The World: A Brief History : To 1500

For introductory courses in world history.

 

The World: A Brief History gives students the whole story. 

 

Prentice Hall is proud to offer The World: A Brief History–the new brief version of The World: A History adapted by author Felipe Fernández-Armesto himself. The use of The World: A Brief History offers added flexibility in teaching World History, allowing instructors to supplement the text with additional readers or other material of their choice. And because the brief text was written by Fernández-Armesto himself, it continues to offer the holistic, narrative approach to history that has made the comprehensive text successful at schools across the nation.

 

Here’s what instructors have to say about The World:

 

“My students found Armesto’s style readable and entertaining.  Several noted that it was unlike any history textbook they had ever seen.  The color maps and photos are excellent, and the story at the beginning of each chapter helped draw the students into each period. “ — Matt Hoper, California Polytech State University

 

“I give The World a solid ‘A’ for its breadth of coverage, analytical framing and questions format, and its beautiful design.”

–Michael Wolfe, Penn State–Altoona

 

“[C]learly written and fluid prose that’s easy to understand.”

–Eben Miller, Southern Maine Community College

 

Fernandez-Armesto has chosen maps and pictures that stimulate debate and questions, but which also illuminate the topics at hand.”

–Chad Ross, East Carolina University

 

“…the seamless integration of social, cultural, political, economic, and geographic considerations allow for flexible pedagogy and the course emphasis to shift and unfold as desired by the instructor.” –Karen Kimball, University of Maine–Machias

 

PART I: Foragers and Farmers, to 5000 B.C.E.

 

CHAPTER ONE: Out of the Ice: Peopling the Earth

So You Think You’re Human

Human Evolution

Out of Africa

Peopling the Old World

Migration, Population, and Social Change

The Last Great Ice Age

Ice-Age Hunters

Ice-Age Art

Ice-Age Culture and Society

Peopling the New World

Survival of the Foragers

In Perspective: After the Ice Age

 

CHAPTER TWO: Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding After the Ice Age

The Problem of Agriculture

A Case in Point: Aboriginal Australians

Preagricultural Settlements

The Disadvantages of Farming

Husbandry in Different Environments

Herders’ Environments

Tillers’ Environments

The Spread of Agriculture

Europe

Asia

The Americas

Africa

The Pacific Islands

So Why Did Farming Start?

Population Pressure

The Outcome of Abundance

The Power of Politics

Cult Agriculture

Climatic Instability

Agriculture by Accident

Production as an Outgrowth of Procurement

In Perspective: Seeking Stability

 

PART TWO:  Farmers and Builders, 5000 to 500 B.C.E.

 

CHAPTER THREE: The Great River Valleys: Accelerating Change and Developing States

Growing Communities, Divergent Cultures

Intensified Settlement and Its Effects

The Ecology of Civilization

The Great Floodplains

The Ecology of Egypt

Shifting Rivers of the Indus Valley

Fierce Nature in Early Mesopotamia

The Good Earth of Early China

Configurations of Society

Patterns of Settlement and Labor

Politics

The Egyptian State

Statecraft in Mesopotamia

The First Documented Chinese State

Ruling the Harappan World

The Politics of Expansion

Literate Culture

In Perspective: What made the Great River Valleys Different?

 

CHAPTER FOUR: A Succession of Civilizations: Ambition and Instability

The Case of the Hittite Kingdom

The Importance of Trade

Hittite Society and Politics

Fragility and Fall: The End of Hatti

Instability and Collapse in the Aegean

Cretan Civilization

Mycenaean Civilization

A General Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean?

The Egyptian Experience

The Roots of Instability

The Extinction of Harappan Civilization

The Evidence of the Rig Veda

The Environment of Stress

Conflict on the Yellow River

The Rise of Zhou

The Zhou Political System

State-Building in the Americas

Andean Examples

Developments in Mesoamerica

Assessing the Damage

The Survival of Egypt

In Perspective: Fatal Flaws

 

CHAPTER FIVE: Rebuilding the World: Recoveries, New Initiatives, and Their Limits

Trade and Recovery in the Middle East

The Phoenician Experience

The Assyrian Empire

The Babylonian Revival

Greece and Beyond

The Greek Environment

Greek Colonialism

Early Greek Society

The Spread of State-Building and City-Building

Empires and Recovery in China and South Asia

The Zhou Decline

South Asia: Relocated Centers of Culture

The Ganges Valley

Building Anew in Sri Lanka

The Frustrations of Isolation

Developments in North America

New Initiatives in Africa

In Perspective: The Framework of Recovery

 

PART III: The Axial Age, from 500 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.

