Traditional & Encounters A Global Parcepective on the Past

Abstract

How do the themes of traditions and encounters continue to help make sense of the entire human past in the twenty-first century? As Jerry Bentley and Herb Zeigler noted in their original Pref- ace to this book, world history is about both diversity and con- nections. They began this text with a simple goal: to help our students understand the unique histories of the world’s rich va- riety of peoples, while at the same time allowing them to see the long histories of connections and interactions that have shaped all human communities for millennia. To do this, the authors wrote a story around the dual themes of traditions and encoun- ters to highlight the many different religions and customs em- braced by the world’s peoples while also exploring the encounters with other cultures that brought about inevitable change.