Today's bibliography of our review, "A History of the World in Eighteen Time and Space," comes from the German writer Ewald Fried.
Discovery and conquest, revolution and war, isolation and interconnection, center and edge, who is changing the world? Who is being changed by the world? 18 stories of time and space, human civilization alternately shines, reproducing the world picture full of stars. World history is not the parkour of heroes, nor is it a relay race of progress, but a carpet of chaotic weaving, full of holes and cracks, full of small and big people, heroes and losers, progress, interruption and forgetting. This story of world history is told to you by Ewald Fry, a professor of history at the University of Tübingen in Germany...
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Bibliography of this issue
A History of the World in Eighteen Time and Space
Author: [de] Ewald Fry
Illustration: [de] Sophia Martinac
Translator: Zhao Lian
Edition: CITIC Publishing Group, Insight City-State July 2021
About the Author:
Ewald Frie (born 1962) is a German historian, deputy director of the Institute of Modern History at the University of Tübingen, Germany, professor of modern history, and has led several world history research projects. He received his Ph.D. in Catholic Theology from the University of Munster in 1992. From 1993 to 1995, he worked at the NRW Science Center in Düsseldorf. Since 2007 he has been teaching at the University of Duisburg-Essen as Professor of Modern History at the University of Trier. Since 2008 he has been a professor of modern history at the University of Tübingen. His major works covered German, European and Australian history, such as Friedrich II, and he published a popular history book for young readers, The Chocolate Problem (2009).
illustration:
Sophia Martineck (born 1981) studied visual communication in Berlin, New York and Liverpool and is now an illustrator, designer and comic artist for German and international publishers.
translator:
Zhao Lian, a native of Qingdao, Shandong Province, graduated from the German Department of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, master of communication from Peking University, and visiting scholar at the School of Journalism and Communication of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He has worked as a translator and editor at Xinhua News Agency for 20 years, and is now a senior editor at the Hong Kong Local History Centre.
What kind of book is this?
From the African land 2.5 million years ago to the supercity of Cairo in the 21st century, from Chang'an, China, with a million people in the world in the 7th century, to Hokkaido, the capital of Japan's Meiji Restoration, from the Mongol World Empire under Genghis Khan in the 13th century to the German Empire in the 20th century... 18 important periods in human history, 18 brilliant regions of human civilization, together weave an amazing and intertwined world history.
Discovery and conquest, revolution and war, isolation and interconnection, center and edge, who is changing the world? Who is being changed by the world? 18 stories of time and space, human civilization alternately shines, reproducing the world picture full of stars.
World history is not the parkour of heroes, nor is it a relay race of progress, but a carpet of chaotic weaving, full of holes and cracks, full of small and big people, heroes and losers, progress, interruption and forgetting.
This story of world history is told to you by Ewald Fry, a professor of history at the University of Tübingen in Germany...
Why is it appealing?
The german world historian and professor of history at the University of Tübingen, Évald Fried, wrote a new history of the world to the public reader; a well-known German illustrator carefully painted 40 exquisite illustrations; and the German Baker Publishing House launched a masterpiece of world history, which was praised countless times.
An amazing and intertwined world history: from the African land 2.5 million years ago to the super city of Cairo in the 21st century, from Chang'an, China, with a million people in the world in the 7th century, to Hokkaido, the important town of Japan's Meiji Restoration, 18 important periods in human history and 18 brilliant regions of human civilization have jointly woven an amazing and intertwined world history. Discovery and conquest, revolution and war, isolation and interconnection, center and periphery, who is changing the world? Who is being changed by the world? 18 stories of time and space, human civilization alternately shines, reproducing the world picture full of stars.
A valuable equal perspective, a world history that goes to the center of Europe: world history is not the parkour of heroes, nor is it a relay race of progress, but a carpet of chaotic weaving, full of holes and cracks, full of small and big people, heroes and losers, progress, interruption and forgetting.
More than 40 exquisite illustrations, reproducing the documentary on paper of human civilization: more than 40 paintings carefully drawn by the well-known German illustrator Sophia Martinek, with three-dimensional vividness and full of details, such as documentaries on paper, covering the evolution of the world.
"History of the World in Eighteen Time and Space" trial reading
Space and time
400 pages of history from the cavemen of Neanderthals to today. This is how I've explained to my friends in recent years what I'm doing. From stone axes to computers, from bison to hamburgers, from caves to skyscrapers, from flexural burials to ashes burials, from clans to nations, and even the United Nations. A history of progress, how beautiful.
