Creating History: The World Before 1500
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2020
Pages: 234
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Creating History: The World Before 1500 explores the development of human societies from prehistoric times through the end of the medieval era, emphasizing how historians and archaeologists reconstruct the past using both material evidence and written records. The book examines major turning points in world history, including the Agricultural Revolution, the rise of ancient civilizations, the Axial Age, the spread of religions, the Silk Roads, and the civilizations of Greece and Rome. Throughout, it incorporates primary sources to connect readers directly with historical voices and documents.
The text also challenges traditional historical narratives by examining diverse perspectives and recent discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of the past. Topics such as Indigenous American history, the Islamic world, the Crusades, West African empires, East Asian dynasties, the Black Death, and the beginnings of European expansion illustrate the interconnected nature of pre-1500 global history. By combining archaeological evidence, historical analysis, and critical thinking, the book encourages readers to evaluate how history is created, interpreted, and continually revised.
Part One: Finding Lost History
Introduction to Part One
Before the Written Record
Filling in the Gaps in the Written Record
Creating Historical Narratives
Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty
Conclusion
Notes on this Text
Chapter One: Archaeology and Prehistory
When Did Archaeology Begin?
Where did the Past Go?
Prehistory
Ground-breaking Archaeological Excavation
Technological Developments in Archaeology
Ethnoarchaeology
Environmental and Ecological Archaeology
Chapter Two: And Then There Was One: Modern Humans And Then There Was One African Eve
The Levant
The First Modern Europeans
Becoming Human
Chapter Three: The First Agricultural Revolution Slow Transition from Foraging to Farming
The First Agricultural Societies
Unexpected Consequences
Social Stratification and the Rise of the State
Gender Inequalities
Primary Sources: Excerpts from the Code of Hammurabi
Excerpts from NRSV Bible (2 Kings 17:22–4, 2 Kings 24:10–14, and Ezra 1:1–7)
English Translation of the “Cyrus Cylinder”
Part Two: The Axial Age
Introduction to Part Two
The Written Record
Philosophical and Religious Thought
Revising the Axial Age Theory: More Questions than Answers
Placing the Axial Age in Historical Context
Chapter Four: Religious Change In the Indian Subcontinent
Shifting Population in the Subcontinent
The Vedic Indians
The Vedic Religion
Brahmins
Brahmanism
Buddhism
Ashoka and the Spread of Buddism
Hinduism
Buddhism beyond India
Chapter Five: Historical Preservation and Destruction in East Asia
The First Dynasties of China
Xia Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
Shang Leadership in the Eyes of the Opposition
Western Zhou Dynasty
Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period
Early Religious Ideology and the Hundred Schools of Thoughts
Pre-Axial Religious Thought
Confucianism
Daoism
Legalism
Unification and the Qin Dynasty
Primary Sources:
Excerpts from the Tao Te Ching
Excerpts from The Analects
Excerpts from The Essays by Han Feizi
Chapter Six: The Silk Roads
Nomadic People of the Steppes
The Xiongnu and the Han Empire
Xiongnu and Han Relations Under Emperor Wu
The Wall
The Kushan Empire
Semitic Nomads
Collapse of Major Empires and Rise of Central Asian Powers
The Silk Roads Today
Chapter Seven: Ancient Greece
The Aegean Bronze Age
The Aegean Dark Age (1100-800 BCE)
Archaic Greece (800-500 BCE)
Sparta
Athens
Attempts at Domination
Greek Culture: Religion, Philosophy, and Drama
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World
Chapter Eight: Ancient Rome
The Origins of Rome
Rome’s Conquest of the Mediterranean
Collapse of the Roman Republic
Augustus and the Principate
The Roman Imperial Economy
