A true exploration of world history, this text presents world history through an analysis of eight chronological turning points seen through the prisms of eight different themes — origins, cities, empires, religion, trade, migrations, revolutions, and technology. Focusing throughout on three major questions — What do we know? How do we know it? What difference does it make? — it helps students make sense of the immensity of human historical experience — the most significant activities, accomplishments and failures — throughout the world, from earliest times to the present. Rich in primary sources — both written and visual — and in data and interpretation, it addresses how historians form, debate, and revise our historical understanding of the world, shows the value of other disciplines in understanding history, and helps students begin to assess their own place in the ongoing history of the world.