Talk:Post-classical history

Request for comment

This RFC is about restructuring this page so it talks about the term. Levivich suggested this approach over at Talk:Timeline_of_the_Middle_Ages#Requested_move_16_December_2020. Instead of the periodization system, we could use something like Timeline of the first millennium or History of the first millennium and Timeline of the second millennium or History of the second millennium. We could also add CE to the titles for clarification. I would like to get ideas on how we should structure this page and the related pages. Thanks, Interstellarity (talk) 17:40, 22 December 2020 (UTC)

I suggest you don't try to sneak a WP:ERA change through at the same time as this stuff! The article uses "AD" at present. Johnbod (talk) 20:16, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

As you know, though, what the article currently uses is irrelevant concerning any contentions over which WP:ERA concention is used: the general rule is to use the convention that was used in the first revision after the article ceased being a stub. Now, in this article's case determining precisely when that happened is not entirely cut-and-dried; however, the earliest versions of the article that were clearly "not stubs" did not use AD or CE at all, and this had been the case since the article was still "a stub". Here https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Post-classical_history&oldid=535288900 is the earliest non-stub revision that uses an era label, and it uses CE. (That revision still has the stub hatnote at the bottom of the page, but the article is clearly not a stub; when the stub note was removed the article still used CE). Therefore, if anyone wishes to change AD to CE in this article, they ought to have licence to do so (and I can't think of any compelling reason for why AD and not CE should be used in this article, like there could be if, say, if the article topic was something like "Christianity in the East after the Fall of Constantinople" or whatever). Firejuggler86 (talk) 06:26, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

I think this page (or at least the title for what is presently on the page) is of limited use. The periodization adopted, purportedly for "world" history, is at variance with the existence of scholarly periodization of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, in which the Classical is roughly 250–900 CE, and the Postclassical 900–1521. What's more, the troubling lack of "late antiquity" and the failure to distinguish between "late antiquity" and "early middle ages" makes the confusion worse. GPinkerton (talk) 03:46, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

Entirely agreed.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  19:55, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Well, Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages aren't easily distinguished - nor should they be! ;) The two 'periods' largely - perhaps even mostly - overlap. They are not to be thought of as discrete epochs, with set beginning and end dates, with no overlap at all. Late antiquity refers to aspects of the ancient world that carried on into the period: e.g., the Roman Senate, which existed in a form into the 8th Century; chariot races, in the Eastern Empire, also until around that time. And likewise, for example, the establishment of English Britain in the 5th century could be called the Early Middle Ages, or the Frankish kingdoms on the continent...hope that made sense. Firejuggler86 (talk) 13:40, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

One of the definitions we have about the end of late antiquity, equates it with the reign of Charlemagne. This would likely mean that the rest of the history of the Carolingian Empire is out of scope. Dimadick (talk) 09:43, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

The title is just wrong for the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. These sections should be floated off somewhere under appropriate titles. For example the section on "africa" has Medieval Africa as its "main article", but that just redirects to a bit of History of Africa where the stuff here would on a quick look form a useful overview. The "Old World" remainder is (noting GPinkerton's points) reasonably coherent, and useful for people wanting that sort of approach. It needs a different title, perhaps Post-classical history of the Old World or Post-classical history of Eurasia. The article isn't in a "timeline" format, & I don't think using that helps. Alternativwely, one might keep the whole thing under some different title - World history 500 to 1500, and clarify in the text where this is "post-classical" and where it isn't. This is the least work (which I would be willing to do). Johnbod (talk) 20:05, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

@Johnbod The folowing citation adresses exactly what you are talking about, and in fact global historians are working on including areas outside of Eurasia into a global history of the period. https://academic.oup.com/past/article/238/suppl_13/1/5230769?login=false. In addition, I would oppose and am highly skeptical of any attempt to remove these margilnized areas (in terms of histography) from this world history page. To remove them would almost mean to say that nothing happened in those areas at this time or that those cultures were not human. Finally, the lead section discusses global history trends that effected all areas to an extent. Thanks for your (old comment) and have a nice day! Sunriseshore (talk) 17:19, 4 October 2022 (UTC)

