World History

Antarctica is a magnificent display of interaction between air and the various phases of water in a pristine environment. This interaction has led to the formation of many unique features over the Antarctic continent. Antarctica is now emerging as an important key in the understanding of global and environmental concerns.

Since the first sailing ships spied the Antarctic coastline in 1820, the frozen continent has captured the world's imagination. David Day's brilliant biography of Antarctica describes in fascinating detail every aspect of this vast land's history--two centuries of exploration, scientific investigation, and contentious geopolitics.

This multi-disciplinary book will cater to students and those who want to have a more critical look behind the scenes of Antarctic science. This book will take a systems approach to providing insights into Antarctic ecosystems and the geophysical environment.

Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean remains one of the world's last frontiers. Covering nearly 14 million km² (an area approximately 1.4 times the size of the United States), Antarctica is the coldest, driest, highest, and windiest continent on Earth. While it is challenging to live and work in this extreme environment, this region offers many opportunities for scientific research.

The Afghan crisis has grabbed the attention of the entire world, and underlined the desperate need in the West for a better understanding of the region and its challenges in the face of increasingly militant interpretations of Islam. Carved up and fought over by the British and Tsarist Russia in the nineteenth century, and under Soviet domination for much of the twentieth, the lonely passes, deserts and peoples of the five Central Asian republics have remained shrouded in obscurity.

Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of the World's Largest Archipelago Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the Island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader.

A History of Southeast Asia narrates the history of the region from earliest recorded times until today, covering present-day Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor.

This book provides an account of how China's evolving integrationist policies in Xinjiang have influenced its foreign policy in Central Asia since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, and how the policy of integration is related to China's concern for security and its pursuit of increased power and influence in Central Asia.

The story begins with the sixty thousand years of the Aboriginal presence and their continuing material and spiritual relationship with the land. The reader is led through the turbulent years of British colonization and the emergence-through prosperity, war, and depression-of the cultural accommodations which have been distinctively Australian.

Starting with detailed accounts of both traditional indigenous warfare and frontier wars between whites settlers and indigenous inhabitants, we learn of the setting up of colonial navies, the red coats who guarded the colonies, Australians fighting in wars against New Zealand Maori, cadet and rifle clubs as well as the overseas wars we joined up for in the Crimea and Sudan.

Between 1825 and 1831 close to 200 Britons and 1000 Aborigines died violently in Tasmania’s Black War. It was by far the most intense frontier conflict in Australia’s history, yet many Australians know little about it. The Black War takes a unique approach to this historic event, looking chiefly at the experiences and attitudes of those who took part in the conflict.

In any settler and/or postcolonial society, heritage is a complex and contested topic that involves indigenous, imperial and other migrant components. In Australia, this situation is compounded by the unique characteristics of the country's natural environment, the considerable diversity of its migrant intake and the demographic and technological imbalances between its indigenous and settler populations.

Early Modern' is a term applied to the period which falls between the end of the middle ages and the beginning of the nineteenth century. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to Europe in this period, exploring the changes and transitions involved in the move towards modernity

Early Modern Spain: A social History explores the solidarities which held the Spanish nation together at this time of conflict and change. The book studies the pattern of fellowship and patronage at the local level which contributed to the notable absence of popular revolts characteristic of other European countries at this time.

This is the first single-author study in over fifty years to offer an integrated appraisal of the early Middle Ages as a dynamic and formative period in European history. Written in an attractive and accessible style, it makes extensive use of original sources to introduce early medieval men and women at all levels of society from slave to emperor, and allows them to speak to the reader in their own words.

This book chronicles 300 years of women's education during this time. Barabara Whitehead examines this history from a feminist perspective, pointing to the subversive actions of the women of this period that led to the formation of academia as we know it.

Fire & Blood brilliantly depicts the succession of tribes and societies that have variously called Mexico their home, their battleground, and their legacy. This is the tale of the indigenous people who forged from this rugged terrain a wide-ranging civilization; of the Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec dynasties, which exercised their sophisticated powers through bureaucracy and religion; of the Spanish conquistadors, whose arrival heralded death, disease, and a new vision of continental domination.

This second edition includes new chapters on major transformations from 1945 to the present, focusing on social issues such as transracial adoption of Native children, the uses of national and international media to gain public awareness, and demands for increasing respect for tribal religious practices, burial sites, and historic and funerary remains.

In The Indigenous Peoples of Mesoamerica and Central America, Robert Carmack focuses on K'iche' natives of Guatemala, Masayan peoples of Nicaragua, and the native peoples of Buenos Aires and Costa Rica. Starting with Christopher Columbus' proclaimed "discovery" of Central America, Carmack illustrates the Central American native peoples' dramatic struggles for survival, native languages, and unique communities and states.

A survey and interpretive study of one of the defining issues in America’s past Americans have vigorously debated and interpreted the role of slavery in American life for as long as enslaved people and their descendants have lived in North America.

Starting with the indigenous movement led by Manuel Quint n Lame in 1914, this book shows how, in contrast to the local authorities of Cauca, the central state adopted a more sympathetic albeit contradictory approach to indigenous communities' grievances throughout the twentieth century.

A clearly structured and well-informed synthesis of developments and events in Brazilian history from the colonial period to the present, this volume is aimed at non-specialized readers and students, seeking a straightforward introduction to this unique Latin American country.

The Mapuche are the most numerous, most vocal and most politically involved indigenous people in modern Chile. Their ongoing struggles against oppression have led to increasing national and international visibility, but few books provide deep historical perspective on their engagement with contemporary political developments.

Our Indigenous Ancestors complicates the history of the erasure of native cultures and the perceived domination of white, European heritage in Argentina through a study of anthropology museums in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.