Before 1492, the world was a series of isolated systems. The West (Europe) was a marginal peninsula on the fringe of Asia. The great powers were the Ottoman Empire, Ming China, and the Aztec Triple Alliance. Contact changed everything.
The most profound contacts occurred during the Age of Exploration (15th–17th centuries). When Columbus reached the Caribbean or Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, it marked the end of regional isolation. However, these were not meetings of equals. The texts categorized under this theme often highlight the "Columbian Exchange"—the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases. While potatoes and maize traveled East, boosting global nutrition, smallpox traveled West, devastating Indigenous populations. This biological contact fundamentally altered the demographic landscape of the world. Before 1492, the world was a series of isolated systems
But that was not the whole story.
Moreau wrote: “I told him ‘France.’ He had no word for it. I said ‘far away.’ He nodded. Then he pointed to the broken wire and asked, ‘Does this thing make your far away become near?’ I said yes. He smiled and said, ‘Then it is a ghost. Our ghosts make the dead near. Your ghosts make the living far.’” Contact changed everything