the Neolithic period is characterized by the development of early village dwellings, agriculture, animal domestication and tools.
Development of agriculture
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Ancient Egyptian farmer |
A major change, described by the prehistorian
Vere Gordon Childe as a "revolution," occurred around the
9th millennium BCE with
the adoption of agriculture. The Sumerians first started farming around
9500 BC. By
7000 BC, agriculture had spread to the
Indus Valley, by
6000 BC it had reached Egypt, and by
5000 BC, people in China were farming. Around
2700 BC, agriculture spread to
Mesoamerica. Although research and education has tended to concentrate on the
Fertile Crescent area of the
Middle East, archaeology in the Americas, East Asia and Southeast Asia indicates that agricultural systems using different crops and animals may well have developed nearly as early in some cases.
A further step forward in Middle Eastern agriculture occurred with the development of organised
irrigation and the use of a specialised
labour force, by the
Sumerians, starting about 5,500 BCE. Bronze and iron replaced stone as tools for agriculture and warfare. Agricultural settlements had until this time been almost completely dependent on
stone tools. In
Eurasia,
copper and
bronze tools, decorations, and weapons began to become commonplace around
3000 BCE. After bronze, the Eastern
Mediterranean region,
Middle East and
China saw the introduction of
iron tools and weapons.
The Americas may not have had metal tools until the
Chavin horizon in
900 BCE. We also know that the
Moche had metal armor, knives and tableware. Even the metal-poor
Inca had metal-tipped plows, at least after the conquest of
Chimor. However, very little archaeological research has been done in
Peru so far and almost all the
khipus (recording devices, in the form of knots, used by the Incas) were burned in the
Spanish conquest of Peru. Whole
cities were still being discovered in 2004 CE. Some digs suggest that
steel may have been made there before it was developed in Europe.
River valleys became the cradles of early civilizations, such as the
Yellow River valley in
China, the
Nile in
Egypt, and the
Indus Valley in [Indan subcontinent]. Some nomadic peoples, such as Indigenous Australians and the
Bushmen of Southern Africa, did not use agriculture until relatively modern times.
Many humans did not belong to
states before 1800 CE. Among scientists, there is disagreement over whether the term "
tribe" should be used to describe the kind of societies these humans lived in. Large parts of the world were the territories of "tribes" before Europeans began colonization. Many "tribes" transformed into states when they were threatened or otherwise influenced by states. Examples are the
Marcomanni and
Lithuania. Some "tribes," such as the
Kassites and the
Manchus, conquered states and were absorbed by them.
Agriculture made possible complex societies, also called
civilizations. States and markets emerged. Technologies improved humans' ability to control
nature and to develop
transport and
communication.
Development of religion
Most historians trace the beginnings of
religious belief to the Neolithic Period. Most religious belief during this time period consisted of worship of a
Mother Goddess, a
Sky Father, and also worship of the
Sun and the
Moon as deities. (
see also Sun worship)
State
Agriculture led to several major changes. It allowed far larger population densities, which organised themselves into
states. There are several definitions used for the term "state."
Max Weber and
Norbert Elias defined the state as an organization of people that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a particular geographic area.
|
Borders delineate states - a prominent example is the Great Wall of China, which stretches over 6700 km, and was first erected in the 3rd century BCE to protect the north from nomadic invaders. It has been rebuilt and augmented several times since. |
The first states appeared in
Mesopotamia,
ancient Egypt and the
Indus Valley in the late 4th and early 3rd millennia BCE. In
Mesopotamia, there were several
city-states.
Ancient Egypt began as a state without cities, but cities soon arose. A state needs an
army to impose the legitimate use of force. An army needs a
bureaucracy to maintain it. The only exception to this appears to be the
Indus Valley civilization due to a lack of evidence of military force.
States appeared in
China in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia BCE. Major wars broke out between states in the
Middle East. The treaty of
Kadesh, one of the first
peace treaties, was concluded between the
Hittites and
ancient Egypt ca.1275 BCE. Major empires came into being with conquered areas ruled by central tribes, such as
Persia (6th century BCE), the
Mauryan Empire (4th century BCE),
China (3rd century BCE), and the
Roman Empire (1st century BCE).
