From the spread of the earliest hominids onwards, migration has been a major factor in human development. This fascinating study traces the connections among regions brought about by the movements of people, diseases, crops, technology and ideas. Drawing on examples from a wide range of geographical regions and thematic areas, Manning presents a graceful and dramatic narrative, including: earliest human migrations, including the earliest hominids, their development and spread, and the controversy surrounding the rise of homo sapiens the first domestication of major plants and animals the rise and spread of major language groups such as Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Austronesian/Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Ural-Altaic, and Amerindian examination of civilizations, farmers and pastoralists from 3000 BCE to 500 CE, highlighting such groups as Greeks, Phoenicians, Xiongnu, Huns and Scythians trade patterns including the early Silk Road andmaritime trade in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean use of horses and boats, with focus on migratory groups such as Germans, Vikings, Turks, Arabs, Mongols, Arawaks and Caribs, Nilotes, Polynesians and Bantu the increasing impact of maritime and overland migrations on areas of life such as religion and family between 1400-1700 the effect of migration on empire and industry between 1700-1900 the resurgence of migration in the later twentieth century, including movement to cities, refugees and diasporas

Patrick Manning is Professor of History and African-American Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.