"TO know nothing of the past is to remain forever a child." These words of theancient Roman orator and philosopher Cicero remind us of the importance

of the study of history: Although it is false to suggest that history repeats itself,

knowledge of the past nourishes our understanding of the present and helps to

prepare us for the future. It is also important that we understand the processes by

which history is written, for if we are not critical consumers of history, we can fall

prey to manipulations and distortions of the past. History is much more than the

simple recording of past events. Historians must work with the record of the past

that has survived, select from the body of evidence, and then shape and mould the

image of the past as they see it. Obviously, if history is about interpreting the past,

it is fraught with potential dangers. Are the records from which we reconstruct the

past truly representative of the people and societies we want to study? From

which perspective does a given historian write) Is the interpretation a Marxist

view, a feminist view, or a postmodern interpretation? Have the ravages of time

denied us critical evidence needed to construct an accurate picture of the past? As

we study history, we encounter these and many other questions.

After much thought and debate, the authors of Legacy: The West and the World

have come to the conclusion that the history of the past 500 years can best be

understood by raising the important issues of our time at the beginning ratherthan the end of the text. In this way, your journey through the past can focus on

how to understand the world in which you live today: For history to have value

in our lives, it must not only illuminate the past but also help us to prepare for

the future.

Whether you are interested in mathematics and science, art and literature, folk-

lore, economics, philosophy, or anthropology, the study of history can enrich

your appreciation of the world around you. History involves more than economic

wealth, political power, and military strength: It is concerned with the triumphs

and failures of humanity, with its advances and setbacks, and with our continual

search for an understanding of ourselves and our world.

Wit and Wisdom

The thing about short-term predictions is

that they can only everbe true in the short

term. If you want long-term predictions you

have to look deep backinto the past of humanexperience ...Felipe Fernandez-Armesto,

Author, Millennium

PRO lOG U E Mahing HistOlY in the West. MHR 3

-=EEING THE FUTUREHROUGH THE PAST

Designing with the End in MindThis prologue has been designed as an introduction tothe nature of historical inquiry; and to raise several ofthe big questions of our day. Throughout the secondhalf of this chapter, topics for history research papersare suggested. These are meant to serve as a frameworkfor understanding a current issue in light of the past.Pursuing such a topic will help you see the relevanceof history to the world today and the issues that affectour lives.

Legacy concludes with a unit that brings the historyof the West and the world up to the present, and an epi-logue that asks you to reflect on what you have learned.

Having crossed paths with many of the West's foremostthinkers, artists, and political leaders, as well as thosewho toiled anonymously in the fields and factories, youwill be challenged to reflect on what it all means.

Reconsidering the Modern Age

The modern age, which began with the Renaissance,was one of certainties about values and conventions; itplaced tremendous faith in the potential of rationalhuman thought. There was also a great deal of empha-sis on the acquisition of knowledge' and a belief thathistory meant progress. Generation after generationbuilt on the discoveries and experiences of its fore-bears to nudge the world forward. The modern age

Finding historical data: This section of the Bayeux Tapestry, made in the late eleventh century, recorded the appearance of Halley's Comet2:: - e . e. Is this a primary or secondary source?

-. • ~:- 0 G U E ~[aking Hist01Y in the West

was an age dominated by the Western world and bycapitalism, by a belief in the inevitable triumph of free-dom, and by Christian values. A recent American text-book dealing with modern European history concludedthis way:

Perhaps our Western heritage may even inspire uswith pride and measured self-confidence. We stand,momentarily, at the end of the long procession ofWestern civilization winding through the ages ...Through no effort of our own, we are the beneficia-ries of those sacrifices and achievements. Now thatit is our turn to carry the torch onward, we mayremember these ties with our forebears.

Statements such as these are riddled with potentialproblems because they assu~e that 'Ye can apply astandard set of values to both the past and the future.Many people now question such assumptions, claimingthat there is no irrefutable body of truth and that theassumed leadership of the Western world, with its idealsand sense of moral superiority, may no longer fit theworld now unfolding. Furthermore, we are not theculmination of history, but rather a mere speck on theontinuum of time. History has and will continue tounfold randomly: There are no set patterns, and wecannot predict the future.

