Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.Sample Book Insights: #1 The Mediterranean was the center of world history for ship traffic. But if you look at overland traffic, the Grand Central Station of the world was the intersection of roads and routes connecting the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Iranian highlands, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. This eventually became the Islamic world.#2 The Middle World is the area between the Mediterranean world and the Chinese world. It was a intercommunicating zone, and as a result, it developed somewhat distinct narratives of world history.#3 The area where you now find Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan was the eastern edge of the world defined by sea-lanes, and the western edge of the world defined by land routes. This was the eastern edge of the Middle World, which had Mesopotamia and Persia as its core.#4 The first civilizations emerged along the banks of various big slow-moving rivers subject to annual floods. The most dynamic petri dish of early human culture was that fertile wedge of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which is modern-day Iraq.