The Roman Army and Imperial Frontiers
Philosophy and Religion in the Roman Empire
Imperial Crisis and Recovery
Primary Source:
Excerpt from NRSV Bible (Mark 1:1-45)
Part Three: Deconstructing Historical Narratives
Introduction to Part Three
The Medieval World
Historiography
Historiography in America
Deconstructing the Narrative
Chapter Nine: American Indians: Changing Historical Paradigms
Introduction
The Origins of a Flawed History
First European Accounts of the Americans
English Perspective
People of the Andes
Mesoamerica
Diversity in North America
New Discoveries
The First Americans
“Uninhabited” Jungle
Chapter Ten: “The Dark Ages” In the Mediterranean and Middle East
Defining “Dark Ages” and “Medieval”
The Former Roman Empire
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
East of the Former Roman Empire
The Prophet and the First Muslims
The Caliphates
Chapter Eleven: Clash of Cultures – The Crusades
Primary Sources:
Excerpts from “Pope Urban II’s speech at the Council of Clermont”
The Alexiad by Anna Comnena
The Complete History by Ali ibn al-Athir
Senseless Violence in Context
Geopolitical Shifts in the Middle East
The Crusade
Motive
Reverse Prognostication
Results
Chapter Twelve: West Africa and the Trans Saharan Trade Routes
West Africa before the Trade Network
Peoples of North Africa and the Trans Saharan Trade Routes
The Empires of West Africa
The Empire of Ghana
The Empire of Mali
Chapter Thirteen: Prosperity and Betrayal in East Asia
The Dynastic Cycle Theory in Practice
The Butterfly Effect: East
The Butterfly Effect: West
The An Lushan Rebellion
The Mongol Invasion
Chapter Fourteen: The Great Mortality
Changing Fortunes in the Fourteenth Century
Diagnosing a Medieval Illness
Uncertain Origins
Short-Term Effects
Long-Term Changes
Power Dynamics
Chapter Fifteen: Trade Wars of the Fifteenth Century
“The Victors”
Means
Opportunity
Opportunity Delayed: The Hundred Years’ War
Iberia
Motive
First Steps of Colonization
Resources
Rachel Ernst earned her B.A .in History at Georgia State University and completed her doctorate at the University of Reading in 2015. She is a medieval historian, specializing in the religious landscape of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Western Europe. Her work focuses on heretical Christian theology and the transmission of ideas during the Medieval Renaissance.
Dr. Ernst is currently editing her doctoral dissertation on early clerical perceptions of the Cathar Heresy and teaching survey courses in World History pre-1500.
Creating History: The World Before 1500 explores the development of human societies from prehistoric times through the end of the medieval era, emphasizing how historians and archaeologists reconstruct the past using both material evidence and written records. The book examines major turning points in world history, including the Agricultural Revolution, the rise of ancient civilizations, the Axial Age, the spread of religions, the Silk Roads, and the civilizations of Greece and Rome. Throughout, it incorporates primary sources to connect readers directly with historical voices and documents.
The text also challenges traditional historical narratives by examining diverse perspectives and recent discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of the past. Topics such as Indigenous American history, the Islamic world, the Crusades, West African empires, East Asian dynasties, the Black Death, and the beginnings of European expansion illustrate the interconnected nature of pre-1500 global history. By combining archaeological evidence, historical analysis, and critical thinking, the book encourages readers to evaluate how history is created, interpreted, and continually revised.
Part One: Finding Lost History
Introduction to Part One
Before the Written Record
Filling in the Gaps in the Written Record
Creating Historical Narratives
Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty
Conclusion
Notes on this Text
Chapter One: Archaeology and Prehistory
When Did Archaeology Begin?
Where did the Past Go?