\Vhat Is History?:.:;, 1066 William the Conqueror seized control ofEngland after King Harald died from an arrow wound-<) his eye; in 1434 the Italian city-states signed the~ caty of Lodi, beginning a period of peace that lasted---er half a century; in 15 i7 a Catholic monk named:3Jtin Luther posted his 95 Theses on a church door- '.\-ittenberg; and in 1816 Mary Shelley published her- ous novel Frankenstein, or the Modem Prometheus.__common misconception among students is that, by-emorizing facts such as these, they will ace their his--::-exams. They think that the sign of a good histo-

--- is an ability to recall important names, dates, and

--=-.-~---=--..-.:...:

events. Were this true, historians would be nothingmore than clerks recording data. The study of historyrequires an ability to read and write critically, to carryout research, and, especially, to think analytically andcreatively. Memorizing countless names, dates, andevents is futile if in the process these facts are not usedconstructively to detect trends and understand thehuman experience.

Change and HistoryHistory is the study of change over time; withoutchange there is no history. If Europeans dressed thesame way, ate the same food, had the same culture asthey did in the eighteenth century, there would be verylittle for historians to write about. Thus, the first les-son for the history student is that the foundation ofhistory is the study of change over time, and that theprimary question historians ask is "Why?" History isthe attempt to understand the underlying causes andconsequences of events. Using historical data in ameaningful way gives history purpose and relevance.

Continuity in HistoryAlthough historians are primarily interested in the pro-cess and agents of change, continuity also demands ourattention. Throughout history, certain institutions havereinforced continuity. Since the Revolutionary War(1775-1783), the American constitution has providedpolitical stability in the United States. Similarly, theBritish parliamentary systerri has been a vehicle for theevolution of democracy with'ou't the need for a radicalbreak with the past. This stability has been passed on toCanada, where we have been able to bring about aneffective and responsive democratic system of govern-ment without a violent revolution. In many societies,religious institutions provide ,a' link' with the pastthrough a body of beliefs and traditions. In times of tur-moil and change, many people turn to their religiousfaith for a sense of continuity. The family has also been

PRO LOG U E Making History in the West. MHR 5

a source of stability for countless generations. Customsand rites of passage, from baptism and marriage tofuneral rituals, remain relatively unchanged despiterapid change around them over centuries. Sources ofcontinuity such as government, religious institutions,and the family are important in the study of history, asthey help us to remain connected to the past. They alsohelp us comprehend why people faced with rapid andunpredictable change may seek solace in those institu-tions for a feeling of stability.

The Relevance of HistoryHow can the study of history help enrich our lives?Imagine living in a society where none of us knew anyhistory; where we knew nothing of our ancestors orthe events that brought us to this time. English histo-rian Arthur Marwick suggests that "a society withoutmemory and self-knowledge would be a societyadrift." We would suffer from a sort of cultural amne-sia and be unable to understand who we were andwhere we were heading. French anthropologist ClaudeLevi-Strauss argued that those who ignore history con-demn themselves to knowing nothing about the pre-sent because historical development alone permits usto evaluate elements of the present.

Social, Economic,and Political StructuresSome people think that history is about those withpower and wealth, and that preliterate societies haveno history. A good understanding of history mustencompass both people and society. To suggest thatwomen have no history because until recently theyhad no power, or that Native Canadians had no historyuntil Europeans began studying them is absurd. Ashistorians have broadened their definition of historyand historical developments, it has become increas-ingly evident that writing history requires drawing on awide variety of sources, including art, music, folktales,dance, religious practices, food, and family relations.

6 MHR. PRO LOG U E Malzing History in the West

By studying many aspects of the past - and not limit-ing history to written records - we can have a fullersense of the present.

Methods of Historical InquiryWhen first introduced to the study of history, studentsoften assume that what is written by historians is fact.Students are seldom asked to consider a historian'spoint of view or to understand the influence of the his-torian's culture. History is shaped by those who writeit as well as those who live it. British historian E. H.Carr wrote, "When we attempt to answer the question'What is History?' our answer, consciously or uncon-sciously, reflects our own position in time, and formspart of our answer to the broader question of whatview we take of the society in which we live."

The Roman emperor Caracalla (below right) obliterated the image ofGeta (below left), his younger brother in this family portrait. This wasnot the first time a ruler tried to rewrite history by eliminating allmemory of his or her rivals or predecessors.

