PART I: Foragers and Farmers, to 5000 B.C.E.
CHAPTER ONE: Out of the Ice: Peopling the Earth
So You Think You're Human
Human Evolution
Out of Africa
Peopling the Old World
Migration, Population, and Social Change
The Last Great Ice Age
Ice-Age Hunters
Ice-Age Art
Ice-Age Culture and Society
Peopling the New World
Survival of the Foragers
In Perspective: After the Ice Age
CHAPTER TWO: Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding After the Ice Age
The Problem of Agriculture
A Case in Point: Aboriginal Australians
Preagricultural Settlements
The Disadvantages of Farming
Husbandry in Different Environments
Herders' Environments
Tillers' Environments
The Spread of Agriculture
Europe
Asia
The Americas
Africa
The Pacific Islands
So Why Did Farming Start?
Population Pressure
The Outcome of Abundance
The Power of Politics
Cult Agriculture
Climatic Instability
Agriculture by Accident
Production as an Outgrowth of Procurement
In Perspective: Seeking Stability
PART TWO: Farmers and Builders, 5000 to 500 B.C.E.
CHAPTER THREE: The Great River Valleys: Accelerating Change and Developing States
Growing Communities, Divergent Cultures
Intensified Settlement and Its Effects
The Ecology of Civilization
The Great Floodplains
The Ecology of Egypt
Shifting Rivers of the Indus Valley
Fierce Nature in Early Mesopotamia
The Good Earth of Early China
Configurations of Society
Patterns of Settlement and Labor
Politics
The Egyptian State
Statecraft in Mesopotamia
The First Documented Chinese State
Ruling the Harappan World
The Politics of Expansion
Literate Culture
In Perspective: What made the Great River Valleys Different?
CHAPTER FOUR: A Succession of Civilizations: Ambition and Instability
The Case of the Hittite Kingdom
The Importance of Trade
Hittite Society and Politics
Fragility and Fall: The End of Hatti
Instability and Collapse in the Aegean
Cretan Civilization
Mycenaean Civilization
A General Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean?
The Egyptian Experience
The Roots of Instability
The Extinction of Harappan Civilization
The Evidence of the Rig Veda
The Environment of Stress
Conflict on the Yellow River
The Rise of Zhou
The Zhou Political System
State-Building in the Americas
Andean Examples
Developments in Mesoamerica
Assessing the Damage
The Survival of Egypt
In Perspective: Fatal Flaws
CHAPTER FIVE: Rebuilding the World: Recoveries, New Initiatives, and Their Limits
Trade and Recovery in the Middle East
The Phoenician Experience
The Assyrian Empire
The Babylonian Revival
Greeceand Beyond
The Greek Environment
Greek Colonialism
Early Greek Society
The Spread of State-Building and City-Building
Empires and Recovery in China and South Asia
The Zhou Decline
South Asia: Relocated Centers of Culture
The Ganges Valley
Building Anew in Sri Lanka
The Frustrations of Isolation
Developments in North America
New Initiatives in Africa
In Perspective: The Framework of Recovery
PART III: The Axial Age, from 500 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
CHAPTER SIX: The Great Schools
The Thinkers of the Axial Age
The Thoughts of the Axial Age
Religious Thinking
New Political Thinking
Challenging Illusion
Math
Reason
Science
Medicine
Skepticism
Axial Age-Axial Area: The Structures of the Axial Age
In Perspective: The Reach of the Sages
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Great Empires
Routes That Drew the World Together
The Sea Routes of the Indian Ocean
Land Routes: The Silk Roads
The First Eurasian Empire: Persia
The Persian Heartland
Persian Government
The Persian-Greek Wars
The Empire of Alexander the Great
The Rise of Rome
The Roman Frontiers
Imperial Culture and Commerce
The Celts
The Beginnings of Imperialism in India
Government
Asoka and His Mental World
Chinese Unity and Imperialism
Unity Endangered and Saved
The Menace from the Steppes
Beyond the Empires
Japan and Korea
The Western Eurasian Steppe
Mesoamerica
In Perspective: The Aftermath of the Axial Age
PART IV: Fitful Transitions, from about the Third Century to the Tenth Century
CHAPTER EIGHT: Postimperial Worlds: Problems of Empires in Eurasia and Africa, ca. 200 c.e. to ca. 700 c.e.
