Geographically, European nation states
How did Europe and China arrive at their different political systems?
Are geography and environmental (and biological) conditions as important as human activities in determining the course of this history?
At what point does technology become important?
1. Separation of church and state (from the conflict between the Holy Roman …show more content…
Exploration and Colonialism: Not in the way many think though. When the Turks conquered Constantinople, unlike the earlier Moslem empire they cut all the ancient East-West trade routes. This kicked off the European Age of Exploration, as Europeans (the Portuguese first) went looking for an alternate route by sea to the East. Contrary to popular opinion, the colonies more often cost more than they paid back, in terms of supporting vast military forces over seas. However, this exploration and exposure to foreign cultures deeply enriched the Europeans' cultural awareness and more importantly forced them to develop sophisticated and standardized systems and technologies to deal with ocean navigation, fortification, supplying armies spread all over the world, communications, raising $$$ to support all this, etc. etc. etc. These all taught Europeans powerful lessons about social and political organization on a