Presented in two volumes for maximum flexibility, Patterns of World History, Brief Fourth Edition, offers a distinct framework for understanding the global past through the study of origins, interactions, and adaptations. The authors examine the full range of human ingenuity over time and space in a comprehensive, evenhanded, and critical fashion. They offer a distinct intellectual framework for the role of innovation and historical change through patterns of origins, interactions, and adaptations. The Brief Edition offers a streamlined narrative and the lowest price points of any full-color world history textbook currently available.

DIGITAL RESOURCES
Visit www.oup.com/he/vonsivers4e for a wealth of digital resources for students and instructors, including an enhanced eBook with embedded learning tools and the Oxford Insight Study Guide, which delivers custom-built adaptive practice sessions based on students' performance.

Peter von Sivers is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Utah.

Charles A. Desnoyers is Professor of History at La Salle University.

George B. Stow is Professor of History and Director of the Graduate Program in History at La Salle University.

STUDYING WITH MAPS
PREFACE
NOTE ON DATES AND SPELLINGS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

WORLD PERIOD ONE. FROM HUMAN ORIGINS TO EARLY AGRICULTURAL CENTERS, PREHISTORY-600 BCE 2
Chapter 1. The African Origins of Humanity, Prehistory-10,000 BCE
The Origins of Humanity
Hominins: No Longer Chimpanzees, but Not Yet Human
Human Adaptations: From Africa to Eurasia and Australia
The African Origins of Human Culture
Migration from South Asia to Australia
Migration from Asia to Europe
The Ice Age Crisis and Human Migration to the Americas
The Ice Age
Putting It All Together

Chapter 2. Agrarian-Urban Centers of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean, 11,500-600 BCE
Agrarian Origins in the Fertile Crescent, ca. 11,500-1500 BCE
Sedentary Foragers and Foraging Farmers
The Origin of Urban Centers in Mesopotamia and Egypt
Interactions among Multiethnic and Multireligious Empires, ca. 1500-600 BCE
The Hittite and Assyrian Empires, 1600-600 BCE
Small Kingdoms on the Imperial Margins, 1600-600 BCE
Religious Experience and Cultural Achievements
Putting It All Together

Chapter 3. Shifting Agrarian Centers in India, 3000-600 BCE
The Vanished Origins of Harappa, 3000-1500 BCE
The Region and People
Adapting to Urban Life in the Indus Valley
The Collapse of the Cities
Interactions in Northern India, 1500-600 BCE
The Vedic World, 1750-800 BCE
Statecraft and the Ideology of Power, 800-600 BCE
Indian Society, Culture, and Religion, 1500-600 BCE
Society and Family in Ancient India
Cultural Interactions to 600 BCE
Putting It All Together

Chapter 4. Agrarian Centers and the Mandate of Heaven in Ancient China, 5000-481 BCE
The Origins of Yellow River Cultures, 5000-1766 BCE
Geography and Climate
The Origins of Neolithic Cultures
The Age of Myth and the Xia Dynasty, 2852-1766 BCE
The Interactions of Shang and Zhou History and Politics, 1766-481 BCE
The Shang Dynasty, 1766-1122 BCE
The Mandate of Heaven: The Zhou Dynasty to 481 BCE
Economy, Society, and Family Adaptation in Ancient China
Shang Society
Interactions of Zhou Economy and Society
Gender and the Family
Interactions of Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life in Ancient China
Oracle Bones and Early Chinese Writing
Adaptations of Zhou Religion, Technology, and Culture
Putting It All Together

Chapter 5. Origins Apart: The Americas and Oceania, 16,000-600 BCE
The Americas: Hunters and Foragers, 16,000-600 BCE
The Environment
Human Migrations
Agriculture, Villages, and Urban Life
The Neolithic Revolution in the New World
The Origins of Urban Life
The First Mesoamerican Settlements
The Origins of Pacific Island Migrations
Lapita and Cultural Origins
Creating Polynesia
Putting It All Together