 

CHAPTER SIX: The Great Schools

The Thinkers of the Axial Age

The Thoughts of the Axial Age

Religious Thinking

New Political Thinking

Challenging Illusion

Math

Reason

Science

Medicine

Skepticism

Axial Age-Axial Area: The Structures of the Axial Age

In Perspective: The Reach of the Sages

 

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Great Empires

Routes That Drew the World Together

The Sea Routes of the Indian Ocean

Land Routes: The Silk Roads

The First Eurasian Empire: Persia

The Persian Heartland

Persian Government

The Persian–Greek Wars

The Empire of Alexander the Great

The Rise of Rome

The Roman Frontiers

Imperial Culture and Commerce

The Celts

The Beginnings of Imperialism in India

Government

Asoka and His Mental World

Chinese Unity and Imperialism

Unity Endangered and Saved

The Menace from the Steppes

Beyond the Empires

Japan and Korea

The Western Eurasian Steppe

Mesoamerica

In Perspective: The Aftermath of the Axial Age

 

PART IV: Fitful Transitions, from about the Third Century to the Tenth Century

 

CHAPTER EIGHT: Postimperial Worlds: Problems of Empires in Eurasia and Africa, ca. 200 c.e. to ca. 700 c.e.

The Western Roman Empire and Its Invaders

Changes within the Roman Empire

The “Barbarian” West

Steppelanders and Their Victims

China

India

New Frontiers in Asia

Korea

Funan

The Rise of Ethiopia

The Crises of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries

Justinian and the Eastern Roman Empire

The New Barbarians

The Arabs

Islam

Arabs against Persia and Rome

The Muslim World

Recovery and Its Limits in China

Rise of the Tang

Empress Wu

Tang Decline

In The Shadow of the Tang: Tibet and Japan

Tibet

Japan

In Perspective: The Triumph Of Barbarism?

 

CHAPTER NINE: The Rise of World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism

Commerce and Conflict: Carriers of Creeds

In the Islamic World

In Christendom

In the Buddhist World

Trade

Manichaeanism and the Uighurs

Christianity on the Silk Roads

Islam on Trade Routes

Monarchs and Missionaries

Constantine

Ezana

Trdat

Diplomatic Conversions

Buddhist Politics

Korea

Japan

Tibet

India

The Margins of Christendom

Vladimir and the Rus

Islam and the Turks

Trickle Down: Christianization and Islamization

Religious Lives: The World of Monks and Nuns

Christian Monasticism

Buddhist Monks

Sufism

Religious Women

In Perspective: The Triumphs of the Potential World Religions

 

CHAPTER TEN: Remaking the World: Innovation and Renewal on Environmental Frontiers in the Late First Millennium

Isolation and Initiative: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas

African Geography

American Geography

The Maize Frontiers

The Islamic World and the Environment

Frontier Growth in Japan

China and South Asia

The Pacific

The Expansion of Christendom

In Perspective: The Limits of Divergence

 

 

PART V: Contacts and Conflicts, 1000 C.E. to 1200 C.E.

 

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Contending with Isolation: ca. 1000–1200

American Developments: From the Arctic to Mesoamerica

Greenland and the North

The North American Southwest and the Mississippi Region

Mesoamerica

Around The Indian Ocean: Ethiopia, the Khmer, and India

East Africa: The Ethiopian Empire

Southeast Asia: The Khmer Kingdom

India: Economy and Culture

India: The Chola Kingdom

Eurasian Extremities: Japan and Western Europe               

Japan

Western Europe: Economics and Politics

Western Europe: Religion and Culture

In Perspective: The Patchwork of Effects

 

CHAPTER TWELEVE: The Nomadic Frontiers: the Islamic World, Byzantium, and China ca. 1000–1200

The Islamic World and Its Neighbors

The Coming of the Steppelanders

The Crusades

The Invaders from the Sahara

The Progress of Sufism

The Byzantine Empire and Its Neighbors

Byzantium and the Barbarians

Basil II

The Era of Difficulties

Byzantium and the Crusaders

Byzantine Art and Learning

China and the Northern Barbarians

The End of the Tang Dynasty

The Rise of the Song and the Barbarian Conquests

Economy and Society under the Song

Song Art and Learning

In Perspective: Cains and Abels

 

PART VI: The Crucible: The Eurasian Crises of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The World the Mongols Made

The Mongols: Reshaping Eurasia

The Mongol Steppe

The Mongol World beyond the Steppes: The Silk Roads, China, Persia and Russia

China

Persia

Russia

The Limits of Conquest: Mamluk Egypt and Muslim India

Muslim India: The Dehli Sultanate

EUROPE

IN PERSPECTIVE: The Uniqueness of the Mongols

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Revenge of Nature: Plague, Cold, and the Limits of Disaster in the Fourteenth Century

Climate Change

The Coming of the Age of Plague

The Course and Impact of Plague

Moral and Social Effects

The Limits of Disaster: Beyond the Plague Zone

India

Southeast Asia

Japan

Mali

The Pacific: Societies of Isolation

In Perspective: The Aftershock

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:  Expanding Worlds: Recovery in the Late Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries

Fragile Empires in Africa

East Africa

West Africa

Ecological Imperialism in the Americas

The Inca Empire

The Aztec Empire

New Eurasian Empires

The Russian Empire

The Ottoman Empire

The Limitations of Chinese Imperialism

The Beginnings of Oceanic Imperialism

The European Outlook: Problems and Promise

In Perspective: Beyond Empires