Hello everyone, I think the situation should be kept is, unless Wikipedia is going to jinx itself out of World History articles altogether. Remember, that World History courses exist around the world that find ways to speak of different regions in the same time period. I believe the article already forewarns readers about the historiography of the New World, and if not that could be included. This article is meant as a summary for world history in this period, ideally for those who are not very familiar with the content. Thank you -Sunriseshore

Requested move 6 October 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Extraordinary Writ (talk) 21:21, 16 October 2022 (UTC)

---

Post-classical history → ? – This title seems to be rarely used in reliable sources. More reliable sources use Middle Ages for global history, but that is reserved for European history. I don't know what the best title is for this article, but I don't think it is this one since we title Wikipedia articles based on usage in reliable sources. Interstellarity (talk) 13:53, 6 October 2022 (UTC)\

• Oppose

I am afraid I must flatly disagree with you on all counts. I actually just finished adding many new sources last night, in fact many university departments around the country, the college board and Cambridge University all use the term Post-Classical. Though its true sometimes medieval is used synomonously. Sunriseshore (talk) 15:20, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

Some reliable sources for you!

• Z., Ḳedar, B., The Cambridge World History Expanding webs of exchange and conflict, 500 CE-1500 CE
• "Pre-AP World History and Geography – Pre-AP | College Board
• Periodization in World History: Challenges and Opportunities". In R. Charles Weller (ed.). 21st-Century Narratives of World History: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives
• https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~daradib/chsntech/review/social-studies/world/china.pdf

So are famous historians, College Board, Berkley and Cambrige University not reliable sources? I think I rest my case. The truth is (as stated earlier here) is that periodization is indeed difficult. But Post Classical has been used to describe history after 500 CE for over half a century in academic circles. In addition histoirans at this time on working on making a globalized history of the period more than often using the term 'post-classical. What about medieval? Well besides being primairly a European term its usage is also mentioned on this page already.

I appreciate your interest, and I have seen some of your statments on other talk pages and I would appreciate any help with this page

But, I will not support a name change of the article, especially a change that would cause a transfer to anything with the word 'medieval', again medieval on Wikipedia means European and there is already a featured article that uses the term 'Middle Ages' for Europe. There are many sources supporting the usage of Post-Classical here.

Sunriseshore (talk) 15:33, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

• Leaning Oppose per Sunriseshore. Johnbod (talk) 15:57, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

• Timothy Reuter wrote a great article, "Medieval: Another Tyrannous Construct?" (The Medieval History Journal 1, 1 [1998]: 25–45), in which he demonstrates that while in practice the term "Middle Ages" is reserved for Europe, the term "medieval" is used more or less unproblematically by historians of India, China, Africa, etc. Still, I think treating "medieval" and "Middle Ages" differently here would only cause confusion. One option would be to move this to the fashionable new term Global Middle Ages (already a redirect here). Another alternative to "post-classical" is the not-quite-synonymous "post-axial", which I don't recommend, although it has the advantage of being more conceptually coherent than "post-classical" or "medieval". Srnec (talk) 20:51, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

But are any of these actually better here? Johnbod (talk) 01:42, 7 October 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose — too difficult to come up with any better or more widely used alternative. Another "Middle Ages" or similar variant would be too confusing; sinologists, for instance, use "medieval" very differently (End of the Han dynasty to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period). Aza24 (talk) 05:31, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

  There is actually a source in the article that talks about this! There are some similarities between early medieval europe and the Three Kingdoms but the differences become more important later. (China comes back together again) Sunriseshore (talk) 06:24, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose The nom's assertion it is "rarely used" is not accurate. Anything with medieval or middle ages is going to be problematic. I kind of like Global Middle Ages but unclear what's behind that term ie. where did it originate who uses it who dislikes it etc.. -- GreenC 13:18, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

@GreenC The topic of global middle ages is certainly interesting, there are some publications using this term recently but there are also books incuding the Cambridge publication I already cited here using Post-Classsical and for sure Post-Classical has been used more consistently and frequently. I think about talking in more detail about the term Global Middle Ages in the top of the article but that would requrie sourcng that I am not sure exists. Sunriseshore (talk) 17:42, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

