Atlas of the Year 1000

by Man, John

• ISBN13: 9780674006782
• ISBN10: 067400678X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-21
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

This dazzling book takes us on a voyage of discovery around the world at the turn of the last millennium, when for the first time the world was in essence a unity. Islam bridged Eurasia, western Europe, and North Africa. Vikings, with links to Scandinavia and Russia, had just arrived in North America. These and other peoples reached out to create links and put isolated cultures unwittingly in touch. John Man vividly captures these epochal events, and depicts the colorful peoples that defined the world's mix of stability and change, of isolation and contact. In an immensely learned portrayal, he traces enduring cultural strands that became part of the world as we know it today.In text, maps, and pictures, most in color, and drawing on the expertise of two dozen consultants, John Man has created a concise compendium of all the major cultures of the lost millennial world of 1000. In some cultures--Europe, Islam, China, and Japan--written records contain a vast range of materials, often revealing sharply focused details of life and personality. Here lie startling contrasts with today's world, and even foreshadowing of the future that are equally astonishing in their familiarity. For nonliterate cultures--in the United States, Southeast Asia, Polynesia, Africa--this book draws on a wealth of archeological research, some of it made available to nonspecialists for the first time.

Table of Contents

Introduction One World in the Making

The AMericas

Isolated Cultures Brought to Light by Archaeology

The Enigma of Tiahuanaco

The Toltecs' Brief Heyday

Cahokia: Capital of the Eastern Woodlands

The South-West: A Cultural Bloom in a Harsh Land

Bison Hunters and Farmers of the Prairies

A Tapestry of Cultures on the West Coast

The Far North: The Coming of the Thule People

The Vikings in Vinland

Europe

A Benighted Continent on the Brink Of a New Dawn

The Reach of Rome

The Viking Heartland

New-found Lands in Iceland and Greenland

England: A Nation on Its Knees

The Celtic World

France: Powerful Dukes, an Embattled King

Viking + Greek = Russian Orthodox

Otto III's Teenage Dreams of imperial Grandeur

The Corning of the Ashkenazim

The Emergence of Hungary

Byzantium: Fighting to Preserve the Glory

The World of Islam

A Political Patchwork, a Cultural Unity

Baghdad: The Heart of Islam

The Slaves of lslam

The Fatimids: Ambition, Power and Madness

Islamic Spain: Glory and Egomania

Central Asia: The Coming of the Turks

Mahmud, Scourge of Northern India

Judaism: A Faith Toughened by Trials

Asia

Two Suns and Their Planets

China: The Success of the Sung

Tibet's Dark Age

The Liao: A Challenge from the North

Hsi-hsia: 'The Great State of White and High'

Korea: Struggle for Unity, Wealth and Independence

Japan: The Rise and Rise of Michinaga

The Khmers: The First of Angkor's Wonders

India: Fleeting Power, Enduring Glory

Indonesia: Two Empires Built on Spices

Africa

Early States and Proto-Empires

Islam's Peaceful Trade with Realms of Gold

The Rich Land of the Great Lakes

Ethiopia: A World A

The South: The Golden Meadows of Zimbabwe's First Capital

Oceania

Remote Worlds Linked by Polynesian Voyages

The Moth-Eaters of the Australian Alps

Colonists of the 'Long White Cloud'

Easter Island: The Message of the Statues

Appendix A Millennial Gazetteer

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.