When did gunpowder reach Europe?
Primitive cannon were used on the battlefields of Europe since the first half of the fourteenth century - so gunpowder must have arrived around 1300.. Stop Press - I was wrong. Roger Bacon (an English monk) described the composition of gunpowder in a work written in 1216, and canon were used in battle in Spain at least as early as 1248.
When did Europeans start to have white skin?
When exactly in our evolution did Europeans start to have lighter skin? Europe was/ is cold, especially during the time of the first people of Europe due to the ice age which was lasted from about 110,000 to 10,000 years ago. [hitting its peak around 18,000 years ago] Humans left africa and came into Europe roughly 60,000 years ago. The oldest art in Europe is the Chauvet cave paintings in northern France dating to be around 32,000BCE Were these painteres light skinned? When did Europeans start to develop light skin. They had already lived in Europe for around 30,000 years or so in ice age europe condition, living in the north. Is this enough to cause the losing of pigment rapidly?
When did the West start to dominate the world?
I know it sounds like a trivial question, but I'm just curious about what you guys think. Also, what I mean by "the West" is Europe [particularly Western Europe, anywhere west of Germany and Italy] and the U.S [although geographically is not considered to be part of Europe]. Here are some of my opinions: 1. After Renaissance: it's when Europe ended the dark age after the collapse of Roman Empire. It sprung up the Western scientific revolution, Enlightenment, etc. 2. The British industrialization [which did not occured until 1800s]: it's first time Europe stopped being dependent on Chinese or Indian luxury. 3. European imperialism and colonialism: when the West started to physically attacked on African countries and started to develop a sense of "White ethnocentrism" that they never felt before [concurrent with the East India Company, Chinese Opium War, collapse of Ottoman Empire] [also the eve of World War I]. 4. World War II: one of the first modern war with the competition in technology. Major powers in Europe [e.g: France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, even Japan] started to fight against each others from the dominance of the world and left behind the countries that did not imperialized others [e.g China and India]. 5. Cold War: although it just happened in the recent history, but I feel like it's the critical period that made the U.S the hegemont of the world today [along with the collapse of communist power, economic boom in the U.S].
How did Europe become more secular.?
Well, maybe because we have a longer history with religion, also a history of religious civil wars. I don't see you Americans as ignorant fundies (I am French) but I am always surprised by the obsession with religious subjects you have here. I have learned a lot. I had never heard of certain notions (rapture? never heard of it. Intelligent design? We never talk about it). And I don't mean just religious people. Also atheists. EDIT: yes, and I agree with the first answerer. Some of our secular States are threatened by SOME Islamic fundamentalists. But they are a minority. So far.