Industrial Revolutions
It is a well known fact that Europe industrialised before other regions and continents, but a discussion is still ongoing as to why. Many theories have been created, with none of them answering the question fully. This essay will examine the arguments for and against some of the theories.
One of the reasons why Europe overcame the rest of Eurasia might have been underdevelopment. Andre Gunder Frank claims that until 1800 the West was underdeveloped (Ferguson, 2004). He states that Asia was much more dominant until 1800, when Europe started to dominate because of global factors. Europe used New World gold and silver to get into the global market, which put Europe on par with other regions. Europe had a low population to…show more content… Green (2012) states that because Great Britain had large amounts of coal near the surface they could mine coal in large amounts. But flooding cole mines meant that they could still increase productivity by pumping the water out, therefore steam engines were created. Because of the higher availability of cole, cole was cheap and was most neccessary especially to the Britons, also to power the steam pumps. According to Green (2012), “steam engines used cheap british coal to keep british coal cheap, and cheap British coal created the opportunity for everything from railroads to steel, which like so much else in the industrial revolution created a positive feedback…show more content… The cultural superiosity theory can not be true, as China was known for its old and rich culture. Chinise culture such as architecture, paintings, poetry and martial arts meant that they definitely were not behind Europe, moreover, they might have been ahead. From an economic point of view, China was also superior to the West. China had the largest population at the time, which was a benchmark of economic success at the time (Green, 2012). They also were leading in export of silk and tea (Sherman, n.d.). The innovational mindset also was not exclusive to the Westerners. China invented such innovational products as paper, printing and gunpowder. The high wages also is not a valid theory as India was the largest producer of cotton while paying very low wages (Green,