As at any time, difficulties begin with thinking. Not all Neanderthals ate bison, because bison was not everywhere in neanderthal places. Some people eat dates, grass seeds, snails and shellfish. Some Neanderthals did not live in caves, but covered their hiding places with mammoth skeletons and fur. Moreover, during the same period as the Neanderthals, other races lived in other parts of the planet. They look different, their abilities are different, and their cultures are different. Cogurgists have proved this through completely different tombs. Different groups of people also have different languages. But Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans once lived together in Europe and produced offspring together. In other words, the starting point of world history is not a point at all. It's a huge space shrouded in smoke. Completely different things are happening there at the same time, and we know very little about it.
We know a little bit more about the contemporary: not everyone loves hamburgers, but bison can also find fans. A lot of people don't live in high-rise buildings and don't want to live there at all. Although more and more people in Central Europe want to be buried as ashes, people in other regions still have to choose other ways to bury. Most of the countries on the planet do not function as the United Nations envisions. In other words, even in contemporary times, there are people with very different abilities, cultures, and languages. But in this vast space of the present, there is less fog because we know a lot more about each other, and we can learn more about each other as long as we take the time to use all the information at our disposal. Contemporary is also complex, but in a different way.
There is more than just progress between the uncertain beginning of history and the uncertain end. History is not a relay race, and well-trained people can pass the baton with great speed and precise coordination according to a predetermined plan and eventually reach the finish line. Between the beginning and the end are many people who communicate or know nothing about each other, learn and forget, rule and be ruled, and hope for happiness but often fail. World history is not the parkour of heroes. It's more like a carpet of holes and cracks woven in a mess by everyone (because there's no guidance), with short and long threads and thousands of colors that don't match each other. Billions of people weave their actions, words, and thoughts into this carpet, most of them without grand plans, but with a clear idea of what they want to do, say, or think. Some threads were picked up by others and continued to be woven, while others were not. If we lift the carpet a little higher, then in this position we can see more clearly the different effects, the connections, the loosened threads, holes and cracks. We may even see certain patterns.
A carpet of chaotic weaving, holes and cracks may not look as shocking as the track and field athletes' relay race. But that's what history is. Now, to illustrate this point, the first person to see the world from a holistic perspective has appeared: Captain James Cook. He traveled across all continents on three great voyages at the end of the 18th century and found that no other continent existed. He weaved long threads into the carpet of history, which extended to all regions of the world and continue to this day. If we look more closely at james Cook's life and his death, we will understand why it is worthwhile to observe stories of little people and big people, heroes and losers, progress, interruption, and forgetting.
James Cook discovers the world
James Cook was the son of a poor farmer on Britain's east coast, and the harsh rural life before the Industrial Revolution had a profound impact on him. He repeatedly migrated with his father in search of work and livelihood. According to his later companions, he had the ability to eat and digest almost all food. Only two of his seven siblings survived to adulthood, and the rest died prematurely. Cook apprenticed with a merchant and then went to sea. He did not start as an ordinary sailor, but was entrusted with trading between his home area and London. Cook traveled far and wide, including norway and Russia. But mostly to London, the commercial focus of his patrons.
It wasn't just James Cook who went further and further down the sea route. Thanks to the construction of canals and roads, traffic conditions have improved, ports have been expanded, and new types of ships have emerged. Britain was at the beginning of industrialization. The port of London flourished. Cook made many useful contacts there, and also met his future wife Elizabeth. In the mid-1750s, he switched to the Navy, where he quickly caught the eye as a studious, reliable, and ambitious man. He was also helped by the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 (in Europe it was known as King Frederick II of Prussia against the Great Powers of Europe). Frederick II received only The support of the British, and mainly in the form of funds. Because, for Cook's homeland, the war was first and foremost a conflict with the French, and it was global—wars broke out in North America and India. The British gave money to the Prussians in order to keep the French busy fighting in Europe. Therefore, this war is called the "Franco-Indian War" in North America. For the Americans, the Indians, and possibly the British, this European war was part of a world war.
