The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Global history is an approach to history that emphasizes the interconnectedness of the world. Global history thus focuses less on individual civilizations or regions than on how processes and patterns such as trade, imperialism, and religion have shaped the world as a whole. In the last few generations, more and more scholars have cautioned against Eurocentrism, a worldview that frames Europe as “the primary engine and architect of world history, the bearer of universal values and reason, and the pinnacle and therefore model of progress and development” (Sundberg, J. “Eurocentrism.” International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, edited by Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift, Elsevier, 2009, p. 638). In attributing the major historical, intellectual, and cultural developments of the past to Europe and European societies, Eurocentric narratives take for granted Europe’s superiority and thus tend to marginalize the contributions of non-European societies. Eurocentrism has been criticized for perpetuating biases connected with imperialism, colonialism, and racism, as well as for propagating a distorted narrative of global history.

Eurocentrism is usually traced to the European “Age of Discovery” that began in earnest at the end of the 15th century. Frankopan himself explains how the European powers began to “reinvent the past” as their global influence grew as a result of colonialism, noting: