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    1. UNG
    2. Academics
    3. University Press
    4. Books

    World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500

    Contributing Editors

    Eugene Berger, Ph.D.
    George L. Israel, Ph.D.
    Charlotte Miller, Ph.D.
    Brian Parkinson, Ph.D.
    Andrew Reeves, Ph.D.
    Nadejda Williams, Ph.D.

    ISBN

    978-1-940771-10-6     

    Print Version

    $49.99

    Digital Version

    Free

    • Description
    • Table of Contents
    • Download
    • Instructor Resources
    • Buy Now
    • Related Titles

    Description

    World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of humankind from prehistory to 1500. Authored by six USG faculty members with advance degrees in History, this textbook offers up-to-date original scholarship. It covers such cultures, states, and societies as Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Dynastic Egypt, India’s Classical Age, the Dynasties of China, Archaic Greece, the Roman Empire, Islam, Medieval Africa, the Americas, and the Khanates of Central Asia. It includes 350 high-quality images and maps, chronologies, and learning questions to help guide student learning. Its digital nature allows students to follow links to applicable sources and videos, expanding their educational experience beyond the textbook. It provides a new and free alternative to traditional textbooks, making World History an invaluable resource in our modern age of technology and advancement.

    Table of Contents

    Table of Contents

    Chapter One: Prehistory

    1.1 Chronology

    1.2 Introduction

    1.3 Questions to Guide your Reading

    1.4 Key Terms

    1.5 Human Beginnings in Africa

    1.6 Agriculture and the “Neolithic Revolution”

    1.7 Summary

    1.8 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    1.9 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Two: Early Middle Eastern and Northeast African Civilizations

    2.1 Chronology

    2.2 Introduction

    2.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    2.4 Key Terms

    2.5 Ancient Mesopotamia

    2.6 Sumerian City-States

    2.7 Mesopotamian Empires

    2.8 The Significance of Mesopotamia for World History

    2.9 The Israelites and Ancient Israel

    2.10 Early Israelites

    2.11 The United Kingdom of Israel

    2.12 The Importance of the Israelites and Ancient Israel

    2.13 Ancient Egypt

    2.14 Dynastic Egypt

    2.15 Nubia: the Kingdoms of Kerma and Kush

    2.16 Summary

    2.17 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    2.18 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Three: Ancient and Early Medieval India

    3.1 Chronology

    3.2 Introduction

    3.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    3.4 Key Terms

    3.5 What is India? The Geography of South Asia

    3.6 India’s First Major Civilization: The Indus Valley Civilization

    3.7 The Long Vedic Age

    3.8 Transition to Empire: States, Cities, and New Religions

    3.9 The Mauryan Empire

    3.10 Regional States, Trade, and Devotional Religion

    3.11 The Gupta Empire and India’s Classical Age

    3.12 India’s Early Medieval Age and the Development of Islamic States in India

    3.13 Conclusion

    3.14 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    3.15 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Four: China and East Asia to the Ming Dynasty

    4.1 Chronology

    4.2 Introduction

    4.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    4.4 Key Terms

    4.5 Geography of East Asia

    4.6 China from Neolithic Village Settlements to the Shang Kingdom

    4.7 The Long Zhou Dynasty

    4.8 The Qin Dynasty and the Transition from Ancient to Imperial China

    4.9 The Han Dynasty

    4.10 The Period of Division

    4.11 The Tang Dynasty and the Emergence of East Asia

    4.12 The Song Dynasty

    4.13 The Yuan Dynasty

    4.14 Conclusion

    4.15 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    4.16 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Five: The Greek World from the Bronze Age to the Roman Conquest

    5.1 Chronology

    5.2 Introduction

    5.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    5.4 Key Terms

    5.5 Geography and Topography

    5.6 Periods of Greek History

    5.7 Methodology: Sources and Problem

    5.8 From Mythology to History

    5.9 Archaic Greece

    5.10 The Classical Period

    5.11 Hellenistic Period

    5.12 Conclusion

    5.13 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    5.14 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Six: The Roman World from 753 BCE to 500 CE

    6.1 Chronology

    6.2 Introduction

    6.3 Questions to Guide your Reading

    6.4 Key Terms

    6.5 Geography and Topography of Rome and the Roman Empire

    6.6 Basic Chronology and Periods of Roman History

    6.7 Sources and Problems

    6.8 Early and Middle Republic

    6.9 Fall of the Roman Republic

    6.10 The Early Empire

    6.11 The Third-Century Crisis, and Late Antiquity

    6.12 Conclusion

    6.13 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    6.14 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Seven: Western Europe and Byzantium Circa 500 - 1000 CE

