If we investigate the major events in the past one by one, everything in the past will make us pay special attention to the future.
Polybius
In today's era, history can be said to have become an organic whole. Everything that happens in Italy and Libya is closely related to everything that happens in Asia and Greece, and all the various events ultimately return to the same ending... Therefore, to have a practical understanding of the overall picture of history, we have to say that individual histories are of little use. . Only by revealing the inextricable connections between each event and the whole, and pointing out their similarities and differences, can we understand the whole picture of history; only then can we not only get fun but also benefit from studying history.
Polybius
The pain in the contemporary world is like the pain of a mother giving birth. A human society of unprecedented scale is being born in such great pain... All the major things we have witnessed The most unique characteristic of events is globality, and it is globality that distinguishes the major events we have witnessed from all major events in the past and history.
Etiny Gilson
Part One: Humanity Before Civilization
The first part of this book discusses the two million years of human history before civilization. History, and the remaining volumes discuss the history of human civilization that is less than 6000 years old. Therefore, this book obviously discusses the longest period of human evolution in the shortest possible length. The reason why the author focuses on the history of human civilization is because the development speed of human history has been accelerating. Geological time is measured in billions of years, and human prehistory is measured in thousands of years. Since the arrival of civilization, the unit of chronology has been shrinking to hundreds or even decades. Today, major events are pouring in endlessly every day and surround us ruthlessly. The speed of change has indeed raised a very real question: Can humans adapt quickly to avoid being eliminated or even extinct?
Due to the uneven development of major events, the research in this book also focuses on it. However, this does not mean that we can underestimate the significance of everything that happened in prehistoric times. During the tens of millions of years of prehistoric times, there were two major developments that laid a solid foundation for all subsequent history. The first is the gradual transformation of primates into humans, that is, the transformation of human ancestors into real humans; the second is the transformation of primitive people from food collectors who rely on the blessings of nature to food producers who are increasingly freed from the constraints of nature and control their own destiny. . These two epoch-making events, namely the formation of human beings and the emergence of agriculture, are the topics to be discussed in the first two chapters of Part One.
Although early humans took the decisive first step and provided prerequisites for future development, this was only the initial step after all. In the process of transforming into thinking animals, humans learned to use language, tools, and fire; in the process of transforming into food producers, humans learned to plant and use hoes and sickles. The acquisition of these technologies separated humans from the animals around them, but they were still primitive compared to later technologies. If you put a stone ax or a stone sickle next to a modern computer or spacecraft, the difference between the two will be obvious. Although this difference is self-evident, it is necessary to emphasize it here. Because it illustrates the gradual expansion of the scope of human activities, this expansion is also specially mentioned in the introduction to each volume of this book.
The more primitive the technology, the more limited its scope of use; conversely, the more advanced the technology, the broader its scope of use. In prehistoric times, the activities of food gatherers could only be limited to a few miles around where they hunted; the activities of primitive cultivators could only be limited to their own villages and the surrounding fields and pastures. Therefore, the scope of activities of various human groups in prehistoric times can be said to be "local". The later history of mankind described in the later chapters of this book and The World Since 1500 is, to a large extent, how the scope of human activities expanded from local areas to regions, to between regions, and then to A history that expands to the world and to the stars.
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Nature of World History
...World history is not just the sum of the histories of various regions in the world. If it is divided and divided again, its nature will change. Just as water once broken down into its chemical components, it ceases to be water and becomes hydrogen and oxygen.
Geoffrey Barraclough
This book is a world history, and its main features are: it studies the history of the world rather than a certain country or region; The focus is on humanity as a whole, not just Westerners or non-Westerners. The point of view in this book is that of a moon-dwelling observer looking at our sphere as a whole, and therefore very different from the point of view of an observer living in London or Paris, Beijing or Delhi.
