Old World Encounters Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times

by Bentley, Jerry H.

• ISBN13: 9780195076400
• ISBN10: 0195076400
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-01-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This innovative book examines cross-cultural encounters before 1492,focusing in particular on the major cross-cultural influences that transformedAsia and Europe during this period: the ancient silk roads that linked Chinawith the Roman Empire, the spread of the world religions, and the Mongol Empireof the thirteenth century. The author's goal throughout the work is to examinethe conditions--political, social, economic, or cultural--that enable oneculture to influence, mix with, or suppress another. On the basis of its globalanalysis, the book identifies several distinctive pattern of conversion,conflict, and compromise that emerged from cross-cultural encounters. In doingso, it elucidates that larger historical context of encounters between Europeansand other peoples in modern times. _Old World Encounters_ is ideal for studentsof world geography, religion, and civilizations.

Table of Contents

Maps	xi
Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges	3	(26)
The Era of the Ancient Silk Roads	29	(38)
Missionaries, Pilgrims, and the Spread of the World Religions	67	(44)
The Age of the Nomadic Empires	111	(54)
Toward a New World Order	165	(20)
Notes	185	(18)
Bibliography	203	(14)
Index	217