History of European Literature (Part II):19th century European civilization, but this is not/book/1292807.html19th century painting art.

Translator: (Love) George Moore, Sun Yixue

brief Introduction of the content

This book is the fruit of George Moore's ten years of studying painting in Paris. It is his comprehensive evaluation of the works, lives and styles of famous painters in the19th century, mainly impressionist painters, including Whistler, Savannah, Miller, Monet, Angel, Connor and pissarro. In addition, it also studies the organization of art, the relationship between art and science, the nationality in art and so on. Another important part of the book is an introduction to the commercial activities of art at that time, such as the relationship between painting and sponsors, and the relationship between the emerging art clubs in Britain and painters' creation. The book is rich in content, involving many figures and artistic activities. It can not only let readers know the works of great painters in the19th century, but also understand the colorful stories hidden behind each work. This is a painting history of19th century in the eyes of the writer, which contains vivid and interesting descriptions and a clear and unique general history of the world.

The first chapter is introduction: the nature of world history.

..... World history is not only the sum of the history of all regions in the world. If it is subdivided, its properties will change, just as once water is decomposed into its chemical components, it is no longer water, but hydrogen and oxygen.

Jeffrey. Balaklau

This book is a world history, and its main features are: studying the history of the whole world rather than the history of a certain country or region; Focus on all mankind, not only westerners or non-westerners. The view of this book is just like that formed by an observer living on the moon when he examines the whole of our sphere, which is quite different from that of an observer living in London or Paris, Beijing or Delhi.

First, the purpose of world history.

The global exploration of history is a brand-new starting point of modern historiography. Since the Enlightenment in18th century, the focus of historical research has been on national history, not human history. However, in recent years, the globalization of contemporary major events has become increasingly significant, and people's interest in world history has also greatly increased. Because astronauts can fly around the earth once in a few hours, and even land on the moon, and because the number of articles about Asia and Africa published in newspapers is no less than that about Europe and America, people are increasingly aware of the need to broaden their horizons in observing history. To understand this truly "complete" world, it is obviously essential to study world history.

However, people devote themselves to the study of world history not only because of its practical value. Equally important, there is a basic unity in human history that must be recognized from the beginning. If we want to know exactly the history of the west or non-west, it is impossible to have a global vision that includes both. Only with a global perspective can we understand the degree of interaction between different ethnic groups in different times and the great role this interaction plays in determining the course of human history.

Indeed, this interaction between Columbus and da? Before gamma's sea route exploration, it was intermittent and insignificant. Columbus, da? In just a few decades, Gamma and his successors began direct communication between all regions of the world, which has become increasingly frequent and continues to this day. On the contrary, all human societies before 1500 were isolated from each other to varying degrees. However, this occlusion is never absolute. As early as thousands of years before the geographical discovery of Europeans, all parts of human beings have actually influenced each other, but the degree of mutual influence varies greatly in different historical periods and geographical locations. This book discusses the historical period before 1500, and the theme of this book is essentially constructed by the details of the interaction between various parts of the human body during this period. 1500 years later, due to the increasing communication and developed traffic, the whole earth is shrinking at an accelerated pace. Now, it is called "Spaceship Earth" or "Global Village".

Second, the structure of world history.

If world history is the history of all mankind, then a question arises: can world history be taught in the classroom? It is often said that, according to its definition, world history should include the history of civilization of all countries and regions, and the content is too complicated to be taught in class. It has also been pointed out that it is difficult to deal with just teaching the history of western civilization. How can it include the civilization history of China, Indian, Middle East and other regions? Of course, the answer is only "no". It can only be said that world history according to this definition obviously cannot be taught in the classroom. However, the above definition is not accurate and is a misunderstanding. Just as western history is not the sum of the history of western countries, world history is not the sum of all civilizations in the world.

If we want to study the history of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Balkans and other countries and regions one by one, then this kind of research is obviously not feasible. But in fact, this study is feasible, because we can't use the building block method, but should focus on those historical forces or historical movements that have an impact on the whole West, such as Christianity, Islam, Crusades, Renaissance, Religious Reform, French Revolution, Scientific and Industrial Revolution and so on. So is the study of world history. However, the stage of world history is the whole world, not a certain region. Therefore, the research should focus on those sports with worldwide influence.