Clashes among major empires took place in the 8th century CE, when the
Islamic Caliphate of
Arabia (ruling from
Spain to
Iran) and the
Tang dynasty of China (ruling from
Korea) fought for decades for control of
Central Asia. The largest continguous land empire was the
Mongolian Empire in the 13th century. By then, most humans in Europe, Asia and North Africa belonged to states. There were states as well in
Mexico and western
South America. States continued to control more and more of the world's territory and population; the last 'empty' territories were divided among states in the
Treaty of Berlin (1878 CE).
City and Trade
Agriculture also created, and allowed for the storage of, food surpluses that could support people not directly involved in food production. The development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first
cities. These were state centers with nearly no agricultural production of their own. The cities were parasites of a sort, absorbing agricultural products from the surrounding countryside, but providing, in return, varying degrees of military protection.
The development of cities led to what has been called
civilization: first
Sumerian civilization in lower
Mesopotamia (
3500 BCE), followed by
Egyptian civilization along the
Nile (
3300 BCE) and
Harappan civilization in the
Indus Valley (
3300 BCE). There is evidence of elaborate cities with high levels of social and economic complexity. However, these civilizations were so different from each other that they almost certainly originated independently. It was at this time that
writing and extensive
trade were introduced.
In China, proto-urban societies may have developed from
2500 BCE, but the first dynasty to be identified by archeology is that of the
Shang Dynasty. The
2nd millennium BCE saw the emergence of civilization in
Crete, mainland
Greece and central
Turkey. In the Americas, civilizations such as the
Maya, the
Moche and
Nazca emerged in
Mesoamerica and
Peru at the end of the
1st millennium BCE.
Coinage was introduced in
Lydia.
Long-range trade routes first appeared in the
3rd millennium BCE, when
Sumerians in
Mesopotamia traded with the
Harappan civilization of the
Indus Valley. Trade routes also appeared in the eastern
Mediterranean in the 4th millennium BCE. The
Silk Road between
China and
Syria began in the 2nd millennium BCE. Cities in
Central Asia and
Persia were major crossroads of these trade routes.
Phoenician and
Greek civilizations founded empires in the Mediterranean basin in the 1st century BCE, based on trade.
Arabs dominated the trade routes in the
Indian Ocean,
East Asia, and the
Sahara in the late 1st millennium CE and early second millennium CE. Arabs and Jews also dominated trade in the Mediterranean in the late 1st millennium.
Italians took over this role in the early 2nd millennium CE.
Flemish and
German cities were at the center of trade routes in Northern Europe in the early 2nd millennium CE. In all areas, major cities developed at crossroads along the trade routes.
Religion and Philosophy
New
philosophies and
religions arose in both east and west, particularly around the
6th century BCE. Over time, a great variety of religions developed around the world, with
Hinduism and
Buddhism in
India,
Zoroastrianism in
Persia being some of the earliest major faiths. The
Abrahamic religions also trace their origin to this time. In the east, three schools of thought were to dominate Chinese thinking until the modern day. These were
Taoism,
Legalism, and
Confucianism. The Confucian tradition, which would attain predominance, looked not to the force of law, but to the power and example of tradition for political morality. In the west, the Greek philosophical tradition, represented by the works of
Plato and
Aristotle, was diffused throughout Europe and the Middle East by the conquests of
Alexander of Macedon in the
4th century BCE.
By the
last centuries BCE, the
Mediterranean, the
Ganges and the
Yellow River became the seats of empires which future rulers would strive to imitate. In
India, the
Mauryan Empire ruled over much of the
Indian subcontinent, while the
Pandyas ruled the
south of India. In
China, the
Qin and
Han dynasties extended the rule of imperial government through political unity, improved communications and also notably the establishment of state monopolies by
Emperor Wu. In the west, the
Romans began expanding their territory through conquest and colonisation from the
3rd century BCE. By the reign of Emperor
Augustus, around the birth of
Jesus of Nazareth, Rome controlled all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean.
The great empires rested on the ability to exploit the process of military annexation and the formation of defended human settlements to become agricultural centres. The relative peace they brought encouraged international trade, most notably the growth of the
Silk Road. They also faced common problems, such as those associated with maintaining huge armies and the support of a central bureaucracy. These costs fell most heavily on the peasantry, whilst land-owning magnates were increasingly able to evade centralised control and its costs. The pressure of
barbarians on the frontiers hastened the process of internal dissolution. The Han empire fell into civil war in 220 CE, whilst its Roman counterpart became increasingly decentralised and divided around the same time.
