How Europe’s White Folks Came to Rule the World

Europe’s “white folks came to rule the world” through the export of their accomplishments. The articles entitled “How White Folks Came to Rule the World: Geographical Determinism”, “The Millennium of the West”, and “They Came, They Went Away” support this statement. It is stated in “How White Folks Came to Rule the World: Geographical Determinism”, that in Europe “there were no big natural barriers to the spread of the people” and thus “technologies diffused through that expanse with relative ease”. Thus, this supports the idea that Europeans exported their accomplishments easily, in this case due to the lack of natural barriers. A quote from “The Millennium of the West” reads thus: “It [Europe] has exported worldwide its soldiers, missionaries, and empire-builders, its religion and its ideas, its arts and its sciences, its goods and its technology, its political and business systems, even its principal currency. Like it or not . . . for the moment the West has triumphed”. This also supports the statement that Europe came to rule the world through the export of its accomplishments. According to the quote, they exported everything. It is stated in “They Came, They Went Away”, that “their [Europe’s] merchants [are] always competing: two forces that drive technology and much else”. It is later stated that they “claimed a monopoly of the oceans”. Thus, with advanced technology through competition and a monopoly over the oceans, the exporting of these highly-developed technologies over the monopolized oceans, seems rather easy. Hence, this article also supports the statement that Europe came to rule the world through the export of its accomplishments. Also in this article, we can find several biases. Early in the article it is written that the “Holy Roman Empire . . . was a fake– ‘neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire’”. Multiple non-European empires are then named, that were supposedly better than European empires. Clearly it seems that the author is biased against Europe in general. The author attempts to go back and rename everything that was considered great in European history, and state why it was, in fact, not. In conclusion, these three articles support the idea that Europe came to rule the world through the export of its accomplishments.

Europe’s “white folks came to rule the world” through the use of their resources. The article “They Came, They Went Away”, and paragraph two of this paper support this statement. Late in “They Came, They Went Away”, it is stated that “Europe had the men, the ships, the money, and on top it had the guns. It knew how to pull all four together. No one else did . . .” Thus this supports the statement that a big factor in the means by which Europe came to rule the world is by using their resources. In addition to this, as paragraph two of the current paper confirms, Europe had geographical advantages as a resource. This resource, they also used wisely. Thus, the use of their resources, is one way in which Europe came to rule the world.

In the Middle Ages Europe might have been considered an uncivilized continent. However, for the majority of the last millennium, its has ruled the world. Thus, the question is, how did this happen so fast. Historians have searched for answers and many have been put on the table. For now, the West has triumphed. In conclusion, Europe’s “white folks came to rule the world” through geographical advantages, the export of their accomplishments, and the use of their resources.