Prehistory
Ground-breaking Archaeological Excavation
Technological Developments in Archaeology
Ethnoarchaeology
Environmental and Ecological Archaeology
Chapter Two: And Then There Was One: Modern Humans And Then There Was One African Eve
The Levant
The First Modern Europeans
Becoming Human
Chapter Three: The First Agricultural Revolution Slow Transition from Foraging to Farming
The First Agricultural Societies
Unexpected Consequences
Social Stratification and the Rise of the State
Gender Inequalities
Primary Sources: Excerpts from the Code of Hammurabi
Excerpts from NRSV Bible (2 Kings 17:22–4, 2 Kings 24:10–14, and Ezra 1:1–7)
English Translation of the “Cyrus Cylinder”
Part Two: The Axial Age
Introduction to Part Two
The Written Record
Philosophical and Religious Thought
Revising the Axial Age Theory: More Questions than Answers
Placing the Axial Age in Historical Context
Chapter Four: Religious Change In the Indian Subcontinent
Shifting Population in the Subcontinent
The Vedic Indians
The Vedic Religion
Brahmins
Brahmanism
Buddhism
Ashoka and the Spread of Buddism
Hinduism
Buddhism beyond India
Chapter Five: Historical Preservation and Destruction in East Asia
The First Dynasties of China
Xia Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
Shang Leadership in the Eyes of the Opposition
Western Zhou Dynasty
Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period
Early Religious Ideology and the Hundred Schools of Thoughts
Pre-Axial Religious Thought
Confucianism
Daoism
Legalism
Unification and the Qin Dynasty
Primary Sources:
Excerpts from the Tao Te Ching
Excerpts from The Analects
Excerpts from The Essays by Han Feizi
Chapter Six: The Silk Roads
Nomadic People of the Steppes
The Xiongnu and the Han Empire
Xiongnu and Han Relations Under Emperor Wu
The Wall
The Kushan Empire
Semitic Nomads
Collapse of Major Empires and Rise of Central Asian Powers
The Silk Roads Today
Chapter Seven: Ancient Greece
The Aegean Bronze Age
The Aegean Dark Age (1100-800 BCE)
Archaic Greece (800-500 BCE)
Sparta
Athens
Attempts at Domination
Greek Culture: Religion, Philosophy, and Drama
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World
Chapter Eight: Ancient Rome
The Origins of Rome
Rome’s Conquest of the Mediterranean
Collapse of the Roman Republic
Augustus and the Principate
The Roman Imperial Economy
The Roman Army and Imperial Frontiers
Philosophy and Religion in the Roman Empire
Imperial Crisis and Recovery
Primary Source:
Excerpt from NRSV Bible (Mark 1:1-45)
Part Three: Deconstructing Historical Narratives
Introduction to Part Three
The Medieval World
Historiography
Historiography in America
Deconstructing the Narrative
Chapter Nine: American Indians: Changing Historical Paradigms
Introduction
The Origins of a Flawed History
First European Accounts of the Americans
English Perspective
People of the Andes
Mesoamerica
Diversity in North America
New Discoveries
The First Americans
“Uninhabited” Jungle
Chapter Ten: “The Dark Ages” In the Mediterranean and Middle East
Defining “Dark Ages” and “Medieval”
The Former Roman Empire
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
East of the Former Roman Empire
The Prophet and the First Muslims
The Caliphates
Chapter Eleven: Clash of Cultures – The Crusades
Primary Sources:
Excerpts from “Pope Urban II’s speech at the Council of Clermont”
The Alexiad by Anna Comnena
The Complete History by Ali ibn al-Athir
Senseless Violence in Context
Geopolitical Shifts in the Middle East
The Crusade
Motive
Reverse Prognostication
Results
Chapter Twelve: West Africa and the Trans Saharan Trade Routes
West Africa before the Trade Network
Peoples of North Africa and the Trans Saharan Trade Routes
The Empires of West Africa
The Empire of Ghana
The Empire of Mali
Chapter Thirteen: Prosperity and Betrayal in East Asia
The Dynastic Cycle Theory in Practice
The Butterfly Effect: East
The Butterfly Effect: West
The An Lushan Rebellion
The Mongol Invasion
Chapter Fourteen: The Great Mortality
Changing Fortunes in the Fourteenth Century
Diagnosing a Medieval Illness
Uncertain Origins
Short-Term Effects
Long-Term Changes
Power Dynamics
Chapter Fifteen: Trade Wars of the Fifteenth Century
“The Victors”
Means
Opportunity
Opportunity Delayed: The Hundred Years’ War
Iberia
Motive
First Steps of Colonization
Resources
Rachel Ernst earned her B.A .in History at Georgia State University and completed her doctorate at the University of Reading in 2015. She is a medieval historian, specializing in the religious landscape of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Western Europe. Her work focuses on heretical Christian theology and the transmission of ideas during the Medieval Renaissance.
Dr. Ernst is currently editing her doctoral dissertation on early clerical perceptions of the Cathar Heresy and teaching survey courses in World History pre-1500.