"This book provides coverage of the political, cultural, and social history of the world from 1350 to 1600. Contact among regions of the world expanded through trade networks, enabling a transferal of knowledge and culture between western and eastern societies. With a strong focus on the Renaissance, Reformation, and Ming China, the text comes from ordinary people, travelers, bureaucrats, children, housewives, poets, and religious thinkers."--Supplied by publisher.