World Civilizations: The Global Experience, Volume I - Beginnings to 1750

by Stearns, Peter; Adas, Michael; Schwartz, Stuart; Gilbert, Marc Jason

• ISBN13: 9780321038128
• ISBN10: 0321038126
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-01
• Publisher: Pearson (Manual)

Summary

The primary goal of World Civilizations is to present a TRULY GLOBAL HISTORYone that both discusses the development of the world's leading civilizations and also emphasizes the major stages in the interactions among different peoples and societies. World Civilizations examines all the world's civilizations, including those in the Western tradition but also those civilizations sometimes neglected in world history textsfor example, the nomadic societies of Asia, Latin America, and the nations and states of the Pacific Rim. World Civilizations balances this discussion of independent developments in all the world's major civilizations with comparative analysis of the results of international contact. World Civilizations organizes its presentation of global history into SIX COHERENT TIME PERIODS, with each period defined by the new and parallel patterns that evolved among all or most civilizations during the particular era. The six periods correspond to the six parts of the book. Within each part, the authors identify specific themes that characterize common experiences or common forces in individual societies as well as the new kinds and patterns of global contacts that emerged during the era. Thus, for example, Part I of the book discusses the developmental stage of world history, including the rise of agriculture and the development of civilization. Part II examines the classical era in global history, an era marked by the integration of large regions and diverse groups of people through overarching cultural and political systems. Subsequent parts of the book continue the emphasis on geographic shifts and the intensification of contact among civilizations.

Table of Contents

Detailed Contents	vii
List of Maps	xiii
Preface	xv
Supplements	xxi
Prologue	xxiii
PART 1 THE ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATIONS	2	(72)
The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of Civilization	8	(20)
The Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and Africa	28	(22)
Asia's First Civilizations: India and China	50	(24)
PART 2 THE CLASSICAL PERIOD IN WORLD HISTORY	74	(194)
Nomadic Challenges and Sedentary Responses	80	(20)
Unification and the Consolidation of Civilization in China	100	(24)
Classical Greece and the Hellenistic World	124	(26)
Rome and Its Empire	150	(20)
Religious Rivalries and India's Golden Age	170	(26)
The Peoples and Civilizations of the Americas	196	(26)
The Spread of Peoples and Civilizations	222	(28)
The End of the Classical Era: World History in Transition, 200--700 C.E.	250	(18)
PART 3 THE POSTCLASSICAL ERA	268	(246)
The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam	276	(28)
Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast Asia	304	(26)
African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam	330	(22)
Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox Europe	352	(20)
A New Civilization Emerges in Western Europe	372	(26)
The Americas on the Eve of Invasion	398	(24)
Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties	422	(26)
The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Korea, Japan, and Vietnam	448	(26)
The Last Great Nomadic Challenges: From Chinggis Khan to Timur	474	(24)
The West and the Changing World Balance	498	(16)
PART 4 THE WORLD SHRINKS, 1450--1750	514	(8)
The Transformation of the West, 1450--1750	522	(20)
The West and the World	542
Glossary	2	(1)
Credits	2	(1)
Index	1