Cook received his first commanding position on the European battlefield. In 1757 he became captain. In 1758 he sailed to Canada, where he fought the French. Captain Cook was not only busy with the fighting, but also with mapping work. He produced an accurate map of the St. Lawrence River area, which benefited the British in their battle plans. In 1762 his fleet was responsible for driving the French out of Newfoundland. He was ordered to map parts of the island in front of the St. Lawrence Bend, and later to map the entire island, a task he completed long after the war was over. He was also interested in astronomy, a discipline crucial to orienting ocean voyages. In 1762, he took the time to get married in London. But in the years that followed, Elizabeth saw her husband only occasionally. He spends most of his time at sea. Cook's father's misfortunes in family life also recurred in his successful sons and daughters-in-law: all six of their children died prematurely, and Elizabeth survived every birth.
It is not known that Cook was commissioned to travel to the South Pacific a few years after the end of the war. We can only guess: Cook was already recognized at the time as an experienced and thoughtful captain. He had good contacts in both Politics and the Navy in London. He was also familiar with the ship he was going to sail. The Endeavour had previously transported coal along the British coast under the name Earl of Pembroke. Cook's career began on such a ship. In addition, the formal commission coincided with his interest in astronomy: observing astronomical phenomena of the transit of Venus under particularly favorable conditions in the South Pacific, so that the distance between the Earth and the Sun could be calculated, so that the position of the ship on the vast sea could be more precisely determined. Cook's knowledge of mapping was of great help for the following incidental purpose of the voyage: when he completed his astronomical mission, he searched for continents in the southern hemisphere.
The Endeavour sailed alone. Cook's second and third voyages were accompanied by multiple ships. This meant that life could be guaranteed in the event of a shipwreck, but Cook's first world voyage did not guarantee this to the participants. At that time, only latitude was accurate at sea, but longitude was not. Nautical charts are also unreliable. When a fierce storm hits, it is not easy for the ship that has been blown away to find its original position. The fate of the whole ship was in the hands of God's mood and the captain's ability. In turn, without the support of the crew, the captain had nothing to do. The greatest threat to him is not an extremely rare mutiny — the dissolution of this community of destiny is not only abhorrent but also punishable. The biggest threat comes from disease, especially scurvy. This then-unknown vitamin C deficiency was the result of a single diet on board. After the illness, all crew members will experience symptoms such as tooth loss, subcutaneous bleeding, muscle atrophy, fever, diarrhea and overall weakness. Because sailing ships (steamships were only used for navigation after 100 years) could only be maintained by the strenuous physical labor of a large number of men, scurvy became a fatal threat because of its high incidence and unstoppable onset. When James Cook decided to bring sauerkraut on board and repeatedly replenished the amount of fresh fruit, vegetables and sauerkraut during the voyage, he must have learned about the latest research at the time. The crew didn't like sauerkraut, and they thought it was an exaggeration to spend their time ashore scouring around for sauerkraut. But they soon began to appreciate the captain's jaw-dropping measures. The mortality rate of endeavour and all of Cook's subsequent voyages around the world was relatively low. His leadership style is widely recognized as strict but well thought-out.
For the 21st century, life on the Endeavour is unimaginable. The ship is less than 40 meters long and less than 9 meters wide – the size of a free throw zone on a football field. Even a few stories high, it's not a lot of space for 94 people, who are crammed together with technical equipment and years of rations, often for months without land. Passengers on board included the gentleman scholar Joseph Banks, who brought with him two Swedish naturalists, two draftsmen, four servants and two dogs. Relative to Banks, the rest of the people—crew and naval soldiers of different ranks, carpenters, craftsmen who craft weapons and cut sails, cooks and bakers—had to greatly reduce their demands on privacy, and even space, of course, even more so than we are today. The crew had no place to sleep. They fixed the hammock above the table in the cafeteria. It's best to change clothes without thinking about it. Either way, Cook managed to get everyone on board to take a bath once a week — with seawater, of course. Georg Forster, a young German botanist, painter and later professor and revolutionary who became a member of Banks' entourage on his second voyage, complained in his travelogue that some New Zealand Maori smelled bad. I believe that the smell of his own ship's canteen in the morning will certainly be impressive.
Banks boarded the ship not for recreation. In addition to observing the transits of Venus and searching for continents in the southern hemisphere, Endeavour has a scientific program: to document exotic people, animals, plants, stones, and soil. The 1760s and 1770s were the peak of the development of scientific enlightenment. Europeans compared their civilization to other civilizations. They gather knowledge and categorize them in order to deepen their understanding of themselves and advance human progress. This is the reason why there are draftsmen and scholars accompanying the ship.
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