2.6Meanwhile, elsewhere (1492–1763)

While the colonies grew, Europe was convulsed by religion and dynastic war, from the Reformation to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which ended with a new order of sovereign states. Scientific revolution and, by the 1700s, Enlightenment thought advanced ideas of reason, natural rights, and government by consent that would echo in America.

Elsewhere, the Ottoman, Mughal, and Qing empires ruled vast populations and stood among the world's great powers. The Atlantic slave trade drew Africa, Europe, and the Americas into a single, brutal commercial system. By 1763, Britain had defeated France in a global conflict (the Seven Years' War), gaining North American dominance—and the debts and dilemmas that would soon spark revolution.