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List of Illustrations | |
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Preface | |
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The Long Prologue: From 14 Billion Years Ago | |
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Peopling the Planet: The Earth as a Global Frontier | |
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A Little Big History | |
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First Life on Earth | |
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Three Explosions of Life | |
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Changing Surfaces | |
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Changes in Climate | |
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Human Origins | |
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Natural Selection | |
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Hominids Stand Tall | |
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Hominids to Humans | |
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Culture Trumps Nature | |
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Global Migration | |
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Humans as Travelers | |
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The First Modern Humans | |
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Cave Paintings and Female Figurines | |
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Cultural Adaptation | |
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Human Differences: Race and Culture | |
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Do Numbers Count? Patterns of Population Growth | |
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Most of Human History: Foraging Societies | |
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Lifestyles of Foragers | |
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Sexual Division of Labor | |
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Relative Social Equality | |
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Leisure Time | |
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Merging Old and New | |
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Subduing the Earth: The Consequences of Domestication | |
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The First Breakthrough: Origins of Agricultural/Pastoral Economies | |
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Control over Food Supply | |
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Why Agriculture Developed | |
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Selecting Crops to Grow | |
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Reducing Variety | |
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Globalization and Continental Variety | |
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Geography as Destiny | |
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East-West Transmission Advantages | |
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Agriculture and Language | |
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The Long Agricultural Age: Places and Processes | |
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Jericho | |
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Catal Huyuk | |
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Banpo | |
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Ibo Culture | |
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The Taino | |
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Neolithic Continuity and Change | |
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Changes in a Mexican Valley | |
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Conclusion | |
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The Brave New World of City, State, and Pasture: From 3000 BCE | |
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The Urban Revolution: Causes and Consequences | |
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The Epic of Gilamesh | |
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The First Cities | |
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The Urban Revolution | |
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First-City Firsts | |
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Origin of Cities in Plow and Irrigation | |
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Middle East | |
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East Asia | |
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Americas | |
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The Brave New World: Squares and Crowds | |
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Tall Buildings and Monumental Architecture | |
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Social Classes and Inequality | |
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Officials and Scribes | |
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Slaves and Servants | |
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Farmers and Workers | |
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New Systems of Control | |
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Fathers and Kings | |
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Religion and Queens | |
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Law and the State | |
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Hammurabi's Code | |
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New Urban Classes in City-States and Territorial States | |
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Merchants | |
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Priests | |
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Soldiers | |
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New Country People | |
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Change and "Civilization" | |
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The Bias of "Civilization" | |
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Achievements of Ancient Civilizations | |
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Writing | |
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Control and Change | |
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Pasture and Empire | |
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Nomads Put the Horse before the Cart | |
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New Balance between City and Pasture | |
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Nomads Conquer and Create Empires | |
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States Regain Empires with Chariots | |
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Empires and Collapse | |
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Iron Age Eurasia | |
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Iron versus Bronze | |
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New Forms of Inclusiveness: Words and God for All | |
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Iron as Metaphor | |
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The Invention of the Alphabet | |
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"T" Is for Trade | |
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Monotheism | |
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Gods at War | |
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The Rivers of Babylon | |
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Citizenship and Salvation: Leveling in Life and Death | |
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The Cities of Babylon | |
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The Persian Paradise | |
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Imperial Size and Reach | |
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Ships and Satrapies | |
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Conclusion | |
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The Legacy of Gilgamesh's Wall | |
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The Promise of Pharaoh's Dream | |
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Eurasian Classical Cultures and Empires: 600 BCE-200 CE | |
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The Great Traditions of the Classical Age | |
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The Classical Age | |
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The Great Divergence | |
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Interpreting Literature | |
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Differences Not Permanent | |
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The Ways of India and Greece | |
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India | |
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Vedic Civilization | |
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Four Varnas | |
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Karma and Reincarnation | |
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Farmers and Jatis | |
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Cities, States, and Buddhism | |
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Mauryan Dynasty | |
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Ashoka | |
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Buddhism, Politics, and Commerce | |
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Greece | |
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The Hellenes | |
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Clans into Citizens | |
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The Polis and Greek Religion | |
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Public Spaces and Public Dramas | |
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Freedom and Law | |
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Law and War between States | |
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Laws of Nature | |
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Athenian Democracy | |
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Athens City Limits | |
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The Worlds of Rome and China | |
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Rome | |
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Greco-Roman Society and Hellenism | |
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Republic Not a Democracy | |
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Armies, Lands, and Citizens | |
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Praetors and Publicans | |
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Cicero on Provincial Government | |
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Civil War and Empire | |
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Empire and Law | |
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Administering the Roman Empire | |
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No Bureaucracy | |
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The Pax Romana | |
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The Third Century | |
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China | |
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Similarities and Differences | |
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Lineages, Cities, and States | |
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Confucius | |
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Legalism and the Unification of China | |
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Qin Creates China | |
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The Solution of Han | |
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Empire and Dynastic Succession | |
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The Mandate of Heaven | |
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A Government of Experts | |
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Salt and Iron | |
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Palace, Consort Families, and Taxes | |
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Strains of Empire | |
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Conclusion | |
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The Spread of New Ways in Eurasia: 200 CE-1000 CE | |
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Cultural Encounters and Integration | |
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The Silk Road | |
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The Spread of Salvation Religions | |