Throughout the temperate zones of Eurasia, America, and North Africa, large empires continued to rise and fall.
The gradual breakup of the
Roman Empire, which spanned several centuries following the
2nd century CE, coincided with the spread of
Christianity westward from the
Middle East. The western part of the Roman Empire fell under the domination of various
Germanic tribes in the
5th century, and these polities gradually developed into a number of warring states, all associated, in one way or another, with the
Roman Catholic Church. The remaining part of the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean was henceforth known as the
Byzantine Empire. Centuries later, a limited unity was restored to western Europe through the establishment of the
Holy Roman Empire, comprising a number of states in what is now Germany and Italy.
In China, dynasties would similarly rise and fall. Nomads from the north began to invade in the
4th century CE, eventually conquering nearly all of northern China and setting up many small kingdoms. The
Sui Dynasty reunified China in 581, and under the Tang Dynasty (618-907) China entered into a second golden age. However, the Tang Dynasty also splintered and, after about half a century of turmoil, the
Northern Song Dynasty reunified China in 982. Yet, pressure from nomadic empires to the north became increasingly urgent. All of
North China was lost to the
Jurchen in 1141 and the
Mongol Empire conquered all of China in 1279, as well as almost all of
Eurasia's landmass, missing only
western and
central Europe and
Japan.
Northern India was ruled by the
Guptas in these times. In southern India, three prominent
Dravidan kingdoms emerged:
Cheras,
Cholas, and
Pallavas. The ensuing stability contributed to herald the golden age of
Hindu culture in the
4th and
5th centuries CE.
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The ruins of Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas," have become the most recognizable symbol of the Inca civilization. |
Vast societies also began to be built up in
Central America at this time, with the
Maya and the
Aztecs in
Mesoamerica being the most notable. As the
mother culture of the
Olmecs gradually declined, the great Mayan city-states slowly rose in number and prominence, and Maya culture spread throughout
Yucatán and surrounding areas. The later empire of the Aztec was built on neighboring cultures and was influenced by conquered peoples, such as the
Toltec.
South America saw the rise of the
Inca in the
14th and
15th centuries. The
Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu spanned the entire range of the
Andes and held its capital at
Cusco. The Inca were prosperous and advanced, known for an excellent
road system and unrivaled
masonry.
Islam, which began in
Arabia in the
7th century, was also one of the most remarkable forces in World history, growing from only a few followers to become the basis of a series of large empires in India, the Middle East, and North Africa.
In North East Africa,
Nubia and
Ethiopia, which both had long been linked to the Mediterranean world, remained Christian enclaves as the rest of Africa north of the equator converted to Islam. With Islam, came new technologies that, for the first time, allowed substantial trade to cross the
Sahara. Taxes on this trade led to prosperity in North Africa and the rise of a series of
kingdoms in the Sahel.
This period was marked by slow but steady technological improvements, with developments of influential importance such as the
stirrup and the mouldboard
plough arriving every few centuries.
Background for European advance
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The invention of the movable-type printing press in 1450s Germany was awarded #1 of the Top 100 Greatest Events of the Millennium by LIFE Magazine. By some estimates, less than 50 years after the first Bible was printed in 1455, more than nine million books were in print. |
The early agricultural empires were heavily constrained by their environment. Productivity remained low and it was easy for natural disasters to instigate the boom and bust cycles which brought about their rise and fall. But, by 1000 CE, there was a qualitative change in world history. Technological advance and the wealth generated by trade gradually brought about a widening of possibilities. These changes were the most pronounced in the areas which had the most productive agriculture: China, India and sectors of the Islamic world.
China, in particular, had developed an advanced monetary economy by 1000 and was the first society to begin to break away from earlier constraints. China had a free peasantry who were no longer subsistence farmers, and could sell their produce and actively participate in the market. The agriculture was highly productive. China was the most urbanized region in Eurasia. It enjoyed a technological advantage over the rest of the Eurasian world and had a monopoly in
cast-iron production,
piston bellows,
suspension-bridge construction,
printing and the
compass. (see
Joseph Needham). It now seems possible that China of the
Sung dynasty was on the verge of the same transformational changes which occurred in Europe six hundred years later. But, after earlier onslaughts by the
Jurchens, the remnants of the Sung empire were conquered by the
Mongols in 1279.
