Written in a lively, engaging style, and designed to complement the high school social studies curriculum as well as programs in the social sciences and humanities, this reference vividly recreates and analyzes pivotal encounters, exchanges, and conflicts between cultures and civilizations that profoundly influenced the course of human history.It covers all regions of the globe -- Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and the Pacific -- and all time periods -- from the early trade networks of the Fertile Crescent in 10,000 B.C.E. to the spread of monotheism in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, through Columbus's arrival in the Americas in 1492, up to the expansion of the World Wide Web.

Each article details one encounter, highlighting the historical background of the civilizations or cultures involved, describing the exchange, and analyzing its social, political, economic, and cultural significance. Each entry includes a timeline; a map; primary source documents related to the exchange; a sidebar summarizing the proliferation of goods, practices, and ideas; bibliographic citations; black-and- white and four-color illustrations; and cross-references. Other features include a general introduction, glossary, and special indexes in each volume.