If the world was ruled by China...

[Nezaros]

...or Native Americans, or Africans, or any other group originating from some place besides Western Europe, what might be different today? Say, rather than the Spanish coming to America and committing genocide, the Aztecs developed ships that could cross the Atlantic and weapons superior to what Europe possessed at the time, and then proceeded to invade Europe. Or if the Chinese happened to discover the Americas before the Europeans, and colonized it, with or without killing millions of natives. Or any other similar scenario.

 

[ResonanceSD]

For an accurate picture of the world ruled by someone other than "western europe" or more accurately "the occupant of the white house", stick around for 20 years or so.

 

[Comando96]

For an accurate picture of the world ruled by someone other than "western europe" or more accurately "the occupant of the white house", stick around for 20 years or so.

Very Cynical
But Sadly accurate

I'd say it'll take more than 20 years for China to claim power but thats just details now. They have initiated phase 1 of global take over and saying that, probably a few years ago >.>

 

[Cakes]

If you're talking about history being different because different cultures that were not European had much more military might, then whose to say that many many other aspects of their culture were to not change because of it?

I was going to say that the part of his question dealing with the Aztecs revolves around them suddenly deciding to act European, but your post also captures my thoughts on the matter.

 

[SilentCom]

If the world is ruled by China, then it's free Chinese food for everyone! yum.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

If the world is ruled by China, then it's free Chinese food for everyone! yum.

Would we just call it "food"...would everything we purchase have little "Made In Here" stickers on it?

 

[THE_NAMSU]

Chinese ruling:

Spoiler

Being the old indian cheapo, Oh God....

Spoiler

 

[Nezaros]

For an accurate picture of the world ruled by someone other than "western europe" or more accurately "the occupant of the white house", stick around for 20 years or so.

Very Cynical
But Sadly accurate

I'd say it'll take more than 20 years for China to claim power but thats just details now. They have initiated phase 1 of global take over and saying that, probably a few years ago >.>

You're both missing the point. This isn't "what if we were all suddenly Chinese", it's "what if the whole course of human history had changed". America as we know it would almost certainly not even exist, Europe could be ruled by Korean mutant armadillos.

But anyway, this isn't about China, or the Aztecs. To put it more simply, I'm asking what you all think would have happened / not happened if some group besides white Europeans had decided world domination was a fantastic idea. Any group.

 

[Danny Ocean]

This is either an unanswerably broad question or a pointlessly narrow one.

I'm guessing you just read Guns, Germs, and Steel or something.

I expect everything would be pretty much the same as it is now for most people, except they'd be speaking and writing a different language, which isn't that big a deal.

 

[monkey_man]

Well, if China took over what we know as USA, I think it would eventually have a civil war too. But China would have way more troops than the freedom fighters, so it would remain a second-world country. eventually as tech increases, more people are born, and there the world would be in the same shit as today, only I think the USA would be less developed, and less free. And Europe would've been invaded, causing the entire world to become China.

The world would be at war constantly.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Would we just call it "food"...would everything we purchase have little "Made In Here" stickers on it?

No doubt they'd have 'genuine', 'false' and 'offal' grades... and being the skinflints they are, I doubt they'd bother wasting the money on new labels.

(And, sorry, but challenge not accepted.)

OT: OP, you've opened a massive can of worms in my head, and unfortunately, I'm a little too tired to give you the a complete deconstruction of speculative history/future that I may have. Needless to say, were China to have conquered the world starting in 1421, the world would be a little more backward than it currently is. I'd like to think that communism wouldn't exist, as a result, but I can't be sure. People like Kant would've been strung up by their balls, ironsides wouldn't be developed for some decades, and glass-blowing technology would be set back by at least a hundred years.

 

[Nezaros]

This is either an unanswerably broad question or a pointlessly narrow one.

I'm guessing you just read Guns, Germs, and Steel or something.

I expect everything would be pretty much the same as it is now for most people, except they'd be speaking and writing a different language, which isn't that big a deal.

It is really broad, but that doesn't mean it can't be discussed a bit. And I hadn't even heard of that book before.

While yes, on a personal level most things would be largely the same, I still wonder about things like the World Wars. They might have ended differently, or completely avoided, or the equivalent of the first World War might have completely destroyed humanity. Perhaps technology would be far ahead of where it is now, or far, far behind.