That's what I assumed it is too new and unestablished. It will be interesting to see how it develops. I never liked post-classical as it feels like a footnote to classical and that plays into the bias against the middle ages which is pretty common. It would be like renaming the classical period "post-Bronze Age period". -- GreenC 03:50, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Category:Medieval civilizations was deleted

Per the lead paragraph, this article is about medieval civilizations. The category deletion discussion Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2022 October 29#Category:Medieval civilizations is pretty poorly argued, hinging on a debate over the meaning of 'civilization', rather than what professional historiography says on this topic. "Medieval civilizations" is a common phrase found in Encyclopedia Britannica and elsewhere. -- GreenC 23:57, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: rejected by BorgQueen (talk) 19:16, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

• ... that many historians theorize that the human world was split into three separate areas before 1500 including Oceania, Eurasia, and the Americas? Source: Towards a Global Middle Ages , Past & Present, 238 (November 2018), 1-44 (p. 16)
  • Reviewed:

5x expanded by Sunriseshore (talk). Self-nominated at 00:04, 4 January 2023 (UTC).

• Sorry, this doesn't qualify for DYK at all. The 5x expansion is supposed to take place over a very short period; you have been working on this for 4 years. You might try for GA. Also, it is WP:TOOLONG at 198k raw bytes. A minor detail kis that you are supposed to work the title into the hook. Johnbod (talk) 00:20, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
• Ineligible per Johnbod. BorgQueen (talk) 10:25, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

Ok Thanks :) Sunriseshore (talk) 03:19, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

NB: The note about it being too long is not quite right. Per WP:SIZERULE, this is measured in readable prose size (not raw kb), for which the page is 62kb. Iskandar323 (talk) 05:27, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

GAN/referencing issues

This article has many and issues. You generally cannot cite an entire book for a piece of information because the reader does not know how to find it in the cited source. Instead, provide a page range with {{sfn}} or {{rp}}. When citing an edited work like Kedar & Wiesner-Hanks 2015, it's important to credit the author of the contribution rather than the editors (see examples on The Holocaust#Book chapters ), and again in that case page numbers are needed. (t · c) buidhe 20:11, 6 June 2023 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Post-classical history/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Wretchskull (talk · contribs) 09:42, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

Sorry Sunriseshore, but I have to quickfail this article per WP:GAFAIL criteria 3, as it "has, or needs, cleanup banners that are unquestionably still valid" (my emphasis). There are numerous sentences and entire paragraphs without refs.

Looking forward, take a look at WP:TWL; apart from journals, I suggest you search books within the available publications (so not the main TWL search bar), and you will find an enormous reserviore of high-quality, reliable sources to help you out. I also recommend diversity in your sources, as the article seems a little too dependent on Berger et al., and some refs aren't as reliable as academic books and journals, such as the websites referenced. The article also has some minor MOS issues, such as inconsistencies in serial comma use, etc. You can sort them out when you feel GA criteria two and three have been met.

Middle Ages is and exellent article for inspiration, and I suggest you take a look at its structure, prose, topic breadth, and sources. Once you're satisfied with the body, summarize its sections in the lede in succinct, well-written paragraphs (preferably four) that cover the most important information.

If you feel you've done everything needed to meet the GA criteria, read through the previous peer review and make sure all concerns have been amended before GAN, and matters will hopefully work out smoothly. Good luck! Wretchskull (talk) 09:42, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

I appreicate your review, I understand your decision.

I also agreeded and made some changes as suggested in the GA review, however I did not agree with all of them and I justified my position with sources. I do not think a single critic is always right and I think I proved my point back there.

Do you have a specific problem with using Berger as a source, and if so what sources would you prefer to be incuded in the article?

I am happy to look for and solve the MOS issues as soon as possible.

I have looked at Middle Ages many times already, I tried to learn from the article as much as possible without compromising this article.

That being said I am dissapointed this quick fail and was applied without further discussion. I do not think you went about this in the right way.

