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The Eurocentric dominant narrative that the West is the greatest civilization is wrong because of the fact that other regions contributed to the development of the world, other regions were creative forces, other regions caused Europe's conquest of the Americas, and the fact that another region was the birthplace of civilization all prove the dominant narrative wrong

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The Asian innovations spread through the old world system that include Muslim advances in astronomy, Indian numerals, and Chinese technological inventions, all prove that the dominant narrative is wrong and thus, prove that Europe is not the only creative force in the world

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Medina Saudi Arabia the former capital of the Muslim empire

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Medina Saudi Arabia the former capital of the Muslim empire

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The Muslim empire made various contributions to the global knowledge of astronomy which are detailed in The Emergence of Renaissance by the Council on Islamic education. It states that Muslim astronomers added to European knowledge, that Muslim scholar's works were read by European scholars, and that Europeans translated many books created by Muslim scholars (CIE 208). The dominant narrative created by Europe that ignores the contributions of other regions is wrong because Europe cannot be the single region causing development if other regions were advancing global knowledge. The old world system was not only able to spread goods and inventions but also spread Ideas in its ability to connect Muslim and European scholars.

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Pataliputra, India the Capital of India when Indian numerals were invented

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Pataliputra, India the Capital of India when Indian numerals were invented

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India revolutionized mathematics with its creation of the concept of zero. This is seen in Civilization of Medieval Islam by J. J. Saunders. J. J. Saunders explains that the numbers we call Arabic are actually Hindu in origin and that these numbers helped facilitate advanced calculations and helped advance scientific progress (Saunders 254). These numerals disprove the single story of India that fails to mention the innovations created by India. If Indian numerals, an extremely important invention for the development of the world, did not originate in Europe, how can Europe be the only civilization causing the world to develop? This invention further proves the power of the Old World system and its ability to spread extremely useful inventions over long distances in the way Indian numerals were spread by the Islamic Empire to Europe.

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Beijing, the Capital of China during the 1600s

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Beijing, the Capital of China during the 1600s

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China greatly changed the world with its inventions as seen in Lynda Shaffer's article called Southernization. She notes that the compass, printing, and gunpowder were all invented by China, and that by the seventeenth century, China had changed Europe and everywhere else that adopted these inventions (Shaffer 37).  As a result, the Eurocentric dominant narrative that Europe is the only region pushing the development of the world cannot be true if China is creating inventions that are even appreciated by Europe. The Old World system of trade between Asia and Africa spread these inventions and brought these inventions to Europe. Because the Old World system spread ideas and brought trade it boosted the economies and brought useful new ideas to the Old World.

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The creativity displayed in African statues, Incan textiles, and Incan metallurgy disproves the European view of history that portrays Europe as the only region that was a creative force.

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Africa is not credited as a creative center. The single story that is told about Africa describes it as a place filled with poverty and devoid of any creativity. This notion is countered by an article in The Times of London that describes the statues that were found in present-day Nigeria. The article explains that the European archaeologists who discovered the statues were bewildered by their beauty. The article continues by explaining that the experts believed it was impossible that such beautiful statues could have come from Africa and believed it was more likely they came from the fictional city of Atlantis. Europeans only have their own flawed single story of other places that prevents them from accepting the greatness of other civilizations. The creativity of Africa shown in these statues proves the dominant narrative wrong by displaying that Europe isn't the single creative force in the world.

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Cajamarca the city where the Inca fought the Spaniards

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Cajamarca the city where the Inca fought the Spaniards

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The idea that the Inca were advanced in their ability to manipulate fibers is corroborated by Charles C. Mann in his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. He explains that Incan textiles were very elaborate and were woven precisely which is seen by the fact that some of their garments were able to have 500 threads in a single inch. He notes that these garments were worn by soldiers, and when conquistadors saw those garments, they chose to wear them over their own European armor (Mann 27). Despite the single story that is told about American indigenous civilizations, which describes them as less advanced than the rest of the world, we see that those civilizations were more advanced than the rest of the world in their ability to create clothing. Because the creation of cloth and clothing is a creative endeavor, the Inca's ability to make complex garments with intricate designs takes great creativity. The Incan garment's dominance over European armor directly disproves the notion that Europe was the single creative force.

