Browse

Comparative

Cvliacanae, Americae regionis, descriptio. Hispaniolae, Cvbae, aliarvmqve insvlarvm circvmiacientivm, delineatio. Credit: dLOC
Review

Digital Library of the Caribbean

Educators, students, and scholars interested in understanding the strategic conflicts between European powers, the experience of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade, the emergence of the modern capitalist system, and the rise of neoliberalism would find in dLOC a wealth of content to draw
Bronze monument of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Controversial Historical Monuments

I use images of three historical statues that triggered controversy beginning in the 2010s to teach about the concept of contested historical memory and to have students consider parallels and differences among public history controversies in different parts of the world.

Map of the world with colors indicating the level of judicial independence in each state's constitution.
Methods

Primer: Comparative History

Comparison is used in many different ways in world history, both implicitly and explicitly.

Document icon
Source

Excerpt from letter by Lady Mary Wortley

Travel writing by women can reveal a number of themes in world history. One useful example are the letters written by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1786) who worked as a missionary in Turkey.

Document icon
Source

Excerpt from Travels in Africa

Imperialism is one of the most pertinent topics in relation to travel and exploration. By the end of the 19th century, the spread of European imperialism had made many areas of the world “safe” for women travelers.

Map of the world with colors indicating the level of judicial independence in each state's constitution.
Source

Grid Map of Judicial Independence

Comparisons across world history can be productive if done with care.

Source

Cantino planisphere

The famous Cantino planisphere was made in 1502 by an anonymous Portuguese official at the request of Alberto Cantino, an Italian agent in Lisbon of Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara.

Close-up image of an early modern Islami Carpet
Methods

Primer: Transcultural History

Broadly, transcultural histories include those historical contexts and processes brought about by circulation of people, objects, and knowledge through travel, trade, migration, or globalization.

Image of a sixteenth-century Ottoman carpet showing a portion of the carpet's main design field that contains a triple arch design with slender double columns and a hanging lamp in the central archway
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Early Modern Islamic Carpets as Transcultural Objects

Islamic carpets were ubiquitous in the early modern period (1500-1800) in Europe as much as it was in the Islamic world. They were important objects of decor within homes, imperial palaces, and religious buildings.

Close-up image of an early modern Islami Carpet
Source

Islamic Carpets

These three carpets made in the period between the 16th and 18th centuries show two distinct types of carpets produced in the Islamic World for particular culture-specific uses.