World history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the academic field. For a global overview of historical events,
see Human history. For the album by Mad at the World, see World History (album).
World history or global history as a field of historical study examines history from a
global perspective. It emerged centuries ago; leading practitioners have
included Voltaire (1694-1778), Hegel (1770-1831), Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Arnold J.
Toynbee (1889-1975). The field became much more active (in terms of university
teaching, text books, scholarly journals, and academic associations) in the late 20th
century. It is not to be confused with comparative history, which, like world history, deals
with the history of multiple cultures and nations, but does not do so on a global scale.
World history looks for common patterns that emerge across all cultures. World
historians use a thematic approach, with two major focal points: integration (how
processes of world history have drawn people of the world together) and difference
(how patterns of world history reveal the diversity of the human experience).[1]

Contents

 1Establishment and perimeters of the field

o 1.1Organizations
 2History
o 2.1Pre-modern
o 2.2Early modern
o 2.3Contemporary
 3History education
o 3.1United States
 4Recent themes
 5Authors and their books on world history
 6See also
 7References
 8Bibliography
o 8.1Surveys of world history
o 8.2Transnational histories
o 8.3Atlases
o 8.4Historiography
 9External links

Establishment and perimeters of the field[edit]

Jerry H. Bentley has observed that 'the term world history has never been a clear
signifier with a stable referent', and that usage of the term overlaps with universal
history, comparative history, global history, big history, macro history, and transnational
history, among others.[2]
The advent of world history as a distinct academic field of study can be traced to the
1960s, but the pace quickened in the 1980s. [3][4] A key step was the creation of the World
History Association and graduate programs at a handful of universities. Over the next
decades scholarly publications, professional and academic organizations, and graduate
programs in World History proliferated. World History has often displaced Western
Civilization in the required curriculum of American high schools and universities, and is
supported by new textbooks with a world history approach.
World History attempts to recognize and address two structures that have profoundly
shaped professional history-writing:

1. A tendency to use current nation-states to set the boundaries and agendas of

studies of the past.
2. A deep legacy of Eurocentric assumptions (found especially, but not only, in
Western history-writing).
Thus World History tends to study networks, connections, and systems that cross
traditional boundaries of historical study like linguistic, cultural, and national borders.
World History is often concerned to explore social dynamics that have led to large-scale
changes in human society, such as industrialization and the spread of capitalism, and to
analyse how large-scale changes like these have affected different parts of the world.
Like other branches of history-writing in the second half of the twentieth century, World
History has a scope far beyond historians' traditional focus on politics, wars, and
diplomacy, taking in a panoply of subjects like gender history, social history, cultural
history, and environmental history.[3]
Organizations[edit]

 The H-World website and online network[5] is used among some practitioners of

world history, and allows discussions among scholars, announcements, syllabi,
bibliographies and book reviews.
 The International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC)
approaches world history from the standpoint of comparative civilizations. Founded
at a conference in 1961 in Salzburg, Austria, that was attended by Othmar
Anderlie, Pitirim Sorokin, and Arnold J. Toynbee, this is an international association
of scholars that publishes a journal, Comparative Civilization Review, and hosts an
annual meeting in cities around the world.
 The Journal of Global History is a scholarly journal established in 2006 and is
published by Cambridge University Press.
 The World History Association (WHA) was established in 1982, and is
predominantly an American phenomenon. [6] Since 1990, it publishes the Journal of
World History on a quarterly basis.[7]

