As the rise of the west began, there were many factors playing into the dominance of the western part of the world. Many changes happened over the years and these changes impacted the whole world. Some of these changes are economic, cultural, and demographic. As the west began to improve and develop, these changes helped the west establish the main dominance in the world. Ultimately, the main cause of the rise of the west was the factors of economic, cultural changes, and demographic changes impacted the society. There were multiple cultural changes that occurred in the west as they began to rise to power. Documents 1, 2, 3, and 7 all demonstrate the various changes. Document 1 demonstrates how the founder of America, Christopher Columbus, …show more content…
Documents 4, 5, 8, and 10 all showcase why the change in economy helped the west rise. Document 4 is a graph representing different technological inventions created during the rise of the west. These creations, such as the crossbow, gunpowder, and paper, had positive outcomes. These innovations helped increase the trade throughout Europe as the demand for them drastically increased. This demand in trade from all over the world greatly increased the western economy, empowering the nations in the west. In document 5, the point of view of William McNeill, the author, is that the east ultimately benefited as a direct result of the borrowing from the west. He believes that since the west was so successful and powerful, that the only reason the east caught up with it was because they borrowed from the west. He also believes that borrowing was the only way to come to power and boost the economy. In document 8, there is evidence that the east was once the leaders in dominance and economics, but lost that standing during the rise of the west. But, there is the argument that the rise was not for the west, as it was for the world economy. Document 10 argues that there was an intentional driven European growth, and a similar growth happened in East Asia. Although this growth didn’t happen until the 1800’s, there is still the resemblance between the two. This growth in Europe helped shape its …show more content…
Demographics are shown in documents 6, 11, 12, and 13. First, in document 6, the topic of domestication between plants and animals arose. The author argues that the density of human population document determined the amount of domestication occurring. This resulted in a various amount of food surpluses. The surplus of food would result in an increase of population in different areas. In the document, the author argues that more advanced societies in better geographic locations benefited from the domestication of plants and animals. Since larger and more developed regions benefited, they had a higher change of growing their population and increasing their surplus due to their luck of domestication. Document 11 discussed the decrease in human population due to natural causes, such as drought, famine, and disease. This decrease in population was directly connected to the colonial world. The expansion of the colonies was the gateway to spreading natural disaster and epidemic disease. Lastly, in Document 13 expresses concern about the smallpox epidemic that occurred among the native Indians in Peru. The Indians faced many plagues once the European conquered their land. These sicknesses wiped out nearly half of the native population in Peru. From the point of view from the author, the expansion of the west ultimately benefited the modern world, but it came with harsh consequences. When the Europeans
From David Jones’ point of view, it is important to note that these epidemics were just some of the causes of population decline during European contact. Poverty, environmental stress, massacres, dislocation, malnutrition, and destruction of traditional subsistence patterns also changed the composition of many Native American groups. Eventually, these changes caused substantial depopulation and cultural change. Jones agrees that disease carried a decisive role; however, he argues that it is not the key factor in their depopulation. “Many factors contributed to American Indian susceptibility to Old World diseases, including lack of childhood exposure, malnutrition, and the social chaos generated by European colonization” (Jones 34).
Western Expansion in the United States was one of the most important historical events of our nation. Western expansion in the United states was one of the historical events that most impacted the future of America.The United States expansion had many motives behind it and had different outcomes which either benefited the United States or negatively affected the nation. The United States wanted to expand west because they desired more land, wished to prevent conflicts with France, and to build a stronger economy. The United States expanded west because they desired to own more land, wished to prevent conflicts with France, and they wanted to build a stronger economy. According to Document A, it says “but France was a much stronger power. Jefferson
With new advances in science, technology, transportation and communication from the industrial revolution, Western nations were determined to expand their empire overseas. There are varying motives that could inspire these western nations to dominate another land politically, economically or culturally. The common motivation of them all was to get an economic advantage in foreign lands. Under the pressure to support their new industrialized cities, manufacturers had desires for raw, natural resources and needed a global market to sell to more consumers. By using the need for more economic power, European nations justify their exploitation of resources, modernization of foreign regions to help their own crown, and the conquest to opening up
Many people have tried to explain the massive expansion of prosperity and wealth in western civilization after the period of the industrial revolution, but few are completely satisfactory. Lets go over some of the traditional explanations. Firstly, we have the argument of abundant natural resources. This argument is inaccurate however, because historically, there are several nations such as Japan or Italy, that have very few natural resources yet still prosper. Protection of private property is another factor that many have put forth to explain the growth,
According to Deirdre McCloskey, why do some of the traditional explanations for Western prosperity fail: The reason that explanations of western prosperity fail is because they aren't true. One of the most traditional explanations is that the west profited and was built on slavery. This cannot be the case because everywhere else in the world had slaves, slavery was not a western invention.
