Chapter 2 Introduction to Chapter 1: The Nature of World History

This book is a history of the world, and its main features are: it studies the history of the whole world rather than a certain country or region; it focuses on the whole human being, not limited to Westerners or non-Westerners.The point of view of this book is like that of an observer living on the moon looking at our sphere as a whole, and therefore quite different from that of an observer living in London or Paris, Beijing or Delhi. A global approach to history is a new starting point for modern historiography.Since the Enlightenment Age in the eighteenth century, historical research has focused on the history of countries rather than human history.However, in recent years, the globalization of major contemporary events has become increasingly prominent, and people's interest in world history has also increased significantly.Since astronauts can fly around the earth and even land on the moon in a few hours, and since the newspapers publish as many articles on Asia and Africa as on Europe and America, people are more and more aware of the perspective of observing history. It must be expanded more and more.To understand this truly "one whole" world, the study of world history is obviously indispensable.

However, the reason why people devote themselves to the study of world history is not only because of its practical value.Equally important, human history has had, from the beginning, a fundamental unity that must not be overlooked but must be acknowledged.An accurate understanding of Western or non-Western history is impossible without a global perspective that includes both 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 expeditions.In just a few decades, Columbus, da Gama and their successors brought the various regions of the world into direct communication, which has continued to this day with increasing frequency.In contrast, all human societies before 1500 were isolated from each other to varying degrees.However, this occlusion is never absolute.In the long thousands of years before the great geographical discoveries of Europeans, various parts of human beings have actually influenced each other, but the degree of mutual influence varies greatly with different historical periods and geographical locations.This book deals with the historical period before 1500 years, and the subject of the book is essentially constructed from 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 tools, the entire earth has shrunk at an accelerated rate. Now, it is called "a spaceship-like earth" or a "global village".

If it is said that world history is the common history of all mankind, then such a question arises: Is it possible to teach world history in the classroom?It is often expressed that, by definition, world history should include the history of civilizations of all countries and regions, and it contains too much content, so it is not suitable for teaching in the classroom.Some people also pointed out that teaching only the history of Western civilization is already difficult to cope with. How can the history of civilizations in other regions such as China, India and the Middle East be included?Of course, the only answer is "no". It can only be said that world history according to this definition cannot be taught in the classroom.However, the above definition is not accurate and is a misunderstanding.Just as the history of the West is not the sum of the history of Western countries, the history of the world is not the sum of all civilizations in the world.

If the study of Western civilization requires examining the history of countries and regions such as Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Balkan Peninsula one by one, then this study will obviously not work.But in fact this kind of research is feasible, because we can't use the method of building blocks, but should focus on those historical forces or historical movements that have influenced the whole West, such as Christianity, Islam, Christianity, Christianity, and Christianity. The Eastern Invasion, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the French Revolution, the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, and more.The same is true for the study of world history. However, the stage of world history is global rather than a certain region. Therefore, the research focus should be on those movements that have worldwide influence.

For example, during the Paleolithic Age, humans appeared on the African continent and gradually spread to Eurasia, Australia, and North and South America.The Neolithic period saw decisive advances in agriculture, which gave rise to metalworking and various other technologies that led to urban life and civilization.These technologies originated in the Middle East and spread to all directions, thus developing the great civilizations of Eurasia, including Chinese civilization, Indian civilization, Middle Eastern civilization and European civilization.Although these civilizations influenced each other to varying degrees due to certain powerful, transregional historical forces, such as Hellenism, Christianity, Christianity, and repeated invasions by nomadic tribes from the steppes of central Eurasia, they interacted with each other for thousands of years. Since then, their development has been parallel and independent. After 1500, this state of balance in Eurasia was gradually replaced by a state of global integration facilitated by the emerging West, which culminated in the 19th century and led to unprecedented world hegemony. The history of the 20th century is essentially a history of growing opposition to world hegemony, a history of the rapid spread of Western technology and ideas forcing people to take risks and explore a path leading to a new world balance.The above is a brief description of the basic principles and structure of world history.

Just as world history is usually considered to be the sum of the history of civilizations in all regions of the world, so world historical geography is considered to be the sum of the geography of the continents that make up the surface of the earth.In fact, the latter point of view, like the former, is mechanical and a distortion.The traditional method of dividing the globe into continents may be useful to students of geography, but it does not make much sense to students of world history.Just as the structure of world history requires us to focus on those historical movements that have had a major impact on human development, world historical geography also requires us to focus on the regions where those historical movements took place.

If we do, we shall discover that there is one landmass in the world that has a unique and indisputable place, and that is Eurasia—the true heartland of world history since the Neolithic age.Eurasia occupies two-fifths of the earth's total land surface, and its population accounts for nine-tenths of the world's population.Humanity's most advanced and enduring civilization developed there.To a large extent, it can be said that the history of mankind is also the history of the civilized regions of Eurasia. The main reason why the status of Eurasia is so superior may be explained by the famous anthropologist Franz Boyaz:

In other words, if other geographical factors are equal, the key to human progress is the accessibility of peoples.Those peoples who had the most opportunity to interact with other peoples were most likely to develop by leaps and bounds.In fact, the environment also forces them to develop rapidly, because they are not only faced with the opportunity of development, but also the pressure of being eliminated.This accessibility often entails the danger of assimilation or elimination if opportunities for mutual influence are not well exploited for development.On the contrary, those peoples who are in a closed state receive neither external promotion nor external threat. Therefore, the pressure of being eliminated does not exist for them, and they can live in the original situation for thousands of years. not endanger its survival.