Outwardly, the
Renaissance (beginning in the 14th century) was just a 'catching-up' of Europe with the rest of the Eurasian world. But it could also be argued that it engendered a culture of inquisitiveness which ultimately led to
humanism, the
Scientific Revolution, and finally the great transformation of the
Industrial Revolution. However the Scientific Revolution in the
17th century did not have any immediate impact on technology. Only in the second half of the
19th century were scientific advances beginning to be applied to practical inventions. The advantages Europe had developed by the middle of the
18th century were two: an entrepreneurial culture and the wealth generated by the Atlantic trade. But in 1750,
labour productivity in the most developed regions of China was still on a par with that of the Atlantic economy in Europe (see
Wolfgang Keller and Carol Shiue).
There are a number of explanations why, from 1750 onward, Europe rose to surpass these other civilizations, become the home of the
Industrial Revolution, and dominate the rest of the world.
Max Weber argued it was due to a
Protestant work ethic that encouraged Europeans to work harder and longer than their fellows. Another sociological-economic explanation looks at demographics: Europe with its celibate clergy, colonial emigration, high-mortality urban centers, continual warfare, and late age of marriage had far more restrained population growth compared to Asian cultures. A relative shortage of labour meant surpluses could be invested in labour-saving technological advances such as water-wheels and mills, spinners and looms, steam engines, and shipping, rather than fueling a simple expansion of the population. Many have also argued that Europe's institutions were superior, that
property rights and
free market economics were stronger in Europe than elsewhere in the world. In recent years, scholars such as
Kenneth Pomeranz have challenged this view.
Europe's geography may also have played an important role. The Middle East, India and China are all ringed by mountains, but once past these outer barriers all are relatively flat. By contrast, the
Alps,
Pyrenees, and other mountain ranges run through Europe, and the continent is also divided by several seas. This gave Europe some degree of protection from the peril of Central Asian invaders. In the era before firearms, all of Eurasia was threatened by the horsemen of the Central Asian steppe. These nomads were militarily superior to the agricultural states on the periphery of the continent and, if they broke out into the plains of Northern India or the valleys of China, were all but unstoppable. These invasions were often devastating. The
Golden Age of Islam was ended by the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258, and both India and China were also subject to periodic invasions. Europe, especially western Europe, was far less subject to these threats.
The geography also contributed to important geopolitical differences. For most of their histories China, India and the Middle East were unified under a single dominant power that expanded until it reached the surrounding mountains and deserts. In 1600, the
Ottoman Empire controlled almost all the Middle East, the
Ming Dynasty dominated China, and the
Mughal Empire had control over India. By contrast, Europe was almost always divided among a number of warring states. Pan-European empires, with the major exception of the earlier
Roman Empire, tended to collapse soon after they arose. Paradoxically, the intense competition between rival states is often portrayed as one source of Europe's success. In other regions, stability was often a higher priority than growth. For instance, China's growth as a maritime power was restricted by the
Hai jin of the Ming Dynasty. In Europe, such a blanket ban would have been impossible due to disunity; if any one state had imposed such a restriction, it would have quickly fallen behind its competitors.
Another doubtless important geographic factor in the rise of Europe was the
Mediterranean Sea, which, for millennia, had functioned as a maritime superhighway fostering the exchange of goods, people, ideas and inventions.
Also, in the tropics, the ever present
diseases and
parasites, sapping the strength and health of humans, and their animals and crops, were disorganizing factors impeding continuing progress.
Mercantile dominance of Europe
In the fourteenth century the
Renaissance began in Europe. Some modern scholars have questioned whether this flowering of art and humanism was a benefit to science, but the era did see an important fusion of Arab and European knowledge. One of the most important developments was the
caravel, which combined the Arab
lateen sail with European
square rigging to create the first vessels that could safely sail the
Atlantic Ocean. Along with important developments in
navigation, this technology allowed
Christopher Columbus in
1492 to journey across the Atlantic Ocean and bridge the gap from
Africa-Eurasia to
the Americas.