,Historian or School of History . Theoretical Basis

Plutarch

1st century CE Greek historian

Historical Forces School of History

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

19th-century German philosopher

Karl Marx

19th-century German philosopher

Radical School of History

Frederick Jackson Turner

19th-century American historian

In English, as in many European languages,though not all, the word "history" has a tricky doublemeaning. On the one hand, it denotes what really hap-pened: the real past, in all its glorious complexity,more than the hand can write or the mind can com-prehend. On the other hand, the word also means "thestory of what happened." That double meaning pointsat puzzles: thinking carelessly, people can conflate thetwo and imagine that a credible tale has captured whatreally went on. Wiser heads know better. The past,especially the past long gone, has left few traces, merescattered shards, elusive hints of what the dead

Actions of great individuals determine the course of history;lays the foundation for the Great Man Theory of history

Ideas and forces shape the direction of history, e.g.,

Christianity undermined the vitality of the Roman Empireand led to its demise.

Introduced the concept of history as dialectic. For every oldidea, there is a new one that conflicts with it. Out of thestruggle, a new idea is created (thesis, antithesis, synthesis).

History is the product of conflict.

Built on Hegel's concept of the dialectic but adds the idea

of class struggle. Whenever a new method of productionoccurred, there was conflict between the older ruling classand a newer class using the newer and superior means ofproduction. Marxist historians examine history in light ofclass struggle.

History is written by the victors and is for the benefit of

those who rule. History is little more than myth-makingbecause it is written by those who won; it demonizes thosewho lost.

Suggested that geography determined the nature of a peopleand gave them advantages or disadvantages. For example,the fact that England is an island predisposed the English to

be good sailors and led them to dominate overseas trade.The frontier led Americans to be open to new ideas andprepared them to be world leaders in an age of rapidlychanging technology.

thought, felt, and did. Careful readers, sharp-eyed stu-dents, and professional historians all agree that anyhistory in the second sense - as story - is at best anapproximation, an informed, intuitive reconstruction,a take on the past.

Interpretation and AnalysisThe study of various schools of historical thought or theperspective from which different historians write isreferred to as historiography Historians drawing on thesame body of information may reach completely different

PRO LOG U E Making HistolY in the West. MHR 7

conclusions. Historiography increases the complexity ofthe study of history, but it helps to draw informed andreasoned conclusions about the past regardless of thevarying schools of thought adopted by historians. Thelist below briefly outlines several schools of historicalthought that dominated the writing of history throughmuch of the twentieth century. In recent decades, therehave been significant shifts in the schools of historicalthought that dominate universities.

In recent decades, among historians, the idea thatall scholarship, all narrative, is mere interpretation hastaken a strong hold. Several intellectual movementshave heightened our sense that, in "doing history," weare telling a story, not laying out the naked truth. It isgood to know these movements, since they shape boththis book, and much other historical writing. They"']"'£0' ",,,,jr] thr£O'l1gh llnjvers:jtjes:; s:tndents: r.h ere

encounter them at every hand.One movement, "postmodernism," is fascinated

by the power of language and other media to shapethought. We are all, it argues, prisoners of our modesof communicating; thus, our thoughts and works arenot even half our own. If that is so, any history, as tale,belongs only partly to its historian; it belongs also tothe culture that helped write or tell it. Postmodernismundercuts faith in objectivity; it also celebrates andliberates interpretation.

The defining features of the early modern andmodern eras in European history were their search fortruth, beauty, and goodness; the confidence that it waspossible to understand everything; and the faith that,through the application of human knowledge andrational thought, we could perfect society: The verybelief that society could achieve some kind of utopiaimplies a common set of goals and values. Thisassumption is no longer valid and the Western worldmust come to terms with the fact that it does not havea monopoly on what defines good government or themoral foundations of society: Irish author James Joycedescribed the postmodern cosmopolitan mind as"Europasianized Afferyank."

"Postmodern" is a difficult term to define andunderstand. Essentially, postmodernists reject the earlier

8 MHR. PRO LOG U E Making History in the West

premises that there are universal truths or standards ofgoodness and beauty, so they embrace plurality. Theyno longer accept that individuals are capable of under-standing everything because they recognize that therealm of knowledge has become too vast for anyonemind to grasp. Furthermore, postmodernists reject theWest's centuries-old quest for common values andaccept that in the present and future world there willbe diverse moral codes, each equally valid. This attackon individualism and rationalism can be dangerous, asit reduces individuals to mere cogs in an incompre-hensible machine and removes the foundation uponwhich Western societies have been built. But if wereject the pluralism of postmodernism, who will be thearbiter of what is best? By what standards will theyjudge? Historian Roland Stromberg points out that,"The enr ounter between the European West andAfrica and Asia, begun long ago, has now reached thestage of a true syncretization of cultures ..."

