Question

What were Europe's historic contributions to the development of the world's present economic order? How did their contributions change Europe itself?

Answer 1

Answer:

EXPLORATION: Introduced European ideas and values to the rest of the world.

COLONIZATION: Implanted those values in many parts of the world.

IMPERIALISM: Europeans (and other imperial powers) used the rest of the world for its resources, and imposed military and political power on them to insure the resources could be used.

THREE WORLDS DIVISION: The preceding factors and the Cold War led to the current division of the world into FIRST WORLD (developed nations), SECOND WORLD (developing nations), and THIRD WORLD (undeveloped nations).

Along the way Western powers (especially European) imposed their social, political, and economic ideas on the rest of the world. A case in point is Iraq, which didn't exist until the British created it after World War One.

Modern-day Greeks only inhabit a small area of Europe in the south eastern corner. Their ancestors, however, were firmly established in Europe by 1000 B.C. The Greek city-states had differing forms of government, but some established democracy, later adopted in other areas of Europe and the world. Early Greeks also made great contributions to the sciences and humanities, and a number of their ideas still influence the way many people view the world.

Europeans developed the idea of the nation and combined it with that of state to form the nation-state idea which is the belief that each nation should be free to govern itself and can only do so if it has its own state (i.e., country). Thus, nations become linked with states.