The peoples of Europe are largely provincial in the centuries following the collapse of their conquerors, the Roman Empire. The European people have held onto much of the cultural identity that was forced upon them by the Roman regime including their alphabet, the Middle Eastern religion of Christianity and even the imperial way of organizing a society which empowered a few to rule, and often oppress, the many.
Why and how these rather unsophisticated conquered people will come to build overseas empires that rival the largest ever in human history needs to be well understood if we are to know our own story.
Take a moment to consider what is needed by any people
who wish to create an overseas empire.
In the Blogger space below write a comment that argues for one thing that a people will need to begin this process, defending your choice.
Then, as is our pattern, reply to two of your classmates offering feedback. Write your comment before reading the comments of others. This will increase the likelihood of a wide variety of responses. Be as "obvious" or as "subtle" as you like, all responses that are defended will be given full credit.
if people want to create an overseas empire, they would need vehicles to get over seas. Therefor, they would need advanced (for that time, at least) maritime technology: better boats and directional tools (compasses, maps, jackstaffs, etc.). They would also need armor and advanced weaponry to force others to conform to Europe's rule. (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و
ReplyDeleteI agree that you would need advanced maritime transports and exceptional technology because without it, you would very easily get lost at sea.
DeleteI think this also connects well to how loyalty to a parent state must be maintained, as an empire unable to connect between its parts is more a collection of faux loyal independent nations than a single entity.
DeleteI agree. I think that you need advanced maritime technology in order to travel across the sea and weapons are very important to defend yourself.
DeleteI think something that a country looking to create an overseas empire needs is money. Without money there will be no resources such as boats and food for the journey. You would not be able to pay the exporers and even less so start and support your new colony. Without any money your expidition wouldn't be able to happen and you wouldn't be able to keep the new areas that you colonize sound.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this all. It doesn't seem possible to expand without a form of currency because so many goods are needed to expand overseas.
DeleteAbsolutely. Money and by extension the resources bought with it are essential, and if the colonies created are profitable, then a large starting sum allows for a much faster movement towards the almost exponential growth seen in large empires with small neighbors.
DeleteI agree. A strong, dependable economy is very important.
DeleteI agree. Money is an important asset, as you need it to buy goods and items for your voyage.
Delete(sakari)
I agree money is indeed a necessary resource for building an empire, although I am confused do you refer to a currency or just material goods.
DeleteA country looking to create an overseas empire needs strong leadership. There is no way to arrange a group of people or an entire country to expand overseas without a unifying force. The way to achieve this is by having strong and effective leadership uniting the country to all do their part.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with this, as any new empire looking to last long will need excellent leadership. Time and time again, we have seen many nations and societies fall because of corrupt and unfit rulers/leaders, so this is extremely important for a budding empire especially. Everything falls apart when there aren't any leaders, and the people would be wandering around, wondering what to do.
DeleteI especially agree with your point about unifying a country. This gives the empire a larger population and resource pool, in addition to strength at home, which allows it focus more on overseas conflicts.
DeleteA leader is especially important because without one they would be lost and have no where to go, so I agree with this point.
DeleteI agree because without the help of a leader, they would fall apart without one. But, they would have to have an honest leader because if they were corrupt, the empire would also fall apart.
DeleteFor a country that is looking to create an overseas empire, they would definitely need all sorts of raw materials. Materials to be able to build all of the tools needed to conquer and create empires, as they wouldn't just appear out of thin air. With raw materials, the country and its peoples suddenly have the resources in order to build the boats to get there, weapons to defend and attack, technology systems to make life easier, tools to work, et cetera. A country cannot navigate properly without the resources to be able to in the first place, which is why raw materials are important to anyone wishing to create an overseas empire.
ReplyDeleteRaw materials are so important and essential for expanding. It is also interesting to see the connections between getting the raw materials and some of the other responses, such as money.
DeleteAgreed. The importance of raw materials to kickstart an overseas empire cannot be understated. The efficient part of this factor is that once you have conquered a region, you can use its materials to conquer a new region, the resources of which you can use to conquer another region, etc.
DeleteRaw materials are very important. I would also argue that finding ways to get materials from the land is invaluable, since it eliminates the need to transport the materials from elsewhere. And whatever materials are surplus in the area could be used to trade with neighbors, which would be another way to add money to the economy. The empire would also have to be careful to manage their use and management of resources. For example, if there were abundant trees in the area, they should be careful how many trees they cut down and they should replant as much as possible so that their resource would still be there decades into the future.
