Big History by Brown, Cynthia Stokes -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Epigraph Preface and Acknowledgments PART I - The Depths of Time and Space

1 - Expanding into Universe (13.7 Billion-4.6 Billion Years Ago)

Fog and Transparency Twinkling Galaxies The Sun/El Sol/Helios/Die Sonne Unanswered Questions

2 - Living Earth (4.6 Billion-5 Million Years Ago)

3 - Human Emergence: One Species (5 Million-35,000 Years Ago)

From Divergence to Homo erectus Descendants of Homo erectus Homo sapiens Inhabits the World Unanswered Questions

4 - Advanced Hunting and Gathering (35,000-10,000 Years Ago)

The Hunting and Gathering Life What Did Hunter-Gatherers Speak? The Rising Seas Genetic Drift and Adaptation Unanswered Questions

PART II - Ten Thousand Warm Years

5 - Early Agriculture (8000-3500 BCE)

Plants and Animals Enter Domestication Three Small Towns Effects of Settling Down Persistent Hunter-Gatherers and Nomads Unanswered Questions

6 - Early Cities (3500-800 BCE)

The Sumerians Other Urban Cultures—India, Egypt, and China Urban Turning Points Unanswered Questions

7 - The Afro-Eurasian Network (800 BCE-200 CE)

India China Greece Rome Population, Environment, and Religion Unanswered Questions

8 - Expanding the Afro-Eurasian Network (200-1000 CE)

The Central Core (200-600) Islam Arises and China Recovers (600-1000) The Edges and Limits of the Afro-Eurasian Network Costs of Complexity Unanswered Questions

9 - Emergence of American Civilizations (200-1450 CE)

Humans on the Scene Urban Centers in Mesoamerica Urban Centers in South America The Rest of the Americas The Americas in the Context of Afro-Eurasia Unanswered Questions

10 - One Afro-Eurasia (1000-1500 CE)

The Rise and Spread of the Mongols Mongols, then Mings, in China Mongols and Afterwards in the Islamic World Europe from 1000 to 1500 The Margins of the Eurasian Core Unanswered Questions

11 - Connecting the Globe (1450-1800 CE)

The Crucible for Columbus First Encounters The Global Exchange The Major Empires Religion, Science, and Warfare Unanswered Questions

12 - Industrialization (1750-2000 CE)

Bourgeois Power Industrial Revolution Imperialism and World Wars, 1850-1945 Leadership by the United States, 1945-2000 Unanswered Questions

13 - What Now? What Next?

Some Global Measures Experiment with Earth Possible Short-Term Scenarios The Universe Abides Unanswered Questions:

Notes BIBLIOGRAPHY Index Copyright Page