Civilization: The West and the Rest

Property is the next “killer app” on Ferguson’s list. In the third chapter, the author compares the development of the Americas starting from the Early Modern period through this prism. He explores the differences in colonization and settlement styles between North and South America to understand why the latter lagged behind the former. He attributes their differences not just to democracy, but to other related factors, like the rule of law, individual freedoms as well as property rights within a system of a representative government. A “society based upon the opinion of civilians” served as the greatest difference between “the West and the rest” (97). Ferguson also suggests that the Americas became a crucial factor in the establishment of Western Europe as something that surpassed being a “small, backward region of Eurasia” (96).

Ferguson explores the colonization of South America by conquistadors in the 16th century and leaders such as the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro. The conquistadors plundered South American gold and brought an “invisible ally,” deadly diseases, to which the Indigenous population had no immunity (99). They also killed huge portions of the population in the Andes (100). In the author’s view, historical sites like the Peruvian Machu Picchu are a reminder that even complex civilizations disappear sometimes for reasons that are unclear to historians.