Among the first to address the questions posed by this challenge were a handful of Renaissance historians. Everyday interactions with cultures and societies across the globe brought to light a multiplicity of pasts which proved difficult to reconcile with an emerging sense of unity in the world. Wills encourages his readers to think about the origins of our modern world in ways that acknowledge the special features of the European experience and achievement but do not present Europe as essentially the only source of the modern. The age of exploration exposed the limits of available universal histories. This book, the sixth volume in the chronological set of the world history series, traces the interwoven changes that led from the world of Columbus, Luther, and the Mughal emperor Babur to the world of Locke, Louis XIV, and the Kangxi Emperor. It is an interlocking world of change and movement, innovation and conquest, and Wills marshals his extraordinary narrative skill and breadth of learning to bring this period vibrantly to life. He considers the unexpected and fascinating paths followed by information and communication across localities, languages, and genres in the early modern world. The book's multi-centered approach explores historical events not in isolation but rather in a dynamic nexus of connections ranging from the Italian Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation to the Sikh, Hindu, and Confucian revivals from the transformation of Japan in 1600 to the forced migrations of millions of African slaves from the English Civil War and expanding Qing and Muscovite empires in Asia to new forms of scientific knowledge and parliamentary democracy in Europe. In his new book, The Globe on Paper, Giuseppe Marcocci (Official Fellow and Tutor in History at Exeter College) examines histories of the world in Renaissance Europe and the Americas. Assuming a global perspective, rather than the traditional Eurocentric view, Wills traces the interwoven changes that led from the world of Columbus, Luther, and the Mughal emperor Babur to the world of Locke, Louis XIV, and the Kangxi emperor. In The World from 1450 to 1700, historian John Wills takes a fresh look at one of the most fascinating and tumultuous periods in world history.

The Globe on Paper by Giuseppe Marcocci