Charles King
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199241613
- eISBN:
- 9780191601439
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241619.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Over the long sweep of history it is difficult to argue that the lands around the Black Sea have been more volatile, a sense of ethnic identity more deeply felt, or questions of land, custom, and ...
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Over the long sweep of history it is difficult to argue that the lands around the Black Sea have been more volatile, a sense of ethnic identity more deeply felt, or questions of land, custom, and religion more divisive than in any other part of Europe or Eurasia. At times the region has been a frontier between different empires and civilizations; at other times, it has been a well-integrated part of broader European—even global—economic and political relationships. The ecology of the sea itself set the stage for long periods of interaction and exchange.Less
Over the long sweep of history it is difficult to argue that the lands around the Black Sea have been more volatile, a sense of ethnic identity more deeply felt, or questions of land, custom, and religion more divisive than in any other part of Europe or Eurasia. At times the region has been a frontier between different empires and civilizations; at other times, it has been a well-integrated part of broader European—even global—economic and political relationships. The ecology of the sea itself set the stage for long periods of interaction and exchange.
Garth Fowden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158532
- eISBN:
- 9781400848164
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158532.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Islam emerged amid flourishing Christian and Jewish cultures, yet students of antiquity and the Middle Ages mostly ignore it. Despite intensive study of late antiquity over the last fifty years, even ...
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Islam emerged amid flourishing Christian and Jewish cultures, yet students of antiquity and the Middle Ages mostly ignore it. Despite intensive study of late antiquity over the last fifty years, even generous definitions of this period have reached only the eighth century, whereas Islam did not mature sufficiently to compare with Christianity or rabbinic Judaism until the tenth century. This book suggests a new way of thinking about the historical relationship between the scriptural monotheisms, integrating Islam into European and West Asian history. The book identifies the whole of the First Millennium—from Augustus and Christ to the formation of a recognizably Islamic worldview by the time of the philosopher Avicenna—as the proper chronological unit of analysis for understanding the emergence and maturation of the three monotheistic faiths across Eurasia. It proposes not just a chronological expansion of late Antiquity but also an eastward shift in the geographical frame to embrace Iran. The book looks at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alongside other important developments in Greek philosophy and Roman law, to reveal how the first millennium was bound together by diverse exegetical traditions that nurtured communities and often stimulated each other.Less
Islam emerged amid flourishing Christian and Jewish cultures, yet students of antiquity and the Middle Ages mostly ignore it. Despite intensive study of late antiquity over the last fifty years, even generous definitions of this period have reached only the eighth century, whereas Islam did not mature sufficiently to compare with Christianity or rabbinic Judaism until the tenth century. This book suggests a new way of thinking about the historical relationship between the scriptural monotheisms, integrating Islam into European and West Asian history. The book identifies the whole of the First Millennium—from Augustus and Christ to the formation of a recognizably Islamic worldview by the time of the philosopher Avicenna—as the proper chronological unit of analysis for understanding the emergence and maturation of the three monotheistic faiths across Eurasia. It proposes not just a chronological expansion of late Antiquity but also an eastward shift in the geographical frame to embrace Iran. The book looks at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alongside other important developments in Greek philosophy and Roman law, to reveal how the first millennium was bound together by diverse exegetical traditions that nurtured communities and often stimulated each other.
Mark Donohue and Søren Wichmann (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199238385
- eISBN:
- 9780191716768
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199238385.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics
Semantic alignment refers to a type of language that has two means of morphosyntactically encoding the arguments of intransitive predicates, typically treating these as an agent or as a patient of a ...
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Semantic alignment refers to a type of language that has two means of morphosyntactically encoding the arguments of intransitive predicates, typically treating these as an agent or as a patient of a transitive predicate, or else by a means of a treatment that varies according to lexical aspect. This book presents a collection of new typological examinations and case studies. International typologists explore the differences and commonalities of languages with semantic alignment systems and compare the structure of these languages to languages without them. They look at how such systems arise or disappear and provide areal overviews of Eurasia, the Americas, and the south-west Pacific — the areas where semantically aligned languages are concentrated.Less
Semantic alignment refers to a type of language that has two means of morphosyntactically encoding the arguments of intransitive predicates, typically treating these as an agent or as a patient of a transitive predicate, or else by a means of a treatment that varies according to lexical aspect. This book presents a collection of new typological examinations and case studies. International typologists explore the differences and commonalities of languages with semantic alignment systems and compare the structure of these languages to languages without them. They look at how such systems arise or disappear and provide areal overviews of Eurasia, the Americas, and the south-west Pacific — the areas where semantically aligned languages are concentrated.
