Brian Paolo R.

Lumanog
HISTCIV – Assessment No. 4

The Dominance of the West

A few hundred of years ago, during a time when the world was still
thought to be flat and that crossing seas would mean falling off the
edge of the world, man did not really go far away from their homes.
During a time when the classical age had long gone, everyone seemed
contented with what they have. And then something amazing
happened.

Suddenly, in Italy, there had been a stream of endless knowledge and

innovation that have seemed to have popped out of the ground. It was
the Renaissance—literally meaning REBIRTH; a spark that initiated a
rebirth of classical learning molded into a beautiful culture that gave
birth to many ingenious plans that would eventually sweep the whole
western region, as well as other parts of the world, by storm. Suddenly,
a new culture had been born, a culture that used innovation and
critical thinking in the form of arts, sciences, and religion.

Soon enough, old and rotten methods of living life needed to be

scrapped out. Man thought that religion, if not constructed in an
orderly fashion, can cause major disturbances in the local as well as in
the international level. This is why the Age of Reformation took place.
The world got too small for a single belief and faith. The events that
would have happened during this timeframe influenced the world in a
dramatic scale.

Science, as we know it, is the closest man could ever get to God’s
explanation to everything in the universe. But as the case may be, the
Age of Scientific Revolution came a long way. With the likes of
Leonardo da Vinci, man did not simply enjoy the benefits one could get
from utilization of natural resources, but man found contentment with
being able to explain why and how natural phenomenon worked to
make life easier, more comfortable, and more convenient. Man had
been bumped up to the title, “CREATOR”. The innovations and new
discoveries during this time had swept across the universe leaving the
west with sole dominance over the world.

And so man’s world became smaller and smaller, and innovations

became bigger and bigger, that it was time to move out of his “comfort
zone” and explore. The pioneers of exploration, Spain and Portugal,
took courageous steps into setting out to see in search for new lands
to discover. Setting to sea was a major thing for one might not know
when to stop sailing for it not to fall off the edge of the world. Soon
enough, they would prove that the world is not flat but in fact
spherical. And also, that there were other civilizations out there just
waiting to be discovered. As the first people to have sailed across the
world, literally, the west claimed that they were superior over everyone
else. And once again, the dominance of the west had gone too deep
into the ground to be uprooted off its domination.

Pointed out that are changes happened in the west, but slowly these
changes affected the rest of the world. In fact, Russia during the 16th
century was still living in the medieval state and was pretty much
living backwardly still under barbarians. But the influences of the west
would soon germinate to Russia and would give rise to names like Ivan
III, Ivan IV, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great that would move
Russia up a notch into democracy, the flourishing of many industries,
and continuous expansion that in turn, a few years into the future,
make Russia a great nation.
In terms of exploration and colonization, Spain and Portugal were up
there because of factors like good geography (right by bodies of
water), political stability, and the early development of navigational
technology and understanding. Colonization came with the motto “ALL
FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF SPAIN/PORTUGAL.” The search is never
over for new territories to dominate over for the three important
causes of these expeditions: Gold, Silver, Spices. And along with these
three main causes is to find an all-water route to these territories away
from the Arab trade route monopoly. Asia, and the Americas were the
regions where the dominance of the west in terms of colonization was
concentrated.

In the Islamic Realm, pre-western dominance was under the Ottoman

Empire extending rule over the entire Balkan Peninsula, Iraq, Syria,
Palestine, Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, as well as
other smaller states. But then again, the dominance of the west was
too powerful to contain. The French, under Napoleon Bonaparte took
over Egypt, one of the world’s great nations. And soon, the once
downtrodden Russia would enter the scene and also rule over Crimea.
France would extend territory to Algeria, and the British would also
dominate over Aden, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.

Europe was overruled by a political and social system called the Ancien
Regime or simply the Old Regime. This was monarchical in nature, and
classes in society were very much prevalent. There were three estates
to belong in; the first estate the Roman Catholic clergy; the second,
the nobility; and lastly, the third estate, consisting of the rest of the
population who were heavily taxed by the monarchs. Expansion was
the main objective of the monarchs, and they would tax sixty percent
of the third estate’s income, but the nobles and clergy were never
taxed. There had been revolts against this, but monarchs would always
find a way to get richer and richer. One defence is the existence of the
doctrine of Divine Rights which claims that monarchs are given the
power to rule by God alone, and that whatever they do would be
justified in the eyes of God. The Ancien Regime was not really
magnificent at all for it was built on corruption.

In Asia, there had been a great number of colonies put up by many

western powers draining these nations’ natural resources. The Ancien
Regime was brought to these Asian nations as well, that colonization
was justified in the eyes of God. We need not look too far, for the
Philippines was under the Spanish rule once upon a time, and evidently
the name of religion had been used to abuse. In turn, revolts arose
from all over.

Conservatism is an enemy of improvement and new ideology. Simply,

conservatism means the negation of ideology. Old ideas that are
outdated need to be replaced by new ideas that work, new methods
that work for the better. The rise of the Renaissance, the Scientific
Revolution, Colonization, and Reformation were products of new
ideology and turning away form conservatism.