The European Miracle

The term European miracle was coined by Eric Jones to describe his position that Europe was more advanced and progressive than all other civilizations prior to the year 1492, allowing it to develop capitalism, reach the New World first, and dominate world trade and politics. It is closely related to the idea of the Great divergence.

Roots of the European miracle hypothesis

Jones' theories can be seen as building on the work of earlier thinkers such as Max Weber, Immanuel Wallerstein, Georg Hegel, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx. Weber's idea of the Protestant work ethic and Hegel's Spirit were certainly influential, providing a rationale for claiming the European mind (and European religion) is inherently superior to that of all other continents. Wallerstein's idea of a world-economy and world-system originating in Europe also comes through in European miracle theory.

The "European family"

The idea of a unique European family structure is also a central tenet of the European miracle theory.^{[citation needed]} Purportedly, the European family was nuclear, women married late, and had few children. Europe understood how to control their population while the rest of the world, to quote Jones, "multiplied insensately." This meant that Europe was not vulnerable to Malthusian Crises and therefore able to form a progressive, capitalist society.

The "European city"

Urbanization is also of central importance to the European miracle hypothesis, which alleges that Europe formed cities earlier than the rest of the world. Crucially, these cities were also semi-autonomous, especially the Italian city-states. The growth of banking, accounting and general financial infrastructure in such cities is seen as unique and vital to the rise of Europe.

European inventiveness

According to the theory, because of Europe's inherent rationality, they were able to come up with revolutionary innovations such as spectacles, clocks, and double-entry book-keeping. Naval innovations are also stressed. These made the society more productive and allowed Europe to build superior ships, thus dominating world trade

Criticism of the European miracle hypothesis and alternate theories

The European miracle has been contested and referred to as a myth by thinkers such as James Blaut, Andre Gunder Frank, Kenneth Pomeranz, and John M. Hobson. They accuse Jones of Eurocentrism and "cultural racism" (Blaut's term). Commonly, it is pointed out that progress in the rest of the world paralleled Europe before 1492. More than half of the world's population living in urban settlements (over 10,000 people) lived in China during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The voyages of Zheng He support the claim that Chinese Junks were more advanced than European ships of the time. Cities like ancient Malacca had sea trade routes which stretched as far as North Africa.

Revelations such as these cast doubt on whether Europe really had an economic advantage before 1492, and give rise to alternate theories. One theory is that Europe simply colonized the New World first because it was geographically closest, and trade winds naturally carried ships to and from North America. Once Europe had colonized North America, the flow of gold and silver from their colonies allowed them to take control of world trade, and only then did their dominant position arise. Their oppression of world-majority peoples during the period of colonialism greatly suppressed other nations.

A very detailed account given by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel explains how a civilization from the Eurasian land mass, with its huge temperate belt, was bound to dominate the Americas and the rest of the world due to its access to domesticable crops and animals (llamas can't be used like horses to fight battles) as well as the epidemic diseases brought over by early explorers to which the natives in the New World had no resistance. The theory doesn't resolve which of the Eurasian civilizations will rise above the others.

In his book The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation, author John M. Hobson details how Europe cannot be credited with the majority of civilization's major inventions, such as:

the wheel, chariot, and wheelbarrow
writing
cities
agriculture
guns and gunpowder
crossbows
windmills
waterwheels
steel and cast iron metallurgy
magnetic compass
paper
money and banking
algebra and geometry
the rounded arch
mathematical concepts such as pi, the Pythagorean Theorem, and zero
musical intruments (guitar, harp, trumpet, bagpipes, and violin)

Hobson asserts that Europe actually imitated the pioneering inventions made by The Middle East, Egypt, India, and China. He also states that without the profits from African slavery and the natural resources of Native American lands, Europe would not have been able to finance its own accelerated development.

References

Blaut, James (2000). Eight Eurocentric Historians. ISBN 1-57230-591-6.

Blaut, James (1993). The Colonizer's Model of the World. ISBN 0-89862-348-0.

Farmer, Paul (2003). Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor. ISBN 0-520-23550-9.

Frank, Andre (1998). Reorient: Global Economy in the Asian Age. ISBN 0-520-21474-9.

Hobson, John (2004). The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN-13: 9780521547246.

Jones, Eric (2003 (1st ed 1987)). The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia. ISBN 0-521-52783-X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

Pomeranz, Kenneth (2001). Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. ISBN 0-691-09010-6.

Kennedy, Paul (1988). The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. ISBN 0-679-72019-7.