Noel T. Boaz and Russell L. Ciochon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195152913
- eISBN:
- 9780199790036
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152913.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This book recreates the story of life before Homo sapiens walked the earth. It was once thought that “Peking Man”, the remains of a cave man discovered at the famous fossil site of Dragon Bone Hill ...
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This book recreates the story of life before Homo sapiens walked the earth. It was once thought that “Peking Man”, the remains of a cave man discovered at the famous fossil site of Dragon Bone Hill in China, had been a great hunter. But Peking Man was actually a composite of the remains of some fifty women, children, and men unfortunate enough to have been the prey of a giant cave hyena. The book retells the story of the cave's unique species of early human, Homo erectus. New evidence shows that Homo erectus was an opportunist who rode a tide of environmental change out of Africa into Eurasia, puddle-jumping from one gene pool to the next. Armed with a shaky hold on fire and some sharp rocks, Homo erectus survived for over 1.5 million years, much longer than Homo sapiens, our own species, has been on Earth. Tell-tale marks on fossil bones show that the lives of these early humans were brutal, yet there are fleeting glimpses of human compassion as well. The small brain of Homo erectus and its strangely unchanging culture indicate that the species could not talk. Part of that primitive culture included ritualized aggression, to which the extremely thick skulls of Homo erectus bear witness.Less
This book recreates the story of life before Homo sapiens walked the earth. It was once thought that “Peking Man”, the remains of a cave man discovered at the famous fossil site of Dragon Bone Hill in China, had been a great hunter. But Peking Man was actually a composite of the remains of some fifty women, children, and men unfortunate enough to have been the prey of a giant cave hyena. The book retells the story of the cave's unique species of early human, Homo erectus. New evidence shows that Homo erectus was an opportunist who rode a tide of environmental change out of Africa into Eurasia, puddle-jumping from one gene pool to the next. Armed with a shaky hold on fire and some sharp rocks, Homo erectus survived for over 1.5 million years, much longer than Homo sapiens, our own species, has been on Earth. Tell-tale marks on fossil bones show that the lives of these early humans were brutal, yet there are fleeting glimpses of human compassion as well. The small brain of Homo erectus and its strangely unchanging culture indicate that the species could not talk. Part of that primitive culture included ritualized aggression, to which the extremely thick skulls of Homo erectus bear witness.
André A. Dhondt
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198569992
- eISBN:
- 9780191717802
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198569992.003.0022
- Subject:
- Biology, Ornithology
In comparing studies of Parid ecology, evolution, and behaviour that have been carried out in Eurasia and North America it becomes clear that there seem to be two essential impeding factors: ...
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In comparing studies of Parid ecology, evolution, and behaviour that have been carried out in Eurasia and North America it becomes clear that there seem to be two essential impeding factors: differences in species' biology and the possibility for carrying out long-term studies. Differences in Parid evolution and natural history between North America and Eurasia have often dictated the types of research questions that can be addressed. The two main species that have been studied in Eurasia (great and blue tit) are at the base of the Parid tree, while all North American species are the result of two invasions 3.5 and 4 million years ago. North American Parids, therefore, belong to more derived clades. Great and blue tit, the primary study species that European scientists have been studying as model species for more than fifty years may, after all, not be representative for all tits and chickadees. To a large extent the variations in the types of studies conducted among great and blue tit (largely studied in Europe) on the one hand, and other Parids on the other hand (largely studied in North America and in northern Europe) are driven by the fact that when entire populations breed at high densities in artificial nest boxes it becomes much easier to collect detailed information, especially on reproduction, on large number of pairs.Less
In comparing studies of Parid ecology, evolution, and behaviour that have been carried out in Eurasia and North America it becomes clear that there seem to be two essential impeding factors: differences in species' biology and the possibility for carrying out long-term studies. Differences in Parid evolution and natural history between North America and Eurasia have often dictated the types of research questions that can be addressed. The two main species that have been studied in Eurasia (great and blue tit) are at the base of the Parid tree, while all North American species are the result of two invasions 3.5 and 4 million years ago. North American Parids, therefore, belong to more derived clades. Great and blue tit, the primary study species that European scientists have been studying as model species for more than fifty years may, after all, not be representative for all tits and chickadees. To a large extent the variations in the types of studies conducted among great and blue tit (largely studied in Europe) on the one hand, and other Parids on the other hand (largely studied in North America and in northern Europe) are driven by the fact that when entire populations breed at high densities in artificial nest boxes it becomes much easier to collect detailed information, especially on reproduction, on large number of pairs.
