22 numbered historical accounts · before 1492 to November 2026

Old World & New World: the making of the modern world

Before Europeans used the words “New World,” Indigenous peoples had built states, cities, trade routes and cultures across the Americas. This series traces the older Afro-Eurasian networks, the Atlantic crossings, the colonial orders they produced, industrial and political revolutions, and the world of modern states, trade, technology and climate through November 2026.

There was no single date when an old civilization became a new one. The mid-fifteenth century Atlantic voyages were a turning point for sustained contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; the consequences then unfolded over centuries. The articles identify specific builders, rulers, explorers, workers and movements, and explain whose institutions endured, whose freedoms expanded and whose land or autonomy was lost.

1. Article 1 of 22 · before 14⁠92

   Before “New World”: the Americas already had histories

2. Article 2 of 22 · c. 750–14⁠50

   A connected Old World before the Atlantic crossing

3. Article 3 of 22 · 13⁠47–14⁠92

   Crises made older kingdoms reconsider trade and authority

4. Article 4 of 22 · c. 13⁠00–16⁠63

   African states and ports were partners, rivals and targets

5. Article 5 of 22 · 14⁠15–14⁠98

   Portugal reaches the Atlantic and circles Africa

6. Article 6 of 22 · 14⁠92–15⁠16

   The Caribbean encounter changed two worlds at once

7. Article 7 of 22 · 15⁠19–15⁠33

   Indigenous alliances determine the conquest of empires

8. Article 8 of 22 · 15⁠00–17⁠50

   Potatoes, pathogens and horses changed entire societies

9. Article 9 of 22 · 15⁠45–17⁠50

   American silver helps join the Atlantic and Pacific economies

10. Article 10 of 22 · 15⁠01–18⁠88

    Fortunes from forced crossings and the struggle to end slavery

11. Article 11 of 22 · 14⁠50–17⁠50

    Printing, experimental science and disputes about authority

12. Article 12 of 22 · 17⁠76–18⁠04

    Three Atlantic revolutions disagree about the meaning of liberty

13. Article 13 of 22 · 18⁠10–18⁠30

    Independence spread across the Americas, but inequality remained

14. Article 14 of 22 · 17⁠60–19⁠00

    Steam, coal and cotton changed the price of prosperity

15. Article 15 of 22 · 18⁠30–19⁠14

    Expanding empires drew borders across other people’s lands

16. Article 16 of 22 · 18⁠53–19⁠12

    Asian governments chose competing answers to imperial pressure

17. Article 17 of 22 · 19⁠14–19⁠45

    World wars shattered empires and industrialized killing

18. Article 18 of 22 · 19⁠44–19⁠62

    Independence and reconstruction created a different international map

19. Article 19 of 22 · 19⁠47–19⁠91

    Cold War borders hardened while societies changed beneath them

20. Article 20 of 22 · 19⁠78–20⁠01

    Reforms and trade rules turned production into a global chain

21. Article 21 of 22 · 20⁠01–20⁠26

    The modern world carries the climate, health and digital debts of its past

22. Article 22 of 22 · 14⁠92–20⁠26

    What the old orders lost—and what the new world did not replace