For example, in the Paleolithic Age, human beings appeared on the African continent and gradually spread to Eurasia, Australia and North and South America. In the Neolithic Age, agriculture made decisive progress, followed by metal manufacturing and other technologies, which led to the emergence of urban life and civilization. These technologies originated in the Middle East and spread around, thus developing the great civilizations of Eurasia, including China civilization, Indian civilization, Middle East civilization and European civilization. Although these civilizations have influenced each other in different degrees due to some powerful and trans-regional historical forces, such as Greek culture, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and the repeated invasions of nomadic tribes from the central grassland of Eurasia, their development has been parallel and independent for thousands of years. 1500 years later, this equilibrium state of Eurasia was gradually replaced by the global integration state promoted by the emerging west, which reached its peak in 19 century and led to unprecedented world hegemony. The history of the 20th century, in essence, is a history of increasingly opposing world hegemony, a history in which the rapid spread of western technology and ideas forced people to explore a new world balance. The above is a brief explanation of the basic principles and structure of world history.

Three. World historical geography

Just as world history is generally regarded as the sum of civilization history in all regions of the world, world historical geography is also regarded as the sum of continents that make up the earth's surface. Actually; The latter view, like the former, is mechanical and a misinterpretation. The traditional method of dividing the earth into several continents may be useful to students majoring in geography, but it is of little significance to students majoring in world history. Just as the structure of world history requires us to pay attention to those historical movements that have a great impact on human development, world historical geography also requires us to pay attention to the areas where historical movements took place. If we do this, we will find that a piece of land has a unique and indisputable position in the world. This is Eurasia, which has been the real core of world history since the Neolithic Age. Eurasia accounts for two-fifths of the total land area of the earth and nine-tenths of the world's population. The most advanced and lasting civilization of mankind develops there. To a great extent, it can be said that the history of mankind is also the history of civilized regions in Eurasia.

The main reason why Eurasia is so superior may be the famous anthropologist Franz. Boyaz's point of view to illustrate:

The history of mankind has proved that the cultural progress of a social group often depends on whether it has the opportunity to learn from the experience of neighboring social groups. The discovery of one social group can be passed on to other social groups; The more diversified the communication, the more opportunities to learn from each other. Generally speaking, the tribes with the most primitive culture are those that have been isolated from the world for a long time, so they can't benefit from the cultural achievements made by neighboring tribes.

In other words, if other geographical factors are the same, then the key to human progress lies in the accessibility between ethnic groups. Those ethnic groups that have the most opportunities to interact with other ethnic groups are most likely to achieve leapfrog development. In fact, the environment also forces them to develop rapidly, because they are not only faced with opportunities for development, but also with the pressure of being eliminated. If we can't make good use of the opportunity of interaction to develop, this accessibility will often bring the danger of assimilation or extinction. On the contrary, those isolated ethnic groups have neither external impetus nor external threat. So the pressure of being eliminated does not exist for them, and they can live for thousands of years under the original conditions without endangering their survival.

The ethnic minorities in Eurasia are obviously the main beneficiaries of this barrier-free principle. The geographical environment of Eurasia makes them close to each other. Therefore, for a long time, with the progress of science and technology, exchanges between different parts of Eurasia have become increasingly convenient, and they have increasingly promoted and threatened each other.

Eurasia is a vast territory, so it is impossible to regard it as a geographical unit. Therefore, it is necessary to divide the regions of Eurasia. Nor can Eurasia be divided into Europe and Asia, which is a geographical and historical distortion. Geographically, Europe and Asia are obviously neither equal nor comparable. When you open the map, you can see at a glance that Europe is just a peninsula in Eurasia, for example, it is about equivalent to the Indian Peninsula. Historically, Europe cannot be compared with Asia, but only with another civilization center in Eurasia, such as India. No matter from the geographical scope, the number and variety of residents, or the complexity of cultural and historical traditions, it can be clearly seen that Europe and India are very similar. Therefore, from the perspective of world history, Eurasia should not be regarded as composed of Europe and Asia, but of the grassland areas in the Middle East, India, China, Europe and central Eurasia, which has far-reaching historical significance.