Postmodernism presents us with many challengesas it forces us to rethink the ways in which we respondto the world around us. In the teaching of history, itbecomes impossible to establish the "essentials" of acourse, as there are, theoretically, no fundamentaltruths and therefore no events of universal signifi-cance. Rather, what have long been considered mile-stones of history must now be acknowledged asfavourite topics of the teacher. Postmodernists couldquestion the value and accuracy of much of the materialcovered in these pages: such is the nature of viewinghistory from an eclectic perspective.

A second movement is called "post-colonialism."It shares with postmodernism a lot of skepticism, buttakes on the question, "whose story is it anyway?"Both intellectual movements agree that, most often,the masters have told the story: After all, they con-trolled the record-keeping, they took down whatserved their conscious and unconscious ends. When itcame to telling stories, they fit the narrative to theirpursuit of power. The post-colonial movement aims toliberate history from its customary masters: male,White Europeans or North Americans, and to allowthe voices from the margins to catch our ears.

Together, postmodern and post-colonial thinkers urgehistorians to heed those at the margins: outsiders, theweak, and the poor. History, they say, needs to be "de-centred." Under their influence, historians haveunearthed the experiences, voices, and stories of peopleoften lost in the narratives of the master classes:women, adolescents, children, the poor, slaves,vagrants, deviants, and outsiders of every sort. Thismovement in historical writing has had its enemies,guardians of old standards who fret that too much pur-suit of magic, witchcraft, low love, and lower life willneglect the works of genius and the sharp debates thatshaped our culture and institutions.

There is a third movement as well: "the return tonarrative." In the nineteenth century, history was a lit-erary form, often read for pleasure. In the twentieth,

hat can the homeless tell us about the history of our society? Whowill write their history?

however, history fell under the spell of the social sci-ences. Much historical writing, shedding good story-telling, opted instead for flat prose and heaps of data,astutely collected, tabulated, and graphed. In the pastdecades, however, many historians have yearned to winback the larger public by telling good stories, as grip-ping as the best movies and far more accurate.Historians are very aware of the appetite for history.Countless successful films and novels, not to mentionflourishing biography channels, prove that the audienceis huge. But more than envy or cash hunger underliesthe return to narrative. Many historians now feel thatpast experience is often better caught by a complexstory, with its odd tangles of freedom and necessity, thanby a table's summed-up scraps of many lives.

Kinds of Historians

Historians come in many stripes. They divide them-selves not only by the times and places that they study,but also by what they investigate. There are, in themain, political, economic, social, intellectual, and cul-tural historians. They have specialities; some study thefamily, women, children, or even men as men, ethnicgroups, races, and sexual subcultures. There are histo-rians of workers' movements, of coinage, of medicine,of ecosystems, to name a few. Institutions shape theiroutput; associations, wide and narrow, and learnedjournals, conferences, listservs, and informal alliancesall air and discuss discoveries and ponder routes to fol-low. And there are presses and information conglom-erates, selling books, films, CDs, and access to theWeb. These groups have the power to air and amplifyideas or to squelch them by turning a deaf ear.Historical inquiry, like knowledge of any sort, is neverfree of institutions and of their links to politics andmarkets. The stories we tell ourselves inevitably reflectthe forces on us, the storytellers.

History, then, is not a fixed story, nor is it totallyobjective; it is an intellectual practice, lodged in institu-tions and buffeted by political, economic, social, andintellectual forces. It is a fluid discussion and argument,

PRO LOG U E Making History in the West. MHR 9

usually good-natured, but sometimes heated. Thistextbook, inevitably, is a product of such forces, andsuch discussions. It springs from a moment in the his-tory of historical discourse. It invites, you, its readers,to join in the excitement and fun. You will join thegreat conversation that shapes our understanding ofthe past. That means you will join the process thateventually will render this book obsolete.

Chronology and Cause and EffectWhere should a course in modern Western and worldhistory begin? Is the Enlightenment a logical startingpoint? How about the French Revolution? The diffi-culty with beginning with either of these eras is that thefoundation for an understanding of the changes that

occurred in Europe over the past 250 years lies beforethe eighteenth century. An awareness of Europe'smedieval heritage is essential. That highly religious,agrarian society then contrasts sharply with the morehumanistic, urban society of the Renaissance.

The Big Picture: Times and Placesthat Label History

One job of history, and of historians, is to label the bigpicture. Our intellectual culture likes to cut the worldinto segments of time or space. Journalism indulgesthis habit endlessly: "The Seventies," "The Jazz Age,""The West," "Latin America," "The Third World." Thiscustom of labelling and schematizing time and space is

What made "The Seventies" so "Seventies?" What were the Middle Ages in the middle of? How do we recognize periods in history?

