The Cambridge World History, Volume 6: The Construction of a Global World, 1400-1800 CE, Part 1. Foundations

The Cambridge World History

by Jerry H. Bentley (Editor), Sanjay Subrahmanyam (Editor), Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks (Editor)

The era from 1400 to 1800 saw intense biological, commercial, and cultural exchanges, and the creation of global connections on an unprecedented scale. Divided into two books, Volume 6 of the Cambridge World History series considers these critical transformations. The first book examines the material and political foundations of the era, including global considerations of the environment, disease, technology, and cities, along with regional studies of empires in the eastern and western hemispheres, crossroads areas such as the Indian Ocean, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, and sites of competition and conflict, including Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The second book focuses on patterns of change, examining the expansion of Christianity and Islam, migrations, warfare, and other topics on a global scale, and offering insightful detailed analyses of the Columbian exchange, slavery, silver, trade, entrepreneurs, Asian religions, legal encounters, plantation economies, early industrialism, and the writing of history.

Genres: History, World History

514 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2015

About the author

Jerry H. Bentley was professor of history at the University of Hawaii and editor of the Journal of World History.

Reviews

[Wing · Rating 5 out of 5]

After firstly outlining the environmental destruction, pandemics, hedonism, avarice, and various forms of subjugation that the early modern world witnessed, individual chapters then describes the geopolitical trajectories of the various regions, namely the Eurasian steppes, littorals, the Americas, and Africa. Fair and scholarly attempts are made to rectify hitherto Eurocentric accounts. The rise of mercantilism fuelled the expansionist inclination of imperialism, and is documented by the chapters on the major empires (viz. the Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman), which skilfully describe the characteristics of and interactions among these polities. Those chapters of the so-called crossroads where major and minor powers conducted their contestations are very informative and fascinating. The last chapter by Professor Jack A. Goldstone is simply superb. In it he provides a very succinct yet comprehensive summary of the period covered by this volume. He also gives a convincing explanation of the rise of the west which lays the foundation of the modern nation state. Five stars.