The peoples of Eurasia were clearly the main beneficiaries of this principle of accessibility.The geographical environment of the Eurasian continent makes them all close to each other. Therefore, for a long time, with the advancement of science and technology, the exchanges between the various regions of the Eurasian continent have become more and more convenient, and they have been promoting each other day by day. threaten. The Eurasian continent has a vast territory, and it is impossible to regard it as a geographical unit. Therefore, it is necessary to divide the regions of the Eurasian continent.Dividing Eurasia into Europe and Asia is also not acceptable. Such a division is both geographically and historically a distortion.Geographically, Europe and Asia are clearly neither equal nor comparable.Opening the map, it can be seen at a glance that Europe is only a peninsula of Eurasia, for example, approximately equivalent to the Indian peninsula.From a historical point of view, 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, the number and variety of inhabitants, or the complexity of cultural and historical traditions, it is clear that Europe and India are very similar.Therefore, from the perspective of world history, the Eurasian continent should not be regarded as composed of two continents, Europe and Asia, but should be regarded as composed of the Middle East, India, China, Europe and the central steppe region of Eurasia. It is composed of five lost areas with profound historical significance.

The fertile river basins and plains of the four regions of the Middle East, India, China, and Europe gave birth to the greatest civilizations in history.These civilizations made Eurasia a major center of world history.To be more specific, the centers of civilization in the Middle East include the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers, as well as Iran’s Ghat. The centers of civilization in India are located in the Indus and Ganges rivers; the centers of civilization in China are the Yellow River and the Yangtze River; the centers of civilization in Europe On the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea - this area has been economically and culturally dominant from the Minoan period to the end of the Middle Ages.It should be noted that the Europe mentioned here includes North Africa.Because North Africa has historically been more closely linked with Europe and the Middle East than with the area south of the natural barrier of the Sahara Desert.Therefore, the term "Africa" ​​in this book refers only to sub-Saharan Africa.

The steppe region of central Eurasia has boundless grasslands stretching from northeastern China in the east to Hungary in the west.It provides a land passage for communication between the centers of civilizations extending outward from the edge of the Eurasian continent.The nomads of the steppes were always on the move with their herds, ready to seize the wealth of Peking, Delhi, Baghdad, and Rome at every opportunity.The fertile river basins and plains created the ancient core civilizations of Eurasia, and the Great Grassland facilitated the contact and connection between these civilizations.This connection was sometimes peaceful, that is, by overland trade;Therefore, the history of Eurasia was basically formed in the process of interaction between nomadic tribes and settled civilizations.Continuous raids from nomadic tribes often resulted in powerful and widespread tribal migration movements.This encroachment was not only highly destructive but also innovative.It swept away the declining dynasties, rigid systems and outdated customs, and introduced new nations, 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 Antiquity, Classical and Medieval—these are the three major historical periods studied in this volume.The arrival of the main turning points in these three historical periods generally resulted from the invasion and plundering activities of nomadic tribes. The non-Eurasian world consists of three continents: Africa, North and South America, and Australia.On the principle of accessibility, their disadvantages compared with Eurasia are obvious.They do not establish any connection with each other. Only Africa has had contact with Eurasia, but due to the insurmountable geographical barriers between Africa and Eurasia and Africa itself, their mutual influence has been intermittent and minimal.However, the progress of Africans did rely to a large extent on external promotion, such as the introduction of agriculture, ironmaking technology, new plants and animals, etc. from outside.Therefore, in the Middle Ages, in the Sudan area adjacent to the southern part of the Sahara Desert, Africans were able to establish one empire after another, and these empires were comparable in some respects to the contemporary European empires. 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 America 15,000 years ago.Although they also developed impressive civilizations in Mexico, Central America, and Peru, the overall level of development was not comparable to that of the Africans. The aborigines of Australia, living on remote islands completely cut off from the mainland for 30,000 years, were the most hindered in their development.They all stayed in the food-gathering stage, in stark contrast to the situation of Africans and American Indians.Except for the Hottentots and the Physicians who are still in the food gathering stage, the Africans have established a huge empire in the Sudan; although the American Indians still have some food gathering in California and Tierra del Fuego, they are in other places There have been advanced civilizations of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans.In fact, the isolation of Australia from the South Pacific both hindered the development of human culture and allowed the survival of ancient flora and fauna such as eucalyptus, monotremes and marsupials. The long history of advanced civilizations in Eurasia, the co-existing large empires and groups of food gatherers in Africa and North and South America, the common but single Paleolithic production level in Australia - these are what Europeans encountered when they explored overseas in the 15th century The situation of each human society is very different. The global landscape determines the structure of this book.When discussing the era before 1500, we focus on the civilization of Eurasia, because the civilization of Eurasia was the most advanced civilization at that time, and it also made the greatest contribution to human development in thousands of years.Thus Parts II, III, and IV of the book deal with the development of Eurasian civilization, while Part V provides an overview of the development of the non-Eurasian world.