Big Era Six: The Great Global Convergence 1400-1800 CE
This Big Era and the Three Essential Questions At the level of the human species as a whole, the most striking aspect of the period from 1400 to 1800 was the enormous extension of networks of communication and exchange that linked individuals and societies more and more tightly. Every region of the world became intricately connected to every other region, a development that we call the Great Global Convergence. Also in this era the world’s population began to move dramatically upward, breaking through the ceilings on growth that had previously governed human affairs. Big Era Six saw striking changes in human history. Five key transformations mark the era:
First, human societies and the networks that connected them became much more complex. The most dramatic example of this is that for the first time in history peoples of Afroeurasia began to interact on a large scale with peoples of the Americas (from the early sixteenth century) and Australasia (from the later eighteenth century).
A second major development was the Columbian Exchange of plants, animals, and microorganisms between Afroeurasia and the Americas. It followed the success of European sea captains in permanently linking the two hemispheres. The ecological and demographic consequences of the Great Global Convergence were huge, especially the “Great Dying” of much of the indigenous population of the Americas. Europeans benefited from this disaster by peopling the Western Hemisphere with new immigrants, both free European settlers and Africans slaves. Europeans also gained access to important new sources of food and fiber. These included, among many others, maize (corn), tobacco, and the potato, which were American crops, and sugar and cotton, which came from Afroeurasia but thrived in American soil.
A third change was the emergence of a truly global economy. This was another consequence of the Great Global Convergence, which linked together all major regions, except Antarctica, in a single web of exchange. Silver was the great lubricator of global trade. In the 1550s, silver mined in the Americas became available to Spain, then to the rest of western Europe, as well as to China directly by way of Spanish galleon voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Silver financed Europe’s increasing involvement in the economy of maritime Asia and subsequently provided the basis of the emergence of an Atlantic-centered world economy by 1800.
The remarkable rise of European political and military power relative to the rest of the world was the fourth major change. This was a consequence of 1) the spread to western Europe of technological and cultural innovations that originated elsewhere in Afroeurasia, and 2) western Europe’s response to the challenges of warfare in the new age of gunpowder weapons. A complete transformation of the way people fought and paid for wars occurred first in Europe, then around the world. Historians have named this development the “military and fiscal revolution” because it involved unprecedented advances in military technology and in the methods governments used to raise public money for wars.
The fifth great change was the development in western Europe of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment and the subsequent diffusion of their ideas to other parts of the world, as women and men grappled with them in a variety of ways. These intellectual and cultural developments helped to establish rational science as a standard for measuring and explaining the natural world and human behavior. They greatly enhanced human ability to manipulate nature. Because they challenged long-established religious and philosophical perspectives, these movements raised profound questions about ultimate meaning in nature and society and about the sources of knowledge. These questions continue to concern us today.
First, human societies and the networks that connected them became much more complex. The most dramatic example of this is that for the first time in history peoples of Afroeurasia began to interact on a large scale with peoples of the Americas (from the early sixteenth century) and Australasia (from the later eighteenth century).
A second major development was the Columbian Exchange of plants, animals, and microorganisms between Afroeurasia and the Americas. It followed the success of European sea captains in permanently linking the two hemispheres. The ecological and demographic consequences of the Great Global Convergence were huge, especially the “Great Dying” of much of the indigenous population of the Americas. Europeans benefited from this disaster by peopling the Western Hemisphere with new immigrants, both free European settlers and Africans slaves. Europeans also gained access to important new sources of food and fiber. These included, among many others, maize (corn), tobacco, and the potato, which were American crops, and sugar and cotton, which came from Afroeurasia but thrived in American soil.
A third change was the emergence of a truly global economy. This was another consequence of the Great Global Convergence, which linked together all major regions, except Antarctica, in a single web of exchange. Silver was the great lubricator of global trade. In the 1550s, silver mined in the Americas became available to Spain, then to the rest of western Europe, as well as to China directly by way of Spanish galleon voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Silver financed Europe’s increasing involvement in the economy of maritime Asia and subsequently provided the basis of the emergence of an Atlantic-centered world economy by 1800.
The remarkable rise of European political and military power relative to the rest of the world was the fourth major change. This was a consequence of 1) the spread to western Europe of technological and cultural innovations that originated elsewhere in Afroeurasia, and 2) western Europe’s response to the challenges of warfare in the new age of gunpowder weapons. A complete transformation of the way people fought and paid for wars occurred first in Europe, then around the world. Historians have named this development the “military and fiscal revolution” because it involved unprecedented advances in military technology and in the methods governments used to raise public money for wars.
The fifth great change was the development in western Europe of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment and the subsequent diffusion of their ideas to other parts of the world, as women and men grappled with them in a variety of ways. These intellectual and cultural developments helped to establish rational science as a standard for measuring and explaining the natural world and human behavior. They greatly enhanced human ability to manipulate nature. Because they challenged long-established religious and philosophical perspectives, these movements raised profound questions about ultimate meaning in nature and society and about the sources of knowledge. These questions continue to concern us today.