Introduction to Global History

Introduction to Global History

• The study of global history matters because everything known is historical and we are products of the past.
• Global history helps us gain awareness of the complexity of human interactions and relations.
• Studying history teaches us to consider multiple explanations and factors, weighing their importance.
• History allows us to understand the relevance of the past in navigating present elements.
• A sense of nuance is crucial; contemplation and listening are necessary.
• History is often written by the winners, raising questions about whose voices are emphasized or silenced.
• The task of historians is to uncover silent voices, avoiding reliance solely on dominant perspectives.
• It is important to critically examine claims, such as those about historical figures, considering silenced actors in context.
• Attention should be paid to what we are socialized to think.
• The point of modern history is the imposition of tariffs by the US, Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1929).

History in International Relations (IR)

• The discipline's foundational text is E. Carr's "The Twenty Years Crisis" (1939).
• A key text for historians is E. Carr's "What is History" (1961).
• There's a spectrum of approaches to history in IR, ranging from scripture (neorealism) to butterfly (poststructuralism) regarding the use of history and facts.
• Scripture (neorealism) treats the past as a source of facts to test theories, viewing history as a monochrome flatland with an emphasis on continuities.
• A butterfly approach (poststructuralism) sees no discernible patterns in history, emphasizing discontinuities.
• Using history requires attention to bias, and that history not only exists in context.
• Generalizable claims from history should not be made.
• The nation-state, as a European-concept, presents a problematic narrative in IR, as European states emergence in 1648, which has recently been demystified.
• Posing another problematic narrative; the discovery of the Americas was not considered a global concept.
• Eurocentrism is a problematic belief system that positions Europe as central in shaping world history.
• Industrialization in the UK relied on cotton, but India controlled the world market, and enslaved Africans produced cotton in America, highlighting the ignored role of colonies in industrialization.
• Empirical eurocentrism focuses only on the West, while methodological eurocentrism uses European modernity as a standard of judgment beyond Europe.
• Methodological eurocentrism includes internalism, historical priority, universal stagism, and linear developmentalism.
• Middle-way approaches, include not being selective in detail, trying to establish patterns, moving beyond the nation-state.

Basic Types of Historical Thinking

• History is viewed as a nonfictional account of the past, concerning change over time, as well as craft, requiring honesty and integrity.
• Meta-history involves macro-level patterns and regularities, such as the rise and fall of empires, from a climate perspective.
• Anti-history refers to things presented as facts but are not, such as fake news.

Global History

• Global history encompasses big history, universal, world, transnational, and entangled perspectives, going back to the origins known as universal, like the Big Bang.
• World/global history compares civilizations and examines connections, conversions, integration, and disintegration among humans.
• Connection led to disintegration.
• Transnational history goes beyond the nation-state.
• One driver of world history is eco-history, including the division into core, semi-periphery, and periphery.
• IR theory doesn't acknowledge multiplicity.
• Multiplicity has five implications, which include co-existence, difference, interaction, combination, and dialectical change.
• Change doesn't occur by itself and everything is relatable.
• Causality differs from relationality.
• Global history means going beyond Euro-American history, looking beyond the West, and looking back in time before the 19th-20th century.

What is Europe?

• The idea and meaning of Europe has varied through time.
• Historically, no stable border, meaning, or identify
• For this course, Europe is a convenient shorthand for Western European empires and Russia while also inevitably overlooking heterogeneity within Europe.
• Heterogeneity within Europe: eastern vs western Europe / southern vs northern Europe.

Empires and their Emergence

• Empire: a large, composite, multi-ethnic/national political unit made of a dominant core, subordinate and distant peripheries, usually created by conquest.
• Empires need to be able to conquer so they require supplies and cooperation
• They emerge through military power as the foundation for conquest, building, and maintaining them.
• Eco power and coercion and political alliances and bargaining contribute to empire emergence, offering protection
• Empires use asymmetric bargains between imperial elites and local intermediaries, along with dynastic marriages and rules to protect the kingdom.

Characteristics of Empires

• Direct (centralized) and indirect (decentralized) rule.
• Empires are established and maintained by violence.
• The dominant core economically exploits the periphery. and Colonization leads to a mentality of exploitation.
• Colonialism has a mentality of exploitation.
• Belief in ones' own cultural superiority where the core population believes in its own cultural superiority.
• European empires have pseudo-scientific racial hierarchies.
• Mass movement of people is both voluntary and forced

Scientific Racism

• Scientific racism emerged through the 17th-century Enlightenment, science ideas, ending superstitions, leading to the production of knowledge and colonization transitioning racial theory to classifying people.
• The White Man's burden; a phrase coined by R. Kipling.
• Scientific racism: Social construction of defining humanity through terms of superior and inferior, and biological distinctions.
• Differences in capabilities were determined by physical characteristcs
• The rising tide of colour against white world supremacy

Concepts of Empires

• Empire: a large, composite, multi-ethnic...
• Imperialism: the actions that maintain big political units.
• Colonialism and Settler colonialism: Large-scale pop movements.
• The Post-colonial world: Where parts of the undercolonial ruler are situations where an outside power still exercises a dominance.
• African countries broke down with France and Allied with Russia.

Importance of European Empires in IR

• The basic unit of classical IR is the state, but in most modern IR, it occurred int he world of empires.
• relations between societies and conceptual issues.
• Doctine of discovery roles in Portugal, Spain, colonizing and converting.
• The Catholic church had a lot of power over the emperors, the kings; to become an emperor/king there is the necessity approval by papal
• Portugal created new slaves.
• The sun never sets on the British empire.
• Rivalry and competition.
• The way it was to govern with Administrative develop/European and indp post-colonial states.
• Genocides, The rwanda and Raj.
• Transition of the world and organization of pol conflicts and wars that led to cashmere conflcit and the congo.
• Ego Exploilation Unequal disturbance of global wealth.
• Cullutre is erasure of local cultures and religions.
• Lifespan in Americas for slaves; roughly 7 years/7 years.
• Africa moved towards china b/c there was no colonial history.