WORLD PERIOD TWO. THE AGE OF EMPIRES AND VISIONARIES, 600 BCE-600 CE
Chapter 6. Chiefdoms and Early States in Africa and the Americas, 600 BCE-600 CE
Agriculture and Early African Kingdoms
Saharan Villages, Towns, and Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Aksum
The Spread of Villages in Sub-Saharan Africa
West African Savanna and Rain-Forest Agriculture
The Spread of Village Life to East and South Africa
Patterns of African History, 600 BCE-600 CE
Early States in Mesoamerica: Maya Kingdoms and Teotihuacan
The Maya Kingdoms in Southern Mesoamerica
The Kingdom of Teotihuacan in the Mexican Basin
The Andes: Moche and Nazca
The Moche in Northern Peru
Paracas and the Nazca in Southern Peru
Putting It All Together

Chapter 7. Interaction and Adaptation in Western Eurasia: Persia, Greece, and Rome, 550 BCE-600 CE
Interactions between Persia and Greece
The Origins of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
Greek City-States in the Persian Shadow
Alexander's Empire and Its Successor Kingdoms
Interactions between the Persian and Roman Empires
Parthian Persia and Rome
The Sasanid Persian and Late Roman Empires
Adaptations to Monotheism and Monism in the Middle East
Challenge to Polytheism: The Origins of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Greek Philosophy
Toward Religious Communities and Philosophical Schools
The Beginnings of Science and the Cultures of Kings and Citizens
The Sciences at the Library of Alexandria
Royal Persian Culture and Arts
Greek and Roman Civic Culture and Arts
Putting It All Together

Chapter 8. Empires and Visionaries in India, 600 BCE-600 CE
Patterns of State Formation in India: Republics, Kingdoms, and Empires
The Road to Empire: The Mauryas
The Classical Age: The Gupta Empire
The Southern Kingdoms, ca. 300-600 CE
The Vedic Tradition and Its Visionary Reformers
Reforming the Vedic Tradition
The Maturity of Hinduism: From the Abstract to the Devotional
Stability amid Disorder: Economy, Family, and Society
Tax and Spend: Economy and Society
Caste, Family Life, and Gender
Strength in Numbers: Art, Literature, and Science
Putting It All Together

Chapter 9. China: Imperial Unification and Perfecting the Moral Order, 722 BCE-618 CE
Visionaries and Empire
Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism
The Qin Dynasty
The Han Dynasty
The Domestic Economy: Society, Family, and Gender
Industry and Commerce
Gender Roles
Intellectual Trends, Aesthetics, Science, and Technology
Confucianism, Education, and History during the Han
Buddhism in China
Intellectual Life
Putting It All Together

WORLD PERIOD THREE: THE FORMATION OF RELIGIOUS CIVILIZATIONS, 600-1450 CE
Chapter 10. Islamic Civilization and Byzantium, 600-1300 CE
The Formation of Islamic Religious Civilization
The Beginnings of Islam
Islamic Theology, Law, and Politics
Eastern Christian Civilization in Byzantium
Byzantium's Difficult Beginnings
The Seljuk Invasion and the Crusades
Islamic and Eastern Christian Civilizations at Their Height
State and Society in Mamluk Egypt
Byzantine Provincial and Central Organization
Commercial Relations from the Atlantic to the South China Sea
Religion, Sciences, and the Arts in Two Religious Civilizations
Islamic Culture: Intellectual and Scientific Expressions
Artistic Expressions in Islamic Civilization
Learning and the Arts in Byzantium
Putting It All Together

Chapter 11. Innovation and Adaptation in the Western Christian World, 600-1450 CE
The Formation of Christian Europe, 600-1000
Frankish Gaul and Latin Christianity
Recovery, Reform, and Innovation, 1000-1300
The Political Recovery of Europe
The Economic and Social Recovery of Europe
Religious Reform and Expansion
Intellectual and Cultural Developments
Crisis and Creativity, 1300-1415
The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
Signs of a New Era in the Fifteenth Century
Putting It All Together

