Madison Rambles #1: The Modern Misnomer
Hello, everyone!
Welcome to the return of Madison Rambles About History! This time, I'll be talking about the modern era, and why the Early Modern Era of 1450-1750 is not that modern and Eurocentric. That may be a shock to people who have learned about Christopher Columbus and the diseases the explorers brought to America, but our Modern Era is different than Christopher Columbus's Modern Era. It's as if they're two different time periods that have been stuck together...
This is the Intro to Part 4, or, as the book calls it, The Big Picture: Debating The Character of An Era.
First things first, there are some similarities between early and late Modern Era beyond "humans and farming existed." For example, Europe did have significant interactions with the Americas, some good, some atrocious. The city of Edo, now known as Tokyo, grew to become the largest city in the world. And Europe fell in love with the concept of science, leading to the discovery of cells and Newton's Laws of Motion.
However, if someone were to travel back in time and look at the Early Modern Era, they may think, "Wow, these people aren't that technologically advanced." Traditional farming was still around, feminism was unheard of, and the concept of diversity was not as mainstream as today. Even the deadly diseases were different; while heart disease is the most common cause of death today, smallpox was prominent back then.
Even if someone were to claim, "Europe dominated the world" in this time period, they would be incorrect. While Europe did gain control of America and started the slave trade, China was still a major country in the world. Also, the slave trade was regulated by African authorities, so Europe didn't even fully control what they created. While they did connect the Americas with Europe, they did not control most of the world.
Hopefully, that explains where the world was from 1450-1750. A lot did change over that time period, such as scientific discoveries, but it was still far from the Modern Era today.
Until next time!
By the way, here's a plant cell, since that was the first cell discovered in human history. It was in the Early Modern Era!
Welcome to the return of Madison Rambles About History! This time, I'll be talking about the modern era, and why the Early Modern Era of 1450-1750 is not that modern and Eurocentric. That may be a shock to people who have learned about Christopher Columbus and the diseases the explorers brought to America, but our Modern Era is different than Christopher Columbus's Modern Era. It's as if they're two different time periods that have been stuck together...
This is the Intro to Part 4, or, as the book calls it, The Big Picture: Debating The Character of An Era.
First things first, there are some similarities between early and late Modern Era beyond "humans and farming existed." For example, Europe did have significant interactions with the Americas, some good, some atrocious. The city of Edo, now known as Tokyo, grew to become the largest city in the world. And Europe fell in love with the concept of science, leading to the discovery of cells and Newton's Laws of Motion.
However, if someone were to travel back in time and look at the Early Modern Era, they may think, "Wow, these people aren't that technologically advanced." Traditional farming was still around, feminism was unheard of, and the concept of diversity was not as mainstream as today. Even the deadly diseases were different; while heart disease is the most common cause of death today, smallpox was prominent back then.
Even if someone were to claim, "Europe dominated the world" in this time period, they would be incorrect. While Europe did gain control of America and started the slave trade, China was still a major country in the world. Also, the slave trade was regulated by African authorities, so Europe didn't even fully control what they created. While they did connect the Americas with Europe, they did not control most of the world.
Hopefully, that explains where the world was from 1450-1750. A lot did change over that time period, such as scientific discoveries, but it was still far from the Modern Era today.
Until next time!
By the way, here's a plant cell, since that was the first cell discovered in human history. It was in the Early Modern Era!
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