This had dramatic effects on both continents, in one of the most famous historical
Outside Context Problems. The Europeans brought with them diseases that the Americans had never before encountered, and an uncertain number, perhaps over 90%, of Native Americans were killed in a series of devastating epidemics. The Europeans also had the technological advantage of horses, steel and guns that allowed them to overpower the
Aztec and
Incan empires, along with other cultures of
North America.
Gold and resources from the Americas began to be stripped from the land and people and shipped to Europe, while at the same time large numbers of European colonists began to emigrate to the west. To meet the great demand for labour in the new colonies, the mass export of
Africans as
slaves began. Soon much of the Americas had a large racial underclass of slaves. In West Africa, a series of thriving states developed along the
coast, becoming prosperous from the exploitation of suffering interior African peoples.
Europe's maritime expansion, unsurprisingly given its geography, was largely the work of the continent's Atlantic seaboard states:
Portugal,
Spain,
England,
France,
the Netherlands. The
Portuguese and
Spanish Empires were at first the predominant conquerors and source of influence, but soon the more northern
English,
French and
Dutch began to dominate the
Atlantic. In a series of wars, fought in the
17th and
18th centuries, culminating with the
Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the first world power. It accumulated an empire that spanned the globe, controlling, at its peak, approximately one-quarter of the world's land surface, on which the "Sun never set".
Meanwhile, the voyages of Admiral
Zheng He were halted by China's
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), established after the expulsion of the
Mongols. A Chinese commercial revolution, sometimes described as "incipient
capitalism," was also abortive. The
Ming Dynasty would eventually fall to the
Manchus, whose
Qing Dynasty oversaw, at first, a period of calm and prosperity, but would increasingly fall prey to Western encroachment.
Soon after the invasion of the Americas, Europeans had exerted their technological advantage over the peoples of Asia as well. In the early
19th century, Britain gained control of the
Indian subcontinent,
Egypt and the
Malay Peninsula; the French took
Indochina; while the Dutch occupied the
Dutch East Indies. The British also occupied several of the areas still populated by neolithic peoples, including
Australia,
New Zealand and
South Africa, and, as in the Americas, large numbers of British colonists began to emigrate to these areas. In the late nineteenth century, the last unclaimed areas of Africa were divided among the European powers.
This era in Europe saw the
Age of Reason lead to the
Scientific Revolution, which changed our understanding of the world and made possible the
Industrial Revolution, a major transformation of the world's economies. It began in Britain and used new modes of production such as the
factory,
mass production, and
mechanisation to produce a wide array of materials faster and for less labour than previous methods. The Age of Reason also led to the beginnings of
democracy as we know it today, in the American and French revolutions in the late
18th century. Democracy would grow to have a profound effect on world events and
quality of life. During the Industrial Revolution, the world economy was soon based on
coal, as new methods of
transport, such as
railways and
steam ships, made the world a smaller place. Meanwhile, industrial
pollution and damage to the
environment, present since the discovery of fire and the beginning of civilization, accelerated tenfold.
Ascendance of Technology
The twentieth century saw the domination of the world by Europe wane, at least partly from the cost and internal destruction of
World War I and
World War II, and attendant rise of the
United States and the
Soviet Union as
superpowers. Following World War II, the
United Nations was founded in the hopes that it could prevent conflicts among nations and make future wars impossible--hopes that have not usually been realized. After 1990, the Soviet Union collapsed and the United States became the sole superpower, termed by some a "
hyperpower." (
See "Pax Americana.")
The century saw the rise of powerful secular ideologies. First, after 1917 in the Soviet Union, was
communism, which spread to
Eastern Europe after 1945, and
China in 1949, and to other, scattered nations in the
Third World during the 1950s and 1960s. The 1920s saw
militaristic fascist dictatorships gain control of
Germany,
Italy,
Japan and
Spain.
These transitions were evinced through wars of unparalleled scope and devastation.
World War I destroyed many of Europe's old monarchies, and weakened France and Britain.
World War II saw most of the militaristic dictatorships in Europe destroyed and communism advance into Eastern Europe and Asia. This led to the
Cold War, a forty-year stand-off between the United States, the Soviet Union and their respective allies. All of humanity and complex forms of life were put into jeopardy by the development of
nuclear weapons. At the start of the 1990s CE, the world witnessed the collapse and fragmentation of the Soviet state, with some of its former
republics re-joining Russia in a commonwealth, others reaching out toward western Europe.
