Expansion and Global Interaction: 1200-1700

by David Ringrose

A new entry in the Longman World History Series , this volume is a perfect supplement to a World History or Western Civilization course as well as introductory courses on Asia, Africa, or Latin America. Each book in the Longman World History Series , edited by Michael Adas, focuses on a prominent theme, process, or pattern in global history, and treats the topic in a cross-cultural and comparative manner. In Expansion and Global 1200-1700 , David Ringrose, an established historian of Spain and the Spanish empire, explores the dynamism that arose everywhere in the world after 1200 and shows how a series of autonomous societies became interdependent on a global scale by 1700. By examining the five major arenas of conflict, ranging from Imperial China to the Aztec and Inca Empires, he illustrates how political, cultural, and economic zones of influence expanded and overlapped. The author concludes with the observation that, by 1700, Europeans were influential across the globe, but were not yet dominant in more than a few areas and, as of 1700, their power in the nineteenth century would have been hard to predict.

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2000

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book for integrating seemingly disparate phenomena from the "Age of Exploration." Most takes on the Age operate from a Eurocentric pose in the sense that the story is one of increasing European involvement in different regions of the world. That's true, and Ringrose does not dispute it, but he situates that interaction in parallel processes occurring in other parts of the world.

My objection was one of emphasis. For his period preceding 1200-1700, it seemed that Ringrose was falling into a form of climatic determinism, where the natural long-term ebbs and flows of global temperatures and rainfall were the predominant factors driving "civilizational" success and failure. Then, after 1200, all of a sudden, he seemed to be asserting that the major driving factor was the effectiveness of particular leaders. It seemed somewhat convenient for the subject of the book.

This is a relatively small objection, though; if anything, I was happy to see an acknowledgment of the importance of contingency and individuals in the historical process. I've never read a better treatment of this time period.

[Curtis Rappleye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takes an interesting view on expansion from outside of Europe.