Starting with the year 3000 BC, this volume traces the growth of civilizations and empires around the world - Sumeria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Greece, Italy and the Americas. It begins as the Neolithic and Bronze Age culture of Siyalk comes to an end, and concludes in the year in which Christopher Columbus made preparations for his momentous voyage, a year that also saw the births of Henry VIII, the future king of England, Jaques Cartier, the French explorer of the North American Atlantic coast, and the death of William Caxton, the first English printer.