King and Kolb

Macie Kolb and Rylee King

Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Martin
AP World and Humanities 2
21 February 2016
The Scientific Revolution in the context of Europe and the Americas:
The stepping-stone that allowed these civilizations to develop into dominant powers,
rising above the adequacy of this time, and becoming trailblazers in the areas of politics,
economics, and social interactions.

Between the years 1750 and 1914, Europe and the Americas became the
hegemonic power of the world through rapid industrialization, urbanization, and
technological innovation. The development of the Scientific Revolution in Europe, that
continued to spread to the Americas, allowed the notion of the Western World to
become established, due to the increasing gap between the this newfound dominant
region, and the rest of the world. With the aid of this revolution, standards of living, life
expectancy, and level of wealth all rose dramatically; thereby, allowing people a healthier
way of life, causing them to enjoy and engage in the arts, humanities, and innovation,
unlike anything ever seen before. The focus on Europe in this context isnt meant to show
bias towards a Eurocentric view on history, but rather to expose the factors that set
Europe, and eventually the Americas, apart from the rest of the world, due to the
Scientific Revolution. The unparalleled work ethic and competition of the West at this
time allowed them to become a dominating presence economically and politically, but it
is quite capricious to ignore the transformations caused by the Scientific Revolution

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within Europe and the Americas. Due to this strong work ethic, the Scientific Revolution
was able to provide many benefits in the areas of commerce, wealth, and connections in
Europe and the Americas, just as farmers that work feverishly on their land receive
plentiful crop yields in exchange for their toils. Without the steam engines, farm
technologies, and turbines, the farmers would be significantly less productive, just as
Europe and the Americas would be less involved in the markets of distant and enriching
regions without the technologies brought upon them by the Scientific Revolution. Thus,
the Scientific Revolution was the primary factor in the Great Divergence that allowed the
Western World to become the most prominent hegemonic power of the world, rising
above the other major civilizations and empires in the areas of social, political, and
economic life during this time.
The Scientific Revolution transformed Europe into a country that was undergoing
economic degradation and stagnation, to a region that delved into rich markets and
experienced global commercial successes. In Why Was the Industrial Revolution a
European Phenomenon?, it explains how economic growth in the West over two
centuries was caused by industrialization through the Scientific Revolution, allowing
Europe to advance technologically (Mokyr 27). Technology was able to progress in
societies such as the West, due to its ability to diffuse innovation rapidly throughout the
region, as well as connect modern scientists to each other through establishments of
conventions (Mokyr 29). Not only was the West able to encourage the diffusion of
technology, through innovations such as the steamship, but it was also able to develop
techniques that derived from local circumstances, such as the electric light and the cotton
gin, that allowed it to prosper economically and socially, particularly in the domestic

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household. Despite the fact that many other civilizations had periods of economic,
political, and social stability, they were not able to develop technological innovations that
allocated to their regions specifically and allowed them to diffuse technology rapidly.
Thus, Europes ability to progress in the areas of hegemonic control and economics was
due to the Scientific Revolution, or a change in the coevolution of technology, and
Europes underlying epistemic base.
The Scientific Revolution in Europe, that later spread to the Americas, provided
the West with the means to progress technologically, politically, and socially forward, as
new innovations were created. These innovations allowed the amount of goods and
services to increase dramatically over the centuries between 1750 and 1914, due to the
new manufacturing techniques that produced a greater quantity of products that were of a
significantly greater quality. These products were heavily manufactured in cities, causing
an excess amount to be sold outside of Europe to less developed countries, resulting in a
growing dependency on manufactured goods from Europe, enriching the West and
increasingly damaging the economies of less developed countries. In Dependency, it
explains how Europe and North America flourished at the expense of countries on the
periphery, such as Latin America, because the Wests structural industrialization,
commenced by the Scientific Revolution, caused many to become influenced by
economic growth in the West as a function of the lesser developed countries own national
economic interests (Perez 136). Thus, the economic advancement stimulated by
industrialization in the Western World caused it to become a powerful hegemonic empire
in the centuries following 1750, by allowing it to progress as other countries digressed
from their own economic advancement and became interested in the Wests. Although

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other countries were able to stimulate an increase in economic output throughout their
periods of success, no country matched the complete economic revival that was
established in the West, due to their inability to industrialize their market, which was far
fetched in other countries at that time. Therefore, the Scientific Revolution, which
allowed for products to become manufactured more efficiently, caused a great divergence
between the Western World and the other major civilizations of this time (for example the
Islamic World, China, and India), resulting in it becoming the most prominent hegemonic
power of the world.
Between the years 1750 and 1914, Europe and the Americas became the
hegemonic power of the world through industrialization, urbanization, and technological
innovation. The development of the Scientific Revolution in Europe, which spread to the
Americas, allowed a great divergence to begin to accumulate between the newfound
Western World, and other major civilizations. With the aid of this revolution, standards
of living, life expectancy, and level of wealth all rose significantly; thus allowing people
to stimulate economic, social, and political growth in the societies of Europe and the
Americas. The unparalleled work ethic and competition of the West at this time allowed
them to become a dominating presence economically and politically, but it is quite
irresponsible to ignore the complete transformations formed by the Scientific Revolution
within Europe and the Americas. Due to these transformations economically, the
Scientific Revolution was able to provide many benefits in the areas of commerce,
wealth, and connections in Europe and the Americas. Thus, the Scientific Revolution was
the primary factor in the Great Divergence that allowed the Western World to become the

King and Kolb

most prominent hegemonic power of the world, rising above the other major civilizations
and empires in the areas of social, political, and economic life during this time.