1. Global Connections in the Early Modern Period
Galleons and Caravans
Tutors: Anne Gerritsen, Julia McClure and Giorgio Riello
Week 1.
Wednesday 5 October 2016
Global Connections in the Early Modern Period

2. Today’s Lecture A. What is Galleons and Caravans about?
B. Global History
C. Approaches Global/World History

3. What is Galleons and Caravans about?
Team-taught course
- based on the expertise of tutors
2. Chronology:
- organised through themes
3. Geography: Eurasia?
- the geography of connections

6. o o o o o

7. Topics Term 1 1. Global Connections in the Early Modern Period (GR)
2. The World in 1300 (JM)
3. The Silk Routes and other Land Routes (JM)
4. Travel and Travellers (JM)
5. Diaspora and Migration (GR)
6. Reading Week
7. The Rise and Decline of Land Empires (GR)
8. Systems of Maritime Interactions (GR)
9. From European Exploration to Maritime Empires (Guido Meersbergen)
10. Silver in World History (GR)

8. Term 2
11. Global Arts: Embassies, Gifts and Collecting (Luca Mola’)
12. Religious Connections in Global History (JM)
13. MUSEUM TRIP (Global Commodities) (JM and MB)
14. Nodes, Ports and Cities (MB)
15. The European East India Companies (MB)
16. Reading Week
17. Early Science and Technology in Eurasia (JM)
18. Scientific Knowledge, Enlightenment and Religion (MB)
19. Moving Plants, Diseases and Animals (Adrianna Catena)
20. Slavery, War and Conflict (MB)
Term 3
21. Exploration and Knowledge of the World (MB)
22. The World in 1800 (MB)
23. Global Connections: An Overview and Review (MB and JM)

9. What is Galleons and Caravans about?
3. Warnings
Themes must be understood in their chronologies and connected to other themes.

10. What is Galleons and Caravans about?
3. Warnings
Themes must be understood in their chronologies and connected to other themes.
The aim is not to know everything, but the ability to know what you need.

11. B. Global History

12. 1. What is Global History?
Global history is not always related to the study of the globe as a unit
McNeill defines global history as ‘history in which we know what to leave out’

13. 2. Why are in interested in Global History now?
‘Globalisation’ is often seen as a phenomenon that boomed in the 1990s through:
- new systems of communication (the internet, etc)
- a high degree of economic interconnectedness
- the power of large corporations
- cultural homogenisation
- etc.

14. We argue that the world was in fact interconnected before the recent ‘globalisation’
Secondly it argues that we should distinguish between different definitions of connections:
- economic connections
- cultural connections
- migrations
- the use of ideas to create power over other people
- environmental connections
- communication and transport
- etc.

15. World and Global History
‘World History’
(in French ‘histoire mondiale’, in Italian ‘storia mondiale’) has been
- used in the US since the 1960s:
- the teaching of survey courses
- the concept of civilization as central to the narratives proposed.
Patrick O’Brien, ‘Historiographical Traditions and Modern Imperatives for the Restoration of Global History’, Journal of Global History, 1, 1 (2006), pp
‘Global History’
is more used in Europe and in the UK in particular:
- it is more recent: last years
- taught in more specialised courses
- Based on connections, comparisons, theoretical structures, etc.

16. World and Global History
Jounal of World History, since 1990, US-based
Journal of Global History, since 2006, UK-based

17. What is wrong with Global History?
Eurocentrism: Europe as ‘the most …’ and also ‘unique’.
2. Dominant role of economic issues

18. C. Approaches to World/Global History
a. Connections:
- to explain both economic and cultural phenomena.
- connections are not always positive (exploitation, war, slavery, etc.).

19. Approaches to World/Global History
b. Comparisons:
- especially used in the social sciences
- based on indepth studies of specific localities
- problem of what to compare

20. Approaches to World/Global History
c. As a whole:
- the whole world as one unit (in ‘big history’ the whole ‘Universe’, as in David Christian’s Maps of Time (2004)
- use of science and biology

21. Approaches to World/Global History
d. Systemic:
- analyzes how different areas (be they localities, states or empires) relate to each other.