History[edit]
Pre-modern[edit]
The study of world history, as distinct from national history, has existed in many world
cultures. However, early forms of world history were not truly global, and were limited to
only the regions known by the historian.
In Ancient China, Chinese world history, that of China and the surrounding people
of East Asia, was based on the dynastic cycle articulated by Sima Qian in circa 100 BC.
Sima Qian's model is based on the Mandate of Heaven. Rulers rise when they united
China, then are overthrown when a ruling dynasty became corrupt. [8] Each new dynasty
begins virtuous and strong, but then decays, provoking the transfer of Heaven's
mandate to a new ruler. The test of virtue in a new dynasty is success in being obeyed
by China and neighboring barbarians. After 2000 years Sima Qian's model still
dominates scholarship, although the dynastic cycle is no longer used for modern
Chinese history.[9]
In Ancient Greece, Herodotus (5th century BC), as founder of Greek historiography,
[10]
 presents insightful and lively discussions of the customs, geography, and history of
Mediterranean peoples, particularly the Egyptians. However, his great
rival Thucydides promptly discarded Herodotus's all-embracing approach to history,
offering instead a more precise, sharply focused monograph, dealing not with vast
empires over the centuries but with 27 years of war between Athens and Sparta. In
Rome, the vast, patriotic history of Rome by Livy (59 BC-17 AD) approximated
Herodotean inclusiveness;[11] Polybius (c.200-c.118 BC) aspired to combine the logical
rigor of Thucydides with the scope of Herodotus.[12]
Rashīd al-Dīn Fadhl-allāh Hamadānī (1247–1318), was a Persian physician of Jewish
origin, polymathic writer and historian, who wrote an enormous Islamic history, the Jami
al-Tawarikh, in the Persian language, often considered a landmark in intercultural
historiography and a key document on the Ilkhanids (13th and 14th century). [13] His
encyclopedic knowledge of a wide range of cultures from Mongolia to China to the
Steppes of Central Eurasia to Persia, the Arabic-speaking lands, and Europe, provide
the most direct access to information on the late Mongol era. His descriptions also
highlight the manner in which the Mongol Empire and its emphasis on trade resulted in
an atmosphere of cultural and religious exchange and intellectual ferment, resulting in
the transmission of a host of ideas from East to West and vice versa.
One Muslim scholar, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1409) broke with traditionalism and offered a
model of historical change in Muqaddimah, an exposition of the methodology of
scientific history. Ibn Khaldun focused on the reasons for the rise and fall of civilization,
arguing that the causes of change are to be sought in the economic and social structure
of society. His work was largely ignored in the Muslim world. [14] Otherwise the Muslim,
Chinese and Indian intellectuals held fast to a religious traditionalism, leaving them
unprepared to advise national leaders on how to confront the European intrusion into
Asia after 1500 AD.
Early modern[edit]
During the Renaissance in Europe, history was written about states or nations. The
study of history changed during the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Voltaire described
the history of certain ages that he considered important, rather than describing events in
chronological order. History became an independent discipline. It was not
called philosophia historiae anymore, but merely history (historia). Voltaire, in the 18th
century, attempted to revolutionize the study of world history. First, Voltaire concluded
that the traditional study of history was flawed. The Christian Church, one of the most
powerful entities in his time, had presented a framework for studying history. Voltaire,
when writing History of Charles XII (1731) and The Age of Louis XIV (1751), instead
choose to focus economics, politics and culture.[15] These aspects of history were mostly
unexplored by his contemporaries and would each develop into their own sections of
world history. Above all else, Voltaire regarded truth as the most essential part of
recording world history. Nationalism and religion only subtracted from objective truth, so
Voltaire freed himself for their influence when he recorded history. [16]
Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) in Italy wrote Scienza nuva seconda (The New Science)
in 1725, which argued history as the expression of human will and deeds. He thought
that men are historical entities and that human nature changes over time. Each epoch
should be seen as a whole in which all aspects of culture—art, religion, philosophy,
politics, and economics—are interrelated (a point developed later by Oswald Spengler).
Vico showed that myth, poetry, and art are entry points to discovering the true spirit of a
culture. Vico outlined a conception of historical development in which great cultures, like
Rome, undergo cycles of growth and decline. His ideas were out of fashion during
the Enlightenment, but influenced the Romantic historians after 1800.
A major theoretical foundation for world history was given by German philosopher G. W.
F. Hegel, who saw the modern Prussian state as the latest (though often confused with
the highest) stage of world development.
G.W.F. Hegel developed three lenses through which he believed world history could be
viewed. Documents produced during a historical period, such as journal entries and
contractual agreements, were considered by Hegel to be part of Original History. These
documents are produced by a person enveloped within a culture, making them conduits
of vital information but also limited in their contextual knowledge. Documents which
pertain to Hegel’s Original History are classified by modern historians as primary
sources.[17]
Reflective History, Hegel’s second lens, are documents written with some temporal
distance separating the event which is discussed in the academic writing. What limited
this lens, according to Hegel, was the imposition of the writers own cultural values and
views on the historical event. This criticism of Reflective History was later formalized by
Anthropologists Franz Boa and coined as Cultural relativism by Alain Locke. Both of
these lenses were considered to be partially flawed by Hegel. [18]
Hegel termed the lens which he advocated to view world history through as
Philosophical History. In order to view history through this lens, one must analyze
events, civilizations, and periods objectively. When done in this fashion, the historian
