In the colonization of NA, how was it that the Europeans already had muskets while the Native Americans were still using traditional weapons? I doubt it’s because theres a lack of resources?
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The real answer would be the entire history of the world, but it boils down nearly solely to geography and timing.
Different regions in the world had not only different availability of resources, but a different social context. Agriculture was one big factor in getting larger populations going, but after that point you could think of it as sort of a competition (a horrifying, bloody one) where concentrations of civilizations evolved in favorable places and propelled each other along both by friendly (trade, sharing knowledge) and hostile (war requiring innovation) means. Civilizations more removed from one another did not have this selective pressure.
Still, the differences were not necessarily that vast. That’s where timing comes in. We could be talking about only decades of difference in development, but if those decades include ocean-going ships and firearms, the slightly slower civilization stands no chance against the aggressor. This happened at different scales multiple times, but when referring to modern colonies in the history that played out, Europe is that aggressor. But if Europe had been set back by some event — let’s say a plague that killed just a couple percent more people, or a more prolonged and costly war with one of the caliphates at some point — it could be that the Chinese or the Indians had been the ones to make the requisite advances quicker.
History is very much about right time, right place.
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