The Western Roman Empire and Its Invaders
Changes within the Roman Empire
The Barbarian West
Steppelanders and Their Victims
China
India
New Frontiers in Asia
Korea
Funan
The Rise of Ethiopia
The Crises of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries
Justinian and the Eastern Roman Empire
The New Barbarians
The Arabs
Islam
Arabs against Persia and Rome
The Muslim World
Recovery and Its Limits in China
Rise of the Tang
Empress Wu
Tang Decline
In The Shadow of the Tang: Tibet and Japan
Tibet
Japan
In Perspective: The Triumph Of Barbarism?
CHAPTER NINE: The Rise of World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism
Commerce and Conflict: Carriers of Creeds
In the Islamic World
In Christendom
In the Buddhist World
Trade
Manichaeanism and the Uighurs
Christianity on the Silk Roads
Islam on Trade Routes
Monarchs and Missionaries
Constantine
Ezana
Trdat
Diplomatic Conversions
Buddhist Politics
Korea
Japan
Tibet
India
The Margins of Christendom
Vladimir and the Rus
Islam and the Turks
Trickle Down: Christianization and Islamization
Religious Lives: The World of Monks and Nuns
Christian Monasticism
Buddhist Monks
Sufism
Religious Women
In Perspective: The Triumphs of the Potential World Religions
CHAPTER TEN: Remaking the World: Innovation and Renewal on Environmental Frontiers in the Late First Millennium
Isolation and Initiative: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas
African Geography
American Geography
The Maize Frontiers
The Islamic World and the Environment
Frontier Growth in Japan
Chinaand South Asia
The Pacific
The Expansion of Christendom
In Perspective: The Limits of Divergence
PART V: Contacts and Conflicts, 1000 C.E. to 1200 C.E.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Contending with Isolation: ca. 1000-1200
American Developments: From the Arctic to Mesoamerica
Greenland and the North
The North American Southwest and the Mississippi Region
Mesoamerica
Around The Indian Ocean: Ethiopia, the Khmer, and India
East Africa: The Ethiopian Empire
Southeast Asia: The Khmer Kingdom
India: Economy and Culture
India: The Chola Kingdom
Eurasian Extremities: Japan and Western Europe
Japan
Western Europe: Economics and Politics
Western Europe: Religion and Culture
In Perspective: The Patchwork of Effects
CHAPTER TWELEVE: The Nomadic Frontiers: the Islamic World, Byzantium, and China ca. 1000-1200
The Islamic World and Its Neighbors
The Coming of the Steppelanders
The Crusades
The Invaders from the Sahara
The Progress of Sufism
The Byzantine Empire and Its Neighbors
Byzantium and the Barbarians
Basil II
The Era of Difficulties
Byzantium and the Crusaders
Byzantine Art and Learning
Chinaand the Northern Barbarians
The End of the Tang Dynasty
The Rise of the Song and the Barbarian Conquests
Economy and Society under the Song
Song Art and Learning
In Perspective: Cains and Abels
PART VI: The Crucible: The Eurasian Crises of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The World the Mongols Made
The Mongols: Reshaping Eurasia
The Mongol Steppe
The Mongol World beyond the Steppes: The Silk Roads, China, Persia and Russia
China
Persia
Russia
The Limits of Conquest: Mamluk Egypt and Muslim India
Muslim India: The Dehli Sultanate
EUROPE
IN PERSPECTIVE: The Uniqueness of the Mongols
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Revenge of Nature: Plague, Cold, and the Limits of Disaster in the Fourteenth Century
Climate Change
The Coming of the Age of Plague
The Course and Impact of Plague
Moral and Social Effects
The Limits of Disaster: Beyond the Plague Zone
India
Southeast Asia
Japan
Mali
The Pacific: Societies of Isolation
In Perspective: The Aftershock
CHAPTER FIFTHTEEN: Expanding Worlds: Recovery in the Late Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
Fragile Empires in Africa
East Africa
West Africa
Ecological Imperialism in the Americas