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Cusco, Peru the former capital of the Incan Empire

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Cusco, Peru the former capital of the Incan Empire

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The Incan Empire was a large empire found in the Americas. Charles C. Mann describes the Inca's metallurgy in an interview with NPR. He states, "The Inca had a very, very sophisticated metallurgy, but for their purposes, metals were most important as a means of display, for their color... They were able to work with types of metals that the Europeans didn't understand." Contrary to the dominant narrative that Europe is more advanced than the rest of the world, the Inca were more developed and creative than Europe in metallurgy. Europe cannot be the single creative force in the world if the Inca were the dominant creative force in their use of metal.

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The fact that Vasco Da Gama's voyage, and consequently, Columbus's voyage, were only possible because of the Old World, disproves the Eurocentric argument that falsely portrays Europe as the dominant civilization.

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In her article, The World System in the Thirteenth Century: Dead-End or Precursor, Sociologist Janet Lippman details the widespread effects of the plague. She states that the plague greatly affected the Old World because of how connected it was by trade. She continues by noting that the plague created great political change throughout the Old World and that it led to the Ming Rebellion. She then explains that the Ming Rebellion installed new leaders who decided to withdraw the powerful Chinese Navy.  She also explains that this allowed Portugal to enter China, and gain land, and control trade throughout the Indian Ocean (Abu-Lughod 77). In Southernization, Lynda Shaffer details the effects of the Portuguese voyages around Africa. She states that European sailors gained knowledge of ocean wind and current patterns, which made Columbus's voyage possible. She explains the Portuguese also were able to find gold which provided the Portuguese with gold that enabled them to continue to trade with Asia (Shaffer 38). Europe cannot be the dominant civilization because the voyages that allowed them to discover the Americas and allowed them to facilitate trade were only possible because of the Old World system and its decline. The Old World system's decline happened because the closeness of the regions made it easier to spread the plague. The contact the Old World system brought to the Old World was what made it great and what caused its downfall.

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In Sapiens Historian Yuval Noah Harari details Christopher Columbus’s journey and the effects of the discovery of the Americas. He explains that Columbus planned to sail towards Asia and that when he landed in the Bahamas he believed he was in the Indies. He also notes that the discovery of the Americas advanced European knowledge and scholarship greatly (Harari 46). This proves that without the wealth of goods in the Old World Columbus would have never traveled in search of a new route to India and America would have never been discovered. Because Columbus's voyage was dependent on the Old World, the conquest of the Americas and Europe's subsequent rise is dependent on the Old World.

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The fact that the Agricultural Revolution and the first cities occurred outside of Europe proves the European view of history wrong by proving that Europe was not the origin of civilization.

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The discovery of agriculture, which occurred in the Fertile Crescent, is discussed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel. When discussing the origins of agriculture, he asks why agriculture started in 8500 B.C.E in the Fertile Crescent and why it appeared 3,000 years later in Mediterranean Europe (Diamond 104). Later, he also explains that the food surpluses created by agriculture enabled early agricultural societies to have full time government (88). Not only was agriculture created outside of Europe, but the first governments were created outside of Europe. Governments are what makes a group of people a civilization and because the first governments occurred in the Fertile Crescent Europe can not be credited as the origin of civilization.

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After the Agricultural Revolution, the first cities started to arise along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Life inside these cities is described by Kevin Reilly in his 1989 book Cities and Civilization. He explains that the first cities provided security and permanence to the residents which qualified them as the first civilizations (Reilly 37). If the first cities that appeared in the Fertile Crescent were civilizations, then civilization's origins can not be in Europe. This counters the Eurocentric point of view by disproving one of its core beliefs that Civilization originated in Europe.

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When one analyzes the contributions and achievements of past civilizations one realizes that because every civilization has contributed greatly to our modern world, one can argue that any civilization is the greatest and history must be subjective.