Power Snowball Effect

Amrit Ramesh09/24/14
Acceleration of Global Contact essayFinal
The Power Snowball Effect
To us in the 21st century Asia is a developing content, but four hundred years ago it held the greatest superpowers of the entire world, so what did happen to that power? In order to determine the answer to this question one must peel back the layers of time and look at the hard fact. Geographically the Europeans had various advantages, such as having copious amounts of coal deposits to create a coal industry. In addition to this the Asians empires were not in the prime position to expand their nation to undeveloped parts of the world, as the Europeans did with the New World. Trailing with this is the fact that the Asians hardly conquered an area outside
their proximity, unlike the Europeans who quickly and easily conquered the New World. Trade- wise the Europeans took the wealth from the new world and used to boom trade with Asia, which in turn helped improve their economies, whereas the Asians used the trade to continue gaining silver. These basic facts, though general, were the main driving forces behind the change from Asian dominance to European dominance. Both Europe and Asia had opportunities and had the capabilities for global expansion, but Europeans were the first ones to succeed in attaining this because of their geography, their discovery and colonization of the New World, and their trade with Asia.
When analyzing why the world had such a power shift, many overlook the fact that it may have been due to luck. The Europeans simply had many geographical and climatic advantages which helped them significantly in gaining so much power. Going back to the example above, we see as an observer of history that the Europeans had a superfluous amount of a resource used for energy. Coal, though not very helpful today, was one of the only ways to get energy back in the early modern era. Due to this when the Europeans had found the coal they were easily able to use it to kick- start industrial practices. By mass producing goods they were then able to improve their economy greatly. The Asian empires on the other hand, though competent in creating an industry based on coal, did not have such coal deposits in their area making it near impossible for them to develop their infrastructure around the resource, as the Europeans did. In addition to this the economic advantage that coal produced helped fund the voyages of Columbus and various other explorers, which in turn caused the discovery of the New World. The voyage to the New World, however, is yet another accident which worked in the favor of the Europeans. Climatically the Atlantic Ocean had very favorable wind conditions and water conditions to travel with pre- modern ships. The Indian and Pacific oceans, on the other hand, frequently experienced monsoons and unfavorable water conditions, making it near impossible for the Asians to travel to resource rich parts of the world (the new world had not been yet stripped of its resources as other areas such as Africa had). These facts, based on the documentary by Jared Diamond and Robert Marks’ Origins of the Modern World, prove that luck had given the Europeans a major advantage over the Asians, which helped them get into power.
Colonization of the New World, though looked as just settlement, had a major role in causing the world’s power shift. Beginning with the voyages of Columbus, and soon after the conquest by the Spanish, European settlement became a common thing. People who had found settlement in the New World quickly found out of the many riches it held. For example the fertile un-farmed land easily produced many crops, which then helped the settlers grow economically. In addition to this, the un-mined lands of the New World, held much silver and gold, which like today, was a major commodity. With their citizens gaining such wealth, nations such as Spain increased taxes which then yet again improved their economies. The Asian empires on the other, did not have much resource rich, unsettled land around them, and therefore were not able to increase their wealth and power through non- domestic ways. In addition to this the Europeans, had much free manual labor through their conquests of the Natives and the Columbian Exchange. One quote coming from a Spanish man himself outlines this, “These survivors were distributed among the Christians to be slaves.” He then goes on to say, “The care they took was to send the men to the mines to look for gold…, and to send the women to the fields of big ranches,” (Document 16.4 pg. 17). This proves that slave labor helped them expand their reach in the New World, giving the Europeans yet another advantage. On the contrary, Asian empires had to rely on the labor of their citizens who were not as heavily taxed, and were paid reasonably (I am not saying that slave labor, or cheap labor is good). The luck of the Europeans to get to the New World, provided the nations with another set of advantage, showing that colonization was pivotal to the rise of the west.
Colonization and international growth was a major factor of power, but it was both caused by and resulted in trade.
In the late 15th century, many European nations hoped to start major trade with Asia. Due to this they sought out find new more easily accessible trade routes. Explorers such as Vasco de Gamma and Columbus met the public’s demands and set out on their voyages. This eventually caused the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and the forging of a new route by Vasco de Gamma. The resources from the New World were then used to fund trade with Asian empires, and the new trade route made it all the more easier to do so. This created more or less a snowball effect in which whatever wealth the Europeans got from Asia was put back into the New World for more resources. Asian empires, however, did not have the wealth that the New World provided the Europeans, and so did not grow in the process of the trade. In addition to this the Europeans also were exporting majorly unknown goods, and so were able to inflate prices, and create yet another market around the items. Since silver was the main commodity sold to the Asians, it came at a disadvantage compared to the Europeans. Silver was the main currency of the Asian empires at that time. Due to this it was near impossible to inflate the price of the element without causing mass anger. Though not necessarily disadvantageous, it was less advantageous then the European’s situation, which allowed them to make even more of an income, cementing their economic status and their power. By both causing and being caused by colonization trade is one of the largest reasons for European dominance. Without it, it is unlikely that any of the advantages the Nations had, aside from the accidental ones, would have been
existent.
Based on all the facts above, it seems as if it was inevitable for the rise of the west because of sheer luck, their discovery and colonization of the New World, and their trade with Asia. Luck helped them economically and helped them find the new world. This allowed for colonization, which even further developed their economies, and allowed for the mining and cultivation of resources. With these resources trade bloomed with Asia cementing the Europeans wealth. These factors, though usually ignored, were the main reasons for the domination of the west. As Robert Marks eloquently said, “The rise of the West was inevitable.”
Bibliography:Marks, Robert. "The Rise of the West?" The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-first Century. 2nd ed. Vol. The. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Print.
Document 16.4. The Acceleration of Global Contact