Universal history

Universal history is a term for a work aiming at the presentation of the history of humankind as a whole, as a coherent unit. It is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, corresponding in scope to what in contemporary terminology would be called "world history". As world history, universal history is the representation of general facts both of entire nations and of individuals. Its uses are manifold. It teaches human nature and the experience of all centuries. Universal history differs from world history in the teleological approach—history has a goal (telos).

A universal chronicle or world chronicle traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to the present. Universal history embraces the events of all times and nations with the only limitation being that they should be ascertained as to make a scientific treatment of them possible.

Universal history in the Western tradition is commonly divided into three parts, viz. ancient, medieval, and modern time. The division on ancient and medieval periods is less sharp or absent in the Arabic, Indian, Chinese and Japanese historiographies. A synoptic view of universal history led some scholars, beginning with Karl Jaspers, to distinguish the Axial Age synchronous to "classical antiquity" of the Western tradition. Jaspers also proposed a more universal periodization—prehistory, history and planetary history. All distinguished earlier periods belong to the second period (history) which is a relatively brief transitory phase between two much longer periods. Jaspers' periodization gains popularity in the current research.

Universal History (disambiguation)

Universal history is the presentation of the history of humankind as a whole, as a coherent unit.

Universal History may also refer to:

See also

Universal History (Sale et al)

The Universal History (complete title: A Universal history, from the earliest account of time. Compiled from original authors; and illustrated with maps, cuts, notes, &c. With a general index to the whole. ) was a 65-volume universal history of the world published in London between 1747 and 1768. Contributors included George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell and John Swinton.

It was one of the first works to attempt to unify the history of Western Europe with the stories of the world's other known cultures. As a major historical synthesis on, among other subjects, European colonial activities during the modern era, the Modern Part of a Universal History (1754-1765) can be considered, according to one specialist, Guido Abbattista, as a precursor of the famous abbé Guillaume Raynal's Histoire des Deux Indes (1770-1780), of which it was one of the most important, even if not acknowledged, sources.

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