World-Systems in the Biogeosphere: Three Thousand Years of Urbanization, Empire Formation and Climate Change

Abstract

This chapter investigates the “pulsations” of regional interaction networks (world-systems) in Afroeurasia over the past 3,000 years. The purpose is to determine the causes of a fascinating synchrony that emerged between East Asia and the distant West Asian/Mediterranean region, but did not involve the intermediate South Asian region. The hypothesized causes of this synchrony are climate change, epidemics, trade cycles, and the incursions of Central Asian steppe nomads. This chapter formulates a strategy of data gathering, system modeling, and hypothesis testing that can allow us to discover which of these causes were the most important in producing synchrony as the Afroeurasian world-system came into being.

Citation

Chase-Dunn, C., Alvarez, A. and Pasciuti, D. (2005), "World-Systems in the Biogeosphere: Three Thousand Years of Urbanization, Empire Formation and Climate Change", Ciccantell, P.S., Smith, D.A. and Seidman, G. (Ed.) Nature, Raw Materials, and Political Economy (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 311-331. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-1922(05)10014-6