The fertile river basins and plains in the Middle East, Indian, China and Europe gave birth to the greatest civilization in history. These civilizations have made Eurasia the center of world history and played an important role. More specifically, the civilization centers in the Middle East include the Nile River Basin, the Tigris River Basin and the Euphrates River Basin, while the civilization centers in Gao Feng, Iran and India are located in the Indus River Basin and the Ganges River Basin. The civilization centers of China are the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin; The center of European civilization is on the northern shore of the Mediterranean-this area has always occupied obvious advantages in economy and culture from the Minoan culture period to the end of the Middle Ages. It should be noted that Europe mentioned here includes North Africa. Because North Africa has closer historical ties with Europe and the Middle East than with sub-Saharan Africa, which is a natural barrier. Therefore, the word "Africa" in this book only refers to sub-Saharan Africa.

There are endless grasslands in the central part of Eurasia, starting from northeast China in the east and reaching Hungary in the west. It provides a land channel for communication between civilization centers extending from the edge of Eurasia. Nomads living on the prairie are always moving around with their cattle, ready to grab the wealth of Beijing, Delhi, Baghdad and Rome whenever they have the chance. The fertile river basin peacefully created the ancient core civilization of Eurasia, and the prairie facilitated the contact and connection between these civilizations. This connection sometimes takes the form of peace, that is, through land trade; Sometimes it takes the form of plunder, that is, nomadic tribes in poor inland areas constantly plunder rich foreign areas that make them salivate. Therefore, the history of Eurasia is basically formed in the process of interaction between nomadic tribes and settled civilizations. The constant encroachment from nomadic tribes often leads to a large-scale powerful tribal migration movement. This invasion is not only destructive, but also innovative. It swept away the declining dynasty, rigid system and old customs, and introduced new nationalities, technologies and ideas, thus largely determining the development process of Eurasian history. The history of Eurasia before 1500 is divided into ancient times, classical times and medieval times-these are the three historical periods to be studied in this volume.

The arrival of the major turning points in these three historical periods is generally due to the predatory activities of nomadic tribes.

The non-Eurasian world includes Africa, North and South America and Australia. According to the accessibility principle, compared with Eurasia, their shortcomings are obvious. They have not established any contact with each other. Only Africa has had contacts with Eurasia, but due to the insurmountable geographical barriers between Africa and Eurasia and Africa itself, the mutual influence between them is intermittent and minimal. But the progress of Africans does depend to a great extent on external promotion, such as introducing agriculture, ironmaking technology, new animals and plants from outside, and so on. Therefore, in the Middle Ages, in the Sudan region adjacent to the sub-Saharan desert, Africans were able to build one empire after another, which was comparable to that of contemporary Europe in some respects.

In contrast, the development of American Indians has been greatly hindered, because they have been completely isolated since they crossed the sea from Northeast Asia to America 15000 years ago. Although they have also developed impressive civilizations in Mexico, Central America and Peru, their overall level of development cannot be compared with that of Africans.

The indigenous people in Guaya, Australia, live on a distant island and have been completely isolated from the mainland for 30 thousand years, so they are the most hindered in their development. They all stay in the food gathering stage, which is in sharp contrast with the situation of Africans and American Indians. Africans, except hottentots and your fortuneteller, are still in the stage of food gathering and have established a huge empire in the Sudanese region; Although American Indians still have some food gatherers in California and Tierra del Fuego, they have advanced Aztec civilization, Inca civilization and Mayan civilization in other places. In fact, the isolation caused by the South Pacific not only hinders the development of human culture, but also enables some ancient animals and plants such as eucalyptus, monotremes and marsupials to survive.

The advanced civilization with a long history in Eurasia, the huge empire and food gatherers coexisting in Africa, North and South America, and the universal and single Paleolithic production level in Australia-all these are extremely different human social situations that Europeans encountered when they explored overseas in the15th century.

The global pattern determines the structure of this book. When discussing the era before 1500, we should focus on the civilization of Eurasia, because the civilization of Eurasia was the most advanced civilization at that time and made the greatest contribution to the development of mankind for thousands of years. Therefore, the second, third and fourth parts of this book discuss the development process of Eurasian civilization, while the fifth part summarizes the development of non-Eurasian world.

A brief introduction to this book. Baidu Encyclopedia has (although it is full) and the source of the information. Very good, you can try Baidu Encyclopedia if you have any questions in the future! How do you feel? I think it's an advertising guy ~ ~ ~)