Reading Guide - Geopolitical Factors in the Rise of Europe
Directions: Do the tasks or answer the questions below as you read. There will be an assessment based on these questions at the beginning of next class.
List and explain four reasons why China seemed more likely than Europe to be the dominant world power in 1500.
List six other civilizations that seemed more likely than Europe to be dominant.
The lack of highly centralized states and strong rulers created political pluralism (freedom) in Europe. How did this aid Europe's rise?
Two features of Europe's geography encouraged economic pluralism (competition) and trade. List these features and explain how they encouraged competition and trade.
List the three important military inventions of this time period discussed in the reading.
These military inventions helped European countries to defeat non-European armies and establish large colonial empires. List two effects of this in Europe.
Challenge: The two questions below are really hard because the reading doesn't just give you the answer. But it does give you some clues. You will not be responsible for these at the beginning of next class but feel free to try to answer them anyway.
For our purposes, let's define middle class as artisans, merchants, and entrepreneurs (businesses). These people did not own land or work on farms and were also not members of the clergy. The middle class tends to be very creative and is usually responsible for making the inventions that make us better off and richer as a society (think Steve Jobs). Why was the middle class so productive in Europe? Use the example of the French Huguenots to explain your answer.
List two effects of the rise of this free European middle class and be able to explain each.