Because of historical expansionist imperialist policies. For a very long time, the power of a state has been measured not by its economy as it is today, but by the size of its lands and its army. Getting more of both required taking them away from other countries.
During the first big wave of colonisation after the discovery of America, the imperialist nations could claim vast tracts of land without impinging on their neighbours, and this situation returned during the scramble for Africa during the 19th century.
Apart from these times, the powers of Europe squabbled and fought over any land that was less than absolutely held.
In modern times, this is done through corporate and cultural influence rather than armies, except in a few unfortunate incidents.
And a final point, the Europeans nations did not exclusively attack other countries. They rather frequently attacked themselves as well.
2007-06-29 01:55:39
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answer #1
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answered by Tunips 4
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I think you ask: "why did the Europeans try to conquer the whole world?"
Well, a lot of the effort to conquer the world was competition between the European countries. In the early 1500s, Spain and Portugal started the colonial expansion. Spain got a lot of Silver from the Americas, and that made the Spanish more powerful in Europe. To counter the Spanish power, the French, English and Dutch wanted to have colonies as well. Of course pure greed was also involved, but greed alone is not enough: each country had a coordinated national effort to promote the colonies, because it was considered to be in the national interest to have them.
China, contrarily, was a unified state. In the 1400s they explored the Pacific, but that was stopped because if some Chinese people would gain power outside of China that would shift the power balance inside China.
Of course there is also the issue with Christianity. Europeans wanted to bring Christianity to the whole world, and they did not consider non-Christian rulers to have any legitimacy: if an area was not ruled by a Christian it was up for the taking, as far as the Europeans of the sixteenth and seventeenth century were concerned. Yeah, we were pretty messed up.
2007-06-29 08:59:38
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answer #2
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answered by Ray Patterson - The dude abides 6
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Do you mean that Europeans attack other countries verbally or through war?
2007-06-29 08:48:56
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answer #3
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answered by Letizia 6
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For the same reason another country always attacking somebody else
2007-06-29 08:55:04
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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As silly as illiterate.
2007-06-29 13:28:49
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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Your question makes no sense. You should practice grammar. And use more detail.
2007-06-29 08:44:30
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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Not sure what you mean about this.
2007-06-29 08:44:47
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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Please think again, I don´t understand your question.
2007-06-29 08:45:25
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answer #8
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answered by Classy 7
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