10 MHR. PRO LOG U E Making HistOJY in the West

not unique to us today; historians and geographerslong ago and far away sometimes did the same. But theobsession with periods of history is, as we like to say,both "European" and "modern." Medieval Europeansdid not say, "Oh, that church is just so, so twelfth cen-tury! Let's try for a modern, thirteenth-century style!"For that matter, medieval people had little sense oftheir own time as medieval, or special, except insofaras it had declined from ancient Roman greatness orhad drifted toward Christ's promised Second Comingat the end of time and history

The Renaissance was a period of revolutionarychanges in thought. Humanism, individualism, andthe quest for knowledge allowed overseas explorationto occur, challenged the power of the Catholic Church,and produced the scientific revolution. When t~e rea-on and logic of the scientific revolution were appliedto society, the foundations for the Enlightenment werelaid and a revolution in politics, government, and eco-nomics was close at hand. It is this concept of a timecontinuum that is essential to perceiving the full pic-ture of history. Also important is the realization thatjust as major developments of the past were the prod-uct of preceding events, the trends and events of todayare presently shaping the developments of the future.

As students of history, we must understand thathistory is studied but not defined in time periodsuch as the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution,

:he Age of Romanticism); history does not unfold "inpackages" and often the periods identified by his tori-

overlap. The Renaissance, which was largely an.talian phenomenon, began to fade by the mid-six-:eenth century, while the Reformation was transform-- 0 much of Europe north of the Alps. Similarly, while:.:e French Revolution brought radical change tozauch of Euro e, the Industrial Revolution was trans-rming England. Historical time periods are only~anizers to help understand the past.

Is History Progressive?~ me historians assume that history is not a random- ries of events but is moving in some kind of ordered

direction. According to ancient Greek and Romanscholars, history was an inevitable, cyclical progres-sion descending from prosperity to adversity and even-tually rising again from adversity to prosperityNineteenth-century scholars tended to regard historyas progressive, while twentieth-century scholars tendto question the concept of continual forward progressin history Being able to understand history in a broadcontext helps to establish a relevance to our presentand future lives. Consider, for example, how importantunderstanding history is in negotiating fair and equi-table agreements with a nation's indigenous peoples.

Italian Renaissance writer Niccolo Machiavelli cap-tured the essence of the classical view of history in hisfamous work The Prince. At the end of the fifteenth cen-tury, the Italian city-states were in decline after havingexperienced the glory of the Renaissance. Foreign pow-ers were invading cities such as Florence, Rome, andMilan, leading to chaos. Machiavelli wrote The PJince asa guide to restoring the city's grandeur. He expressed theclassical view of history when he wrote: "And if, as I said,the Israelites had to be enslaved in Egypt for Moses toemerge as their leader; if the Persians had to beoppressed by the Medes so that the greatness of Cyruscould be recognized; if the Athenians had to be scatteredto demonstrate the excellence of Theseus, then, at thepresent time, in order to discover the worth of an Italianspirit, Italy had to be brought to her present extremity"Thus, Machiavelli viewed history as cyclical, holding outgreat hope for a return to prosperity for Florence. He didnot, however, view history as necessarily progressive; hedid not believe that each time a society returned to agolden age, it would have progressed further than thegolden age that had preceded it. A progressive view ofhistory did not emerge until the eighteenth-centuryperiod known as the Enlightenment.

Giambattista Vico, a renowned Italian philosopherof the eighteenth century, produced the most revolu-tionary theory of history in more than one thousandyears. His New Science, first published in 1725, was atruly original historical work that contradicted theview of his contemporaries and helped establish abasis for the modern study of history Vico argued that

PRO lOG U E Making History in the West. MHR 11

since we are ourselves the creators of history, we canknow it with certainty. This idea is fundamental tomodern historiography because it defines what histo-rians study (past human actions) and states their aim(to recover human thinking).

The major aim of Vico's New Science was to dis-cover the universal laws of history. The pursuit of thisaim resulted in Vico's theory of an "ideal and eternalhistory," which is the "schematic account of the suc-cessive ages through which nations have run theircourse, and of the ricorsi [alternative courses] inwhich subsequent ages have repeated the patterns ofthose which came before." In other words, the "ideal"is the universal traits of all cultures and the "eternal"is the commonality and permanence of these traitsthrough the rise and fall of all nations.

