Medieval Europe
A noteworthy example of diffusion theory is the massive infusion of technology into Europe between 1000 and 1700 CE. In the early Middle Ages, Byzantine and Asian societies were far more advanced than Europe, however, the era beginning in the High Middle Ages reversed that balance and resulted in a Europe which surpassed Asian, Byzantine and Muslim cultures in pre-industrial technology. Diffusion theory has been advanced as an explanation for this shift in technological development. Many important basic inventions had their roots elsewhere, notably gunpowder, clock mechanisms, shipbuilding, paper and the windmill, however, in each of these cases Europeans not only adopted the technologies, but improved the manufacturing scale, inherent technology, and applications to a point clearly surpassing the evolution of the original invention in its country of origin. Historians have questioned recently whether Europe really owes the development of such inventions as gunpowder, the compass, the windmill or printing to the Chinese or other cultures. It is a matter of record that by the late eighteenth century, European fleets, armed with advanced cannon, decimated Arab and Chinese fleets, paving the way for unfettered domination of the seas that led to the colonial era.
Read more about this topic: Trans-cultural Diffusion
Famous quotes containing the words medieval and/or europe:
“Our medieval historians who prefer to rely as much as possible on official documents because the chronicles are unreliable, fall thereby into an occasionally dangerous error. The documents tell us little about the difference in tone which separates us from those times; they let us forget the fervent pathos of medieval life.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“It is not unkind to say, from the standpoint of scenery alone, that if many, and indeed most, of our American national parks were to be set down on the continent of Europe thousands of Americans would journey all the way across the ocean in order to see their beauties.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)