Europe+B+Young+Kyu+Jenny+Ho+Joon

Thesis: The success of Western Europe around the 17th century was mainly due to science/technology, military strength, trade, religion and art.

• Age of Exploration With the aid of science and technology, Western Europe started out on the age of exploration, which became one of the most significant periods in European, as well as the world, history.
 * Science and technology**

Support: New tools for navigations and new designs for sailing ships helped minimize the risk of ships being capsized by choppy waters and bad weathers.

• The Industrial Revolution Started in Britain, a transition from manual-based economy to machine-based manufacturing started this period, which marked a major change in the human society.

Support:

• Military power Science and technology played a great part in the military strengths of the European countries like Great Britain, France, Portugal and the Netherlands. This was owed to the superior weapons that they possessed.

Support: In the 1700s, while the Asian and Muslim countries were using spears and knives as main source of weapons, the European countries were already equipped with guns, gunpowder and other chemical weapons. This helped a lot in the wars they took part in, especially against helpless countries that knew not of such superior technology.

The age of exploration not only signaled a new contact with the rest of the world, but also brought about the 2 other factors of success in Europe, which is trade and religion. By traveling around the world, they could effectively: 1. Spread Christianity 2. Engage in trade, which brought about economic success We can thus conclude that without the development of science and technology, none of the above factors that led to European success could have been possible.

• Newton's Law of Gravity 1687 • Boyle's Law in 1662 • Scientific Instruments such as the barometer.

• Opening up of trade with other countries like India Trading with dominant countries with India helped Western Europe financially. Spices and silk were lucrative commodities that made a lot of European countries rich, especially the Portuguese who established trade ties with many countries.
 * Trade** and Economics

• Discovering of new trade route This was a very significant discovery for sailors and merchants who mostly lost their fortune due to dangerous weathers and long travels. This not only meant that merchants could travel more often, it also meant that other countries, other regions were more accessible to the common people. This point was very significant as contact with the outside world helped open up Western Europe.

• Improvement of economy with trade The global expansion of Western Europe in the 1760s was a great transition in the trade system as well. The colonial powers, instead of buying colonial products like spices and slaves, increasingly became sellers in search of markets for the growing volume of their machine-produced goods. The rising demand of raw materials for industry (like cotton and wool) meant an efficient way to earn money through the trading systems, which leads to economics. This certainly helped boost the economy of Western Europe.

Religion played a key factor in the development of Western Europe. Christianity was an important source of motivation in Western Europe, where people were united in the one aspect of life—religion. The desire to spread goodness to all mankind was the root of Europe’s opening up to the rest of the world. • Spreading of Christianity The desire to share a common religion, to advertise their religion to the rest of the world was the main motivation behind the Europeans traveling around the world and their communication with other countries. - Support 1: A lot of Asian and the Middle East countries have Christianity as a main religion now. These ideas and beliefs were influenced by the powerful countries at that time, like the Portuguese that traveled a great deal to secure ties, the British who were always engaged in wars and territorial disputes. - Support 2: In the 3 main goals for colonization, the 3 ‘G’s, God was one of them, which signified the Europeans’ eager wish to convert the people of undeveloped countries to Christians. Christianity was the main focus.
 * Religion**

• Belief of rewards in afterlife/ the Christian doctrine The Christian doctrine stated that only those who behave well on Earth would be allowed into heaven. While it could have been seen as more of a threat than an encouragement, this certainly helped people exercise the correct ethics and behave with integrity in the society. The people’s discipline helped Europe proceed on to its peak of development.

The Europeans were the world’s power house, with the British and the French being the 2 most powerful countries in the world and the Portuguese also following up close. • Colonial rulers Being well-known colonial rulers of the 17th and 18th century, the British and the Portuguese colonized a lot of countries, establishing their powers. With big army and superior weapons, they were big and strong. Colonization meant that they exercised a bigger sphere of influence over the world, which was very important in their success.
 * Military strength**

• Superior weapon (in Science and Technology) The reason behind the Europeans’ being the world’s military power was not just because of their superior men and army. What was more significant was the superior weapons they had.

Countless of talents were produced in this land of patrons of the arts. • Baroque It is a major part of music today and is widely studied all over the world. Major composers known for this period were Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach. The baroque period saw the development of “functional tonality.” During the Baroque period, composers and performers used more advanced ornamentation (musical) and made more improvements in musical notation. Not only this but it developed instrumental playing techniques. Because of Baroque music, we are in the music world and system now. “Baroque music expanded the size, range and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established opera as a musical genre. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are still in use today.”
 * Art**

•	"PCNL Library - The Impact of Newton's Principia on the Philosophy of Science." The Pari Center for New Learning. 25 Aug. 2008 . •	"Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation." Welcome to UT Astrophysics! - Astrowiki. 25 Aug. 2008 . •	"Western Europe in World Trade." Home | Scribd. 25 Aug. 2008 . •	"What is Boyle's Law?." wiseGEEK: clear answers for common questions. 25 Aug. 2008 . •	Beck, Roger B.. Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction. United States of America: Mcdougal Littell, 2006.
 * Citation:**