Summary
Highlights
The Enlightenment, occurring in Western Europe and North America from the late 16th to 1700s, challenged the divine right of kings, asserting that leaders should derive power from the people's consent. It emphasized natural laws, liberties, and freedoms, inspiring revolutions like the American, French, Haitian, and Latin American ones. These revolutions, fueled by Enlightenment ideals and unfair systems, often led to independence and some form of democracy, though societal changes were not always radical, and inequalities often persisted. Key documents reflecting these ideas include the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and Bolívar's Letter from Jamaica.
Beginning in Great Britain and spreading to Western Europe and North America by the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution provided a significant advantage to industrialized nations. Its causes included an increased population for labor, capital from the Age of Exploration, and abundant natural resources like coal and iron. This era saw new technologies such as factory systems and steam engines, but also resulted in pollution and a new social class structure with factory owners and the working class. Industrialization dramatically shifted global GDP, favoring industrialized nations while others like China and India saw their economic share decline.
The Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment ideas spurred various social movements. Forced labor, including chattel slavery and serfdom, was abolished in the mid-1800s. Women's rights movements gained momentum, pushing for suffrage based on Enlightenment principles. Workers organized into labor unions to advocate for better conditions and pay, leading to improved rights and limits on child labor in Europe.
Imperialism was driven by nationalism, economic motivations for resources and markets, the spread of Christianity, and Social Darwinism, a racist ideology justifying the conquest of supposedly weaker peoples. European powers, particularly Great Britain and France, colonized vast regions of Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia (India), with the United States economically imperializing Latin America. In response, some empires like Japan (Meiji Restoration), the Ottomans (Tanzimat reforms), Russia, and China (Self-Strengthening Movement) attempted state-sponsored industrialization and reforms, though Japan was the most successful non-Western nation to industrialize.
The period saw significant global migration due to imperialism, improved transportation (steamships), and better communication. People moved from colonies to mother countries or other parts of empires. Large numbers of people left non-industrialized countries like China for places like California and the Caribbean. Europeans also migrated to the United States and South America seeking opportunities. These migrations were driven by 'push factors' such as discrimination, lack of jobs, and famine, and 'pull factors' like job opportunities and religious freedom. Indentured servitude, a form of voluntary forced labor, also emerged, especially promoting Chinese immigration to the U.S. until the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.