Vico's unique view of human history as progress-ing spirally developed from his theory of an ideal andeternal history. The idea that humanity could havebeen rational, virtuous, and wise from the beginningwas totally rejected by Vico. He also rejected the ideaof progress as a causal process, asserting instead thathumanity moves forward slowly and painfully to reachmaturity only after turmoil, oppression, and bitterconflict. Vico believed that human progress was basedon building upon the ideas of past cultures.

Summarizing his view of the rise and fall ofnations, Vico wrote: "Men first feel necessity, then lookto utility, next attend to comfort, still later amusethemselves with pleasure, then grow dissolute in lux-ury, and finally go mad and waste their substance."

In the early eighteenth century, theories of humanperfectibility and progress were shaping the writing ofhistory. Many intellectuals wanted to see a pattern inthe course of historical change because they were con-vinced that history was going somewhere and that themiseries suffered by humanity were not in vain butwere part of the inevitable process of achieving somemorally satisfactory goal. This view of history as pro-gressive has survived into the twentieth century. E. H.Carr defines history as "progress through the transmis-sion of acquired skills from one generation to another."In defence of his progressive view of history. Carr

12 MHR. PRO lOG U E Making History in the West

wrote: "Everything that happens has a cause or causes,and could not have happened differently unless some-thing in the cause or causes had also been different."

For many students of history in the late twentiethcentury, the view of history as progress is quite appeal-ing. North Americans have experienced unprecedentedeconomic growth since the end of World War II; therehave been countless medical and technological break-throughs; and individual rights are being protected.It would be difficult not to perceive progress in thetwentieth century.

And yet the contemporary historian FelipeFernandez-Armesto rejects the very idea that history isunfolding in any rational and ultimately progressivemanner. Rather than examining history from the narrowperspective of a colonial power such as England, Franceor the United States, Fernandez-Armesto challenges us

Where would Giambattista Vico say we, as Canadians, are in hiscycle of history?

to consider the plight of both the victors and the vic-tims of history. He suggests the idea of progressive his-tory is "repugnant," as history "lurches betweenrandom crises, with no direction or pattern, no pre-dictable end. "It is a genuinely chaotic system," heconcludes.

Progressive or chaotic? Is it a matter of perspec-tive? The obvious problem with believing that historyis progressive is that the historian must place a valuejudgment on events. How many technologicaladvances of the twentieth century have brought withthem negative side effects (e.g., increased stress, pollu-tion)? When reflecting on progress, we must first estab-lish what we mean by progress and, secondly, we mustacknowledge that others may not share our view. Thus,although historians may be able to discern trends andpatterns in history, which help us respond to issues ofthe present and future, conclusions regarding theprogress of humanity will forever remain subjective.

Considering the Presentin Light of the Past

The insights into the past provided by history can actas our guide to the future. As you read about the peo-ple, places, events, and trends that constitute modernWestern and world history, consider what history isteaching you about yourself and the society in whichyou live. History is about the spirit of the past; in theface of the Mona Lisa lives the essence of theRenaissance; in t~e writings of Voltaire lives the spiritof the Enlightenment; the scientific revolution lives inour understanding of the universe and the humanbody; and in the memory of those who died in sense-less wars and at the hands of ruthless oppressors livesa constant reminder of our capacity for inhumanity.The study of history is the study of the triumphs andfailures that have brought us to this point and helps usro make sense of the world in which we live. In thestudy of history lives the spirit of hope that somedaythe lessons to be learned from the past may enable us:0 live harmoniously in a truly global village.

The various schools of thought that define histor-ical study provide us with many different views of thepast and, consequently, myriad insights into how thepast has brought us to this point. The balance of thischapter is devoted to raising questions regarding thedominant issues of our times. Use these questions toguide your examination of the past five hundred years.Considering the present in light of the past will bringrelevance and meaning to your study of history.

[HOT TOPIC: CULTURES OFTHE NON-WESTERN WORLD

Aboriginal groups throughout North America havelong struggled against the loss of their lands. Theirstruggles have included battles with the earlyEuropean settlers, signing treaties with European andNorth American governments, and protesting whenthose treaty agreements have been ignored or dis-missed by more recent governments. The ongoing con-flicts between Aboriginal peoples and Western settlersare just some of the examples of key conflicts and con-troversies that have arisen as a result of resistance toWestern expansion.

Is conflict inevitable when cultures encounter one another? At Oka,Quebec, Native warriors met modern, western warriors.

PRO LOG U E Making History in the West. MHR 13

IHOT TOPIC: DOESWESTERN MEAN BETTER?