James Howard‐Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199208593
- eISBN:
- 9780191594182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208593.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
After an outline of seventh‐century historical developments in western Eurasia, the procedure to be followed is outlined. The evidence of twenty‐six non‐Muslim witnesses will be examined, evaluated, ...
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After an outline of seventh‐century historical developments in western Eurasia, the procedure to be followed is outlined. The evidence of twenty‐six non‐Muslim witnesses will be examined, evaluated, and summarized, beginning with those best placed to gather reliable information. The scenarios constructed on the basis of their collective testimony will then be used to test the worth of Islamic historical traditions. Finally, the results of the investigation will be used to reconstruct the history of the Middle East in the seventh century.Less
After an outline of seventh‐century historical developments in western Eurasia, the procedure to be followed is outlined. The evidence of twenty‐six non‐Muslim witnesses will be examined, evaluated, and summarized, beginning with those best placed to gather reliable information. The scenarios constructed on the basis of their collective testimony will then be used to test the worth of Islamic historical traditions. Finally, the results of the investigation will be used to reconstruct the history of the Middle East in the seventh century.
Prasannan Parthasarathi
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265321
- eISBN:
- 9780191760495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265321.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
The methods of comparative history pose an analytic focus for global history. Comparison must analyse not just one or two, but multiple paths of economic and historical development in the early ...
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The methods of comparative history pose an analytic focus for global history. Comparison must analyse not just one or two, but multiple paths of economic and historical development in the early modern world. Comparison must reach beyond the stereotypes of a dynamic Europe and stagnant Asia to show the strikingly different needs and imperatives leading towards different paths of economic and technological change.Less
The methods of comparative history pose an analytic focus for global history. Comparison must analyse not just one or two, but multiple paths of economic and historical development in the early modern world. Comparison must reach beyond the stereotypes of a dynamic Europe and stagnant Asia to show the strikingly different needs and imperatives leading towards different paths of economic and technological change.
Garth Fowden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158532
- eISBN:
- 9781400848164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158532.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines several other major learned or religious traditions that flourished during the First Millennium, with particular emphasis on their maturation through exegesis of and commentary ...
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This chapter examines several other major learned or religious traditions that flourished during the First Millennium, with particular emphasis on their maturation through exegesis of and commentary on authoritative texts. It first considers Roman law, a tradition rooted in pre-First Millennium, non-monotheistic Antiquity, before discussing rabbinic Judaism, patristic Christianity, and Islam. The goal is to consolidate the argument that the First Millennium was the source not only of the three great texts that have most deeply molded Eurasian civilization (the Christian Bible, the Justinianic code, and the Qur'āan), but also of the exegetical traditions through which these often recalcitrant books were transformed into usable public doctrine.Less
This chapter examines several other major learned or religious traditions that flourished during the First Millennium, with particular emphasis on their maturation through exegesis of and commentary on authoritative texts. It first considers Roman law, a tradition rooted in pre-First Millennium, non-monotheistic Antiquity, before discussing rabbinic Judaism, patristic Christianity, and Islam. The goal is to consolidate the argument that the First Millennium was the source not only of the three great texts that have most deeply molded Eurasian civilization (the Christian Bible, the Justinianic code, and the Qur'āan), but also of the exegetical traditions through which these often recalcitrant books were transformed into usable public doctrine.
Jonathan Karam Skaff
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199734139
- eISBN:
- 9780199950195
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734139.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This book challenges readers to reconsider China’s relations with the rest of Eurasia. Investigating interstate competition and cooperation between the successive Sui and Tang dynasties and Turkic ...