The period surrounding the late and early 20th century was the most dramatic era in modern history. It was a period where Western ideals were pushed by motivated empires with ambitions of wealth and expanding territory and, while impossible to distinguish the most influencing factor that led to the Westernization of nations on a global scale, it is easy to determine key points that played important roles in world history. With Western cultures emerging with both technological and military advantage over secluded and obsolete empires, it was only a matter of time before the West inspired and impacted subjugated nations to build an empire of their own. Countries such as Japan, Russia, as well as Europe’s scramble for Africa are prime examples of existing legacies from the imperialistic era of the late 19th century and onto the early 20th century. A balance of imperial expansion and their eventual collapse were the key components utilized by Western nations to modernize and westernize the world between the periods of 1850 and 1950.
Western civilization has had an enormous outsize impact on the wider world in the last two centuries, primarily through spreading western ideas and assumptions about society. The source of the capability of these western civilizations to impact other regions of the world comes from their political philosophies. The two political philosophies that have allowed western civilizations to have such an impact are Leninism and liberalism. Both of these political philosophies generate immense power for a nation, albeit liberalism generates power much slower than Leninism. It was these political philosophies that allowed Europe and the United States to develop into super powers capable of establishing dominance around the globe.
The title of the short story by Hanif Kureishi is inspired by a book with the same title ”The Decline of the West” written by historian and philospher Oswald Spegler in 1918. In the two volume book Spegler revised how we looked at history and how we devided it in to epochs. He was of the thought that history should be divided into cultures instead of epochs, and in the book he introduced the reader to eight different cultures which where: the roman, the aztec, the egyptian, the babylonian, the chinese, the arabian, the indian, and the western european/american culture. Spegler thought that these cultures have a lifespan of one thousand years and that only the final stage of each cultutre is what we call a civilazation. In the book Spegler described
The short story “The Decline of the West” written by Hanif Kureishi and published in 2010 deals with heavy themes such as materialism, bad parenting and focuses on the dysfunctional families that can be found in our modern society as a consequence of materialism.
He emphasizes that although the West is still strong and growing in many areas, other civilizations are growing at a faster rate. Asian civilizations are booming both economically and in their military strength and the Muslim culture is spreading demographically, while the West is becoming increasingly preoccupied with its own internal problems such as crime, government deficits, drug abuse, and a declining work ethic. Huntington uses graphs and charts very effectively in this section of his book to visually depict the decline of the West’s population, territory, and economic influence.
In modern western society, money is everything, money can even be used as compensation for not being a good father or a husband, just like it is described in the short story” The Decline of the West”. In the short story we meet a family that is a few steps away from collapsing.
What does the perfect life look like? Is it a big house, a beautiful family or a dozen of zeros on your bank account? But what lies beneath the surface, is everything really so picture perfect when the light goes out and the room goes dark? The expression money can’t buy happiness comes to mind, because money doesn’t mean a thing if you lead a meaningless life lacking happiness. The effect materialism, vanity and greed have on family life is central in the short story “The Decline of the West” written by Hanif Kureishi in 2010, where the author paints a picture of the shallow life of a dysfunctional family.
Financial crises affect the lives of millions of people all over the world. Although many families try their best to continue living their lives like nothing happened, recessions can have a serious effect on their day-to-day interactions, as well as their daily lives. In the short story “The Decline of the West” written by Hanif Kureishi and published in Collected Stories in 2010, Mike and his family represents a normal family whom have fallen victims to the 2008 financial crisis. Mike and his family lives in a materialistic world in the modern western capitalistic society, to which they’ve lost important family values such as love, trust and respect for each other. The short story questions, which values are the most
In todays world we are getting more and more materialized. When being a kid in school it is all about getting the newest phone, wearing the most expensive clothing and every other materialized thing, to show off how much money we have. We measure our happiness in things, clothes, cars and so on. The greed of getting more and new things is decreasing. Before the financial crises in 2008 every family lent money to buy new things all the time. No worries were to be shown in any family, until the crack happened. Nowadays the crisis has slowly turned around again and in school it’s still about collecting the newest items. In the short story from 2010 by Hanif Kureishi, the problem of greed and a materialized world is
All of us grow up with expectations. Go to school, get good marks, get a well-paying job, find a nice husband, have children and be happy. Are we fooled into thinking this is the lifestyle we’re all supposed to live? And will this even make us happy? In the short story The Decline of the West by Hanif Kureishi, the reader is introduced to a man who grew up with the exact same expectations forced upon him. After losing his job he realizes how unhappy he is, even though he followed every step society and his parents laid out for him.