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World History is a field of historical study
Historiography

Historiography is the aspect of semiotics that is the study of how knowledge of the past, recent or distant, is obtained and transmitted. Broadly speaking, historiography examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods, drawing upon such elements such as authorship, sourcing, interpretation, style, bias, and audience....
 that emerged as a distinct academic field in the 1980s. It examines history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
 from a global perspective.

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Analogous works
Many works are analogous to World History, in that they discuss "the history of the world" in a unified framework — For example, it was a genre popular in the 19th century with universal history
Universal history

Universal history is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, especially the Abrahamic religion wellspring of that tradition. Simply stated, universal history is the presentation of the history of mankind as a whole, as a coherent unit....
, and with Christian historians going back to at least the 4th century.






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World History is a field of historical study
Historiography

Historiography is the aspect of semiotics that is the study of how knowledge of the past, recent or distant, is obtained and transmitted. Broadly speaking, historiography examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods, drawing upon such elements such as authorship, sourcing, interpretation, style, bias, and audience....
 that emerged as a distinct academic field in the 1980s. It examines history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
 from a global perspective.

Overview

Analogous works
Many works are analogous to World History, in that they discuss "the history of the world" in a unified framework — For example, it was a genre popular in the 19th century with universal history
Universal history

Universal history is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, especially the Abrahamic religion wellspring of that tradition. Simply stated, universal history is the presentation of the history of mankind as a whole, as a coherent unit....
, and with Christian historians going back to at least the 4th century. Other analogous works include:

  • Shortly after World War I
    World War I

    World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
     several popular books were written which dealt with the history of the world, though with a somewhat different approach. These included the children's book The Story of Mankind
    The Story of Mankind

    The Story of Mankind was written and illustrated by American journalist, professor, and author Hendrik Willem van Loon and published in 1921....
     (1921) by Hendrik Willem van Loon
    Hendrik Willem van Loon

    Hendrik Willem van Loon was a Dutch-American historian and journalist....
     and the textbook The Outline of History
    The Outline of History

    The Outline of History, subtitled either "The Whole Story of Man" or "Being A Plain History of Life and Mankind," is a book by H....
     (1918) by H.G. Wells.
  • William H. McNeill
    William H. McNeill

    William Hardy McNeill is a noted World History. He is among the world's most respected historians and was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Chicago....
    's The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (1963).
  • Marshall Hodgson's
    Marshall Hodgson

    Marshall Goodwin Simms Hodgson , was an Islamic Studies academic and a world historian at the University of Chicago. He was chairman of the interdisciplinary Committee on Social Thought in Chicago....
     writings were a precursor to the modern World History approach.
  • Arnold J. Toynbee
    Arnold J. Toynbee

    Arnold Joseph Toynbee Order of the Companions of Honour was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934-1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global perspective....
     was a precursor of modern World History with his vast project, A Study of History
    A Study of History

    A Study of History is the 12-volume magnum opus of United Kingdom historian Arnold J. Toynbee, finished in 1961. In this immensely detailed and complex work, Toynbee traces the birth, growth and decay of some 21 to 23 major civilizations in the world....
    .
  • William McGaughey's Five Epochs of Civilization (2000).
World History looks for common pattern
Pattern

A pattern, from the French language patron, is a type of theme of recurring events of or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set....
s that emerge across all cultures. World historians use a thematic
Theme (literature)

A theme is a simile used to relate to idioms and or literary work a message or lesson conveyed by a written text. This message is usually about life, society or human nature....
 approach, with two major focal points: integration
Syncretism

Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogy several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclu...
 (how processes of world history have drawn people of the world together) and difference (how pattern
Pattern

A pattern, from the French language patron, is a type of theme of recurring events of or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set....
s of world history reveal the diversity of the human experience).

The study of world history is in some ways a product of the current period of accelerated globalization
Globalization

Globalization in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together....
. This period is tending both to integrate various cultures and to highlight their differences.

The advent of World History as a distinct field of study was heralded in the 1980s by the creation of the World History Association and of graduate programs at a handful of universities. Over the past 20 years, scholarly publications, professional and academic organizations, and graduate programs in World History have proliferated. It has become an increasingly popular approach to teaching history in United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 high schools and colleges. Many new textbook
Textbook

A textbook is a manual of instruction or a standard book in any branch of study. They are produced according to the demand of educational institutions....
s are being published with a World History approach.

See also

  • Big History
    Big History

    Big History examines history on a Epoch across long time frames through a multi-disciplinary approach. Big History gives a focus on the alteration and adaptations in the human experience....
  • Guns, Germs and Steel
  • Historic recurrence
    Historic recurrence

    Historic recurrence is the repetition of similar events in history. In the extreme, the concept hypothetically assumes the form of the Eternal return that was described by Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Nietzsche....
  • The World's History
    The World's History

    The World's History is a college textbook by world historian Howard Spodek. It was first published in 1998. The book is divided up into 24 chapters:...
  • Universal history
    Universal history

    Universal history is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, especially the Abrahamic religion wellspring of that tradition. Simply stated, universal history is the presentation of the history of mankind as a whole, as a coherent unit....
  • Natural history
    Natural history

    Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals....
  • World development
  • Political history of the world
    Political history of the world

    The Political history of the world is the history of the various Politics created by the Human race throughout their existence on Earth and the way these states define their borders....


External links

  • , William H. McNeill
    William H. McNeill

    William Hardy McNeill is a noted World History. He is among the world's most respected historians and was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Chicago....
    , Paper originally presented at the History and Theory World History Conference, March 25-26, 1994
  • - World History Model Curriculum
  • Free World History Lesson Plans, Handouts, and Worksheets