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Classical Collapse and Hard Times | |
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Population Decline | |
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Weather or Not? | |
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Southernization | |
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Southern Sanctuaries | |
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Himalayas and Horses | |
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Iran: Between Two Worlds | |
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Iranian Society | |
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Iranian Religions | |
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India and Southeast Asia | |
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The Kushan Prelude | |
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Monsoon Winds | |
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Malay Sails | |
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Tropical Crops | |
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Wet Rice | |
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Gupta India | |
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Hinduism in Southeast Asia | |
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Buddhism beyond India | |
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Mahayana Buddhism | |
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Buddhism in Central Asia and China | |
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The Way of the Way | |
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The Uses of Magic | |
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Monks, Missionaries, and Monarchs | |
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Pilgrims and Writings | |
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Temple and State | |
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Christianity beyond Palestine | |
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Hellenization | |
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Paul versus Peter | |
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Healing and Miracles | |
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Jews and Christians | |
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Conversion of the Roman Empire | |
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The Eastern Roman Empire and Beyond | |
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Soldiers and Emperors | |
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The Tribes of Europe | |
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Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Assimilation | |
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Christianity in Europe and China | |
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The Rise of Islam: The Making of a World Civilization | |
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Salvation, Endings, and Beginnings | |
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The Prophet: Trade and Religion | |
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Islam beyond Arabia | |
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Islamic Expansion to 750 | |
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Islamic Expansion after 750 | |
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The First World Civilization | |
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Abbasid Baghdad | |
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A Cultural Empire | |
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Conclusion | |
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The Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network: 1000 CE-1450 CE | |
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China in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network | |
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Industry and Invention | |
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Textiles and Pottery | |
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Paper and Printing | |
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Compass and Ships | |
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Guns and Gunpowder | |
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Iron and Coal | |
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Industrial Revolution? | |
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Commerce and Capitalism | |
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Money and Markets | |
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Public versus Private Enterprise | |
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Hangzhou | |
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State and Bureaucracy | |
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The Modern State | |
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A Bureaucracy of Experts | |
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Mongols in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network | |
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The Mongols | |
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Death and Destruction | |
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Trade and Tolerance | |
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Political Divisions and Economic Unity | |
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World History for a Global Age | |
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Ecological Unity: A Dark Victory | |
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Islam in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network | |
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New Muslims from the Steppe | |
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Slaves, Soldiers, and Sons | |
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In Place of Government | |
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Muslims, Merchants, and Markets | |
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A Merchant's Religion | |
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Cairo | |
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Islam in Africa | |
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Islam in West Africa | |
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Swahili Culture | |
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A Single Ecozone | |
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Islam in India and Indonesia | |
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Europe in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network | |
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Revival and Expansion | |
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Good Weather and Good Luck | |
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Two Europes, Four Economies | |
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Cities and States | |
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Urban Renewal | |
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City-States and Citizenship | |
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Law and Science | |
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Natural Law and Natural Reason | |
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Twelfth-Century Renaissance | |
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Popular Science | |
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The Formation of the Modern Network | |
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Death and Rebirth | |
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The Renaissance | |
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The Classical and the Novel | |
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Japan and Korea | |
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Imitators and Innovators | |
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Conclusion: The Virtues of Variety | |
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Parallel Worlds of Inner Africa, the Americas, and Oceania: Before 1450 | |
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The World of Inner Africa | |
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Geography, Race, and Language | |
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The World's Three Transformations in Africa | |
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Humans, Farmers, and States | |
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The Nile Connection | |
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The Saharan Separation | |
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The Bantu Migrations | |
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Words, Seeds, and Iron | |
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A Common Culture? | |
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Empires, States, and Stateless Societies | |
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Politics, Population, and Climate | |
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Lots of Land | |
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West Africa | |
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Stateless Societies | |
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Kingdoms for Horses | |
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East and South Africa | |
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Cattle and Colonization | |
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Great Zimbabwe | |
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Inner Africa and the World | |
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The World of the Americas | |
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States and Empires of Middle America | |
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Before the Azetecs | |
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Classical Mayan | |
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A Theoretical Interlude: Priests and Soldiers | |
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Toltecs and Aztecs | |
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States and Empires of South America | |
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Before the Incas | |
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Classical Chavin | |
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Moche Warrior Priests and Divine Emperors | |
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Incas and Their Ancestors | |
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States and Peoples of North America | |
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Peoples and Places | |
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Rich Pacific Fisheries | |
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Pueblos of the Southwest | |
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Eastern Woodland Farmers | |
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Americas and the World | |
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The World of the Pacific | |
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Islands and Settlers | |
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Islands | |
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First Wave | |
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Australia | |
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Austronesian and Polynesian Migrations | |
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Austronesian Migrations | |
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Polynesian Migrations | |
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Language and Culture | |
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Ecology and Colonization | |
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The Advantages of Parallel Worlds | |
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The Lessons of Parallel Worlds | |
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Lessons of Similarities | |
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Similarities or Connections | |
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Lessons of Differences | |
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The Strength of Parallel Worlds | |
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Index | |
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About the Author | |