World History

:This article is about the discrete field of study. See also History of the World.

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World History is a discrete field of historical study that originated in the 1980s. It examines history from a global perspective.

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World History examines history from a global perspective. Unlike history of the 19th and early 20th century which primarily focused on national and ethnic perspectives, World History looks for common patterns that emerge across all global cultures. Historians use a thematic approach, with two major broad themes: integration (how the processes of World History have drawn peoples of the world together) and difference (how the patterns of World History reveal the diversity of the human experience).

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The study of World History is a product of a period of increased globalization, as cultures become both more integrated, and also highlite their unique differences.

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The advent of world history as a discrete field of study was heralded in the 1980s by the creation of the World History Associationhttp://www.thewha.org/ and the creation of graduate programs at a handful of universities. Over the past 20 years, scholarly publications, professional and academic organizations, and graduate programs in world history have proliferated. It has become an increasingly popular approach to teaching history in United States High School and Undergraduate schools. Many new textbooks are written with a World History approach.

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Examples of a World History approach include Guns, Germs and Steel and Bridging World History.

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Marshall G.S. Hodgson's writings were a precursor to the modern World History approach and in many ways are still to be surpassed. See Hodgson M.,Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History (Cambridge, 1993) and see also Ponting, C. World History: A New Perspective (London, 2000).

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