1. The purpose of world history
The method of global exploration of history is a new starting point for modern historiography. Since the Age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, historical research has focused on national history rather than human history. However, in recent years, the global nature of major contemporary events has become increasingly apparent, and people's interest in world history has also increased significantly. Because astronauts can fly around the earth in a few hours and even land on the moon, and because the number of articles about Asia and Africa published in newspapers is no less than those about Europe and the United States, people are increasingly aware of the perspective of observing history. It must be expanded more and more. To understand this truly "one whole" world, studying world history is obviously indispensable.
However, the reason why people are committed to the study of world history is not just because of its practical value. Equally important, human history has had a basic unity from the beginning that cannot be ignored but must be recognized. To accurately understand the history of the West or the history of non-Western countries, it is impossible without a global perspective that encompasses both. Only by using a global perspective can we understand the extent to which various peoples have influenced each other in each era, and how this mutual influence has affected them. It plays a major role in determining the course of human history.
Indeed, this mutual influence was intermittent and insignificant before Columbus and Vasco da Gama's sea voyage exploration. Columbus, Vasco da Gama and their successors brought about direct exchanges between various regions of the world in just a few decades. Such exchanges have become increasingly frequent and continue to this day. In contrast, all human societies before 1500 were in a state of isolation from each other to varying degrees. However, this occlusion is never absolute. For thousands of years before the great geographical discoveries of Europeans, various parts of humankind were actually interacting with each other, but the degree of mutual influence varied greatly with different historical periods and geographical locations. This book deals with the historical period before 1500, and the subject of this book is essentially constituted by the details of the interaction of various parts of human beings during this period. After 1500, due to the strengthening of human communication links and the continuous development of transportation, the entire earth has been shrinking at an accelerating rate. Now, it is actually called a "spaceship-like earth" or a "global village".
2. The structure of world history
If world history is the unique history of all mankind, then the question arises: whether world history can be taught in the classroom Woolen cloth? People often express the view that by definition, world history should include the history of civilizations in all countries and regions. The content it contains is too vast and therefore not suitable for teaching in the classroom. Some people also pointed out that it is already difficult to cope with just teaching the history of Western civilization. How can we also include the history of civilizations in other regions such as China, India and the Middle East? Of course, the only answer is "no". It can only be said that world history according to this definition obviously cannot be taught in the classroom. However, the above definition is not accurate and is a misunderstanding. Just as Western history is not the sum of the histories of all Western countries, world history is not the sum of all civilizations in the world.
If the study of Western civilization requires examining the history of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Balkans and other countries and regions one by one, then this study will obviously not work.
The peoples of Eurasia are obviously the main beneficiaries of access to this principle. The geographical environment of Eurasia makes them all close to each other. Therefore, over a long period of time, with the advancement of science and technology, the exchanges between various regions of Eurasia have become increasingly convenient, and they have promoted and promoted each other day by day. threaten.
Eurasia is so vast that it cannot be regarded as a geographical unit. Therefore, the regions of Eurasia must be divided. It is also impossible to divide Eurasia into Europe and Asia. Such a division is a geographical and historical distortion. From a geographical point of view, Europe and Asia are obviously neither equal nor comparable. Open the map and you can see at a glance that Europe is just a peninsula of the Eurasian continent, for example, about the same size as the Indian peninsula. Historically, Europe cannot compare with Asia, but can only be compared with another center of civilization in Eurasia, such as India. Whether in terms of geographical scope, number and variety of inhabitants, or complexity of cultural and historical traditions, it is clear that Europe is very similar to India. Therefore, from the perspective of world history, Eurasia should not be regarded as composed of the two continents of Europe and Asia, but should be regarded as composed of the Middle East, India, China, Europe and the central Eurasian steppe region. It consists of five areas of profound historical significance.