Empires Before/During Europe's "Age of Discovery"

• Recap on Eurocentrism: The most superior civilization having the most forms politic.
• Assumptiosn that nature of modern Development with Origins and the world with exploitation.
• European culture thought to be as supiroe
• Linea Development
• Universal stage.
• 5 things about pre-1500; with a stagnant Tradiation
• That interpendent world was possible.

Affirmations of West

• The afro asian age with discovery: The local and religions that were like
• Western Ecominc progress.
• Rise of Wes; enabled by indebtedness to multiknowledge to naval.
• Oriental Globalization

Main Empires of Medieval World

• Byzantine Empire - also known as the Eastern Roman Empire. Its capital was Constantinople (Istanbul). Their orthodox christianity broke after roman catholicism.
• Tang empire - Followed by song empire in China, interregnum in 10th C; 5 dynasty, 10 kingdom periods. Divisions to northern china/12-13th C.
• Ummayyad Empire- Followed by Abbasid Empire in Middle east Africa. Capitals in Baghdad
• Ghana empire - followed by Mali, Songhai and Sahellian

Key Features of oriental globilization

• Flows and exchanges, trade/diversive infrastructure disseminations pf,diplomacy plus practice. B/w Globalization and Practice shared with common language.
• Encouraged trade + Accumulation if Knowledge.
• The massive afro esain cono was emergence of islam/.

Land and Sea

• Silk roads connected during Globilization
• More Maritime over land.
• Involvements of 16thC with gradual merachile in the ports ocean.

Chinese vs the Indian

• Indian was and oceans the afro esian which the Malay China - luxury and wealth/efficiently operaations/absorbed from high products
• Cenfucainusm Supremes for outer power and states.
• Treasure Fleets show off navy power
• Tribue System
• china did have Massive Imperal expansion the best possibility.
• Up unitl 1000 Wests was not helgemonis.
• China was advanced along with 1442.

Types of expanstion

• Land empires - islamic, Chinese and russia
• Sea Empires - European = controll of oversea -Maritime empire - relied a lot on navals and transfromed into land
• Eurasian Collaspes Mongol conques.
• Genigirs kan the Warrior.
• religious tolerance - cooperation within power .
• Decline aht were long.

Isalamic Empires

• Russia COmngures.
• Ming and Qing dynisties.
• Great Wall Defends
• At firt route for europe from Europe.
• 1442 - Atlantic Ocean.
• Conquest spain 2. Islands before coast 3 All wars .

The European East vs West

• Trade, Goods vs smaller weak islands.
• Natural resources labour - Import Slaves
• Euro sea empirevs land

Euorpeans East- Sea empires

• Slaves trade, Britain France - Nethelands.

Great Divergence

• China v indian
• Question of scenity.
• access to Resources - changes -2 chatergies Eruppian Superiority / Stole world.
• Europe was more to grow the the continents
• Did the great Divergence.

California School

• The WEst to due recent to achievements.
• 2 Waves - China and Asians.
• Europe got access, labor , land/ intergrated and connections.
• Human and pyschla .
• Europe for longer with capital
• More institution with resources.
• Systemic imperial or overseas or seas.
• High volume and labour products
• created a resource bottle of industrial regions.
• Slave trade agriculture migrants.
• Land and Lbaour.

• China

• The end.
• China/
• The End industrial of revolution and take.

Importance of Coal

• Resources that change enegery with a for heat. and industry. + Agriculture.

Consequenses

• exporter vs rich .
• west with capiltist

• Capitaly

• tool fo icity and understnadong
• capatilma anayltic
• deatrbied notion
• commdification - serves as channisima nds and

• Cirlcuation.

• relations the market and not capatalis, the world the world

Classical v marxist

• Traditonall views for before 750 and the REvisties aorund 800 and indstuinal and lin cilraitons

Political economist and marxist

• More efficiecjt for power and profits.
• benefit ignored with labour and eveyroen with Profits.
• Marxisted indutry
• and more evey.

the Classical Maix theory

• feudal + capitalitit
• and no sklppining
• stages of developemnts
• a clas not individuals and not place aht reoarionsip
• orignal with wealitjh
• Land eht origin
• and compulson system with trade and competions/depndency.

English agricultutre

• 14 16 and 18thc
• lands orrented or force sold aor or
• migrate to cotires as. The theorties of great evolytopn
• State building what we are war and we are .
• and the compoetetitve .
• That comepteiesns and reocurig.
• what th the war is thet or is is .
• euroe for and for state .

Military thesis

• Not superios and
• the fact a lot of merecienras/ not wrong .
• created and now thesis to be more the they are .
• what happens where .
• Not the thesis there they ha dot .
• the ealryt modern and what they .
• That did ot ealry and reiosn were.
• for euroe ealry that ddid not ealroy in that.
• Wha they had there aert .
• the colobies baiscally/d

• a more factal narartive .

Eurpan Powers

• to conqueus with local areas.
• that all ruller with euoprn against area and.
• The ealry local asian and empire.
• w eitj power or ealry - Europe that .
• the ares what with there that and eurpe.

Explore the importance of global history in understanding human interactions and the relevance of the past. Learn to consider multiple perspectives, uncover silenced voices, and critically examine historical claims. Understand the complexities of historical narratives beyond dominant perspectives.