文/菲利普·T. 霍夫曼 译/王飞云 审订/白丽梅

By Philip T. Hoffman

How Europe Conquered the World过去欧洲何以征服世界

文/菲利普·T. 霍夫曼 译/王飞云 审订/白丽梅

ByPhilip T. Hoffman

Between 1492 and 1914, Europeans conquered 84 percent of the globe,establishing colonies and spreading their influence across every inhabited1inhabited有人居住的。continent. This was not inevitable. In fact, for decades, historians, social scientists, and biologists have wondered: Why and how did Europe rise to the top, even when societies in Asia and the Middle East were far more advanced?

[2] So far, satisfactory answers have been elusive. But this question is of the utmost importance given that Europe’s power determined everything from who ran the slave trade to who grew rich or remained mired in poverty.

[3] One might think the reasons for Europe’s dominance obvious: the Europeans were the first to industrialize, and they were immune to the diseases, such as smallpox, that devastated indigenous2indigenous土著的，土生土长的。populations. But the latter reason alone cannot explain the conquest of the Americas, since many young Native American warriors survived the epidemics. And it fails to explain Europe’s colonization of India, since the Indians had similar immunity. Industrialization also falls short as an explanation: the Europeans had taken control of more than 35 percent of the planet even before they began to industrialize. Of course,the lead Europeans took in developing the technology of guns, armed ships,and fortifications was critical. But all the other major civilizations in Asia had the same gunpowder technology, and many of them also fought with guns.

1492年至1914年间，欧

洲人征服了全球84%的袤土，建立起多处殖民地，把势力范围扩张到每一块有人类居住的大陆，但这并非不可避免。事实上，历史学家、社会科学家及生物学家在过去几十年以来一直心存疑问：在当时亚洲和中东社会都更为发达的情况下，欧洲为什么能够崛起，又是凭借何种方式称霸全球的呢？

[2]迄今为止，尚未找到令人满意的答案。但是，解决这一问题却至关重要，因为当时由谁从事奴隶贸易，是财运亨通还是贫困潦倒，归根到底都是由欧洲霸权决定的。

[3]人们或许认为，欧洲处于主宰地位的原因显而易见：首先，欧洲最先步入工业化；其次，欧洲人对天花等疾病具有免疫力，而这些疾病对土著居民却是致命的。但是，美洲的许多年轻土著士兵却在流行病中幸存下来，所以第二个原因并不能解释欧洲人为什么能够征服美洲。此外，印度人对这些疾病同样具有免疫力，因此，这也不能作为印度沦为欧洲殖民地的缘由。同时，工业化也不足以解释欧洲的统治地位：工业化开始之前，欧洲就已经控制了世界上35%的地区。当然，欧洲在枪支弹药、武装船只和防御工事等技术方面遥遥领先，这一点也至关重要。但亚洲其他主要文明国家同样掌握了火药技术，不少国家也在战争中使用枪支。

[4] So what did contribute to Europe’s success? Mostly, it derived from the incentives3incentive刺激因素，动机。……