ABSTRACT

World History: An Introduction provides readers with the knowledge and tools necessary to understand the global historical perspective and how it can be used to shed light on both our past and our present. A concise and original guide to the concepts, methods, debates and contents of world history, it combines a thematic approach with a clear and ambitious focus.

Each chapter traces connections with the past and the present to explore major questions in world history:

    • How did humans evolve from an endangered species to the most successful of them all?
    • How has nature shaped human history?
    • How did agricultural societies push human history in a new direction?
    • How has humankind organized itself in ever more complex administrative systems?
    • How have we developed new religious and cultural patterns?
    • How have the paths of ‘The West’ and ‘The Rest’ diverged over the last five centuries?
    • How, at the same time, has the world become more interconnected and "globalized"?
    • How is this world characterized by growing gaps in wealth, poverty and inequality?

Sharp and accessible, Eric Vanhaute’s introduction to this exciting field demonstrates that world history is more of a perspective than a single all-encompassing narrative: an instructive new way of seeing, thinking and doing. It is an essential resource for students of history in a global context.

chapter |8 pages

Prelude

Cosmic history and human history

chapter 1|14 pages

World history:a history of the world?

chapter 2|23 pages

A human world

Humans and humankind

chapter 3|17 pages

A natural world

Ecology, energy and growth

chapter 4|12 pages

An agrarian world

Farmers, agriculture and food

chapter 5|13 pages

A political world

Governance and rulers

chapter 6|13 pages

A divine world

Culture, civilizations and religions

chapter 7|21 pages

A divided world

The West and The Rest

chapter 8|13 pages

A global world

Globalization or globalizations?

chapter 9|10 pages

A polarized world

Development, poverty and inequality

chapter 10|15 pages

A fragmented world

Unity and fragmentation