In the introduction, the author claims that between the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, global power shifted from China and India to Europe. Marks, just like numerous other scholars believes that the change was inevitable. The usual narrative about the rise of the West to dominance is the fact that the West was able to develop itself in numerous ways. To begin with, the West was able to have better economic and political integrations, which forced the formation of one system of trade and international exchange. In addition to that, the Western World went through numerous technological advancements, the industrial revolution, and transportation, especially in the sea. In support of the usual narrative of the Raise of the West, some people claim that the West was able to pay considerable attention to the cultural and intellectual developments of their people. It reformed historical opinions about the West and brought about its rise. Marks believes that the West was able to rise not because of their material possession but because of the cultural practices (34).

The reason for saying this is he believes that China and India would also rise, but they had to change their cultural practices, which served as obstacles to capitalist development. Unlike the societies in China and India, Europe had a culture that encouraged modernization because of its Protestantism. By using the terms contingency, accident, and conjunction, the writer refers to the fact that the events, which lead to industrial revolution, were not accidental, since they resulted in the advancement of different nations through interactions. The author’s alternative narrative is that Europe was able to rise because of the huge demands of silver needed in Asia in exchange for other goods. The author states that Europe had luck finding silver, which was highly needed by the Indians and Chinese because it was the currency they used. The one thing however that made Europe grow fastest was the use of steam instead of coal.

The biological old regime is the material and natural condition, in which numerous people lived in. Some of individuals were ruling elites, with others living as peasants. According to Marks, the ecology is significant in determining whether the population may increase or decrease. It is evident that the climatic changes mostly affect the human society in numerous ways. To begin with, positive climate changes make the world population to increase at large because there is plenty of food. Poor climatic conditions on, the other hand, reduces human population because of the limited supply of food (Marks 15). Some scientists believe that the global warming will have a huge effect on the world’s population. The ecological elements of human society intersected with other kinds of phenomena such as availability of surplus food. The food surplus led to the establishment of social groups and classes such as the elite and the peasants. Food surplus also meant that individuals could afford food without having to toil in the lands while others would take what was not theirs by force. It also leads to the development of cities and writing. The fact that the rulers and priests were able to isolate themselves and live in their private compounds. They also managed to hire artisans to make their weapons, clothes or build their houses.

Some of the results of the human society intersect include the development of accounting and taxation. The rulers, priests and other rich people could have systems where they account for the food that has been produced. In addition to that, it leads to the development of empires because the elite was able to trade with nomads for other products and grow their cities. The biological new regime is the environment that we live in now, and it is evident that ecological factors affect this administration. It helped countries break out of the limitations of the biological old regime through industrialization (Marks 26). An obvious example is the fact that the use of fossil fuel and increases with an increase in population and industrialization. Some of its effects include energy constraints especially on fuel, shortage of resources and uncertainty about sustainable future.

Before Columbus accidentally discovered the Western Hemisphere or Americas, the Portuguese ruled, and they had slave-based sugarcane plantations. They took their slaves from Africa, where they had conquered in their quest to find to Asia. After the discovery of the Western Hemisphere, the Portuguese quickly took over because of their experience in managing slave-based plantations. The system used by the Portuguese was approximately 100 years because they invaded Brazil from the 1500’s to the end of that Century. Europe, like many other places, had a population of individuals who established different economic and social systems from developed agrarians to hunters and gathere
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