Includes index.

Introduction -- [pt. 1]. Prehistory : from the beginning to ca. 4000 B.C. -- The Stone Age : the beginning of mankind -- It all began in Africa -- Early hominoids -- Territorial expansion -- Campsites and the use of tools -- Fire and the hunt -- Language and burial of the dead -- Religion and cults -- The art of early man -- The "Neolithic Revolution" -- The Tell cultures -- [pt. 2]. First empires : ca. 7000 B.C.-200 A.D. -- Introduction -- Migration of peoples -- The early states of Mesopotamia -- Ancient Egypt -- The Hittites -- Kingdoms on the borders of the Fertile Crescent -- Syria and Palestine -- Key ideas : Judaism -- The Medes and the Persian Empire of the Achaemenids -- The nomads of the Eurasian Steppes -- Key ideas : the religions of India, China, and Japan -- India from the beginnings to the invasion of Alexander the Great -- Early China up to the "Warring States" period -- [pt. 3]. The ancient world : ca. 2500 B.C.-900 A.D. -- Introduction -- Crete and Mycenae - the beginnings of Greek culture -- Classical Greece from the culture of the Polis to the end of independence -- The rise and fall of a world power : from Macedonia to the Diadochoi -- Judea and Arabia before the Romans -- Carthage : world power and rival of Rome -- The Etruscans : the League to the Roman Empire -- From Constantine to the rise of Byzantium -- Key ideas : Christianity -- Armenia and Asia Minor from the Diadochoi to the Romans -- Persia under the Parthians and the Sassanians -- Celts, Slavs, and Germanic tribes -- The great migration of peoples -- The nomad empires of the Eurasian Steppes -- Ancient India -- China's first emperors of the Qin and Han dynasties -- The first kingdoms in North and Northeast Africa --

[pt. 4]. The Middle Ages : 5th-15th century -- Introduction -- The Germanic empires -- The kingdom of the Franks -- The Holy roman Empire in the High and Late Middle Ages -- Switzerland -- France in the High and Late Middle Ages -- Burgundy and the Netherlands -- England in the Middle Ages -- Ireland and Scotland in the Middle Ages -- Italy in the Middle Ages -- Spain and Portugal in the MIddle Ages -- Northern Europe -- Eastern Europe -- Russia -- The Byzantine Empire -- Southeast Europe -- The Crusades -- Key ideas : Islam -- The Mongolian Empire and its successors -- India -- China after the Han Dynasty -- Japan -- Southeast Asia -- Sub-Saharan Africa -- The settlement and early high cultures of America -- [pt. 5]. The early modern period: 16th-18th century -- Introduction -- The German Empire : the Reformation and its consequences -- In focus : the Reformation -- The Thirty Years' War -- The Holy Roman Empire under Enlightened Absolutism -- France : from the wars of religion to the eve of the Revolution -- The rise of England -- The Netherlands : from the struggle for independence to the French Occupation -- The Italy of Popes and princes -- Spain and Portugal -- Eastern Europe and Scandinavia -- Russia's rise as a great power -- The Ottoman Empire, the great power of the East -- North Africa -- Persia under the Safavids and Qajars -- Mogul India and the European trading companies -- China under the Ming and Manchu Emperors -- Japan from the Muromachi Period to the Tokugawa Shogunate -- Southeast Asia -- Africa -- The ancient American empires and the conquest by Spain and Portugal -- North America to the founding of Canada and the United States -- Oceania and Australia to the arrival of the Europeans --

[pt. 6]. The modern era: 1789-1914 -- Introduction -- The French Revolution -- In focus : the French Revolution -- Napoleonic domination -- The Industrial Revolution begins in Europe -- German states : the reshaping of Austria and Prussia -- Imperial Germany -- Austria-Hungary -- France -- Great Britain -- The Benelux countries -- Italy from the Congress of Vienna to the eve of World War I -- Portugal and Spain -- Scandinavia -- Russia from the Treaty of Tilsit to the abdication of the Last Czar -- The Ottoman Empire -- Egypt -- Persia and Afghanistan -- India -- China to the last of the emperors -- Japan -- Southeast Asia -- African State building and colonization -- The United States : beginnings and rise to world power -- Latin America -- [pt. 7]. The World Wars and interwar period : 1914-1945 -- Introduction -- The First World War -- Key ideas : ideologies of the 20th century -- The unpopular democracy : the German Reich -- Under the Swastika : Nazi Germany -- Austria : from Habsburg Empire to German "Ostmark" -- Switzerland : island of stability -- France : insecurity and occupation -- Britain between the World Wars -- Ireland : division and independence -- Belgium and the Netherlands : objects of German power politics -- Italy under Fascism -- Spain and Portugal -- Scandinavia and the Baltic -- Poland -- Hungary and Czechoslovakia -- The Soviet Union --

Southeast Europe between the Wars -- The decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire -- The reorganization of Arabia -- Iran and Afghanistan : battle for independence -- China between Empire and Communism -- Imperial Japan and Southeast Asia -- The British Commonwealth : emancipation of the British colonies -- Africa under colonial rule -- Ethiopia and Egypt : between subjugation and independence -- Euphoria and depression : the US between the Wars -- Latin America -- The Second World War -- In focus : World War II -- [pt. 8]. The contemporary world : 1945 to the present -- Introduction -- Trends in world politics -- The path to European unity -- Germany -- Austria -- Switzerland -- Great Britain : from Commonwealth to European Union -- Ireland -- France -- Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg -- Italy -- Spain : from military dictatorship to constitutional monarchy -- Portugal -- Northern Europe -- Eastern and Central Europe -- Yugoslavia -- Greece and Turkey -- The Soviet Union and its successor states -- Northwest Africa -- Israel -- The Arab world and the Near East -- Pakistan and India -- Southeast Asia -- China, Japan and Korea -- Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania -- Africa since the independence of its nations -- Canada -- The United States : global power -- Latin America -- Key ideas : globalization -- Index.

Glorious photographs of every part of the world. Delving deeply into century-old picture archive National Geographic presents the world's hugely diverse places with epic grandeur, unparalleled intimacy, romantic beauty, and gritty realism. The photographs are landscapes, cityscapes, famous landmarks, and unfamiliar spots that reveal special qualities of geography or culture one might otherwise never see. National Geographic's quest since its founding in 1888 has been to describe "the world and all that's in it." To fulfill that quest, photographers set out to document every imaginable place on earth, from the most remote to the most familiar; from the most primitive to the most sophisticated. National Geographic photographers have recorded the world's places close up, in sweeping breadth, in depth, and over time. Twelve chapters each depict a unique geography, the culture and nature that inhabit it. Chapters are introduced by short, 1,500-word essays and looks carefully and deeply at a region's special qualities. The geography and the life within it comes forward with its own unique character, its own special and unforgettable sense of place.

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