Reactions To The West Dbq

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Reactions to the West DBQ From 1500 onward, Europe was greatly expanding trade all throughout the world. They were improving greatly in wealth and power so other countries couldn’t just ignore the fact that they were affected by it. They had to react. Russia, China, and the Kongo wanted or were willing to accept European ideas because they were either threatened by Europe or needed to be more like them. The Middle East, East Africa, and Japan did not like the European ways and did what they could to prevent it because they saw Europeans as corrupt and an uncivilized group of people. Places like Russia, China, and the Kongo were willing to accept European ways for various reasons like feeling threatened or doing it to just be more like them. Doc. 1 is from Tsar Peter the Great in 1714 concerning European navies and their dominance over the Russian Navy. He feels somewhat threatened by Europeans navy so he figures that if he can mimic theirs then there would be nothing to be afraid of. Tsar Peter the Great did rule the Russian Empire and he must have liked Europe if he wanted a navy like theirs. He even went as far as changing the Russian capital and culture to be more like Europe. He obviously liked European ways and maybe a little jealousy took place to make him want to change the navy to be like Europe’s. Doc. 2 is from Hsu Kuang-Chi, a Chinese palace official who is writing to the Emperor in 1617. In the document he explains how adopting European ideas could be beneficial to those of China. He likes the ideas because they are compatible with China’s. He is writing to the Emperor of China who is of course Confucian so he doesn’t want to rock the boat. He is describing the benefits of the European ideas with caution because he knows that the Emperor doesn’t want change but Hsu knows that they are compatible with the Europeans and it would benefit them
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