Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History
Discover the world records that define our history and jump headfirst into the past using scientific data that reveals accurate and insightful answers to life’s biggest questions.

What was history's biggest empire? Or the tallest building of the ancient world? What was the plumbing like in medieval Byzantium? The average wage in the Mughal Empire? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ever ritual human sacrifice?
 
We are used to thinking about history in terms of stories. Yet we understand our own world through data: cast arrays of statistics that reveal the workings of our societies.
 
In Figuring Out the Past, radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past, drawing on their own Seshat project, a staggeringly ambitious attempt to log every data point that can be gathered for every society that has ever existed. This book does more than tell the story of humanity: it shows you the big picture, by the numbers.
1137421294
Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History
Discover the world records that define our history and jump headfirst into the past using scientific data that reveals accurate and insightful answers to life’s biggest questions.

What was history's biggest empire? Or the tallest building of the ancient world? What was the plumbing like in medieval Byzantium? The average wage in the Mughal Empire? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ever ritual human sacrifice?
 
We are used to thinking about history in terms of stories. Yet we understand our own world through data: cast arrays of statistics that reveal the workings of our societies.
 
In Figuring Out the Past, radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past, drawing on their own Seshat project, a staggeringly ambitious attempt to log every data point that can be gathered for every society that has ever existed. This book does more than tell the story of humanity: it shows you the big picture, by the numbers.
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Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History

Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History

Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History

Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History

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Overview

Discover the world records that define our history and jump headfirst into the past using scientific data that reveals accurate and insightful answers to life’s biggest questions.

What was history's biggest empire? Or the tallest building of the ancient world? What was the plumbing like in medieval Byzantium? The average wage in the Mughal Empire? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ever ritual human sacrifice?
 
We are used to thinking about history in terms of stories. Yet we understand our own world through data: cast arrays of statistics that reveal the workings of our societies.
 
In Figuring Out the Past, radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past, drawing on their own Seshat project, a staggeringly ambitious attempt to log every data point that can be gathered for every society that has ever existed. This book does more than tell the story of humanity: it shows you the big picture, by the numbers.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781541762688
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 11/17/2020
Pages: 272
Sales rank: 1,056,610
Product dimensions: 8.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Peter Turchin is an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Connecticut, and group leader of Social Complexity and Collapse at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. He is the founder of Seshat: Global History Databank.


Daniel Hoyer is a historical social-scientist and project manager of Seshat: Global History Databank. His current work uses quantitative and theory-driven methods to identify trends in global history.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Acknowledgements xv

Explanation of terms xvi

Society profiles

Ancient: 3000 bce to 500 ce

Egypt: Old Kingdom 3

Iraq: Akkadians 7

China: Erlitou culture 11

Turkey: Hittite Empire 14

Egypt: New Kingdom 18

Mexico: Monte Albán, early classic period 22

Greece: Alexander the Great's Empire 26

India: Mauryan Empire 30

Mali: Jenné-jenno 34

Iran: Parthian Empire 38

Mongolia: Xiongnu confederacy 42

China: Western Han Empire 45

Italy: Roman Principate 49

Afghanistan: Kushan Empire 53

Cambodia: Funan kingdom 57

Japan: Kofun 61

Medieval: 500 to 1500 ce

France: Merovingian kingdom 64

Turkey: Byzantine Empire 68

Uzbekistan: Sogdian city-states 73

China: Tang dynasty 76

Iraq: Abbasid caliphate 80

France: Carolingian kingdom 84

Japan: Heian period 88

Cambodia: Angkor kingdom 91

Italy: Medieval Papal States 94

Iceland: Icelandic Commonwealth 98

USA: Cahokia settlement, Lohmann-Stirling period 101

Colombia: Tairona 104

Mongolia: Mongolian Empire 107

Mali: Mali Empire 111

Egypt: Mamluk sultanate 114

Indonesia: Majapahit Empire 118

India: Vijayanagara Empire 121

Russia: Sakha peoples 124

Peru: Inca Empire 127

Turkey: Ottoman Emirate 131

Early Modern: 1500 to 1800 ce

Ghana: Ashanti kingdom 135

Iran: Safavid Empire 138

India: Mughal Empire 142

Ecuador: Shuar peoples, Spanish colonial period 146

France: Bourbon kingdom 149

Japan: Tokugawa Shogunate 153

USA: Iliniouek confederation 157

China: Qing dynasty 160

Borneo: Dayak peoples, pre-Brooke Raj period 164

Papua New Guinea: Orokaiva peoples 167

Micronesia: Truk peoples 170

India: A'chik peoples 173

USA: Kingdom of Hawaii 176

Thailand: Rattanakosin kingdom 180

China: Hmong peoples 184

Turkey: Ottoman Empire 188

Spain: Habsburg Empire 192

Modern: 1800 to 2000 ce

Great Britain: Second British Empire 196

USA: Antebellum America 201

Germany: Third Reich 205

Russia: USSR 209

Rankings

10 largest societies by territory: ancient 216

10 largest societies by territory: medieval 216

10 largest societies by territory: early modern 217

10 largest societies by territory in the entire preindustrial era 217

10 most populous societies: ancient 218

10 most populous societies: medieval 218

10 most populous societies: early modern 219

10 most populous societies in the entire preindustrial era 219

10 most populous cities: ancient 220

10 most populous cities: medieval 220

10 most populous cities: early modern 221

10 most populous cities in the entire preindustrial era 221

10 largest buildings by total area: ancient 222

10 largest buildings by total area: medieval 222

10 largest buildings by total area: early modern 223

10 largest buildings by total area in the entire preindustrial era 224

10 tallest buildings: ancient 224

10 tallest buildings: medieval 225

10 tallest buildings: early modern 226

10 tallest buildings in the entire preindustrial era 226

10 costliest monuments to build in the entire preindustrial era 227

10 largest fielded armies: ancient 228

10 largest fielded armies: medieval 228

10 largest fielded armies: early modern 229

10 largest fielded armies in the entire preindustrial era 229

10 longest fortification walls in the entire preindustrial era 230

10 bloodiest human sacrifices in the entire preindustrial era 230

10 most widely attended collective rituals: ancient 231

10 most widely attended collective rituals: medieval 232

10 most widely attended collective rituals: early modern 232

10 most widely attended collective rituals in the entire preindustrial era 233

Regional adoption

Adoption of bureaucracy by world region 237

Adoption of state postal service by world region 237

Adoption of a formalised law code by world region 238

Adoption of calendars by world region 238

Adoption of scientific literature by world region 239

Adoption of fiction writing by world region 239

Adoption of monogamy by world region 240

Adoption of rule by god-kings by world region 240

Adoption of firearms by world region 241

Adoption of paper currency by world region 241

Adoption of irrigation systems by world region 242

Adoption of state-wide provision of drinking water by world region 242

Adoption of public markets by world region 243

Adoption of state-run libraries by world region 243

Maps

Spread of agriculture, 10,000 BCE to 1880 CE 244

Spread of human sacrifice, 5000 BCE to 1800 CE 245

Spread of bronze, 3500 BCE to 2000 CE 246

Spread of writing, 3200 BCE to 1920 CE 247

Spread of moralising religion, 2100 BCE to 1900 CE 248

Spread of chariots, 2000 BCE to 1780 CE 249

Spread of iron, 1400 BCE to 1870 CE 250

Spread of cavalry, 1000 BCE to 1870 CE 251

Spread of coinage, 500 SCE to 1900 CE 252

Spread of gunpowder, 904-1945 CE 253

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