What factors led to Europe's global dominance in economic and political factors? What impacts did that dominance have on other peoples and environments?

In most of the rest of the world, the climate was generally temperate and food was abundant, meaning there was no reason to plan ahead and save for the future. In Europe, however, the cold winters forced the Europeans to save food and build shelters to survive. The Europeans slowly evolved in these harsh conditions to think ahead and plan for the future, while most of the rest of the world (excluding some East Asian countries) were able to get by simply by existing. Since the Europeans were able to survive the winters and think ahead, their IQ steadily grew over generations, and their society provided great motivation to innovate. Therefore, most if not all major Scientific discoveries were made in Europe/East Asia, and they have dominated the world stage since. Because of the European's Scientific and Cultural Advances, the rest of the world has been able to enjoy a much higher standard of living than they would ever have otherwise.