Shraddha Chakradhar

Aug 8, 2024 | science.org | Elizabeth Culotta |Shraddha Chakradhar |Rodrigo Ortega

Science—meaning the Western tradition of testing hypotheses and writing research papers—has its roots in the Enlightenment of 17th and 18th century Europe. When this new way to understand the natural world emerged, colonialism was already well established, with a handful of nations in Western Europe exerting political and economic control over distant lands and peoples. Eventually, just eight nations claimed more than half the globe (see map, below).