The fertile river basins and plains of the Middle East, India, China and Europe gave birth to the greatest civilizations in history. These civilizations made Eurasia a central region of world history that played a major role. More specifically, the centers of civilization in the Middle East include the Nile River Basin, the Tigris River and the Euphrates River Basin and Iran's Gaofeng River Basin; the civilization center of India is located in the Indus River Basin and Ganges River Basin; the civilization center of China is the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin; the civilization center of Europe is In the northern coast of the Mediterranean - this area has always had obvious economic and cultural advantages from the Minoan cultural period to the end of the Middle Ages. It should be noted that Europe mentioned here includes North Africa. Because North Africa has historically been much closer to Europe and the Middle East than to the area south of the natural barrier of the Sahara Desert. Therefore, the term "Africa" ??in this book refers only to Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
The central Eurasian steppe region has endless grasslands, stretching from northeastern China in the east to Hungary in the west. It provides a land channel for exchanges between civilization centers extending from the edge of the Eurasian continent. The nomads who depended on the steppes were always moving with their herds, ready to seize the wealth of Beijing, Delhi, Baghdad, and Rome at the first opportunity. Fertile river basins and plains created the ancient core civilizations of Eurasia, and the steppes facilitated contact and connections between these civilizations. This connection sometimes takes the form of peace, that is, through land trade; sometimes it takes the form of invasion, that is, the nomadic tribes in the barren interior areas constantly plunder the rich foreign areas that make them salivate. Therefore, the history of Eurasia was basically formed during the interaction between nomadic tribes and settled civilizations. Continuous raids from nomadic tribes often resulted in powerful tribal migration movements involving a wide range of areas. This invasion was not only highly destructive, but also revolutionary. It swept away the declining dynasties, rigid systems and outdated customs, and introduced new peoples, technologies and ideas. Therefore, to a large extent, it determined the development process of the history of Eurasia. The history of Eurasia before 1500 is divided into the Archaic period, the Classical period and the Medieval period - these are the three major historical periods to be studied in this volume. The arrival of the main turning points in these three historical periods was generally caused by the invasion and plundering activities of nomadic tribes.
The non-Eurasian world consists of three continents: Africa, North and South America, and Australia. According to the principle of accessibility, their shortcomings compared with Eurasia are obvious. They have no connection with each other.
Only Africa and Eurasia have had exchanges. However, due to the insurmountable geographical barriers between Africa and Eurasia and Africa itself, their influence on each other has been intermittent and minimal.
However, the progress of Africans does rely to a large extent on external promotion, such as the introduction of agriculture, iron-making technology, new plants and animals, etc. from outside. Therefore, in the Middle Ages, in the Sudan area adjacent to the southern Sahara Desert, Africans were able to establish empires one after another. These empires were in some respects comparable to the European empires of the same period.
In contrast, the development of American Indians has been greatly hindered because they have been completely isolated from the world since they crossed the sea from northeastern Asia to the Americas 15,000 years ago. Although they also developed impressive civilizations in Mexico, Central America, and Peru, their overall level of development cannot be compared with Africans.
The indigenous people of Australia live on remote islands and have been completely isolated from the mainland for 30,000 years. Therefore, they have been the most hindered in the development process. They all remained in the food-gathering stage, in sharp contrast to the situation of Africans and American Indians. In addition to the Hottentots and the Zoroastrian people, Africans are still in the food gathering stage, and have established a huge empire in the Sudan. Although American Indians still have some food gatherers in California and Tierra del Fuego, they are still in the food gathering stage in other places. There are already advanced Aztec civilizations, Inca civilizations and Mayan civilizations. In fact, the isolation imposed by the South Pacific on Australia both hindered the development of human culture and allowed the survival of certain ancient plants and animals such as eucalyptus, monotremes and marsupials.
The advanced civilizations with a long history in Eurasia, the huge empires and food gatherer groups that coexisted in Africa and North and South America, and the common and single level of production in the Paleolithic Age in Australia - these are what Europe was doing in the 15th century. When people explore overseas, they encounter extremely different situations in various human societies.
The global landscape determines the structure of this book. When discussing the era before 1500, the focus is on the civilization of Eurasia, because the civilization of Eurasia was the most advanced at that time and made the greatest contribution to human development over thousands of years. Therefore, Parts II, III, and IV of this book deal with the development of civilization in Eurasia, while Part V summarizes the development of the non-Eurasian world.