    7.1 Chronology

    7.2 Introduction

    7.3 Questions to Guide your Reading

    7.4 Key Terms

    7.5 Successor Kingdoms to the Western Roman Empire

    7.6 Byzantium: The Age of Justinian

    7.7 Perspectives: Post-Roman East and West

    7.8 The British Isles: Europe’s Periphery

    7.9 Byzantium: Crisis and recovery

    7.10 Western Europe: The Rise of the Franks

    7.11 Global Context

    7.12 Daily Life in Western Europe and the Byzantine Empires

    7.13 Carolingian Collapse

    7.14 The Tenth-Century Church

    7.15 Byzantine Apogee: The Macedonian Emperors

    7.16 Conclusion

    7.17 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    7.18 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Eight: Islam to the Mamluks

    8.1 Chronology

    8.2 Introduction

    8.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    8.4 Key Terms

    8.5 Geography of the Middle East

    8.6 Rise of Islam

    8.7 The Expansion of Islam

    8.8 The Rashidun Caliphs

    8.9 The Umayyad Caliphate

    8.10 The ‘Abbasid Caliphate

    8.11 The Fatimid Caliphate

    8.12 The Crusades

    8.13 The Mamluk Sultanate

    8.14 Conclusion

    8.15 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    8.16 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Nine: African History to 1500

    9.1 Chronology

    9.2 Introduction

    9.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    9.4 Key Terms

    9.5 Writing the History of Ancient and Medieval Africa

    9.6 Aksum and Ethiopia

    9.7 The Western Sudanic States

    9.8 The Spread of Agriculture and Great Zimbabwe

    9.9 The Swahili City-States (East Africa)

    9.10 Conclusion

    9.11 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    Chapter Ten: The Americas

    10.1 Chronology

    10.2 Introduction

    10.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    10.4 Key Terms

    10.5 Mesoamerica

    10.6 The Maya

    10.7 The Aztec

    10.8 Early Andes

    10.9 North America

    10.10 Conclusion

    10.11 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    10.12 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Eleven: Central Asia

    11.1 Chronology

    11.2 Introduction

    11.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    11.4 Key Terms

    11.5 Geography of Central Asia

    11.6 Turkic Migrations

    11.7 Islam

    11.8 The Mongol Era

    11.9 The Khanate of Chagatai

    11.10 The Khanate of the Ilkhans

    11.11 Timur

    11.12 Conclusion

    11.13 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    11.14 Links to Primary Sources

    Chapter Twelve: Western Europe and Byzantium Circa 1000 - 1500 CE 426

    12.1 Chronology

    12.2 Introduction

    12.3 Questions to Guide Your Reading

    12.4 Key Terms

    12.5 The Emergence of a Feudal Order in Western Europe

    12.6 Growth of Towns and Trade

    12.7 Growth in Agriculture

    12.8 A Roman Empire?

    12.9 The Holy Roman Empire’s Peripheries

    12.10 Expansion of Christendom

    12.11 Church Reform in the Eleventh Century

    12.12 The Crusades

    12.13 The Twelfth Century in Western Europe

    12.14 Empires: Recovery and Collapse

    12.15 The Twelfth-Century Renaissance

    12.16 The Third Crusade

    12.17 The Fourth Crusade

    12.18 The states of Thirteenth-Century Europe

    12.19 Later Crusades and Crusading’s Ultimate Failure

    12.20 Scholasticism

    12.21 Daily Life at the Medieval Zenith

    12.22 Fourteenth Century Crises

    12.23 War

    12.24 Southeastern Europe in the Late Middle Ages

    12.25 The Late Medieval Papacy

    12.26 The European Renaissance

    12.27 States in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance

    12.28 Iberia and the Atlantic: New Worlds

    12.29 Conclusion

    12.30 Works Consulted and Further Reading

    12.31 Links to Primary Sources 

    Download

    Download World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 (PDF). Please note that the file is large and may take several minutes to download.

    Download the Index World History to 1500 (PDF). Index prepared by Laurel Rush.

    Instructor Resources

    Instructor Resources are available! Educators can request access by submitting the Request OER Instructor Resources form.

    Digital editions improve accessibility and decrease print waste. Learn how to use Adobe comments with our simple guide (PDF).

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