The acclaimed author of Ideas and The German Genius offers a groundbreaking new understanding of human history from 15000 BC to AD 1500.
Why did Asia and Europe develop far earlier than the Americas? What were the factors that accelerated—or impeded—development? How did the experiences of OldWorld inhabitants differ from their New World counterparts—and what factors influenced those differences?
In this fascinating and erudite history, PeterWatson ponders these questions central to thehuman story. By 15,000 BC, humans had migratedfrom northeastern Asia across the frozen Beringland bridge to the Americas. When the worldwarmed up and the last Ice Age came to an end, the Bering Strait refilled with water, dividingAmerica from Eurasia. This division—with two great populations on Earth, each unaware of the other—continued until Christopher Columbus voyaged to the New World in the fifteenth century.
Compareing the development of humankind in the Old World and the New between 15000 BC and AD 1500, Watson identifies three major differences between the two worlds that combined to produce very different trajectories of civilization in the two hemispheres. Combining the most up-to-date knowledge in archaeology, anthropology, geology, meteorology, cosmology, and mythology, this unprecedented, masterful study offers uniquely revealing insight into what it means to be human.
Description:
The acclaimed author of Ideas and The German Genius offers a groundbreaking new understanding of human history from 15000 BC to AD 1500.
Why did Asia and Europe develop far earlier than the Americas? What were the factors that accelerated—or impeded—development? How did the experiences of OldWorld inhabitants differ from their New World counterparts—and what factors influenced those differences?
In this fascinating and erudite history, PeterWatson ponders these questions central to thehuman story. By 15,000 BC, humans had migratedfrom northeastern Asia across the frozen Beringland bridge to the Americas. When the worldwarmed up and the last Ice Age came to an end, the Bering Strait refilled with water, dividingAmerica from Eurasia. This division—with two great populations on Earth, each unaware of the other—continued until Christopher Columbus voyaged to the New World in the fifteenth century.
Compareing the development of humankind in the Old World and the New between 15000 BC and AD 1500, Watson identifies three major differences between the two worlds that combined to produce very different trajectories of civilization in the two hemispheres. Combining the most up-to-date knowledge in archaeology, anthropology, geology, meteorology, cosmology, and mythology, this unprecedented, masterful study offers uniquely revealing insight into what it means to be human.