Cambridge World History

From 1200 BCE to 900 CE the world witnessed the rise of powerful new states and empires as well as networks of cross-cultural exchange and conquest. Considering the formation and expansion of these large-scale entities this fourth volume of the Cambridge World History series outlines key economic political social cultural and intellectual developments that occurred across the globe in this period. Leading scholars examine critical transformations in science and technology economic systems attitudes towards gender and family social hierarchies education art and slavery. The second part of the volume focuses on broader processes of change within western and central Eurasia the Mediterranean South Asia Africa East Asia Europe the Americas and Oceania as well as offering regional studies highlighting specific topics from trade along the Silk Roads and across the Sahara to Chaco culture in the US southwest to Confucianism and the state in East Asia.