Globalism in the pre-modern world? Questions, challenges, and the emergence of a new approach to the Middle Ages and the early modern age

This introductory and at the same time comprehensive study attempts to outline the current state of research regarding the claim that globalism was already well underway during the pre-modern period. Much depends, of course, on the defi¬nition, the evidence, and the theoretical concepts, as the many controversies indicate which are examined here and contrasted and compared with a wide variety of con¬crete historical, literary, and art-historical examples or concrete cases. Undoubtedly, the discourse on globalism also in earlier periods before the twenty-first century carries strong political undercurrents, but this essay endeavors to approach the topic sine ira et studio, and simply to reflect on what is possible at the moment to claim regarding global perspectives and where we ought to be careful in our historical investigations. The various literary texts and historical documents from the fields of arts, commerce, medicine, science, etc. introduced and discussed here will hopefully illustrate convincingly that we are justified in accepting the notion of pre-modern globalism, and this even well prior to ca. 1500, if we cast our investigative net as far as possible and pursue innovative comparative and interdisciplinary research.