Patterns of World History

Maps
Studying with Maps
Preface
Note on the Dates and Spellings
About the Authors

PART ONE: From Human Origins to Early Agricultural Centers, Prehistory-600 BCE

Chapter 1. The African Origins of Humanity, Prehistory-10,000 BCE
The Origins of Humanity
-Hominins: No Longer Chimpanzees but Not Yet Human
Human Adaptations: From Africa to Eurasia and Australia
-The African Origins of Human Culture
-Migration from South Asia to Australia
-Migration from Asia to Europe
The Ice Age Crisis and Human Migration to the Americas
-The Ice Age
Patterns Up Close: The Disappearance of Neanderthals
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: The Hobbits of Flores Island

Chapter 2. Agrarian-Urban Centers of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean, 11,500-600 BCE
Agrarian Origins in the Fertile Crescent, ca. 11,500-1500 BCE
-Sedentary Foragers and Foraging Farmers
-The Origin of Urban Centers in Mesopotamia and Egypt
Patterns Up Close: Babylonian Law Codes
Interactions among Multiethnic and Multireligious Empires, ca. 1500-600 BCE
-The Hittite and Assyrian Empires, 1600-600 BCE
-Small Kingdoms on the Imperial Margins, 1600-600 BCE
Religious Experience and Cultural Achievements
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Akhenaten the Transgressor

Chapter 3. Shifting Agrarian Centers in India, 3000-600 BCE
The Vanished Origins of Harappa, 3000-1500 BCE
-The Region and People
-Adapting to Urban Life in the Indus Valley
-The Collapse of the Cities
Interactions in Northern India, 1500-600 BCE
-The Vedic World, 1750-800 BCE
-Statecraft and the Ideology of Power, 800-600 BCE
Patterns Up Close:-The Caste System
Indian Society, Culture, and Religion, 1500-600 BCE
-Society and Family in Ancient India
-Cultural Interactions to 600 BCE
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: A Merchants' Empire?

Chapter 4. Agrarian Centers and the Mandate of Heaven in Ancient China, 5000-481 BCE
The Origins of Yellow River Cultures, 5000-1766 BCE
-Geography and Climate
-The Origins of Neolithic Cultures
-The Age of Myth and the Xia Dynasty, 2852-1766 BCE
The Interactions of Shang and Zhou History and Politics, 1766-481 BCE
-The Shang Dynasty, 1766-1122 BCE
-The Mandate of Heaven: The Zhou Dynasty to 481 BCE
Patterns Up Close: The Chinese Writing System
Economy, Society, and Family Adaptation in Ancient China
-Shang Society
-Interactions of Zhou Economy and Society
-Gender and the Family
Interactions of Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life in Ancient China
-Oracle Bones and Early Chinese Writing
-Adaptations of Zhou Religion, Technology, and Culture
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Women's Voices

Chapter 5: Origins Apart: The Americas and Oceania, 30,000-600 BCE
The Americas: Hunters and Foragers, 30,000-600 BCE
-The Environment
-Human Migrations
Agriculture, Villages, and Urban Life
-The Neolithic Revolution in the New World
-The Origins of Urban Life
Patterns Up Close: The Origin of Corn
-The First Mesoamerican Settlements
-Foraging and Farming Societies Outside the Andes and Mesoamerica
The Origins of Pacific Island Migrations
-Lapita and Cultural Origins
-Creating Polynesia
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Thor Heyerdahl

PART TWO: The Age of Empires and Visionaries, 600 BCE-600 CE

Chapter 6. Chiefdoms and Early States in Africa and the Americas, 600 BCE-600 CE
Agriculture and Early African Kingdoms
-Saharan Villages, Towns, and Kingdoms
-The Kingdom of Aksum
The Spread of Villages in Sub-Saharan Africa
-West African Savanna and Rain-Forest Agriculture
-The Spread of Village Life to East and South Africa
-Patterns of African History, 600 BCE-600 CE
Early States in Mesoamerica: Maya Kingdoms and Teotihuacan
-The Maya Kingdoms in Southern Mesoamerica
-The Kingdom of Teotihuacan in the Mexican Basin
Patterns Up Close: The Mayan Ball Game
The Andes: Moche and Nazca
-The Moche in Northern Peru
-Paracas and the Nazca in Southern Peru
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Nazca Lines and Speculation