The same century saw vast progress in technology, and a large increase in life expectancy and standard of living for the majority of humanity. As the world economy switched from one based on
coal to one based on
oil, new communications and transportation technologies continued to make the world more united. The technological developments of the century also contributed to
problems with the
environment, though
urban pollution is lower today than in the days of coal.
|
The last exploration of the moon, Apollo 17, 1972. |
The latter half of the century saw the rise of the
information age and
globalization dramatically increase trade and cultural exchange.
Space exploration reached throughout the
solar system.
DNA, the very template of
life, was discovered, and the
human genome was sequenced, promising to eventually change the face of human
disease. The number of scientific papers published each year today far surpasses the total number published prior to 1900[
1], and doubles approximately every 15 years.[
2] Global
literacy rates continue to increase, and the percentage of the global society's
labour pool needed to produce society's
food has continued to decrease substantially over the century (
Kurzweil 1999).
The same period raised prospects of an end to human history, precipitated by unmanaged global hazards:
nuclear proliferation, the
greenhouse effect and other forms of
environmental degradation caused by the "
fissile-fossil complex," international
conflicts prompted by the dwindling of
resources, fast-spreading
epidemics such as
HIV, and the passage of near-earth
asteroids and
comets.
The development of
states had always taken impetus from hope of gain and fear of loss. The sense of national
identity had always been forged in
conflicts with outsiders who were perceived as a threat. As the
20th century closed, the world witnessed the rise of what some saw as a new
superstate, the
European Union. Tentative steps were also taken, at emulating the European Union, by states in
Asia,
Africa and
South America. The growth, life and collapse of states, organized around various human populations and for the purpose of achieving various human goals, continued to be a trigger for wars, with their accompanying loss of life, physical destruction, disease, starvation and genocide.
Globalization and westernization
The world was politically united by Europeans, who established colonies in most parts of the world outside Europe.
Western culture modernised rapidly due to the industrial revolution and began to dominate the world in the 19th and 20th century, but was greatly influenced by other civilisations. There are still enormous cultural differences between world regions, although the trend is towards unification with a Western dominance.
The
mercantile empires of
Spain,
Portugal, the
Netherlands,
France and
Great Britain in the 15th to 19th centuries dominated the seas. The industrialisation and the social and political changes in the Western World of the 18th and 19th century led to a feeling of superiority among western thinkers and politicians.
Africa and most of
Asia became European-controlled, while European descendants ruled in the
Australia and the
Americas. New ideologies emerged aimed at reshaping the world.
Social Darwinists and imperialists generally believed that white people were superior and that they should civilize the primitive peoples (other cultures) by introducing Western ways of production (economics) and Western ideologies, such as Christianity. This way, the primitive people could have a 'better', 'more moral' lifestyle, although it was assumed that they could never be as cultivated as the whites. Socialists and liberals wanted to civilize the working classes in western countries as well. Socialists and American liberals believed (and continue to believe) that the society is, in large part, responsible for the behaviour of its citizens and that the society should be changed in order to make the world better. American Conservatives, European liberals, and all
Libertarians believed (and continue to believe) in freedom and market forces and want individuals to take responsibility for themselves and hold that a society should guarantee freedom in order for individuals to develop fully. Christians, regardless of political ideology, believe that the individual's relation to their Church and/or God is the critical factor in a satisfactory life. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other religions have religious concepts of their own.
The 20th century witnessed a strong polarization between these ideologies. Social Darwinism suffered a great loss when Nazi Germany was defeated during
World War II. The
United States and the
Soviet Union enforced
decolonization. The
Civil Rights movement and the
hippie counter culture of the 1960s led to a worldwide domination of a humanist ideology which persists in Westernized countries today.
