070258 PS MA-Proseminar (2015S)

The period from the year 1400 saw an increase in direct connections between the far ends of Eurasia. Starting with Zheng He's naval expeditions out of China and Timurid embassies out of Central Asia, and gaining momentum with the Portuguese discovery of the Cape Route, the increased connectivity gave rise to new economic developments as well as an increased perception of other civilisations. At the same there were parallel developments in the intellectual life of parts of Europe and Asia that seem independent of the increased connections. In this proseminar we will employ all of the three major global history approaches (connectivist, comparative and topical) to gain an increased understanding of the "perceptions of the Other" and "strange parallels" that historians talk about. The proseminar will also explore the breadth of sources available to the global historian of this period, from travelogues to maps and from paintings to court chronicles.