"On the one hand, this process artificially separated Europe from its historically organic integration with Asia and Africa."
A good part of this had already been accomplished via Islamic Imperialism in the Middle East and North Africa, followed by the conquests of the Mongol Empire. The Mediterranean was turned from an economic engine into a battlefield and any sort of sense of continuous civilization was broken as both sides were intent on depicting the other as essentially maleficent.
Too complex of a historiographical point to address here, but, regardless of where you fall on that issue, it certainly took European colonialism to complete the process.
Not by much. In the European mind, to the extent it looked outward in the Renaissance era, they were a besieged Christendom living under constant of being overrun (not without some justification). That worldview is 85% of the way to considering Europe the spark of rationality in a superstitious and dark world.
"On the one hand, this process artificially separated Europe from its historically organic integration with Asia and Africa."
A good part of this had already been accomplished via Islamic Imperialism in the Middle East and North Africa, followed by the conquests of the Mongol Empire. The Mediterranean was turned from an economic engine into a battlefield and any sort of sense of continuous civilization was broken as both sides were intent on depicting the other as essentially maleficent.
Too complex of a historiographical point to address here, but, regardless of where you fall on that issue, it certainly took European colonialism to complete the process.
Not by much. In the European mind, to the extent it looked outward in the Renaissance era, they were a besieged Christendom living under constant of being overrun (not without some justification). That worldview is 85% of the way to considering Europe the spark of rationality in a superstitious and dark world.