Best Regards. Sunriseshore (talk) 23:05, 11 June 2023 (UTC)

Hello Sunriseshore. Per WP:GAFAIL, GANs are quickfailed if they have serious sourcing issues, in this case due to existing or needed -tags. The article contains numerous sentences and paragraphs without any refs. Regarding Berger, I'm not necessarily against it, it's just that the article is too dependent on this source when there are countless other books and journals with equal authority. I highly recommend removing all web sources plus some Berger citations and replacing them with other existing books referenced, or with whatever you can get your hands on from WP:TWL. Everything you could possibly need exists there. Searching "Post-classical history" without any filters shows close to 3000 academic journals (but sort these by peer-reviewed) and 72 books.

Besides, I have reservations about topic breadth and coverage, although I'm not at all an expert so giving my two cents doesn't do this justice, and I could be wrong. My intuition says it's probably best to contact the FA contributors of middle ages, namely Ealdgyth and Johnbod, who I dare say know a thing or two about this subject. Wretchskull (talk) 11:01, 12 June 2023 (UTC)

Post Classical does not include middle ages

It is the same as late antiquity . See these books: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=589743035&sxsrf=AM9HkKlMg5t2nCA5v3l7pmDfF0tGMbKSzw:1702291612558&q=post+classical+roman+empire&tbm=bks&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib9_q2moeDAxXghv0HHbt3Dk8Q0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=3840&bih=2073&dpr=1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pharaph (talk • contribs) 10:48, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

The advice here given is contradictory Buidhe says there are too many citations but wreck says there are not enough. I think Buidhe's suggestions make sense to a degree but I don't quite agree with Wreck still- I have gone over every section there are no paragraphs with 'no citations' there are cases where citations are more spread out but that was in case where the same source is being used to support said information. -Sunriseshore. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:721:9800:A136:AD33:EE5:91A2 (talk) 14:39, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

What are the sources of this article?

Yes, I know that there are sources listed in section "Sources" but none of them refer to the post-classical period in its title. One of the works cited in the article (The City in the Classical and Post-Classical World) indeed uses the term but its timframe ends with Late Antiquity. Another source ("POST-CLASSICAL SCIENCE: AN OVERVIEW") is a course description at the website of a university professor and its scope is limited to science. The scope of a third source ("CHINESE HISTORY IN THE POST-CLASSICAL AGE") is limited to Chinese history. The term is introduced in section "Terminology and periodization" with a reference to a single book chapter ("Periodization in World History: Challenges and Opportunities" by Peter N. Stearns). Two other sources cited to verify the periodization in the second paragraph (Kedar & Wiesner-Hanks and Evermon) obviously do not use the term. An academic source describes the term "post-classical history" as "pernicious" (Holmes, Catherine; Standen, Naomi (2018), "Introduction: Towards a Global Middle Ages", Past & Present, 238: 1–44, doi:10.1093/pastj/gty030).

• So what are the sources based on which the article could be developed without original synthesis? Borsoka (talk) 15:06, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

I highly disagree with accusations of original synthesis. Because of the ongoing debate among historians, no periodization scheme is going to fit neatly in a way that will match the desire for acute and clear categorizations that wiki users (you and myself) desire a historical time period to have.

Here is one source https://academic.oup.com/past/article/238/suppl_13/1/5230769?login=false

Here is proof that Columbia University uses this terminology (Is Columbia University, not a standard for us to follow? I wonder) https://library.ccis.edu/hist111a/part3 In regards to the Peter Sterns source, there is a discussion of various terms used to describe the period- indeed all are problematic in some way.

Here is what we know: -Medieval or Middle Ages is almost always referring to Europe, I cannot see how 'Global Middle Ages' will succeed in academia or Wikipedia -Post Classical History is used in terminology to refer to world history both in American High Schools and Universities -We know that Modern history begins in 1500, and Ancient History ends somewhere between 300-800 (depending on who you ask and what perspective you take)

Post Classical History remains the best term, with alternatives being Global Middle Ages (but again any such attempts will not succeed in my opinion) or deleting the entire article. It would be absurd and a major defeat for Wikipedia if the website could not have an article about the 500-1500 period globally because of periodization disputes.

You can also refer to Green C's answer on the topic, from 2018

I do agree that more sources are needed and more context/clarification is needed in the explanatory notes as well to describe the complex situation in academia that is ongoing right now about this topic.

