All histories, from the most local and antiquarian to the most sweeping and synthetic, have at least an implicit understanding of their place in the world as a whole. We will look at how macro-categories that divide and structure the world have been imagined and made into reality over time. How did the world come to be a mosaic of nation states, further grouped into macro-categories like civilization, culture areas, East-West, North-South, developed-undeveloped, and the First, Second and Third Worlds? How have such categories continued to shape our understanding of historical processes? 4 pts.