The Pros And Cons Of European Civilization

During the time frame between 1500 and 1850, European countries dominated the accumulation of territories and their raw resources, which stimulated their economies through new and diverse trade options. In addition to radically enhancing formerly stagnant economies, expansion and trade paved the way for political upheaval, global interaction and cultural restructuring. Although not articulated until much later, European countries ascertained land and resources in order to fulfill what Jules Ferry, the French Minister of Public Instruction, described as a “civilizing mission”. “Superior races have a right, because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races”. This duty involves spreading Christianity, re-structuring foreign lands and customs that differ from the West and increasing production in all conquered …show more content…
In hindsight, it becomes uncertain as to whether or not economic and global advances are worth the pain of subjugation and conquest. Without European interference, it may have been a slower process in developing the lands of the Americas and Africa. Without slave work, economies would not have been stimulated as much as they were. It is possible to demonstrate the vast number of cultural, political, and economic negatives of global commerce and European supremacy, but without the desire to explore, global commerce would have remained an idealized concept. The “civilizing mission” was, for the most part, accomplished between the 16th and 19th centuries utilizing some questionable tactics by European powers in order to stimulate stagnant economies through conquest. These debatable tactics dramatically altered previously established political, global, cultural and economic structures around the world in favor of the European