Why not look for sources to help with this? That would be a great help — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.100.172.164 (talk) 15:29, 31 December 2023 (UTC)

The first source does not write of post-classical history. The second source indeed uses the term but this does not change the fact that the article is fabricated based on sources that do not use it. The article is now an original synthesis of several sources. Borsoka (talk) 02:55, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

I think, @Borsoka, that your concerns are a bit misdirected. Surely there's nothing wrong with having a Wikipedia article on the history of the world between c. 500 and c. 1500 CE. All good Wikipedia articles draw together multiple secondary sources and there's nothing unusual about this. It sounds like your concern is really just that the title of the article isn't well paralleled in the scholarship. I think that's a reasonable concern, but the question is whether you have better suggestions. The discussion under "Requested move 6 October 2022" indicates some of the challenges here. Alarichall (talk) 08:40, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

Why not about world history between about c. 1333 AD and 1912 AD? Borsoka (talk) 09:13, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

I do agree that if I was looking for this article, 'post-classical history' is probably not what I would type in to Wikipedia (even though I agree with comments above and in earlier discussions on this page that 'post-classical history' is a term with a reasonable currency in the USA). God bless the #REDIRECT command!

The term 'world history' is trickier than it might at first seem in that 'World History' has a technical sense, denoting a particular movement in historical research. On the other hand, this article arguably takes a World History approach, so maybe that would be appropriate.

Fundamentally, the challenge at the moment is that professional historians don't have an agreed term for the period covered by this article on a global scale -- I don't think you'll find any English term that is widely used. (For what it's worth, I am a professional historian and stumble over this problem on a regular basis, in university teaching, debates about what terminology we should use when advertising jobs, debates about what to name our courses -- the pain is real!) I think that in fifteen years or so there will be a clearer sense of what we should call this article. For now, I'm just grateful that it exists at all!

By the way, CE (Common Era) and AD (Anno Domini) dates are equivalent, so c. 500 to c. 1500 CE and AD are the same.

I'd be genuinely interested to see if people think that 'World history 500–1500 CE' is a better title for this article, but also I really don't want to burn too much energy on this when we could be just improving the article itself, as so many contributors have done before us. Alarichall (talk) 21:23, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

Yes, many editors have added content based on sources that do not defibe or use the term "post-classical history". Perhaps, the term should be defined based on reliable sources before editing the article. Otherwise, it remains nothing more than an original synthesis of randomly chosen material from randomly chosen sources. Borsoka (talk) 10:58, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Well, clearly the sources aren't chosen at random! I'm not sure what your concern is with Wikipedia articles being 'original syntheses' either. They're not supposed to contain original research, but most Wikipedia articles are original syntheses of existing research, as this one is. Alarichall (talk) 12:25, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

No, WP articles are syntheses of reliable sources on a specific well defined subject. This article do not have sources covering its whole subject. Editors have been fabricating its subject based on sources with no common subject. Borsoka (talk) 13:29, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

I categorically disagree with accusations that the subject has been 'fabricated'. The sources used are world history textbooks and journals. There is room for improvement, but nothing has been fabricated. This comment was not in good faith, and I will not be responding to any more comments of this character. Sunriseshore (talk) 23:10, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

While terminology is contested, it is almost as if you suggest that world history between 500-1500 has not been written about or treated at its own subject by historians. However this could not be further from the truth world history courses in American schools and universities do treat this period in its own and it is often called 'post-classical' as it was by the College Board of the United States.

Therefore, I ask that you cease and desist from your fabrication comments, or I will declare that Wikipedia rules have been violated here. You have accused me and others of 'fabricating' evidence'. The terminology section of this article already explains the complexity of this topic that you have glossed over and now you have resorted to personal attacks. This is an attack on another editor outside the realm of good faith. Sunriseshore (talk) 23:20, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

@Alarichall I certainly would not be opposed to renaming the article, especially if there could ever be a consensus among the editors, however in that case the periodization section would need to elaborate more on the difficulties for naming the period (never an easy task at this current time as you know) Sunriseshore (talk) 23:26, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Those who read what sources have been used to edit the article can hardly say anything else than it is an original synthesis of sources with no connection with each other: 1. Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World History 2. The Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean: Climate Change and the Decline of the East, 950–1072 3. Charter State Collapse in Southeast Asia, c.1250–1400, as a Problem in Regional and World History' 4. The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity, 371–1386 AD 5. Environment and Trade: The Viking Age 6. Paths and timings of the peopling of Polynesia inferred from genomic networks ... I suggest we should find reliable sources about global history between c. 500 and 1500 before deciding about the article's name. We are not allowed to spread our views about global history and we cannot decide what are the important aspects of the history of certain regions from global perspective based on studies on the history of that specific region. Borsoka (talk) 01:21, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

