Timeline
Prehistory - 1000 B.C.: Early Contacts and Exchanges
Prehistory: Early human migration leads to global dispersal and exchange of staple crops and livestock.
4th millennium BCE: Development of interregional trade in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
3rd millennium BCE: Egypt begins shipping in the Red Sea and trades with the Arabian Peninsula and
East Africa.
2nd millennium BCE: Overland trade routes, such as the Silk Road, connect East Asia with the
Mediterranean.
1st millennium BCE: Improvements in shipbuilding and navigation facilitate trade in the Indian Ocean.
1000 BCE. - 1500: Growth of Networks and Expansion of Contacts.
Around 1000 AD: Islamic merchants play a major role in Indian Ocean trade and promote economic and
cultural exchange.
11th-13th century: Diffusion of the compass from China to Europe through Arab traders, leading to
improved navigation.
13th-14th centuries: Mongol Empire connects much of Eurasia, promoting trade and cultural exchange.
14th century: Travels of Ibn Battuta illustrate the extent and vibrancy of interregional networks.
1500 - 1850: European Expansion and the Increasing Interweaving of the World
Late 15th century: European voyages of discovery, especially those of Christopher Columbus, lead to
contact between Europe and the Americas.
16th-18th centuries: Transatlantic trade in slaves, raw materials and manufactured goods transforms the
global economy.
17th-18th centuries: European trading companies, such as the Dutch East India Company, gain significant
political and economic power in Asia and Africa.
18th century: Enlightenment ideas and the Industrial Revolution spread from Europe and have a global
impact.
1850 - 1940: Acceleration of Globalization and Increasing Tensions.
Mid 19th century: Steamships, railroads and the telegraph accelerate communication and transportation.
Late 19th Century: Growth of imperialism and increased competition among European powers lead to
tensions and conflicts.
Early 20th century: World War I interrupts globalization and leads to new forms of nationalism and
protectionism.
Between World Wars: Depression and the rise of authoritarian regimes lead to further fragmentation of the
world economy.
1940 - Present: Globalization in a New Context.
After World War II: Creation of the United Nations and other international organizations marks a new
phase of multilateralism.
Cold War: Ideological competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union influences globalization.
Late 20th century: Fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War lead to a new wave of globalization.
21st century: Information technology, especially the Internet, connects people around the world in
unprecedented ways.
Today: Globalization faces new challenges, including climate change, economic inequality and the rise of
populism and nationalism.
, Week 1: Seven places where it started (9000 BP)
Lecture
Between 11.000 and 7.000 BP: Neolithic revolution - early start of human society/communities.
- 7 places: Fertile Crescent, Andes, China, Mexico, Sub-Sahara Africa, North America,
South-East Asia
- Hunter/gatherers → pastoralists/agriculturalists (30.000-8.000 BP) - making own food
instead of just finding it
- More complex societies (9.000-3.000 BP) → sedentary, larger, more farming/herding,
development of more elaborate religions (connected to natural occurrences)
Reasons:
(1) Ecological
- End of Ice Age (11.000 BP) → climate change & migration
- Disappearance large animals for prey & increase domesticable animals (domestication)
and edible plants (‘luxury trap’ of nutritions grains - needing to cultivate more to stay
alive)
(2) Social
- Internal: high population (more mouths to feed), more complex social structures, division
of labour. Technological advancements: wheel + plough
- External: migrants looking for fertile land
Power of pots - storage of food in pots (surplus & storage)
- Deities in places where pots where stored → more structured communities /
specialisations (farmer, priest, military, etc.) → new sense of hierarchy
More expansive trade → emergence of the first ‘agrarian empires’:
- Western Europe: slow migration along the major rivers
- Polynesia: sometimes loss of agriculture
- Fertile Crescent: most famous, organized communities become empires - since 35.000
BCE wheels + wagons + chariots = fast soldiers, since 3.000 BCE clay tablets → reading
+ writing (organisation of food, pots & quantities)
- Mediterranean: centre moved from middle east to mediterranean, greeks & phoenicians
clash and integrate (1.000-200 BCE), transport (copper & iron, wood, grains, olives,
wine, written knowledge)
Roman Empire (Agrarian Empire in the West): based on grain traded between rural countryside
and cities
- Integration vs specialisation (regions specialising but being integrated with each other)
- Dense population in core areas → cultural centres
- Latifundia, slavery, transport of surplus by boat
Shang & Zhou China (3600-246 BCE)
- Kings and court travelled from palace to palace to consume
, - Irrigation and cooperation in peasant co mmunities
- High quality bronze, chariots, attempt to integrate China
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)
- Unification by Emperor Qin
- Bureaucratic system, standardisation: units, coins, writing
- Specialisation vs integration
- Latifundia with slavery
Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE)
- Confucianism, high officers (Mandarins), iron/paper/compass
Chapter 1: Globalization and the Challenge to Historical Analysis
Globalisation = the intensification of contacts among different parts of the world, shaped by
economic, technological, sociocultural, and political forces.
→ is not a new phenomenon; has historical precedents that can be analyzed to understand
contemporary processes. It should be viewed as emerging in phases rather than a singular event
(1000, 1500, 1850 etc).
- Different societies have unique responses to globalization, influenced by their historical
contexts.
- Tension between local identities and global connections; agricultural practices can
reinforce local attachments, complicating broader migration and contact networks.
- Resistance to globalization: contemporary movements reflecting historical patterns of
opposition. Entering a new phase characterized by nationalism and radicalism.
- Historical approach: allows for a nuanced evaluation of globalization’s advantages and
disadvantages.
New-global historians: think that recent globalisation is a huge and great change, 1950s as
onset.
World historians look back centuries, later 19th century as beginning of globalisation.
Chapter 2: Emerging Patterns of Contact, 1200 BCE-1000 CE - A Preparatory Phase
By the end of the classical period, most historical developments were regional, emphasizing
separations rather than connections.
- Religions (Islam) crossed regional boundaries, but also created new barriers.
- Classical civilizations like Greece and China focused on internal coherence & identity
→ disdain for outside societies & limited broader interregional interactions (despite
advancements in trade and cultural exchange). They fostered cultural systems that
provided new links (Hinduism etc) but often supplemented rather than replaced local
systems. Efforts were made to integrate newly acquired territories into coherent economic
and cultural units.
, Early inter-regional contacts during the agricultural phase of human history were not a form of
globalization → while there were trading patterns, they were not extensive enough to be
considered globalization. Trade: centered on luxury goods rather than essential commodities
(f.e. silk). Exchange of technological and cultural innovations limited; not spilling over to other
regions.
Despite limitations: some connections were established, which laid groundwork for future
globalisation.
Article: "Preceramic Adoption of Peanut, Squash, and Cotton in Northern Peru" -
Dillehay et al.
Between 10,800 and 4,500 years ago: semi-sedentary communities engaged in gardening,
hunting, and gathering → forming organized societies near water sources.
- Presence of public rituals and ceremonial practices (indicated by construction of mounds
/ other communal structures) illustrates how agriculture played a role in enhancing social
ties and cultural attachment to particular places.
Article provides evidence for the early adoption and cultivation of peanut, squash, and cotton in
Northern Peru:
→ highlighting the significance of these crops in the development of preceramic agricultural
practices in the Andes.
→ complex horticultural economies took root much earlier (10.000 years ago) and were more
advanced and significant than previously thought.
