Empires and Encounters (History of the World) by Wolfgang Reinhard

Geschichte Der Welt

by Wolfgang Reinhard

Between 1350 and 1750 a time of empires, exploration, and exposure to radically different lands and cultures the world reached a tipping point of global connectedness. In this volume of the acclaimed History of the World series, noted international scholars examine five critical geographical areas during this pivotal Eurasia between Russia and Japan; the Muslim world of the Ottoman and Persian empires; Mughal India and the Indian Ocean trading world; maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania; and a newly configured transatlantic rim. While people in many places remained unaware of anything beyond their own village, an intense period of empire building led to expanding political, economic, and cultural interaction on every continent early signals of a shrinking globe.By the early fourteenth century Eurasia s Mongol empires were disintegrating. Concurrently, followers of both Islam and Christianity increased exponentially, with Islam exerting a powerful cultural influence in the spreading Ottoman and Safavid empires. India came under Mughal rule, experiencing a significant growth in trade along the Indian Ocean and East African coastlines. In Southeast Asia, Muslims engaged in expansion on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and the Philippines. And both sides of the Atlantic responded to the pressure of European commerce, which sowed the seeds of a world economy based on the resources of the Americas but made possible by the subjugation of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans."

Genres: History, World History

Hardcover

First published October 17, 2014

Reviews

[Cerebralcortext · Rating 3 out of 5]

Global history is an attempt to break out of colonial mindsets and find continuities and changes across the face of the planet. While illuminating comparisons are possible (see Lieberman's Strange Parallels), they can also become rather vacuous and dry. This book is, unfortunately, the latter. With so much content to cover in so little space, we are given only a gloss of historical data over a churning morass of repetitive comparisons in technical jargon appropriate to each region. In other words, this is not exactly a fun read, but it does give you a quick overview of various regions and issues within it that can direct one's interest towards further research. But that just sounds like a glorified bibliographical essay. While restrictive, it might have been better if they focused on one aspect (like tensions between centres and their peripheries, taxation systems, etc.) and analyzed how disparate societies responded to similar issues diachronically. That way, you still get a global history, albeit with a lot more depth. Trying to fit all analyses into one book, on the other hand, quickly becomes a muddle.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense, packed with info, good not-exclusively-euro historiography. LOTS of editing errors, though (maybe due to translating some of the authors?). At least two discrepancies in dates. But overall not the worst, I guess?