Once again if you go through the sources comprehensively you will find that many are indeed world history sources. Indeed even in your attempted assassination of the article you found that the citation you showcase to accuse me of 'fabrication' was actually discussing Southeast Asian collapse and its connection to the rest of the world history. The Iran source also includes 'world history' in it. Yet you are dead set of accusing editors of acting in a cabal of inventing history, resorting to name-calling.

I conceded some improvements can and should be made all help on this article is encouraged of course, but all you are doing (at least day) is engaging in is personal attacks both on me and other editors.

You did not ask or question whether a particular source was wise, you come in making accusations of 'fabrication' without looking at the whole article or all of the sources. Indeed, a previous criticism I received was using the same world history book too many times.

No one is spreading 'their views' of world history except you here. I dare suggest that you look at sources like Berger and the Chronicle of World History here for instance.

If you want to find more sources, as I said before, please contribute! All are welcome, all help!

You don't get to accuse editors and defame them as 'fabricators'. Sunriseshore (talk) 04:32, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

Can we agree that we need multiple sources describing global history for the period to establish the article's notability? Can we agree that in addition only sources that discuss regional history from global perspective should be used? Borsoka (talk) 04:48, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

Have you read the historiography section and verified the sources? Looks notable to me. You said above: "WP articles are syntheses of reliable sources on a specific well defined subject". That's inaccurate. Many topics are composed of multiple POVs, or even vague definitions. The title 'Post-classical' is a placeholder name for the concept of a World History Middle Ages. The placeholder name has support in reliable sources. We explain the historiographical difficulties, so the requirement for a "well defined subject" is a straw man. Those difficulties don't stop us from writing an article about it. Not every source must be a World History source, but there needs to be some evidence the sub-section topic is studied within World History. At this point you should be listing which sub-sections you think are not world history topics. -- GreenC 07:53, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

We need reliable sources dedicated explicitly to the history of the whole world between around 500 and 1500 to establish the notability of the subject. If we cannot find such sources we cannot develop this article. Borsoka (talk) 08:46, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

I think you're at a dead end here, Borsoka. There's nothing wrong with having an article on this topic! Perhaps we can live and let live: people who want to can get on with developing this article, and you can edit something else that you feel is more up your street? I think that might be a better use of everyone's time :-) Alarichall (talk) 12:37, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

You misunderstand me. My problem is not the article's existence but sourcing. Borsoka (talk) 13:29, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

We need reliable sources dedicated explicitly to the history of the whole world between around 500 and 1500 - what about a book that contains a chapter on this topic, even though the book itself is not "dedicated" to the topic? OK so a chapter is alright .. what about 5 pages within a chapter? What about 2? Or a paragraph? Where's the line. Wikipedia doesn't work that way requiring "dedicated" sources. -- GreenC 16:01, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

WP is based on dedicated sources. If one cannot find a book dedicated to the history of the world between 500 and 1500 we can hardly say that the theme is prominent in comparison with the history of the world between 777 and 1319, or between 1300 and 1500. Furthermore, we need sources dedicated to regional history from global perspective without them we would arbitrarily decide which regional events have global relevance. Could I expand the article about English history with details of the history of the small English rural village of Aveton Gifford based on a highly reliable book dedicated exclusively to this small settlement? The answer is obviously not. For the same reason, we cannot edit this article based on regionally focused books. Borsoka (talk) 06:28, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you so much for educating us about WP being supported by sources (we mulling idiots did not know, we just come here for entertainment purposes only)

More seriously, many of the cited sources are actually global history sources that you have chosen to ignore in your ceaseless attacks.