The Inca Empire
The Aztec Empire
New Eurasian Empires
The Russian Empire
The Ottoman Empire
The Limitations of Chinese Imperialism
The Beginnings of Oceanic Imperialism
The European Outlook: Problems and Promise
In Perspective: Beyond Empires
PART VII: Convergence and Divergence to ca. 1700
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Imperial Arenas: New Empires in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Maritime Empires: Portugal, Japan, and the Dutch
The Portuguese Example
Asian Examples
The Dutch Connection
Land Empires: Russia, China, Mughal India, and the Ottomans
China
The Mughal Example in India
The Ottomans
New Land Empires in the Americas
Making the New Empires Work
The Global Balance of Trade
In Perspective: The Impact of the Americas
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Ecological Revolution of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
The Ecological Exchange: Plants and Animals
Maize, Sweet Potatoes, and Potatoes
Weeds, Grasses, and Livestock
Cane Sugar
Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate
Patterns of Ecological Exchange
The Microbial Exchange
Demographic Collapse in the New World
Plague and New Diseases in Eurasia
Labor: Human Transplantations
Wild Frontiers: Encroaching Settlement
Northern and Central Asia: The Waning of Steppeland Imperialism
Pastoral Imperialism in Africa and the Americas
Imperialism and Settlement in Europe and Asia
China
India
New Exploitation in the Americas
The Spanish Empire
Brazil
British North America
Home Fronts in Europe and Asia
New Energy Sources
Land Reclamation
Frontiers of the Hunt
In Perspective: Evolution Redirected
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Mental Revolutions: Religion and Science in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Christianity in Christendom
Christianity beyond Christendom: The Limits of Success
The Missionary Worlds of Islam and Buddhism
China and Japan
Islam
The Resulting Mix: Global Religious Diversity-American and Indian Examples
Black America
White America
India
The Renaissance Discovery of the World
The Rise of Western Science
Western Science in the East
In Perspective: The Scales of Thought
CHAPTER NINETEEN: States and Societies: Political and Social Change in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Political Change in Europe
Western Political Thought
Western Society
The Ottomans
Mughal India and Safavid Persia
Chinese Politics and Society
Chinese Politics
Chinese Society
Tokugawa Japan
The New World of the Americas
Africa
In Perspective: Centuries of Upheaval
PART VIII: Global Enlightenments, 1700-1800
CHAPTER TWENTY: Driven by Growth: The Global Economy in the Eighteenth Century
Population Trends
Urbanization
Explanations
Medicine
The Ecology of Disease
Economic Trends: China, India, and the Ottoman Empire
China
India
The Ottoman Empire and Its Environs
The West's Productive Leap
The Scientific Background
The British Example
The Expansion of Resources
Global Gardening
In Perspective: New Europes, New Departures
CHAPTER TWENTYONE: The Age of Global Interaction: Expansion and Intersection of Eighteenth-Century Empires
Asian Imperialism in Arrest or Decline: China, Persia, and the Ottomans
China
The Asian Context
Persia and the Ottoman Empire
Imperial Reversal in India: Mughal Eclipse and British Rise To Power
The Dutch East Indies
The Black Atlantic: Africa, the Americas, and the Slave Trade
Land Empires of the New World
The Araucanos and the Sioux
Portugal in Brazil
Spanish America
Creole Mentalities
Toward Independence
IN PERSPECTIVE: The Rims of Empires
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO: The Exchange of Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Thought
The Character of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment in Global Context