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This book challenges readers to reconsider China’s relations with the rest of Eurasia. Investigating interstate competition and cooperation between the successive Sui and Tang dynasties and Turkic states of Mongolia from 580 to 800, this book upends the notion that inhabitants of China and Mongolia were irreconcilably different and hostile to each other. Rulers on both sides deployed strikingly similar diplomacy, warfare, ideologies of rulership, and patrimonial political networking to seek hegemony over each other and the peoples living in the pastoral borderlands between them. The book particularly disputes the supposed uniqueness of imperial China’s tributary diplomacy by demonstrating that similar customary norms of interstate relations existed in a wide sphere in Eurasia as far west as Byzantium, India, and Iran. These previously unrecognized cultural connections, therefore, were arguably as much the work of Turko-Mongol pastoral nomads traversing the Eurasian steppe as the more commonly recognized Silk Road monks and merchants.Less
This book challenges readers to reconsider China’s relations with the rest of Eurasia. Investigating interstate competition and cooperation between the successive Sui and Tang dynasties and Turkic states of Mongolia from 580 to 800, this book upends the notion that inhabitants of China and Mongolia were irreconcilably different and hostile to each other. Rulers on both sides deployed strikingly similar diplomacy, warfare, ideologies of rulership, and patrimonial political networking to seek hegemony over each other and the peoples living in the pastoral borderlands between them. The book particularly disputes the supposed uniqueness of imperial China’s tributary diplomacy by demonstrating that similar customary norms of interstate relations existed in a wide sphere in Eurasia as far west as Byzantium, India, and Iran. These previously unrecognized cultural connections, therefore, were arguably as much the work of Turko-Mongol pastoral nomads traversing the Eurasian steppe as the more commonly recognized Silk Road monks and merchants.
Richard Pomfret
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691182216
- eISBN:
- 9780691185408
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691182216.003.0011
- Subject:
- Business and Management, International Business
This concluding chapter looks at the implications for Central Asia of new rail links between China and Europe, which foreshadow the region's return after half a millennium to being the central hub of ...
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This concluding chapter looks at the implications for Central Asia of new rail links between China and Europe, which foreshadow the region's return after half a millennium to being the central hub of Eurasia. A quarter century after independence, the hard infrastructure of roads, airports, border crossing points, and so forth, has been steadily improved. The hard infrastructure would be of limited value without substantial improvement in soft infrastructure, which has changed more slowly in Central Asia. However, there is evidence that this is starting to happen. Governments are beginning to undertake measures with the specific goal of trade facilitation. Indeed, the China–Europe Landbridge could signal a new opportunity for Central Asia. Connectivity will be improved, especially if there are multiple routes, which may be stimulated by Iran's reintegration into the global economy and Turkey's rail tunnel under the Bosporus.Less
This concluding chapter looks at the implications for Central Asia of new rail links between China and Europe, which foreshadow the region's return after half a millennium to being the central hub of Eurasia. A quarter century after independence, the hard infrastructure of roads, airports, border crossing points, and so forth, has been steadily improved. The hard infrastructure would be of limited value without substantial improvement in soft infrastructure, which has changed more slowly in Central Asia. However, there is evidence that this is starting to happen. Governments are beginning to undertake measures with the specific goal of trade facilitation. Indeed, the China–Europe Landbridge could signal a new opportunity for Central Asia. Connectivity will be improved, especially if there are multiple routes, which may be stimulated by Iran's reintegration into the global economy and Turkey's rail tunnel under the Bosporus.
Jonathan Karam Skaff
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199734139
- eISBN:
- 9780199950195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734139.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter serves as an introduction to Eastern Eurasian geography, military struggles, and political organization during the medieval period. It discusses the climate and geography of East ...
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This chapter serves as an introduction to Eastern Eurasian geography, military struggles, and political organization during the medieval period. It discusses the climate and geography of East Eurasia, and maps the medieval China-Inner Asia borderlands. The next few sections provide background information on the Sui- to mid-Tang dynasties and modern Turko-Mongols of Eastern Eurasia. This chapter also describes the evolving power balance in Eastern Eurasia.Less
This chapter serves as an introduction to Eastern Eurasian geography, military struggles, and political organization during the medieval period. It discusses the climate and geography of East Eurasia, and maps the medieval China-Inner Asia borderlands. The next few sections provide background information on the Sui- to mid-Tang dynasties and modern Turko-Mongols of Eastern Eurasia. This chapter also describes the evolving power balance in Eastern Eurasia.
Joseph P. McDermott and Peter Burke (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This volume provides the first comparative survey of the relations between the two most active book worlds in Eurasia between 1450 and 1850. Prominent scholars in book history explore different ...