For better or for worse the era 500-1500 has been considered a period in world history for the past 100 years even while historians cannot come to a total consensus as to what the title should be. I know you did not check our sources because if you did you would also know the start and end dates of this period are flexible (but 500-1500 is by far the most widespread and accepted). Your metaphor is a non sequitur argument irrelevant for this article.

The need for world history sources is established here and the majority of the content is cited by them already. However, bear in mind that even world history sources more often than not using regional histories in their citations, and even regional sources that were included often were because there was some type of comparison between regions or reference to world history as a whole.

You are always free to contribute, and help in finding the right sources, but until then I am not responding anymore here. You came out with attacks on editors, unsubstantiated accusations of fabrications and a refusal to observe why behind why some sources were choosen and to comprehensively review the citations yourself.

Your activities on the talk page have not been helpful at all (except for reminding us editors to pay more attention to the article. This is your last warning, if you do not cease and desist I will escalate this matter to report your violations of Wikipedia conduct.

Thanks and have a great day. Sunriseshore (talk) 10:39, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

Section "3. Eurasian trends" is the most classical example of original synthesis. Could you name the sources listing these trends? And I repeat, we need more sources presenting world history for the post-classical/medieval period from global perspective to avoid original synthesis. Borsoka (talk) 01:44, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Check the sources there first before throwing more accusations.

Not original synthesis, these are very widely discussed topics within the time frame of the period. Sunriseshore (talk) 03:43, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Borsoka, I suggest you visit the Middle Ages and make the same arguments. Because it contains many sources not "dedicated" to the period as a whole, much less the entire geographic area. And none of the sources say those themes/trends are the most notable. That article is a "synthesis" of sources. But it's not WP:SYNTH. There is a difference. -- GreenC 03:59, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

For instance the plauge section is cited in chapters of World History textbooks that are dedicated to dieseases in Eurasia at this time. Please please do your homework before resorting to name calling. You are more than welcome to add sources, but as far as this conversation goes we are done here. Good day to you.

@Borsoka- friendly reminder read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_SYNTH_is_not

Please assume that I checked the sources before commenting. Could you list the sources describing the subsections in "3. Eurasian trends" as the trends and only trends in Eurasian history in the period? The article about Middle Ages is quite different: it is based predominantly on sources dedicated to the Middle Ages or its subperiods, or to themes from medieval perspective (medieval art, medieval military, medieval life, medieval economy, women in the Middle Ages, etc). In this article, these comprehensive sources are mainly missing. Borsoka (talk) 05:00, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Please understand that I know based on your personal attacks of 'fabrication' that you did not.

You have falsely declared that world history sources are not cited in this article, you have then postulated that the history written here was 'invented' without sufficient evidence.

Do not dare to demand me to assume anything, except persistent hostility.

If you would but look at the list of cited sources, you would see that at least five world history books are cited-some completely dedicated to the time period. I also fail to see the differences between how Post Classical History and the Middle Ages are different- umm because you declare it to be? Because you are here attacking the editors for your aggrandizement?

These are all topics that are all but covered in entire chapters and unless one has been living under a rock clearly defined the period. I mean, if you want to make the argument that the Mongol Empire did not fundamentally alter the course of Eurasia-please be my guest -the burden is on you not us to prove that. You are making the accusations here. I do not need to give you an exhaustive list of sources (which you can find yourself) for an entire section of the article especially after you have shown no interest in collaboration or in honestly responding to what everyone has told you here.

I will however, go over one example

PLAGUE

This section is divided into discussion on what is called by historians to be the 'first' and 'second' bubonic plagues and to a lesser extent other diseases.

FThe first section primary relies on A Companion to the Global Middle Ages and entire Chapter (chapter 18) that is all about climate and disease and devotes considerable discussion to the Plague of Justinian as well as historiographical problems in tracking its spread - this too in important in correcting long-standing myths about the event- ie- the idea the plague travelled from east to west that is simply not backed up by most recent medical scholarship

But the strongest reason this source was chosen is that the social effects of disease are discussed in a continental wide manner. Take this quote for example.