The Chinese Example
Japan
India
The Islamic World
The Enlightenment's Effects in Asia
The Enlightenment and China
Western Science in Japan
Korea and Southeast Asia
The Ottomans
The Enlightenment in Europe
The Belief in Progress
New Economic Thought
Social Equality
Anticlericalism
The Crisis of the Enlightenment: Religion and Romanticism
Religious Revival
The Cult of Nature and Romanticism
Rousseau and the General Will
Pacific Discoveries
Wild Children
The Huron as Noble Savage
The French Revolution and Napoleon
Background to the Revolution
Napoleon
Revolutionary Radicalism
In Perspective: The Afterglow of Enlightenment
PART IX: The Frustrations of Progress, 1800-1900
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE: Replacing Muscle: the Energy Revolutions
Global Demographics: the Word's Population Rises
Food: Transition to Abundance
Energy for Power: Militarization and Industrialization
Militarization
Industrialization
Industrializing Europe
Industry in the Americas
JapanIndustrializes
Chinaand Industrialization
Indiaand Egypt
In Perspective: Why the West?
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR: The Social Mold: Work and Society in the Nineteenth Century
The Industrialized Environment
Palaces of Work: The Rise of Factories
Critics of Industrialization: Gold from the Sewers
Urbanization
Beyond Industry: Agriculture And Mining
Changing Labor Regimes
Free Migrants
Hunters and Pastoralists
Elites Transformed
In Perspective: Cultural Exchange-- Enhanced Pace, New Direction
CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE: Western Dominance in the Nineteenth Century World: The Westward Shift of Power and the Rise of Global Empires
The Opium Wars
The White Empires: Rise and Resistance
Methods of Imperial Rule
Business Imperialism
Imperialism in the New Europes
Empires Elsewhere: Japan, Russia, and the United States
Rationales of Empire
Doctrines of Superiority
The Civilizing Missions
In Perspective: The Reach of Empires
CHAPTER TWENTYSIX: The Changing State: Political Developments in the Nineteenth Century
Nationalism
Nationalism in Europe
The Case of the Jews
Nationalism beyond Europe
Constitutionalism
Centralization, Militarization, and Bureaucratization
In and Around the Industrializing World
Beyond the Industrializing World
Religion and Politics
New Forms of Political Radicalism
Steps toward Democracy
The Expansion of the Public Sphere
Western Social Thought
In Perspective: Global State-Building
PART X: Chaos and Complexity: The World in the Twentieth Century
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN: The Twentieth-Century Mind: Western Science and the World
Western Science Ascendant
China
India
The Wider World
The Transformation of Western Science
Physics
Human Sciences
Anthropology and Psychology
Philosophy and Linguistics
The Mirror of Science: Art
The Turn of the World
In Perspective: Science Challenging and Challenged
CHAPTER TWENTYEIGHT: World Order and Disorder: Global Politics in the Twentieth Century
THE WORLD WAR ERA, 1914-1945
The First World War
Postwar Disillusionment
The Shift to Ideological Conflicts
The Second World War
The Cold War Era, 1945-1991
Super-Power Confrontation
Decolonization
The New World Order
The European Union
In Perspective: The Anvil of War
CHAPTER TWENTYNINE: The Pursuit of Utopia: Civil Society in the Twentieth Century
The Context of Atrocities
The Encroaching State
Unplanning Utopia: the Turn toward Individualism
Counter-Colonization and Social Change
Globalization and the World Economy
Culture and Globalization
Secularism and Religious Revival
In Perspective: The Century of Paradox
CHAPTER THIRTY: The Embattled Biosphere: The Twentieth-Century Environment
Fuel Resources
Food Output
Urbanization
The Crisis of Conservation
The Unmanageable Environment: Climate and Disease
In Perspective: The Environmental Dilemma
