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Rise Of The West Dbq

Decent Essays

As the rise of the west began, there were many factors playing into the dominance of the western part of the world. Many changes happened over the years and these changes impacted the whole world. Some of these changes are economic, cultural, and demographic. As the west began to improve and develop, these changes helped the west establish the main dominance in the world. Ultimately, the main cause of the rise of the west was the factors of economic, cultural changes, and demographic changes impacted the society. There were multiple cultural changes that occurred in the west as they began to rise to power. Documents 1, 2, 3, and 7 all demonstrate the various changes. Document 1 demonstrates how the founder of America, Christopher Columbus, …show more content…

Documents 4, 5, 8, and 10 all showcase why the change in economy helped the west rise. Document 4 is a graph representing different technological inventions created during the rise of the west. These creations, such as the crossbow, gunpowder, and paper, had positive outcomes. These innovations helped increase the trade throughout Europe as the demand for them drastically increased. This demand in trade from all over the world greatly increased the western economy, empowering the nations in the west. In document 5, the point of view of William McNeill, the author, is that the east ultimately benefited as a direct result of the borrowing from the west. He believes that since the west was so successful and powerful, that the only reason the east caught up with it was because they borrowed from the west. He also believes that borrowing was the only way to come to power and boost the economy. In document 8, there is evidence that the east was once the leaders in dominance and economics, but lost that standing during the rise of the west. But, there is the argument that the rise was not for the west, as it was for the world economy. Document 10 argues that there was an intentional driven European growth, and a similar growth happened in East Asia. Although this growth didn’t happen until the 1800’s, there is still the resemblance between the two. This growth in Europe helped shape its …show more content…

Demographics are shown in documents 6, 11, 12, and 13. First, in document 6, the topic of domestication between plants and animals arose. The author argues that the density of human population document determined the amount of domestication occurring. This resulted in a various amount of food surpluses. The surplus of food would result in an increase of population in different areas. In the document, the author argues that more advanced societies in better geographic locations benefited from the domestication of plants and animals. Since larger and more developed regions benefited, they had a higher change of growing their population and increasing their surplus due to their luck of domestication. Document 11 discussed the decrease in human population due to natural causes, such as drought, famine, and disease. This decrease in population was directly connected to the colonial world. The expansion of the colonies was the gateway to spreading natural disaster and epidemic disease. Lastly, in Document 13 expresses concern about the smallpox epidemic that occurred among the native Indians in Peru. The Indians faced many plagues once the European conquered their land. These sicknesses wiped out nearly half of the native population in Peru. From the point of view from the author, the expansion of the west ultimately benefited the modern world, but it came with harsh consequences. When the Europeans

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