It is the thesis of the theory on which this course is based, that the first of the important factors to consider regarding why modern societies are the way they are is to understand what they were like before modernization began. (See the four factors that are considered crucial in Readings, 5-6). While modernization may be seen to have started with economic changes beginning in the High Middle Ages ( rise of commerce, a money economy, capitalism and the bourgeoise), several aspects of pre-modern society in what became known as the West are important:

• The philosophical/religious beliefs of the West were rooted in two fundamentally different views of divinity: 1) The Greeks and the Romans after them believed in a pantheon of anthropomorphic gods providing the basis for a humanistic and rationalist tradition. 2) Judeo-Christian monotheism which had an other-worldly focus. Conflict and competition between these views contributed to the development of pluralism, the existence, if not always acceptance or tolerance of different ways of thinking and acting. The unified Roman Empire collapsed at the end of the fifth century A.D. into a welter of competing states. Feudalism prevailed in some of these and left an imprint crucial for liberal modernization. There were no nation-states as we understand the term. Read nation-states (See also Centennia historical map program in the library, Europe in 1300 for a graphic example) Some of these states made the transition to nation states over the span of centuries, others did not, but virturally all of them at one time or another were involved in conflict with each other.  This lack of a central, monolithic power center reinforced pluralism. This pluralism created not only a susceptibility to, but a drive for modernization in the implements of war which also meant navigation and the means of financing war ---  a competitive dynamism that was not characteristic of the self-satisfied, classical empires of which China is a prime example.. Pluralism and competitive dynamism made the West different from the classical civilizations and combined with factors outlined in the quotation below, led it into exploration, conquest, colonization and the domination of the world in the Era of Imperialism by the beginning of the twentieth century.

What led the West into the exploration out of which arose history's first global expansion? This is a question which Priit Wesilind answers in "Why Explore," National Geographic (February 1998), 42-42:

"Why were the Europeans the ones to push to the Americas? The Chinese and Arabs had the resources and technology to leap the seas, and both plied the Indian Ocean and the Asian Pacific for trade. But exploration? By the mid-15th century China had withdrawn into traditional Confucian isolationism. The Arabs with access to the minerals and spices of Africa and the Far East, saw no need to journey into the unknown.

Europe, on the other hand, needed gold and silver; its mines could not keep pace with the demand for coinage [due to commercial development already underway, MR]. Ottoman Turks blocked the overland routes to Asia. Only the sea held the promise of new wealth.

Christianity reconciled profit with piety. God had commanded the human race to subdue the Earth, and Christianity valued individual action; exploration would glorify God. The Portugese and Spanish, when they tested the Atlantic, were still imbued with medieval chivalry and the fervor of the Crusades. If African or Native Americans were killed or enslaved in the process of their conversion, it was a small price to pay for eternal life.

With the return of Magellan's ship in 1522 from its circumnavigation of the globe came the confirmation that the oceans were inter-connected, boosting the age of discovery. National rivalries propelled the brave and ambitious.

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