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Starhawk said:
Well a major reason Europeans dominated was that most of them figured they had 'The RIGHT" to dominate and thus went out and did it with their advanced technology and rutheless determination.
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Except that their technology was often vastly
inferior to other greater powers in the world for a long time. Their "advanced technology" was mostly hogwash and did not provide much of a tactical advantage, especially as it relates to weapons technologies (other than ship cannons and naval bombardment, but that doesn't go very far for most of the places they went). For centuries, the firearms they used were not very effective. Sure, they could down the first wave of the enemy, but the rest will be at them long before they can reload... why do you think conquistadors always had steal breastplates and swords?
As an example, the only way that Cortez and gang were able to defeat the Aztecs was by allying with a large number of other native tribes that hated the Aztecs, combined with very poor judgement on the part of the then ruler of the Aztecs... Their "superior technology" wasn't of too much use to them.
Also, European naval technologies were dwarfed by those of the Chinese, who had ships that made European vessels look like gnats centuries in advance. Unfortunately for the Chinese, their arrogance caused them to allow their once mighty fleets to fall into disrepair, and they gave up on naval prowess a bit before Portugese and Spanish explorers reached the Indian Ocean...