DeleteRaw materials are definitely a necessity, like what else are you going to make a boat out of??? And if you land is wild nature you'll need to build shelter. Very important.
Delete(Sakari)
Resources is an essential thing when creating an overseas empire like tools, wood and stone because with out it you have nothing to build this overseas empire. Also if there aren't enough resources to build an empire in the place you've chosen you need to bring in some resources.
ReplyDeleteI agree! What would be a travel without necessary resources? Nothing. It's always better to travel prepared than to start from scratch in an unknown location.
DeleteAn overseas empire needs a strong and stable economy. An explorative voyage needs expensive ships that can carry a lot of cargo. A settlement needs money to find people who are willing to settle, build defenses, and fund reinforcements should things go awry. A war, either with native groups or another overseas empire, requires paying armies and sailors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this, as money is needed to pay for things, and tools, workers, materials, etc aren't going to come for free. Having an already stable economy and valuables helps out a tremendous amount, as creating an overseas empire will be very costly to make. Funding it will take some work, and having a strong and stable economy will help bolster the creation of the new overseas empire.
DeleteA plan as to how colonies will be set up is very important. It has occurred many times in the past that nations have either sent colonists over to claimed land and proceeding to have them die soon after due to a lack of knowledge, such as early English attempts of colonizing North America being ravaged by unexpectedly harsh winters. Similarly, to have an empire, one has to defend and realize claims, with unprotected claims on large swaths of land, for example the French claim of Western Australia while having no permanent settlements there, quickly being taken over by those with more pragmatic plans. Effective strategy can vastly reduce what is needed to set up a stake in a far away colony.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thought process and love how you included evidence from past failures of colonies not having a set plan when travelling! But honestly overall this is a very well brought up point, it wouldn't be very smart to make the effort of sailing overseas and having no idea what to do once you get there.
DeleteA group of people who seek an empire overseas needs very strong and demanding leadership. Due to that fact that their government isn't based overseas, that group of people need to dominate and the land and in the case of the British, the indigenous people who were already there. They also need a stable economy and a way to harvest raw materials in the land.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There are few things more important than a strong leader. Without one, any society is likely to crumble, but with one the people can overcome almost any obstacle, which argues that a great leader is more valuable than any one asset an empire could have.
DeleteI agree, because this adds structure and order to a society
DeleteI agree with your statement. The people that were employed to help make this voyage and building of overseas empires possible, will need someone who can guide them to the right path. Otherwise, it will be so disorderly and chaotic.
DeleteI agree because without a strong leadership there is a high chance of chaos being set all over the empire.
DeletePeople who are planning and considering to build up an overseas empire should have reliable shipbuilding skills in order to even transport their people overseas in the first place or in case anyone requires themselves to return back to the homeland. If the ships crafting isn't properly built a lot could go wrong for the people who want to sail overseas to make an empire. They would not have a way to get back in case of an emergency, their ships could turn out defective which would strife lives, and in general they will overall not have the best experience when making it overseas. Therefore if a oversea empire is in mind of a group of people, first they must consider how to get there and make the best craft of a ship to arrive safely and efficiently.
ReplyDeleteI agree. An empire needs ways to travel, and people who are prepared for that travel, meaning they aren't getting lost at sea. They would most likely be communicating by letter, which means if they don't have reliable ships, they're cutting contact, as well as losing their way home.
DeleteWhen entering a foreign place whose challenges and people are unknown, it's important to have weapons to defend yourselves. Otherwise your empire will crumble under an outside attacker. Whether daggers, swords, spears, long bows, crossbows, guns, or any other weapon, you must be well armed so that if some beast or foreign people attack you, you're ready for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree! An empire can't survive if it can't defend itself.
DeletePeople planning to create an overseas empire need to be strong, respected leaders and communicate regularly with their people. They need to keep in contact with their overseas subjects and understand their circumstances, so that the leader can rule justly. They need to have an understanding of the land, too, so that their people know to survive in a foreign place. They would also need the ability to travel long distances.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this! you need to have good leaders to build a good community which is necessary for a strong empire.
DeleteI think that if people are planning on building an overseas empire, they would need resources. You need resources to build up a stable economy which is necessary for a strong empire. They would need natural resources to build shelter and create tools to help hunt. You need resources to successfully trade with other groups of people. Resources are a big part of building an empire and I think that in order to create a strong empire with a good economy, you need plenty of resources.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, I think that it is crucial for their to be an economy created now before, more people come over so their can be a stable and well funded empire.