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This volume provides the first comparative survey of the relations between the two most active book worlds in Eurasia between 1450 and 1850. Prominent scholars in book history explore different approaches to publishing, printing, and book culture. They discuss the extent of technology transfer and book distribution between the two regions and show how much book historians of East Asia and Europe can learn from one another by raising new questions, exploring remarkable similarities and differences in these regions’ production, distribution, and consumption of books. The chapters in turn show different ways of writing transnational comparative history. Whereas recent problems confronting research on European books can instruct researchers on East Asian book production, so can the privileged role of noncommercial publications in the East Asian textual record highlight for historians of the European book the singular contribution of commercial printing and market demands to the making of the European printed record. Likewise, although production growth was accompanied in both regions by a wider distribution of books, woodblock technology’s simplicity and mobility allowed for a shift in China of its production and distribution sites farther down the hierarchy of urban sites than was common in Europe. And, the different demands and consumption practices within these two regions’ expanding markets led to different genre preferences and uses as well as to the growth of distinctive female readerships. A substantial introduction pulls the work together and the volume ends with an essay that considers how these historical developments shape the present book worlds of Eurasia.Less
This volume provides the first comparative survey of the relations between the two most active book worlds in Eurasia between 1450 and 1850. Prominent scholars in book history explore different approaches to publishing, printing, and book culture. They discuss the extent of technology transfer and book distribution between the two regions and show how much book historians of East Asia and Europe can learn from one another by raising new questions, exploring remarkable similarities and differences in these regions’ production, distribution, and consumption of books. The chapters in turn show different ways of writing transnational comparative history. Whereas recent problems confronting research on European books can instruct researchers on East Asian book production, so can the privileged role of noncommercial publications in the East Asian textual record highlight for historians of the European book the singular contribution of commercial printing and market demands to the making of the European printed record. Likewise, although production growth was accompanied in both regions by a wider distribution of books, woodblock technology’s simplicity and mobility allowed for a shift in China of its production and distribution sites farther down the hierarchy of urban sites than was common in Europe. And, the different demands and consumption practices within these two regions’ expanding markets led to different genre preferences and uses as well as to the growth of distinctive female readerships. A substantial introduction pulls the work together and the volume ends with an essay that considers how these historical developments shape the present book worlds of Eurasia.
Alan Mikhail (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199768677
- eISBN:
- 9780199979608
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768677.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book is a holistic environmental history of the Middle East and North Africa over the last half millennium. It shows how the intimate connections between peoples and environments shaped ...
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This book is a holistic environmental history of the Middle East and North Africa over the last half millennium. It shows how the intimate connections between peoples and environments shaped political, economic, and social history in startling and often unforeseen ways. Nearly all political powers in the region based their rule on the management and control of natural resources, and nearly all individuals were in constant communion with the natural world. To grasp how these multiple histories were central to the pasts of the Middle East and North Africa, the chapters in this book demonstrate the power of environmental history to open up new avenues of historical research and understanding. The book furthermore traces how the Middle East and North Africa deeply affected the global histories of climate, disease, trade, energy, environmental politics, ecological manipulation, and much more. At the intersection of three continents and as many seas, the Middle East and North Africa have been central to world history for millennia. Studying the ecological implications of these global connections, both for the region itself and for the rest of the world, helps bring the Middle East and North Africa into global history and shows how the region must be an essential part of any understanding of the environments of Eurasia over the last five hundred years.Less
This book is a holistic environmental history of the Middle East and North Africa over the last half millennium. It shows how the intimate connections between peoples and environments shaped political, economic, and social history in startling and often unforeseen ways. Nearly all political powers in the region based their rule on the management and control of natural resources, and nearly all individuals were in constant communion with the natural world. To grasp how these multiple histories were central to the pasts of the Middle East and North Africa, the chapters in this book demonstrate the power of environmental history to open up new avenues of historical research and understanding. The book furthermore traces how the Middle East and North Africa deeply affected the global histories of climate, disease, trade, energy, environmental politics, ecological manipulation, and much more. At the intersection of three continents and as many seas, the Middle East and North Africa have been central to world history for millennia. Studying the ecological implications of these global connections, both for the region itself and for the rest of the world, helps bring the Middle East and North Africa into global history and shows how the region must be an essential part of any understanding of the environments of Eurasia over the last five hundred years.
