You can use the same logic to justify any pseudo-scientific believes. ”The White man has proven himself to be wildly successful in every aspect of society, therefore white supremacy deserves an explanation”
> The fact that Europeans curb-stomped every other civilization on the globe
This is not a historical fact. And supposing it to be true is a prototypical example of euro-centrism. Yes Europe did engage in a brutal colonial campaign, causing horrors on a scale previously unheard of. But so did the Mongol empire, the Japanese imperial army, the Huns, Alexander the Great, etc.
Yes Europe colonized on a larger scale then before (but did so over a longer time period), but they didn’t colonize the entire world. There were other colonial ambitions which coexisted with Europe’s. For example, the Imperial Japan even won colonial wars against a European power, with colonial holdings (and border disputes) persisting to this day.
The question of how Europe did this, attributes something unique to Europe, and ignores the times when non-european powers were equally criminal. And you can see how this line of argument starts to break down by reading other posts in this thread. When you try to find what this is that makes Europe unique (Diamond argues environmental conditions) it most likely turns out either not be unique or otherwise completely irrelevant.
Euro-centrism has fallen out of favor among historians. We don’t study history anymore by presupposing there is something special about Europe.
Colonization is not just about boots on the ground. European dominance is a truth self-evident to anyone actually living on those other countries; just go and ask them! Even large and powerful countries like China are disproportionally influenced by Western culture and economics, while influence in the other direction is much more limited. In the "third world", election results in US are front-page news, because that matters to them in a very real way; but few people in US care (or even know) of politics in other countries.
All those other examples that you have listed are precisely why the question arises in the first place. E.g. Mongol Empire was a comparable project in intent, and wildly successful at the time (I hail from one of the places that were colonized by it). It also predated the European project. So, why aren't we living in a Mongol-dominated world today? Why did I have to learn English and not Mongol as my second language? Why did I have to emigrate to US and not to Mongolia to get paid more?
You seem to be responding from the assumption that I'm trying to push some kind of "white Europeans are superior" agenda, but this perspective is fundamentally wrong starting with the basic premise that the ability to dominate other cultures is a mark of superiority. I don't believe that it is; quite the opposite. But that doesn't negate the question of why Europeans are so much more successful at dominating than any of their competitors.
> You seem to be responding from the assumption that I'm trying to push some kind of "white Europeans are superior" agenda.
I’m sorry that I did that. That wasn’t my intention.
I actually hail from a country which was colonized by a European country for centuries (albeit a fellow European country) but the cultural dominance of the Americans and the British (who didn’t colonize the country; but did occupy it for a brief period) are much greater than that of the the colonizers (they still make us learn Danish is school though).
So, yeah, I guess I see your point there.
I’m actually not gonna raise a counterpoint here, because I haven’t read the book and whatever I say is doomed to be misinformed. I still believe his work and the question is euro-centric though (and many critics seem to agree with me on that).
> The fact that Europeans curb-stomped every other civilization on the globe
This is not a historical fact. And supposing it to be true is a prototypical example of euro-centrism. Yes Europe did engage in a brutal colonial campaign, causing horrors on a scale previously unheard of. But so did the Mongol empire, the Japanese imperial army, the Huns, Alexander the Great, etc.
Yes Europe colonized on a larger scale then before (but did so over a longer time period), but they didn’t colonize the entire world. There were other colonial ambitions which coexisted with Europe’s. For example, the Imperial Japan even won colonial wars against a European power, with colonial holdings (and border disputes) persisting to this day.
The question of how Europe did this, attributes something unique to Europe, and ignores the times when non-european powers were equally criminal. And you can see how this line of argument starts to break down by reading other posts in this thread. When you try to find what this is that makes Europe unique (Diamond argues environmental conditions) it most likely turns out either not be unique or otherwise completely irrelevant.
Euro-centrism has fallen out of favor among historians. We don’t study history anymore by presupposing there is something special about Europe.