Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Introduction 1
4. [One] Structure and History in the Americas: Closed and Interconnected?
5. Introduction 41
6. 1. Tools and Datasets 45
7. 2. Environmental Preconditions of Connectivity and Human Strategies to Overcome Them 60
8. 3. American Macroregions: Societal Organization and Interaction 93
9. 4. Connectivity and Entanglement in the Americas 166
10. [Two] The Emergence of an Islamic Commonwealth
11. Introduction 175
12. 1. Preconditions of Muslim Expansion 178
13. 2. The Protoglobal Expansion of Muslims 192
14. 3. The Genesis of an Imperial Culture: Transregional Standardization and Its Limits 234
15. 4. Imperial Disintegration and the Emergence of the Islamic Commonwealth 312
16. 5. The Islamic Commonwealth and Its Legacy 340
17. [Three] The Continentalization of Europe
18. Introduction: Europe as Part of the Ecumene 357
19. 1. Europe around 600 365
20. 2. Transportation Infrastructure and Patterns of Settlement 395
21. 3. Mobilities, or Overcoming Isolation 414
22. 4. Migrations and Cultural Change 469
23. 5. Marco Polo, the Plague, and the Uncertainty of Globalization around 1350 514
24. [Four] Sub-Saharan African Societies in Conversation with Islam
25. Introduction 523
26. 1. Christian Africas Challenged by Islam 538
27. 2. New African “Shores”: The Sahelian Ribbon and the Swahili Coast 561
28. 3. Trans- Saharan Relationships: Agents and Routes 600
29. 4. Circulations, Transformations, and Expectations: A Commercial Conversation between Sub- Saharan Africa and the Wider World 620
30. 5. Broker States of Medieval Africa 659
31. 6. Narrative Agency, Ambivalence, and the Indeterminacy of Sub- Saharan African Broker States 694
32. 7. Epilogue: Entangled Dynamics across (and beyond) the Continent 709
33. [Five] The Creation of a Settled Civilization and the Rise of Islam in Medieval India
34. Introduction 719
35. 1. Agriculture, Settled Society, Kingship, and Religion 724
36. 2. India and the Nomadic Frontier 757
37. 3. The Maritime Frontier: Seafaring, Trade, and Politics in the Indian Ocean 785
38. 4. The Rise of Islam 799
39. [Six] Devotions, Followership, and Communities in Eastern Eurasia
40. Introduction 833
41. 1. Definitions and Characteristics of Eastern Eurasia 842
42. 2. Networks into the Eighth Century: Devotions, Politics, and Exchanges 863
43. 3. Buddhisms Everywhere: The Common Pool and Diversity from the Eighth Century 905
44. 4. Intensified Interactions: Localization and Communication in the Tenth to Twelfth Centuries 956
45. 5. Transformations, Expansions, and Conquests in the Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries: Reshaping Eastern Eurasia 993
46. 6. Eastern Eurasia Re imagined 1046
47. Notes 1057
48. Selected Bibliography 1225
49. Contributors 1263
50. Index 1267