Old world encounters : cross-cultural contacts and exchanges in pre-modern times

Well before modern times, Asian, African, and European peoples were regularly interacting and intermingling with each other. Their encounters rank among the most effective agents of change in all of world history, fostering the spread of technologies, ideas, beliefs, values and religions. This innovative study examines processes of cross-cultural encounter before 1492. It concentrates on several eras, from the age of the ancient silk roads that linked China with the Roman Empire, through the Mongol Empire, up until the early transoceanic ventures of Europeans during the fifteenth century. Taking a global rather than a Eurocentric or some other partial approach, the author examines in contact with each other, and he identifies distinctive patterns of conversion, conflict, and compromise that emerged from cross-cultural encounters. In doing so, he elucidates the larger historical context of encounters between Europeans and other peoples in modern times. Preface Contents Maps 1 Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges Patterns of Cross-Cultural Encounters Principal Eras of Cross-Cultural Encounter in Pre-Modern Times 2 The Era of the Ancient Silk Roads Confacians and Xiongnu The Early Spread of Indian Cultural Traditions Missionary Religions in the Middle East and Mediterranean The Falling of Empires 3 Missionaries, Pilgrims, and the Spread of the World Religions Conversion to Buddhism throughout Asia Chinese Trade and Expansion in Southeast Asia and Central Asia 4 The Age of the Nomadic Empires The Waning of Indian Cultural Influence 5 Toward a New World Order The Chinese Reconnaissance Toward a New World Order: Notes Bibliography Index This study examines cross-cultural encounters before 1492 AD, focusing on the major influences that transformed Asia and Europe during that period. The author examines the political, social, economic and cultural conditions that enabled one culture to influence or suppress another. The author examines the dynamics that brought populations in contact with each other, and he identifies distinctive patterns of conversion, conflict, and compromise that emerged from crosscultural encounters. The anonymous historian of ancient Israel contented himself with a spare, economical description of commercial life at King Solomon's court.