Includes bibliographical references and index.

V. 1. Introducing world history, to 10,000 BCE / edited by David Christian, Macquarie University -- v. 2. A world with agriculture, 12,000 BCE-500 CE / edited by Graeme Barker, University of Cambridge, and Candice Goucher, Washington State University -- v. 3. Early cities in comparative perspective, 4000 BCE-1200 CE / edited by Norman Yoffee -- v. 4. A world with states, empires, and networks, 1200 BCE-900 CE / edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University -- v. 5. Expanding webs of exchange and conquest, 500 CE-1500 CE / edited by Benjamin Z. Kedar, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee -- v. 6. The construction of a global world, 1400-1800 CE / edited by Jerry H. Bentley, University of Hawaii, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, University of California, Los Angeles and Collège de France, Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. pt. 1. Foundations. pt. 2. Patterns of change -- v. 7. Production, destruction, and connection, 1750-present / edited by John R. Mcneill, Georgetown University and Kenneth Pomeranz, University of Chicago. pt. 1. Structures, spaces, and boundary making. pt. 2. Shared transformations.

The era from 1400 to 1800 saw intense biological, commercial, and cultural exchanges, and the creation of global connections on an unprecedented scale. Divided into two books, Volume 4 of the 'Cambridge World History' series considers these critical transformations. The first book examines the material and political foundations of the era, including global considerations of the environment, disease, technology, and cities, along with regional studies of empires in the eastern and western hemispheres, crossroads areas such as the Indian Ocean, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, and sites of competition and conflict, including Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The second book focuses on patterns of change, examining the expansion of Christianity and Islam, migrations, warfare, and other topics on a global scale, and offering insightful detailed analyses of the Columbian exchange, slavery, silver, trade, entrepreneurs, Asian religions, legal encounters, plantation economies, early industrialism, and the writing of history.