Alan Mikhail (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199768677
- eISBN:
- 9780199979608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768677.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter introduces the field of Middle East environmental history. It begins by discussing an older geophysical and biological literature that has set the stage for this book. It then points to ...
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This chapter introduces the field of Middle East environmental history. It begins by discussing an older geophysical and biological literature that has set the stage for this book. It then points to what global environmental historians stand to gain from a consideration of the Middle East and North Africa's ecological past: knowledge of how one of the central regions of Eurasian history fits into global patterns of trade and commerce, the ability to test out theories of environmental change in a region that affords one of the longest documentary records of any on earth, and an understanding of how the cultural traditions of the Middle East and North Africa engaged with nature and environmental processes. This chapter then takes the opposite perspective to explain how Middle East Studies can benefit from adopting some of the methodologies of environmental history. The benefits include breaking out of traditional understandings of periodization and geographic demarcation; including new actors in the historiography of the field; and thinking in new ways about major debates in Middle East Studies, such as imperial decline in the early modern period or the politics of oil in the twentieth century.Less
This chapter introduces the field of Middle East environmental history. It begins by discussing an older geophysical and biological literature that has set the stage for this book. It then points to what global environmental historians stand to gain from a consideration of the Middle East and North Africa's ecological past: knowledge of how one of the central regions of Eurasian history fits into global patterns of trade and commerce, the ability to test out theories of environmental change in a region that affords one of the longest documentary records of any on earth, and an understanding of how the cultural traditions of the Middle East and North Africa engaged with nature and environmental processes. This chapter then takes the opposite perspective to explain how Middle East Studies can benefit from adopting some of the methodologies of environmental history. The benefits include breaking out of traditional understandings of periodization and geographic demarcation; including new actors in the historiography of the field; and thinking in new ways about major debates in Middle East Studies, such as imperial decline in the early modern period or the politics of oil in the twentieth century.
Joseph McDermott and Peter Burke
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This particular book seeks to have experts on East Asian and European book history explore issues of mutual interest, to the benefit the main concerns and other issues of book history at the opposite ...
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This particular book seeks to have experts on East Asian and European book history explore issues of mutual interest, to the benefit the main concerns and other issues of book history at the opposite ends of Eurasia. Here the editors concentrate on the book cultures of the two regions of Eurasia, East Asia and Western Europe, which in pre-modern times made the most of publishing books. Just as the most influential Western scholars of the European book have relished researching how the book has shaped the history of European countries other than just their own, so do we now wish to analyze the development of book production, distribution, and consumption of these regions from a consciously comparative perspective. Our hope is that our findings will cast new light on the history of books and book culture within each of these regions.Less
This particular book seeks to have experts on East Asian and European book history explore issues of mutual interest, to the benefit the main concerns and other issues of book history at the opposite ends of Eurasia. Here the editors concentrate on the book cultures of the two regions of Eurasia, East Asia and Western Europe, which in pre-modern times made the most of publishing books. Just as the most influential Western scholars of the European book have relished researching how the book has shaped the history of European countries other than just their own, so do we now wish to analyze the development of book production, distribution, and consumption of these regions from a consciously comparative perspective. Our hope is that our findings will cast new light on the history of books and book culture within each of these regions.
David McKitterick
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
McKitterick identifies the pitfalls encountered by historians of the Western book in classifying, counting, and identifying the materials they use in their research and thereby offers clear advice ...
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McKitterick identifies the pitfalls encountered by historians of the Western book in classifying, counting, and identifying the materials they use in their research and thereby offers clear advice for East Asian bibliographers on European practices to avoid as well as to follow. McDermott identifies a distinctive feature of Chinese and Japanese book production, private non-commercial publishing, and shows how its popularity in East Asia complicates efforts to transfer to its book history the conventional Western historical narratives that identify the rise of printing with the rise of capitalism and the linkage of market expansion with the public expression of private opinion on public matters.Less
McKitterick identifies the pitfalls encountered by historians of the Western book in classifying, counting, and identifying the materials they use in their research and thereby offers clear advice for East Asian bibliographers on European practices to avoid as well as to follow. McDermott identifies a distinctive feature of Chinese and Japanese book production, private non-commercial publishing, and shows how its popularity in East Asia complicates efforts to transfer to its book history the conventional Western historical narratives that identify the rise of printing with the rise of capitalism and the linkage of market expansion with the public expression of private opinion on public matters.
