The rise of the east and the west
An EU-funded project, URKEW (Useful and reliable knowledge in global histories of material progress in the East and the West) based its comparison on the early-modern period - from the accession of the Ming Dynasty to the First Industrial Revolution. In so doing, it arrived at the conclusion that the economic and geopolitical escalation of the west is best explained through a historical narrative. The timespan of this narrative runs three to four centuries following the year 1492. This marked the time of discovery, development and diffusion for western Europe. As a result of the study, five scholars were trained to teach global history in higher education institutions. In turn, they will further their research in the field, providing a global perspective of the national histories of Europe, China, India, Japan and west Asia. Results may be helpful in motivating global institutions of higher education to comprise obligatory courses in global history in their course programmes.
Keywords
Cosmology, URKEW, culture, Orient, Occident, Ming Dynasty, First Industrial Revolution, global history
