Traditions And Encounters: A Global Perspective On The Past

Review of “Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past” by Jerry Bentley and Herbert Ziegler

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Having read the first nine chapters of “Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past” by Jerry Bentley and Herbert Ziegler, I realized it is an informative and an amazing text about the past human societies. In fact, the chapters are precise and direct to the point with a lot of historical content that is enjoyable to read. After reading these chapters, I can confidently say that I can define civilization in addition to explaining how it changed societies. In addition, I can answer several questions about early complex societies.

Chapter 4 - Migration and Cultural Exchange in South Asia

This book does a great explaining on the dramatic changes that took place in the early societies, especially in Asia and China. In Chapter 4, we learn how migration led to cultural exchange and social development in South Asia. There came new cultures in South Asia making their culture unique. In addition, there were dramatic changes in agriculture and agricultural production, which helped boost the economy, which later led to a tremendous growth of the societies.

Chapter 6 - Societies in Oceania and America

However, some parts of the book were confusing to understand that they made me scratch my head. For instance, Chapter 6 where they explain the societies in Oceania and America. This chapter left me scratching my head because I could not understand the history of America and Oceania since the chapter offers limited knowledge about the topic. In addition, initially, the previous chapter explains that there was a cultural exchange but in Chapter 6, it states that there was a geographical obstacle to cross-cultural exchange making the civilizations develop independently, and this was also confusing to me. Otherwise, overall, the chapters I have read so far are informative.