Technology enabled colonization, but that's not what drove colonization.
> just because a country is at the top now does not guarantee that it will be at the top forever. A quick look at history will tell you that
No one is making this claim. Every empire rises and sets.
What drove colonization?
If you read about various big colonial enterprises, eg the Spanish colonisation of the Americas it's rare to see technology mentioned as a motivation that drives the action, at best it's an enabler that provides success when expanding into less advanced territory.
eg:
The Spanish expansion has sometimes been succinctly summed up as being motivated by "gold, glory, God", that is, the search for material wealth, the enhancement of the conquerors' and the crown's position, and the expansion of Christianity to the exclusion of other religious traditions.
Not mentioning the reconquista is historical laziness.
The conquering of the Americas and the mass evangelization of Christianity into the new world is directly due to Muhammed and his conquests and their descendants.
The linear approach to the origins of a Reconquista taken in early twentieth-century historiography is complicated by a number of issues. [.. etc.]
The period is seen today to have had long episodes of relative religious coexistence and tolerance. The idea of a continuous Reconquista has been challenged by modern scholars.
The consolidation of the modern idea of a "Reconquista" is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of Spanish nationalism in the 19th century, associated with the development of a Centralist, Castilian, and staunchly Catholic brand of nationalism, evoking nationalistic, romantic and sometimes colonialist themes.
Regardless of how we in the modern world think of as "the Reconquista" the question remains whether Spain at the time colonised the New World because for long periods of time Christians and Muslims peacefully coexisted and now that Muslims had been ejected it was "directly due to Muhammed and his conquests and their descendants" that Spain continued to do unto others what Islam was alleged to have done to them.
really?
Like the US was allegedly colonized by English colonists?
I do want to point out that the modern world is quite different. Extractive institutions tend to fail and network effects may create a new form of economic transparency. I don't believe humanity has to continue our old ways in the future. Although the space race might restart the conquest cycle.
Maybe because you dont really need to go to far flung places if you have all the resources at home.
European colonisation began due to rise of technology and just because a country is at the top now does not guarantee that it will be at the top forever. A quick look at history will tell you that.