Socialists attempted to change society with different methods. The two most powerful movements were
social democracy and
communism. Social democrats tried to reach a
socialist society by changing society in cooperation with other political parties. The
welfare state was created in many western countries. Left-wing Christians and liberals also shared a belief in the welfare state. Today the welfare state is unpopular because it withholds economical progress due to inefficient investments. Communists attempted to create a socialist society by destroying the old society, the old elites and all competing ideologies. It led to genocide and substantial poverty, and was widely viewed as unsuccessful. Soviet and Chinese leaders and intellectuals discovered that the 'western' style of production with self-responsibility led to continuing progress, while the communist societies were in a continuous
economic depression, so they were forced to become
capitalistic.
Non-Western civilizations were first dominated by Western colonisers, who generally treated the local population with extreme harshness.
Nationalist and communist movements that swept through these countries inspired the local populace to begin thinking of and initiating independece movements, wanting equal shares in the world. Many African and Asian colonies became independent in the 1960s. Eventually, there was much optimism that the new underdeveloped countries could become developed, but their economic situation generally grew worse after becoming independent. Civil wars and dictatorships wrecked the local societies and economies - the cause of which is sometimes attributed to
neocolonialism and particularly that of the United States (see
Jingoism, and the
Dependency theory). Today, many Latin American and Asian nations are beginning the transition to first-world status; Most of Africa and the Middle East, however, is stagnating.
Conservatives and nationalists around the world were afraid that their societies would collapse due to modernisation and new ideologies so they tried to turn the tide of change. Conservatism is popular in many parts of the world, with neo-conservatism dominating the United States government.
Islamic fundamentalists try to stop secularisation by waging war against Western culture. Many state leaders and intellectuals in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa criticise the West for its "immoral" lifestyle. Conservatism is fed, for a large part, by a religious belief in the afterlife with its attendant fears of retribution foreverafter.
Attempts to unite the world by military conquest or revolution met with no success. The
nation state became the most important institute in the (western) world. Colonial empires in the 19th century were based on nation states, which controlled large territories containing 'aboriginal' populations. Nation states united in federations during the twentieth century. During the interbellum between
World War I and
World War II, the
League of Nations tried to prevent wars. After World War II, the
United Nations tried to solve many problems that could not be solved by individual nation states. The League of Nations and United Nations were dependent on the voluntary contribution and desire to cooperate of individual member states. These organizations cannot function without the support of large countries, as was apparent during the 1920s and 1930s and during the
Cold War. Many states are not (ethnic) nation states, but exist as multiple nations (sub-Saharan Africa), or only have a small portion of a nation within their boundaries (as in Arab countries).
The number and size of
free market economies have increased dramatically since the 19th century, but state-controlled economies were still seen as viable alternatives, until the fall of the USSR in 1989. Free-market economies led to an enormous growth in standards of living. A global free market has, so far, met with mixed success. The free transfer of goods and information led to a growing interdependence of states that are bound by self-interest to cooperate with other states. This process is called
globalization.
Overpopulation has been identified as one of the largest worldwide problems. This problem was identified much earlier by thinkers such as
Malthus and
Max Weber. Weber was afraid that
India and
China would develop their economies at the cost of
Europe, and advocated German imperialism to prevent poverty for the German masses. The technological and economical development of the 20th century proved that the western countries could have economical growth through internal development. The European countries at the time of Max Weber could be seen as
Third World countries compared to the wealth they have now. China, India and Latin America have been developing in recent decades, which has consequences for employment in western countries. Increasing population is also linked with the rapidly increasing demand for a share of limited resources and for the increasing destruction of the environment as these resources are used.
American culture has made a huge impact on the world.
Hollywood movies and
jazz music dominated the whole western world from the 1920s.
Youth culture started in America.
Jeans,
T-shirts, the American style of
advertising and
pop music gained worldwide dominance in the 1960s and 1970s.
Historical topics
*
Technological singularity*
HistoriographyHistory by period
*
Prehistoric man*
Ancient history*
Middle Ages*
Modern historyHistory by region
*
History of Africa*
History of the Americas**
History of North America**
History of South America*
History of Antarctica*
History of Australia*
History of Eurasia**
History of West Eurasia***
History of Europe**
History of Asia***
History of East Asia***
History of the Middle East***
History of South Asia***
History of Southeast Asia#
*
Hodgson M,
Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History (Cambridge, 1993)
*
Pomeranz, K,
The Great Divergence:China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton, 2000)
*
Ponting, C World History: A New Perspective (London, 2000)
*
WWW-VL: World History at European University Institute