What does it mean when a nation becomes increas-ingly "Western"? There are many examples of nationswhose cultures are being increasingly supplanted byWestern culture. But "westernization" denotes morethan eating hamburgers and watching Hollywoodmovies. Modern Western thought has helped shapethe West and the rest of the world since the sixteenthcentury. Such thought includes the belief in positiveprogress and the spread of popular democracy.Western beliefs, philosophies, and ideologies rangingfrom Marxism to laissezfaire economics have had bothpositive and negative impacts on scientific and reli-gious thought, as well as on economic and politicalstructures worldwide.

Potential Research Questions:1. What was the impact of the Reformation and

Calvinism on Western thought?2. Compare communism in the former Soviet Union to

communism in China, Cuba, or an African state.3. Outline and assess the spread of liberal democracy

in a non-Western state.4. Evaluate the impact of modern Western economic

and political thought on an indigenous group.5. Has pessimism replaced the belief in positive

progress? Comment from economic, environmental,and social perspectives.

Flashpoint: Social Structuresand Social Organization

The September 2001 United Nations Conference onRacism, held in Durban, South Africa, was extremelycontroversial for a number of reasons. One major rea-- n was the attempt to identify and condemn the his-:orical social structures of some nations (e.g., castesystems in India, apartheid in South Africa, slavery in_.orth America) and the suggestion that those nations::;ay reparations to compensate for the ills of slavery,colonizatlon, and for perpetuating institutionalized

discrimination and racism. Historians realize that thesocial structures (i.e., family, government, religion) ofour time can either perpetuate racism and discrimina-tion or aid positive social stability and/or change. Thehistorical examination of how diverse social struc-tures and principles have guided social organizationis critical in understanding the challenges facingcontemporary societies.

Potential Research Questions:1. Has the West traditionally facilitated greater social

mobility than did the rest of the world? Focus yourresearch on two nations (one Western, one non-Western) throughout several centuries.

2. "Is God dead?" Compare and contrast worldwidechanges in attitudes toward religion and religiousobservance in the Judeo-Christian tradition and in anon-Judeo-Christian religion (e.g., Islam, Buddhism).

3. Using a specific example, evaluate the role of reli-gious fundamentalism in facilitating or preventingsocial, economic, and political change.

4. Analyse the causes and effects of historical changesin the structure of the family and the roles of mem-bers within the family (elders, children, genderdifferences) .

5. Outline the role of technology in creating socialchange.

How might white South Africans have reacted to the removal of signssuch as this?

PRO L 0 CUE Making History in the West. MHR 21

lOUR SUBJECT:WHAT WAS EUROPE?

Let us look at the meaning of a very familiar term:Europe. For the past half-millennium, Europe has beena major player. It took time for this to happen. In 1500it was just one civilization among several scatteredaround the globe, some of them isolated, like the Aztecand the Inca, and others only sporadically in touch, likeIndia and China. The next two hundred years saw anunprecedented spread of inter-zonal contact, commerce,and conquest, almost all of it at European hands. Theresults were profound, and sometimes catastrophic, asEuropean men and microbes smashed or blighted wholecivilizations and cultures. At the same time, vast newtrade networks carried germs, plants, animals, captives,settlers, products, faiths, and cultures around the globe.Exchange was multilateral, and Europe received as wellas gave; nevertheless, in balance, it exported. Deep intothe twentieth century, the rest of the planet took on thecoloration of both Europe and its ex-colonies in theAmericas and elsewhere.

A planetary observer, with a wide-screen, birdseye-view of the globe in 1500 would hardly have fore-told Europe's imminent dominion. In Asia - Turkey,Persia, India, Java, China, Japan, Korea - were othercivilizations, as rich, as complex, as gifted. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, though with lesstechnology, had well-built states, subtle cultures, andkeen warriors. Furthermore, Europe was marginal, thewestern fringe of the great Eurasian super-continent.Not only that, it lacked unity; many states, many lan-guages, many peoples jostling one another. It had nogreat emperor, no united military Indeed, it evenlacked a single faith. It did not even think of itself as"Europe" or the "West." That notion would comeslowly, much later.

The LandscapeThe story of how this divided continent invaded andcolonized the planet comes in later chapters. Whatneeds saying here is about the complexity and ambigu-ity of "Europe." The geographic boundaries were often

22 MHR. PRO LOG U E Making History in the West

blurred. From the west and north, there was no per-ceptual problem. From the wild Atlantic or the icyArctic Ocean, one splashed or crunched ashore. Thesouthern boundary was trickier; the westernMediterranean separated Muslim North Africa fromCatholic Portugal, Spain, France and Italy That wasclear enough. But, further east, much of what we nowcall Europe was in Turkish hands: modern Hungary(after 1526), Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia,Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, southernUkraine. It is easy to forget how Turkish much ofEurope was and how European mu~h of Turkey was.The Turkish zone was richly mixed; peoples, languages,faiths and cultures lived side by side. As for the easternboundary, Russia merged imperceptibly into the woods,grasslands and arid steppes of western Asia.