Joseph McDermott
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
McDermott identifies a distinctive feature of Chinese and Japanese book production, private non-commercial publishing, and shows how its popularity in East Asia complicates efforts to transfer to its ...
More
McDermott identifies a distinctive feature of Chinese and Japanese book production, private non-commercial publishing, and shows how its popularity in East Asia complicates efforts to transfer to its book history the conventional Western historical narratives that identify the rise of printing with the rise of capitalism and the linkage of market expansion with the public expression of private opinion on public matters.Less
McDermott identifies a distinctive feature of Chinese and Japanese book production, private non-commercial publishing, and shows how its popularity in East Asia complicates efforts to transfer to its book history the conventional Western historical narratives that identify the rise of printing with the rise of capitalism and the linkage of market expansion with the public expression of private opinion on public matters.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
James Raven’s essay is concerned with the transmission of books in Europe and its colonies in the period between Gutenberg’s invention of the hand press and the nineteenth century introduction of the ...
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James Raven’s essay is concerned with the transmission of books in Europe and its colonies in the period between Gutenberg’s invention of the hand press and the nineteenth century introduction of the steam press. Besides telling a story of market expansion for publishing, he examines the geographical and social range of distribution and considers whether publications circulated within a ‘closed’ or an ‘open’ circuit and whether the sellers remained at home or travelled with the books.Less
James Raven’s essay is concerned with the transmission of books in Europe and its colonies in the period between Gutenberg’s invention of the hand press and the nineteenth century introduction of the steam press. Besides telling a story of market expansion for publishing, he examines the geographical and social range of distribution and considers whether publications circulated within a ‘closed’ or an ‘open’ circuit and whether the sellers remained at home or travelled with the books.
Cynthia Brokaw
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Brokaw draws upon her field research in China to give an exceptionally rich account of the production practices in ordinary book publishing outfits in market towns and villages in key production ...
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Brokaw draws upon her field research in China to give an exceptionally rich account of the production practices in ordinary book publishing outfits in market towns and villages in key production sites of south China in late imperial times. She pays particular attention to publishing technology, noting that printing with moveable type, which had been tried in China, was ‘not cost effective’ and that woodblock printing had ‘certain economic advantages over European-style letter-press printing’, since it did not require investment in expensive machinery or the need to estimate in advance the number of copies of a text that would be bought.Less
Brokaw draws upon her field research in China to give an exceptionally rich account of the production practices in ordinary book publishing outfits in market towns and villages in key production sites of south China in late imperial times. She pays particular attention to publishing technology, noting that printing with moveable type, which had been tried in China, was ‘not cost effective’ and that woodblock printing had ‘certain economic advantages over European-style letter-press printing’, since it did not require investment in expensive machinery or the need to estimate in advance the number of copies of a text that would be bought.
Peter Burke and Joseph McDermott
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208081
- eISBN:
- 9789888313617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208081.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The essay by Burke and McDermott is concerned with the production, indeed the proliferation of reference books (defined as books intended to be consulted, rather than read from cover to cover) in ...
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The essay by Burke and McDermott is concerned with the production, indeed the proliferation of reference books (defined as books intended to be consulted, rather than read from cover to cover) in both Europe and China. He discusses general reference books such as encyclopaedias, large and small, and calls attention to the increasing number of different kinds of ‘how to do it’ books in both East Asia and Europe in the early modern period, and also to the relative lack of interest in China in the production of dictionaries or translations. The differences between these two traditions of reference works are linked to the types of elite careers available in these societies. Tokugawa Japan is also discussed, if only to highlight how distinctive the Chinese tradition of reference books and encyclopaedias remained throughout the centuries covered by this book.Less
The essay by Burke and McDermott is concerned with the production, indeed the proliferation of reference books (defined as books intended to be consulted, rather than read from cover to cover) in both Europe and China. He discusses general reference books such as encyclopaedias, large and small, and calls attention to the increasing number of different kinds of ‘how to do it’ books in both East Asia and Europe in the early modern period, and also to the relative lack of interest in China in the production of dictionaries or translations. The differences between these two traditions of reference works are linked to the types of elite careers available in these societies. Tokugawa Japan is also discussed, if only to highlight how distinctive the Chinese tradition of reference books and encyclopaedias remained throughout the centuries covered by this book.