Chapter 12. Sultanates, Tang to Ming, and The Mongol Superpower, 600-1600 CE
India: The Clash of Cultures
Buddhist and Hindu India after the Guptas
Islam in India, 711-1398
Toward the Mughal Era, 1398-1450
Interactions and Adaptations: From Buddhism to Neo-Confucian Synthesis in China
Creating a Religious Civilization under the Tang
The Song and Yuan Dynasties, 960-1368
The Ming to 1450: The Quest for Stability
Society, Family, and Gender
Perceptions of Perfection: Intellectual, Scientific, and Cultural Life
Putting It All Together

Chapter 13. Religious Civilizations Interacting: Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, 550-1500 CE
Korea to 1450: Innovation from Above
People and Place: The Korean Environment
Conquest and Competition: History and Politics to 1450
Economy, Society, and Family
Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Japan to 1450: Selective Interaction and Adaptation
The Island Refuge
Adaptation at Arm's Length: History and Politics
Economy, Society, and Family
Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Vietnam: Human Agency and State Building
The Setting and Neolithic Cultures
Economy, Society, and Family
Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Putting It All Together

Chapter 14. Patterns of State Formation in Africa, 600-1450 CE
Christians and Muslims in the Northeast
Nubia in the Middle Nile Valley
Ethiopia in the Eastern Highlands
Adaptation to Islam: City-States and Kingdoms in East and Southern Africa
The Swahili City-States on the East African Coast
Traditional Kingdoms in Southern and Central Africa
Central African Chiefdoms and Kingdoms
Cultural Encounters: West African Traditions and Islam
The Kingdom of Ancient Ghana
The Empire of Mali
Rain-Forest Kingdoms
Putting It All Together

Chapter 15. The Rise of Empires in the Americas, 600-1550 CE
The Legacy of Teotihuacan and the Toltecs in Mesoamerica
Militarism in the Mexican Basin
Late Maya States in Yucatan
The Legacy of Tiwanaku and Wari in the Andes
The Expanding State of Tiwanaku
The Expanding City-State of Wari
American Empires: Aztec and Inca Origins and Dominance
The Aztec Empire of Mesoamerica
The Inca Empire of the Andes
Imperial Society and Culture
Imperial Capitals: Tenochtitlan and Cuzco
Power and Its Cultural Expressions
Putting It All Together

WORLD PERIOD FOUR. INTERACTIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE, 1450-1750
Chapter 16. The Western European Overseas Expansion and the Ottoman-Habsburg Struggle, 1450-1650
The Muslim-Christian Competition in the East and West, 1450-1600
Iberian Christian Expansion, 1415-1498
Rise of the Ottomans and Struggle with the Habsburgs for Dominance, 1300-1609
The Centralizing State: Origins and Interactions
State Transformation, Money, and Firearms
Imperial Courts, Urban Festivities, and the Arts
The Ottoman Empire: Palaces, Festivities, and the Arts
The Spanish Habsburg Empire: Popular Festivities and the Arts
Putting It All Together

Chapter 17. The Renaissance, New Sciences, and Religious Wars in Europe, 1450-1750
Cultural Transformations: Renaissance, Baroque, and New Sciences
The Renaissance and Baroque Arts
The New Sciences
The New Sciences and Their Social Impact
The New Sciences: Philosophical Interpretations
Centralizing States and Religious Upheavals
The Rise of Centralized Kingdoms
The Protestant Reformation, State Churches, and Independent Congregations
Religious Wars and Political Restoration
Putting It All Together

Chapter 18. New Patterns in New Worlds: Colonialism and Indigenous Responses in the Americas, 1500-1800
The Colonial Americas: Europe's Warm-Weather Extension
The Conquest of Mexico and Peru
The Establishment of Colonial Institutions
The Making of American Societies: Origins and Transformations
Exploitation of Mineral and Tropical Resources
Social Strata, Castes, and Ethnic Groups
The Adaptation of the Americas to European Culture
Putting It All Together

FURTHER RESOURCES
CREDITS
SUBJECT INDEX

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