Introduction
European history from 1500 onwards is typified by the interplay of two great religions that dominated the region, namely Christianity and Islam. In about the same time period, the history of Asia had a more varied tapestry with Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism and Christianity synergizing and at times opposing each other over the vast landscape that make up the Asian Continent. Great strides in human thought, arts, science and technology were made during the period under review that lead to far reaching consequences globally. This essay aims to compare and contrast the affairs of man on the two continents in the period 1500 -1789 A.D.
Political Organization
The year 1500 A.D ushered in the beginnings of a revival of fortunes for the Christian world in Europe. After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of Europe. The triumphant Muslim domination continued in 1529 A.D which saw the Ottomans knocking at the doors of Vienna and remained so till the Battle of Lepanto, 1571 A.D after which the Ottomans declined in relation to the Christians.
In Asia, Islam spread its political control in far reaches of the continent. According to Encyclopedia Britannica online, the Mughals were a “Muslim dynasty that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century.” Thus Islam had a geographical spread extending from Istanbul to most part of North and Central India. Across both continents, Monarchy was the dominant form of governance that continued till the French Revolution in 1789 A.D which heralded the advent of Democracy.
Effects of Geography
The era was very much an age of exploration. The imperatives of geography and wind patterns soon had their concurrent effect on the political affairs of the world. While Asia, being the largest continent saw a preponderance of ‘Continental approach’ to expansion, the smaller Europe saw a mix of ‘Continental’ and ‘Maritime’ approach to expansion. Easterly winds off Britain’s West coast helped them deploy faster and thus rule the seas around Europe. The British quickly learnt how to master the seas as the great historian Alfred Thayer Mahan notes:
The powerful East India Company, founded in 1602, had built up in Asia an empire, with possessions taken from the Portuguese. Mistress in 1650 of the Cape of Good Hope, which guaranteed it a stopping-place for its ships, it reigned as a sovereign in Ceylon, and upon the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel. It had made Batavia its seat of government, and extended its traffic to China and Japan. (Mahan, 1890, Chapter II).
Favorable Atlantic wind patterns saw the Spanish conquer most of South America. It is a testament of this period that even today the entire continent of South America (except Portuguese speaking Brazil) speaks Spanish. Europeans used geography to their advantage and soon conquered most of the known world. The period 1500 to 1789 is also known as the age of colonialism where European states ranged far and wide leading to the discovery of Americas, new trade routes to India and the subsequent conquest of much of the known world. Thus geography and more importantly the knowledge to use geography to own advantage was a defining feature of the Europeans in the period 1500 – 1789 A.D.
Religion and Cultural Aspects
The contrast between interplay of religions in Europe and Asia was much starker. Clash between Islam and Christianity was more accentuated in Europe because both are monotheistic religions while the friction was not so evident in Asia where polytheistic religions such as Hinduism simply absorbed the tenets of Islam with the Islamic invaders absorbing a significant amount of Hindu culture. In the Eurasian region, the animistic practices of the Mongols and the Islamic effect of wearing conical hats and long flowing robes was very much apparent in Christian Russia.
This provoked the Russian Czar, Ivan the great, to ban such clothing to encourage a more Christian identity. In China, Buddhism very easily melded with Confucianism and ancestor worship. In Europe, the early 1500s saw a divided church where the extreme corrupt practices of the priests and the monks lead to the reformation movement and the birth of Protestantism. Time-Life book (1990) reports that Martin Luther “demanded that a general council of the church be convened to examine papal abuses” (p.16).
Political settlement such as the Peace of Westphalia (1648) added impetus to liberalism. Barro and McCleary (2005) state that “With the Peace of Westphalia, the member states agreed to respect private worship, liberty of conscience, and rights of migration for religious minorities within their domains”(p.3). One can argue that the reformation laid the groundwork for moderation of religious thought and the separation of the church from the affairs of the state. This separation of God from the state was the principle driver for the spate of innovations, spirit of inquiry, and entrepreneurship that lead to the triumph of the European Continent over Asia. In stark contrast, Islam allowed no deviation from the words of Allah and thus stagnated under strict Islamic dogmas.
Social Structure
Social Structure in Europe revolved around a ‘Class’ system while that in the Indian Sub Continent centered on a ‘Caste’ system. The European trinity of King, God and the Church ruled most of the Christian world with the nobility next and traders and the peasantry forming the lesser privileged class. The Islamic kingdoms too had their classes despite the egalitarian principles of Islam. The Sultans and Caliphs were the absolute rulers with the clergy being the sole authority of jurisprudence in the affairs of the Islamic state. The Hindu kingdoms followed a strictly stratified caste system with the Brahmins (Pundits and Scholars), Kshatriyas (The king and the warrior class), Vaishyas (the Traders and Peasants community) and the Shudras (The untouchables).
In China too a class system existed with the Emperor on the top followed by the nobility, traders and peasants being last in the hierarchy. The reformation and the age of reason had great salutary effect on the European class system where the ‘class’ of the man increasingly mattered less. The groundwork laid down in the period 1500 to 1789 A.D in Europe paved the way for western liberal democracies to emerge. In contrast, the caste system in the Indian subcontinent proved to be more resilient and haunts progress till to date.
Arts, Architecture, Literature and Technology
Christian Europe during the period of reformation or Renaissance gave rise to a quantum jump in technology, science, arts and literature. It is indeed a defining moment in world history because at about the same time, the Muslim world declined in those very fields which had made them masters of the Eurasian heartland. Huntington (1996) says that “ By 1500, the renaissance of European culture was well under way and social pluralism, expanding commerce and technological achievements provided the basis for a new era in global politics”(p.50). In contrast, Asia continued to excel in arts, economic activity and traditional medicines but had lost its edge in technology.
Gun powder was discovered in China but was used only for ceremonies and festivals. The same gun powder lead to a military revolution in Europe and vastly increased the combat capability of European armies. Huntington (1996) emphasizes this point by stating that “ the key to the Westerners success in creating the first truly global empires between 1500 and 1750 depended upon precisely those improvements in the ability to wage war which have been termed the military revolution” (p.51). In the same period of time, the Asians very rudimentary artillery weapons in comparison to the Europeans.
Effects on Future Civilizations
During the period from 1500 to 1789, trade flourished on both sides of the world. The Europeans discovered new trade routes, new lands and thus added to their prosperity. The route around the Cape of Good Hope opened the vistas for sustained trade of the Western Hemisphere with the East. Culture flowed and synthesized both over land routes as well as by the sea. The ancient knowledge of the East in the fields of medicines, astrology, astronomy and mathematics was refined and developed by the Europeans laying foundations for the Industrial revolution to transform the European landscape in the 19th century.
In contrast much of the Industrial revolution was missed by Asia which served to supply only raw materials as colonies of European powers. Thus Europe came out of its period of darkness during the ages 1500 to 1789 A.D, learnt from its mistakes, used Eastern knowledge to its advantage, and reformed its thinking which laid the foundations for future European supremacy over Asia.
References
Barro, Robert J & McCleary, Rachel M. 2005. “Which Countries Have State Religions”. Harvard University. Web.
Encyclopedia Britannica online. 2008. “Mughal Empire (India [1526-1707])”. Web.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order”. Penguin Books. N.Y, USA.
Mahan, Alfred Thayer. “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783”. 2007. Project Gutenberg. Web.
Philip, Ellen & Editors TIME Group. 1990. “ The European Emergence AD 1500-1600”. TIME Warner Inc. USA.