GLOBAL VIEW ESSAY: How Did Changes in
Western Europe Help Bring About the First
Global Age?
Between the 1300s and the 1600s,
Europe moved out of the medieval period of
relative isolation. European nations extended
their economic links - and, sometimes, their
military might - around the world. For these and
other reasons, many historians consider this
period to be the birth of the modern age.
Rebirth and Reform
The Renaissance was truly a “rebirth” of
western culture. Great artists like Michelangelo
and writers like Shakespeare created modern
styles in the arts. During the Reformation,
religious reformers like Luther and Calvin
founded the modern Protestant churches.
Conflicts between Catholic and Protestant
nations would shape European politics for
centuries.
Finally, the Scientific Revolution began
the exploration of the physical universe by the
methods of modern science. Scientists from
Copernicus to Newton formulated numerous
scientific laws for the first time.
Western Empires
While these changes in western culture
were going on, Europeans also embarked upon
an unprecedented surge of empire building.
Equipped with new ships, navigational aids, and
gunpowder weapons, European soldiers, traders,
and missionaries spread western power around
the world.
The first target of European empire
builders was Asia, Europe’s longtime trading
partner. During the 1500s and 1600s, Europeans
established scattered trading posts and colonies in
India, Southeast Asia, and beyond. They brought
back profitable cargoes of spices, silks, and other
valuable Asian goods.
At the same time, Europeans also
established a presence in Africa and the Americas.
Spanish conquistadors, followed by settlers from
Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and England,
conquered much of the so-called New World South America, the Caribbean islands, and North
America. These colonists shipped home gold,
silver, sugar, tobacco, and other commodities.
Western people first settled on the coasts
of Africa to establish way stations on the new sea
route to Asia. To get laborers for their American
plantations and mines, however, Europeans soon
developed a brutal, but lucrative, trade in African
slaves. The slave trade added very substantially to
the working population of the Americas but cost
Africa millions of human beings.
Powerful Kings and Queens
While these empires were growing
overseas, the modern system of great powers was
evolving in Europe itself. France became Europe’s
power in the 1600s. Louis XIV, the “Sun King,”
served as a model of absolute royal power.
England in the 1600s, by contrast, provided an
early example of more democratic rule as
Parliament limited the power of monarchs.
Farther east, three states - Austria, Prussia, and
Russia - emerged as great modern powers in the
1700s. The Russia of Peter the Great and the
Prussia of Frederick the Great particularly
emphasized strong bureaucracies and armies as
instruments of royal power.
Looking Ahead
All these trends and developments had
great significance for the future. Reformed religion
and Renaissance art would continue to shape the
cultural experience of Europeans for centuries. The
Scientific Revolution, combined with the later rise
of industry, would give human beings
unprecedented understanding of the world they
lived in.
The European great power system would
build the empires and fight the wars of later
centuries. Modern democratic and bureaucratic
governments would grow from these early modern
nation states. And the global connections first
formed by European empire builders would evolve
into the modern world, where people are linked by
trade, travel, and international organizations.