Physically, European geography was very compli-cated. From north to south, it had four major zones. Atthe top was a mini-Canada, ex-glacial, with the familiarrocks, trees, and lakes, and with the usual shaggyquadrupeds: bear, moose, beaver, otter, wolf, represen-tatives of a circumpolar subarctic world. Further southwas a well-watered zone, generally temperate, easilyfarmed, densely settled, and home to towns and cities.Yet further south was a belt of massive mountains:Pyrenees in Spain, Alps in France, Switzerland, north-ern Italy, southern Germany, Slovenia, and deeper in theBalkans. These mountains drew a sharp boundary, bothphysical and cultural, between the Mediterranean andthe rest of Europe. They kept out the summer rains. TheMediterranean itself, therefore, had dry summers, scarcegrass, and insufficient livestock. It was a region of strik-ing contrasts: rough mountains, narrow, fertile valleys,rolling hills covered in olives, vines and fruit trees, andmalarial flatlands. A zone of clashing tectonic plates, ithad good scenery and far too many earthquakes.

United by Faith?It takes more than geography to define a place. Europeis Europe because it plays host to a civilization.Civilizations are far easier to imagine than to define. Asa rule, internally, they have common symbols, belief

systems, institutions, and social patterns. In 1500 mostEuropeans were Christians - Catholic or Orthodox.Their religion furnished common values, rituals, andsacred art and architecture. It also offered identity anda label for it. Though there were Christians elsewhere- in Ethiopia, Armenia, southern India, and amongArabic speakers, for instance - in relationship to theworld, Europeans often defined themselves asChristians, since most peoples they encountered werenot. Europe also shared a heritage from the ancientRoman world. Not all the continent had been under theCaesars' rule, but classical Greek and Roman cultureleft a profound mark everywhere, on language, intel-lectual culture, literature, and all the visual arts. Onegreat link to ancient Roman culture was Roman law. Itlived on, in adapted form, in the canon law that gov-erned the Latin Church. Its vocabulary, concepts, andprocedures also infiltrated the law codes of states andcities, all the way from Portugal to Russia. Alongsidereligion and the classical heritage was a third commonstrand: Much of Europe, in the Middle Ages, had seensome form of feudalism, with its codes of knighthoodand lordship. The feudal heritage shaped not only man-ners but also social relations and politics.

Who were the Europeans?Ethnicity also made a difference. It was not widenationhood, but local custom that mattered most.Since the nineteenth century, Europeans have come tothink of themselves as distinct, often rival peoplesdefined by language: Poles, Germans, Italians,

Basques, Welsh and so on, most of whom believe theydeserve a state to call their own. That link betweenspeech and political identity that now seems naturalwas, in 1500, still very foreign. Ethnicity then hingednot on language but on folkways - riddles, stories,songs, dress, cuisine, festivals, marriage customs andso on - held in common by townsfolk or inhabitantsof a country district. Attachments and hostilities wereoften local: the Sienese sneered at the near-byFlorentines; the Swiss in Bern battled the townsfolk ofZurich, a few miles down the road. Europeans, in1500, had not yet homogenized their states. That cen-turies-long process, still alive today, had barely begun.Despite its unifying traits, Europe was extremelydiverse. Religion mattered a good deal for group iden-tity; there were religious minorities outside theChristian community. In many places there were siz-able populations of Jews. Persecution made themmobile; it often banished them from cities and king-doms, and encouraged them to form networks of dis-tant allies. In the sixteenth century, western bigotrydrove many Jews into the Turkish Empire, where theyoften prospered. There were also Muslims, pockets ofthem in Spain, where they had to pretend they hadconverted to Catholicism, and flourishing colonies inthe Turkish Southeast. In Italy, Portugal, and Spainwere Muslim slaves, bought or stolen, sometimes heldin anticipation of a trade of prisoners, in exchange forChristian slaves in North Africa. There were also wan-dering bands of Roma people outside Christianchurches and society.

* Now complete Skills Focus One (p. 591):Laying the Foundation: Developing Inquiry Skills.

PRO LOG U E Making History in the West. MHR 23