European Predominance, 1400-1850 The Sources of Europe

In 1400, several civilizations across Eurasia and Africa the world stood on a roughly equal footing in terms of their ability to influence or threaten one another. Civilizations in the New World lacked techniques (such as ironmaking) known in the Old World, but were isolated and unthreatened by it. Shortly before 1500, however, one civilization, in Europe, began to make forcible contact with others around the world, exploiting recently developed advances in the technologies of transport and warfare. By 1600 Europeans were in a position to threaten all other civilizations without facing a comparable threat, and by 1850 they or their offshoots in the Americas dominated the world. The following discussion will explore the factors of technology and political organization that made this possible.

The technological basis of European worldwide expansion was the combination of the full-rigged ship and the cannon. In the Middle Ages, until about 1400, European ships belonged to two distinct seafaring traditions. Mediterranean ships used triangular "lateen" sails, suited to light and variable winds. Some Mediterranean ships had two or three masts, each carrying one lateen sail. Northern ships used a square sail, able to stand up to strong winds, but less handy in shifting breezes, and had only one mast and one sail.

In the 14th century, these different ship types began to fuse. First a latee

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ere on the world's oceans, and easily defeat any opponent except another galleon (Phillips 91-114). Later sailing men-of-war such as frigates, and armed merchant ships such as Indiamen, were simply improved galleons. Europeans could now trade with, attack, or rob all the world's coastlines. Other peoples, lacking galleons, could not strike back. In the New World, the Aztec and Inca empires collapsed, ravaged by Old World diseases and shocked by Europeans' use of guns and horses, neither of which they had ever imagined. Europeans conquered these regions outright. Empires in the Old World, such as China or Mughul India, were more resilient. Europeans' military advantage on land was not equal to their advantage at sea, and Europeans were greatly outnumbered. However, Europeans quickly took over the world's trade, and the profits it brought. Previously trade in the Indian Ocean had been dominated by Muslim merchants, who grew fabulously wealthy. (The legends of Sindbad the Sailor are a memory of this era.) Within only a few years around 1500 they were pushed aside by the Portuguese and later the Dutch and English, and the world's trading wealth flowed into European hands. With that wealth, Europeans could build more gall
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