can then extract the prevailing theme from their studies. This lens differs from the rest
because it is void of any cultural biases and takes a more analytical approach to history.
World History can be a broad topic, so focusing on extracting the most valuable
information from certain periods may be the most beneficial approach. This third lens,
as did Hegel’s definitions of the other two, affected the study of history in the early
modern period and our contemporary period. [19]
Another early modern historian was Adam Ferguson. Ferguson’s main contribution to
the study of world history was his An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767).
[20]
 According to Ferguson, world history was a combination of two forms of history. One
was natural history; the aspects of our world which god created. The other, which was
more revolutionary, was social history. For him, social history was the progress humans
made towards fulfilling God’s plan for humanity. He believed that progress, which could
be achieved through individuals pursuing commercial success, would bring us closer to
a perfect society; but we would never reach one. [21] However, he also theorized that a
complete dedication to commercial success could lead to societal collapse—like what
happened in Rome—because people would lose morality. Through this lens, Ferguson
viewed world history as humanities struggle to reach an ideal society. [22]
Henry Home, Lord Kames was a philosopher during the Enlightenment and contributed
to the study of world history. In his major historical work, Sketches on the History of
Man, Home’s outlined the four stages of human history which he observed. [23] The first
and most primitive stage was small hunter-gatherer groups. Then, in order to form
larger groups, humans transitioned into the second stage when they began to
domesticate animals. The third stage was the development of agriculture. This new
technology established trade and higher levels of cooperation amongst sizable groups
of people. With the gathering of people into agricultural villages, laws and social
obligations needed to be developed so a form of order could be maintained. The fourth,
and final stage, involved humans moving into market towns and seaports where
agriculture was not the focus. Instead, commerce and other forms of labor arouse in a
society. By defining the stages of human history, Homes influenced his successors. He
also contributed to the development of other studies such as sociology and
anthropology.[24]
The Marxist theory of historical materialism claims the history of the world is
fundamentally determined by the material conditions at any given time – in other words,
the relationships which people have with each other in order to fulfil basic needs such
as feeding, clothing and housing themselves and their families.
[25]
 Overall, Marx and Engels claimed to have identified five successive stages of the
development of these material conditions in Western Europe.[26] The theory divides the
history of the world into the following periods: [27][28][29][30][31] Primitive communism; Slave
society; Feudalism; Capitalism; and Socialism.
Regna Darnell and Frederic Gleach argue that, in the Soviet Union, the Marxian theory
of history was the only accepted orthodoxy, and stifled research into other schools of
thought on history.[32] However, adherents of Marx's theories argue that Stalin
distorted Marxism.[33]
Contemporary[edit]
World history became a popular genre in the 20th century with universal history. In the
1920s, several best-sellers dealt with the history of the world, including surveys The
Story of Mankind (1921) by Hendrik Willem van Loon and The Outline of History (1918)
by H.G. Wells. Influential writers who have reached wide audiences include H. G.
Wells, Oswald Spengler, Arnold J. Toynbee, Pitirim Sorokin, Carroll
Quigley, Christopher Dawson,[34] and Lewis Mumford. Scholars working the field
include Eric Voegelin,[35] William Hardy McNeill and Michael Mann.[36] With evolving
technologies such as dating methods and surveying laser technology called LiDAR,
contemporary historians have access to new information which changes how past
civilizations are studied.
Spengler's Decline of the West (2 vol 1919–1922) compared nine organic cultures:
Egyptian (3400 BC-1200 BC), Indian (1500 BC-1100 BC), Chinese (1300 BC-AD 200),
Classical (1100 BC-400 BC), Byzantine (AD 300–1100), Aztec (AD 1300–1500),
Arabian (AD 300–1250), Mayan (AD 600–960), and Western (AD 900–1900). His book
was a smashing success among intellectuals worldwide as it predicted the
disintegration of European and American civilization after a violent "age of Caesarism,"
arguing by detailed analogies with other civilizations. It deepened the post-World War I
pessimism in Europe, and was warmly received by intellectuals in China, India, and
Latin America who hoped his predictions of the collapse of European empires would
soon come true.[37]
In 1936–1954, Toynbee's ten-volume A Study of History came out in three separate
installments. He followed Spengler in taking a comparative topical approach to
independent civilizations. Toynbee said they displayed striking parallels in their origin,
growth, and decay. Toynbee rejected Spengler's biological model of civilizations as
organisms with a typical life span of 1,000 years. Like Sima Qian, Toynbee explained
decline as due to their moral failure. Many readers rejoiced in his implication (in vols. 1–
6) that only a return to some form of Catholicism could halt the breakdown of western
civilization which began with the Reformation. Volumes 7–10, published in 1954,
abandoned the religious message, and his popular audience slipped away, while
scholars picked apart his mistakes.,[38]
McNeill wrote The Rise of the West (1963) to improve upon Toynbee by showing how
the separate civilizations of Eurasia interacted from the very beginning of their history,
borrowing critical skills from one another, and thus precipitating still further change as
adjustment between traditional old and borrowed new knowledge and practice became
necessary. McNeill took a broad approach organized around the interactions of peoples
across the Earth. Such interactions have become both more numerous and more
continual and substantial in recent times. Before about 1500, the network of
communication between cultures was that of Eurasia. The term for these areas of
interaction differ from one world historian to another and include world-
system and ecumene. Whatever it is called, the importance of these intercultural
contacts has begun to be recognized by many scholars.[39]