Chapter 7. Innovation and Adaptation in Western Eurasia: Persia, Greece, and Rome, 550 BCE-600 CE
Interactions between Persia and Greece
-The Origins of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
-Greek City-States in the Persian Shadow
-Alexander's Empire and Its Successor Kingdoms
Interactions between the Persian and Roman Empires
-Parthian Persia and Rome
-The Sasanid Persian and Late Roman Empires
Patterns Up Close: The Plague of Justinian
Adaptations to Monotheism and Monism in the Middle East
-Challenge to Polytheism: The Origins of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Greek Philosophy
-Toward Religious Communities and Philosophical Schools
The Beginnings of Science and the Cultures of Kings and Citizens
-The Sciences at the Library of Alexandria
-Royal Persian Culture and Arts
-Greek and Roman Civic Culture and Arts
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Women in Democratic Athens

Chapter 8. Empires and Visionaries in India, 600 BCE-600 CE
Patterns of State Formation in India: Republics, Kingdoms, and Empires
-The Road to Empire: The Mauryas
-The Classical Age: The Gupta Empire
-The Southern Kingdoms, ca. 300-600 CE
The Vedic Tradition and Its Visionary Reformers
-Reforming the Vedic Tradition
-The Maturity of Hinduism: From the Abstract to the Devotional
Stability amid Disorder: Economics, Family, and Society
-Tax and Spend: Economics and Society
-Caste, Family Life, and Gender
Patterns Up Close: The Global Trade of Indian Pepper
Strength in Numbers: Art, Literature, and Science
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: India's Ancient Republics

Chapter 9. China: Imperial Unification and Perfecting the Moral Order, 722 BCE-618 CE
-Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism
-The Qin Dynasty
-The Han Dynasty
Patterns Up Close: The Stirrup
The Domestic Economy: Society, Family, and Gender
-Industry and Commerce
-Gender Roles
Intellectual Trends, Aesthetics, Science, and Technology
-Confucianism, Education, and History during the Han
-Buddhism in China
-Intellectual Life
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Yang Zhu and Mo Di

PART THREE: The Formation of Religious Civilizations, 600-1450 CE

Chapter 10. Islamic Civilization and Byzantium, 600-1300 CE
The Formation of Islamic Religious Civilization
-The Beginnings of Islam
-Islamic Theology, Law, and Politics
Eastern Christian Civilization in Byzantium
-Byzantium's Difficult Beginnings
-The Seljuk Invasion and the Crusades
Islamic and Eastern Christian Civilizations at Their Height
-State and Society in Mamluk Egypt
-Byzantine Provincial and Central Organization
-Commercial Relations from the Atlantic to the South China Sea
Religion, Sciences, and the Arts in Two Religious Civilizations
-Islamic Culture: Intellectual and Scientific Expressions
-Artistic Expressions in Islamic Civilization
-Learning and the Arts in Byzantium
Patterns Up Close: Byzantine Icons and Islamic Miniatures
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Did Ibn Taymiyya "Have a Screw Loose"?

Chapter 11. Innovation and Adaptation in the Western Christian World, 600-1450 CE
The Formation of Christian Europe, 600-1000
-Frankish Gaul and Latin Christianity
Recovery, Reform, and Innovation, 1000-1300
-The Political Recovery of Europe
-The Economic and Social Recovery of Europe
-Religious Reform and Expansion
Patterns Up Close: The Gothic Cathedral
-Intellectual and Cultural Developments
Crisis and Creativity, 1300-1415
-The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
-Signs of a New Era in the Fifteenth Century
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: The Cathar Heresy

Chapter 12. Contrasting Patterns in India, China, and Inner Asia, 600-1600 CE
India: The Clash of Cultures
-Buddhist and Hindu India after the Guptas
-Islam in India, 711-1398
-Toward the Mughal Era, 1398-1450
Interactions and Adaptations: From Buddhism to Neo-Confucian Synthesis in China
-Creating a Religious Civilization under the Tang
-The Song and the Mongol Super-Empire, 960-1368
Patterns Up Close: Gunpowder
-The Ming to 1450: The Quest for Stability
-Society, Family, and Gender
-Perceptions of Perfection: Intellectual, Scientific, and Cultural Life
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Empress Wu