DeleteI think you are right. If you do not have resources you will not be able to stay where you want to build the empire. Developing a good relationships with the people around will give you protection and prevent war, will help you gain trust, and help you get different resources.
DeleteI strongly agree with what you said here. You can have all the other things, but you always need a backbone to help support the voyages overseas. Everything must be done with an adequate amount of resources.
DeleteI think for people to build an overseas empire they need to have weapons to both defend themselves and if they plan to use scare tactics to seize the land from its native inhabitants they will also need weapons to do so.
ReplyDeleteI agree. In any case that an empire wishes to seize land, it must have weapons available.
DeleteI think in order for people to build an overseas empire, I think Europeans need a strong communication system. In order to maintain a strong empire between two groups that are so far apart, they need to be able to communicate and work together, exchanging news and staying updated on what is going on in each place.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good point. It is difficult to control something that you don't understand.
DeleteI think that for people to build an overseas empire, they need to have battle weapon materials such as armor, weapons, and also boats. They also need to have a stable government to control the overseas government. A religion to wrongly motivate your people to take over, and you need people willing to go over and explore the new land.
ReplyDeleteTo build an empire, the people would need to have natural resources to be able to grow the empire. In addition, they would need to make allies with surrounding empires so just in case they have enemies that want to attack, they have people by their side.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Without resources, you can't even reach foreign lands, much less establish colonies in them.
DeleteI agree because the citizens living in the empire would need the basic resources to survive and creating allyships insure that they are going to be kept safe from any surrounding empires.
DeleteIn order to create an overseas presence, an empire must be stable. Without stability, no nation can sustain itself, much less expand. Even if an unstable empire created an overseas colony, it would not be able to attend to its needs due to all of the empire's resources being allocated to the mainland.
ReplyDeleteTo be able to travel across seas they would need specialized workers. One would be a carpenter to fix any part of the ship when in need, a fisherman to catch fish to supply food for the crew, a leader to always have a plan when something happens unexpectedly.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I hadn't rea;;y thought of before, but I agree that these specialized workers are extremely crucial. I also think that later as the economy is growing you will need these workers to produce and sell things as well as show and teach others how to in the future to ensure there are jobs.
DeleteI agree because specialized workers are necessary for any society.
DeleteIn order to build an oversea empire, they need to have means of communication and a surplus population. They also need technology to help them make the journey oversea easier, and to make the process of making the empire itself easier.
ReplyDeleteIn order to create an empire that has a chance of surviving first and foremost you need manpower and technology. Last I recall, you couldn't conquer the whole of Britain with just one person. That wouldn't work. You need an army, as well as the technological strength to overcome your opponents. If you were running at a tank with a stick because that was all the technology your army had you would be mincemeat in about two seconds.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points Nadim, an army is completely useless without the technology to overcome the enemy. I also find your phrasing quite humorous in a good way, and the overall tone seems as if you were mocking a one man army.
DeleteTo build an empire people need both the incentive and the technology. A large population gives both incentive and ability. A lot of people require a lot of resources, which is one incentive. The more people there are, the more jobs are needed. This provides incentives for people to travel, and people to create new inventions. These inventions are the technology that allow empires to be built over seas.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think that a large incentive is fleeing oppression in Europe. Throughout European history, many different ethnic and religious groups have been discriminated against for many reasons. That is the ideal incentive that led people to venture for a “new life” that would be “better than the previous” life in Europe.
DeleteThere are many factors that contribute to the build of a strong empire, the two I found most relevant were the technology and the people. To elaborate, an empire needs to be advanced enough to compete with other nations, it needs the firepower, the sciences, the knowledge, etc. But, what is the use of technology if there is no one to use it? What is the point of medicine if there is no one to use it on? What is the point of knowledge without the people to share it with? What is the point of an empire without government? This is why we need people, without the people a society crumbles, Europe is a great example as to why an empire needs people, because of the Black Death all progress was halted and Europe was sent into an era of catastrophe and tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Europeans had a lot more maritime technology than other parts of the world leading to them having immense power that others didn’t yet have that gave them more overseas capabilities.
DeleteEthan Lader
In order to create an overseas empire people would need to bring food or tools for agriculture. Otherwise, the people living there need to find food and would not know what is poisonous because it is a foreign land.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the idea of overseas empires appealed to many provincial Europeans since many thought that in overseas colonies would lend more provincial stability than the ever contested land in Europe.
ReplyDeleteEthan Lader
Delete