History education[edit]
United States[edit]
As early as 1884, the American Historical Association advocated the study of the past
on a world scale.[40] T. Walter Wallbank and Alastair M. Taylor co-authored Civilization
Past & Present, the first world-history textbook published in the United States (1942).
With additional authors, this very successful work went through numerous editions up to
the first decade of the twenty-first century. According to the Golden Anniversary edition
of 1992, the ongoing objective of Civilization Past & Present "was to present a survey of
world cultural history, treating the development and growth of civilization not as a unique
European experience but as a global one through which all the great culture systems
have interacted to produce the present-day world. It attempted to include all the
elements of history – social, economic, political, religious, aesthetic, legal, and
technological."[41] Just as the first world war strongly encouraged American historians to
expand the study of Europe than to courses on Western civilization, the second world
war enhance the global perspectives, especially regarding Asia and Africa. Louis
Gottschalk, William H. McNeill, and Leften S. Stavrianos became leaders in the
integration of world history to the American College curriculum. Gottschalk began work
on the UNESCO 'History of Mankind: Cultural and Scientific Development' in 1951.
McNeill, influenced by Toynbee, broadened his work on the 20th century to new topics.
Since 1982 the World History Association at several regional associations began a
program to help history professors broaden their coverage in freshman courses; world
history became a popular replacement for courses on Western Civilization.
Professors Patrick Manning, at the University of Pittsburgh's World History Center;
and Ross E. Dunn at San Diego State are leaders in promoting innovative teaching
methods.[42]
In related disciplines, such as art history and architectural history, global perspectives
have been promoted as well. In schools of architecture in the U.S., the National
Architectural Accrediting Board now requires that schools teach history that includes a
non-west or global perspective. This reflects a decade-long effort to move past the
standard Euro-centric approach that had dominated the field. [43]