Chapter 13. Religious Civilizations Interacting: Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, 550-1500 CE
Korea to 1450: Innovation from Above
-People and Place: The Korean Environment
-Conquest and Competition: History and Politics to 1598
-Economy, Society, and Family
-Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Japan to 1450: Selective Interaction and Adaptation
-The Island Refuge
-Adaptation at Arm's Length: History and Politics
Patterns Up Close: Printing
-Economy, Society, and Family
-Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Vietnam: Human Agency and State Building
-The Setting and Neolithic Cultures
-Economy, Society, and Family
-Religion, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Zen and Bushido

Chapter 14. Patterns of State Formation in Africa, 600-1450 CE
Christians and Muslims in the Northeast
-Nubia in the Middle Nile Valley
-Ethiopia in the Eastern Highlands
Adaptation to Islam: City-States and Kingdoms in East and Southern Africa
-The Swahili City-States on the East African Coast
-Traditional Kingdoms in Southern and Central Africa
-Central African Chiefdoms and Kingdoms
Cultural Encounters: West African Traditions and Islam
-The Kingdom of Ancient Ghana
-The Empire of Mali
Patterns Up Close: The Sculptures of Ife
-Rain-Forest Kingdoms
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Sundiata's Rise to Power

Chapter 15. The Rise of Empires in the Americas, 600-1550 CE
The Legacy of Teotihuacan and the Toltecs in Mesoamerica
-Militarism in the Mexican Basin
-Late Maya States in Yucatan
The Legacy of Tiwanaku and Wari in the Andes
-The Expanding State of Tiwanaku
-The Expanding City-State of Wari
American Empires: Aztec and Inca Origins and Dominance
-The Aztec Empire of Mesoamerica
-The Inca Empire of the Andes
Imperial Society and Culture
-Imperial Capitals: Tenochtitlan and Cuzco
-Power and Its Cultural Expressions
Patterns Up Close: Human Sacrifice and Propaganda
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Amazon Rain Forest Civilizations

PART FOUR: Interactions across the Globe, 1450-1750

Chapter 16. Western European Overseas Expansion and the Ottoman-Habsburg Struggle, 1450-1650
The Muslim-Christian Competition in the East and West, 1450-1600
-Iberian Christian Expansion, 1415-1498
-Rise of the Ottomans and Struggle with the Habsburgs for Dominance, 1300-1609
Patterns Up Close: Shipbuilding
The Centralizing State: Origins and Interactions
-State Transformation, Money, and Firearms
Imperial Courts, Urban Festivities, and the Arts
-The Ottoman Empire: Palaces, Festivities, and the Arts
-The Spanish Habsburg Empire: Popular Festivities and the Arts
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Tilting at Windmills

Chapter 17. The Renaissance, New Sciences, and Religious Wars in Europe, 1450-1750
Cultural Transformations: Renaissance, Baroque, and New Sciences
-The Renaissance and Baroque Arts
-The New Sciences
-The New Sciences and Their Social Impact
-The New Sciences: Philosophical Interpretations
Centralizing States and Religious Upheavals
-The Rise of Centralized Kingdoms
Patterns Up Close: Mapping the World
-The Protestant Reformation, State Churches, and Independent Congregations
-Religious Wars and Political Restoration
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: The Digger Movement

Chapter 18. New Patterns in New Worlds: Colonialism and Indigenous Responses in the Americas, 1500-1800
The Colonial Americas: Europe's Warm-Weather Extension
-The Conquest of Mexico and Peru
-The Establishment of Colonial Institutions
The Making of American Societies: Origins and Transformations
-Exploitation of Mineral and Tropical Resources
Patterns Up Close: The Columbian Exchange
-Social Strata, Castes, and Ethnic Groups
-The Adaptation of the Americas to European Culture
Putting It All Together
Against the Grain: Juana Ines de la Cruz

Further Resources
Credits
Source Index
Subject Index