History Do you agree with this ranking of leading civilizations over time?

[Tomenable]

Here is the ranking:

Appendix A

web.archive.org

 

[Duarte]

Here is the ranking:

Appendix A

web.archive.org

I disagree the failure to mention Portugal as one of the great powers of the 16th century. Acording ChatGPT: In the 1500s (16th century CE), there wasn’t a single dominant global power, but rather several major empires that held significant influence in different parts of the world. However, a few stood out as particularly powerful on a global scale:

1. The Spanish Empire – Arguably the most dominant globally
• After Christopher Columbus’s voyages (starting in 1492), Spain rapidly expanded across the Americas.
• By the mid-1500s, Spain controlled vast territories in North and South America, accumulating enormous wealth from silver and gold.
• Under Charles V (who was also Holy Roman Emperor) and later Philip II, Spain became a dominant European and colonial power, with influence in Europe, the Americas, Asia (e.g., the Philippines), and parts of Africa.

2. The Ottoman Empire
• A major power in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
• Under Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), the empire reached its peak, controlling major trade routes and challenging European powers.
• It was a dominant military, cultural, and economic force in the Islamic world.

3. The Portuguese Empire
• A key maritime and colonial power, especially early in the century.
• Controlled trade routes and colonies in Africa, Asia (Goa, Malacca), and Brazil.
• The Portuguese established the first global trading empire, centered on spices and maritime navigation.

4. The Ming Dynasty (China)
• Though more inward-looking in the 1500s, Ming China was still a superpower in East Asia.
• It had a vast population, advanced technology, and a strong economy.
• Their power was regionally dominant, though less focused on overseas expansion compared to European empires.

5. The Mughal Empire (India)
• Founded in 1526, it rose to prominence under Akbar the Great later in the century.
• The Mughals created a powerful, centralized state with economic and cultural prosperity in the Indian subcontinent.

Summary:
If we’re talking global influence, Spain was the dominant power in the 1500s, especially after the colonization of the Americas. But regionally, the Ottomans, Portuguese, Chinese Ming Dynasty, and later the Mughals were also highly powerful.

Let me know if you want a map or a timeline to go along with this!

Yes, I do.

This map generated by ChatGPT lacks accuracy due to the lack of a timeline. Brazil and other Portuguese enclaves in Africa and Asia were under Spanish control only during the Iberian Union, which was the unification of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal between 1580 and 1640. During this period, the Portuguese kingdom was under Spanish rule.

 

[Tautalus]

I agree with Duarte. In 1494, Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas with the Crown of Castile, which divided the lands, discovered and to be discovered, outside Europe between the two kingdoms. Based on this division, the two kingdoms created two Empires, the Spanish, essentially in the Americas, and the Portuguese, in Asia, Africa and Brazil. So yes, Portugal should be mentioned as one of the great powers of the 16th century.​

 

[thejoker]

I disagree for Venice before Florence in Renaissance time.
Florence is where Humanism before and Renaissance later started, and from there it spread in other Italian cities. Florence alone was richer than whole England and from Florence and Tuscany came people like Brunelleschi, Machiavelli, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangel, Botticelli, Vasari and many others.
Venice, while also a city of great importance during the Renaissance , famous for its commercial power, wealth, and refined art such as that of Titian and Bellini, played a more specific and less central role compared to Florence in defining the intellectual and cultural foundations of the Renaissance.
All in all, Florence had a more decisive and primary influence on the Renaissance, being the place where the movement originated and developed, whereas Venice represents one of the important cities that embraced and further developed some of its artistic and cultural expressions.

 

[traveller]

This map generated by ChatGPT lacks accuracy due to the lack of a timeline. Brazil and other Portuguese enclaves in Africa and Asia were under Spanish control only during the Iberian Union, which was the unification of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal between 1580 and 1640. During this period, the Portuguese kingdom was under Spanish rule.

That map is SO wrong. A prime example of ChatGPT contradicting the facts and itself. All of Europe, India and most of Africa under the Ottomans???

This list is a fun discussion starter. Note that it lists THE ONE most dominant civilization at any given time.

On the question of Spain vs Portugal, it boils down to determining if Portugal ever had the upper hand. How about late 15th/early 16th century (Italy listed as dominant in the list)?

I would also extend British domination up to 1940.