World history is a field of academic study that emerged in the 1980s to examine history from a global perspective rather than focusing on individual cultures or nations. It is distinct from comparative history, which looks at multiple cultures and nations but not on a global scale, and from diplomatic or international history. The document also provides background on the early civilization that emerged along the Indus River in India around 2500 BC and the subsequent Indo-European invasion and development of Hinduism.

1. WORLD HISTORY

2. WORLD HISTORY , GLOBAL
H I S T O R Y O R T R A N S N AT I O N A L H I S T O R Y ( N O T
T O B E C O N F U S E D W I T H D I P L O M AT I C O R
I N T E R N AT I O N A L H I S T O R Y ) I S A F I E L D
O F H I S T O R I C A L S T U D Y T H AT E M E R G E D A S A
DISTINCT ACADEMIC FIELD IN THE 1980S. IT
E X A M I N E S H I S TO RY F R O M A G L O B A L
PERSPECTIVE. IT IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED
W I T H C O M PA R AT I V E H I S T O R Y, W H I C H , L I K E
W O R L D H I S T O R Y, D E A L S W I T H T H E H I S T O R Y O F
M U LT I P L E C U LT U R E S A N D N AT I O N S , B U T D O E S
NOT DO SO ON A GLOBAL SCALE.

3. EARLY INDIA
About 2500 B.C. a counterpart of the civilizations that had emerged

earlier along the Tigris-Euphrates and the Nile rivers appeared along the

Indus River in India. Coinciding with the collapse of this Indus civilization,

Indo-European invaders - the Aryans - began a conquest that produced numerous

contending states in northern India by 326 B.C. Long before that date, Aryan

and native Indian beliefs and customs had undergone a process of assimilation

and development that produced what is called classical Hinduism - an amalgam

of religious and philosophical ideas (humankind's relation to the cosmic

order) and socioeconomic institutions (the caste system in particular). Most

of the elements that today are characteristic of Indian thought and action are

the products of this period.

4. EXAMPLES