Jürgen Osterhammel is an emeritus professor of modern and contemporary history at the University of Konstanz. His work delves deeply into global history, particularly through long-term perspectives. He focuses on world history, global modernity, and Asian studies. His approach is characterized by a broad outlook and an emphasis on comparative analysis.
The book explores the parallels between the global mercantile expansion of European powers from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and the political imperialism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It emphasizes the distinct intentions of various colonies, categorizing them into those exploited for resources, those intended for settlement, and those established as military outposts. Each category exhibits unique ethno-cultural characteristics and economic management, resulting in diverse outcomes upon gaining independence. A new bibliography is included in this edition.
The book explores the significant transformations that occurred globally after 1750, highlighting the interconnectedness of states and regions through commerce and conflict. It delves into the historical developments that shaped the modern world, focusing on events and changes outside the Western perspective. As part of a comprehensive six-volume series, it provides a detailed analysis of this pivotal era in world history, emphasizing the emergence of new dynamics that influenced global interactions.
During the long eighteenth century, Europe's travelers, scholars, and intellectuals looked to Asia in a spirit of puzzlement, irony, and openness. In this panoramic and colorful book, Jürgen Osterhammel tells the story of the European Enlightenment's nuanced encounter with the great civilizations of the East, from the Ottoman Empire and India to China and Japan. Here is the acclaimed book that challenges the notion that Europe's formative engagement with the non-European world was invariably marred by an imperial gaze and presumptions of Western superiority. Osterhammel shows how major figures such as Leibniz, Voltaire, Gibbon, and Hegel took a keen interest in Asian culture and history, and introduces lesser-known scientific travelers, colonial administrators, Jesuit missionaries, and adventurers who returned home from Asia bearing manuscripts in many exotic languages, huge collections of ethnographic data, and stories that sometimes defied belief. Osterhammel brings the sights and sounds of this tumultuous age vividly to life, from the salons of Paris and the lecture halls of Edinburgh to the deserts of Arabia, the steppes of Siberia, and the sumptuous courts of Asian princes. He demonstrates how Europe discovered its own identity anew by measuring itself against its more senior continent, and how it was only toward the end of this period that cruder forms of Eurocentrism--and condescension toward Asia--prevailed
A monumental history of the nineteenth century, The Transformation of the World offers a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of a world in transition. Jürgen Osterhammel, an eminent scholar who has been called the Braudel of the nineteenth century, moves beyond conventional Eurocentric and chronological accounts of the era, presenting instead a truly global history of breathtaking scope and towering erudition. He examines the powerful and complex forces that drove global change during the "long nineteenth century," taking readers from New York to New Delhi, from the Latin American revolutions to the Taiping Rebellion, from the perils and promise of Europe's transatlantic labor markets to the hardships endured by nomadic, tribal peoples across the planet. Osterhammel describes a world increasingly networked by the telegraph, the steamship, and the railways. He explores the changing relationship between human beings and nature, looks at the importance of cities, explains the role slavery and its abolition played in the emergence of new nations, challenges the widely held belief that the nineteenth century witnessed the triumph of the nation-state, and much more. -- Provided by publisher
A monumental history of the nineteenth century, this work offers a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of a world in transition. Jürgen Osterhammel, an eminent scholar often compared to Braudel, transcends conventional Eurocentric and chronological narratives, presenting a truly global history of remarkable scope and depth. He delves into the powerful forces driving global change during the “long nineteenth century,” taking readers from New York to New Delhi, exploring the Latin American revolutions, the Taiping Rebellion, and the dynamics of Europe’s transatlantic labor markets alongside the struggles of nomadic and tribal peoples worldwide.
Osterhammel illustrates a world increasingly interconnected by the telegraph, steamship, and railways. He examines the evolving relationship between humanity and nature, the significance of urban centers, and the impact of slavery and its abolition on new nation formations. He challenges the belief that the nation-state triumphed during this time and much more. This English edition of the acclaimed German work, also being translated into several other languages, is essential for historians. It sheds new light on this pivotal epoch, revealing how the nineteenth century set the stage for the global catastrophes of the twentieth while also fostering pacifism, liberalism, trade unions, and other vital developments.
In this work, Jurgen Osterhammel and Niels Petersson make the case that globalization is not so new, after all. Arguing that the world did not turn "global" overnight, the book traces the emergence of globalization over the past seven or eight centuries. In fact, the authors write, the phenomenon can be traced back to early modern large-scale trading, for example, the silk trade between China and the Mediterranean region, the shipping routes between the Arabian Peninsula and India, and the more frequently travelled caravan routes of the Near East and North Africa, all conduits for people, goods, coins, artwork, and ideas.