"In Byzantium, for example, Procopius emphasized what he believed to be the demonic nature of the emperor Justinian, while an Irish source asserted that “it is by the truth of the ruler that plagues, great hostings and great lightnings are kept from the people.”117 Likewise, in China, “Confucian political philosophy … ascribed unnatural phenomena or disturbances on earth to illegitimate or unfit rulers … The sudden death of a ruler and his family or an epidemic ravaging his population would be seen as a judgment of heaven.”118 Justinian preferred to blame the plague on the moral failings of his subjects, passing legislation against blasphemy and homosexuality which he expressly associated with the advent of disease"

Here is another quote from the same source

"From Aachen to Constantinople and from the Bosphorus to Beijing, therefore, the eighth and ninth centuries would witness imperial consolidation and cultural renewal informed, to at least some extent, by changing demographic conditions which meant that rulers had more resources (both material and ideological) on which to draw. But, as both the processes of sixth-century dislocation and eighth-century restoration reveal, to appreciate the nature of the impact of climate change and disease on the global Early Middle Ages, one needs not only to avoid the temptation of causal reductionism but also to be alert to the structural characteristics of each of the societies that found themselves affected by the..."

This source is dedicated to the Global Middle Ages, with an entire chapter about the effects of the First Plague of Justinian, which does so in a Eurasian wide perspective. Considering that it's well known in academia that the disease killed millions and fundamentally altered the societies where it occurred, and that sources such as these talk about it- it would be disingenuous to not have an Old-World wide conversation about the effects of disease in a world history article. To claim that these are not fundamental topics in the region at the time, and that they are not discussed by world history scholarship, is ludicrous and disingenuous.

I am not obligated to quote all the sources I used and explain the entire article. This article has the challenge of being a brief yet comprehensive overview of the period, as well as what relatively recent historians are saying about it. To not discuss a topic like disease-something that effected so many living in the region at the time and is being so widely commented on right now, is certainly more harmful for the reader. Sunriseshore (talk) 08:28, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

here is another quote that describes the relevancy of Fedudalism in the time period

" decentralized state dominated by a warrior aristocracy could emerge anywhere that central authority broke down. A similar system emerged in Heian Japan of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when mounted soldiers (in this case samurai rather than knights) came to occupy the social role of a warrior aristocracy (see Chapter Four). Such an arrangement would emerge at the same time in the Middle East: the Great Saljuq Empire was dominated by mounted warriors in control of iqtas, units of land whose revenues (often from taxation) would fund these warriors, who in turn held their iqtas from the sultan." Sunriseshore (talk) 15:43, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

You can keep attacking, but we are done here.

Sorry, but my question remained unanswered. For the time being, no source verifies the joint presentation of the subtopics under title "3. Eurasian trends", so editors cannot check whether the list is widely accepted by historians. Borsoka (talk) 09:58, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, You don't get to place the tag because you feel like it.

" It is well known that the kinds of phenomena often associated with global history, including dense and intense trading connections and very extensive empires, often happened outside Europe before 1500. In the case of the medieval centuries obvious examples include the overland Silk Roads (Map 3) and the Islamic Caliphate (Map 6) in the early medieval period; the Mongolshaped, pan-Eurasian world system described by Abu-Lughod"

"In a closely related development, the pan-Eurasian experience of disease, above all plague, has been the subject of recent collaborative projects.35"

"Rather than focusing on dates, our chapters suggest that it is more productive to focus on what people actually did, and on how and why they did it. Let us begin with mobility and networks. We are far from alone in observing the fundamental importance of mobility in global history, but we take its significance a step further. Mobility was not only the province of particular types of medieval people (migrants, nomads, rulers, merchants or pilgrims) undertaking specific, often elite-focused, activities but, as discussed here by Standen and White, a phenomenon that played a crucial structural and structuring role in almost every area of life, including resource-gathering, politics, religious practices, ‘and perhaps, in the end, everything’

Here from one source alone, we have evidence of major trends in Eurasia as recognized by multiple historians.

https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fpastj%2Fgty030

You have been given explanations, you have been given citations, you have even been given quotes, you stroll on as if nothing has been done.

You have not sufficiently proved the need for the tag, thus it will be removed. The information is indeed cited by academic authorities in world history publications. Sunriseshore (talk) 14:30, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Section "3. Eurasian trends" covers the following subsections: "Feudalism", "Mongol Empire", "Silk Road", "Plague and Disease", "Science", "Literature and arts". The above quotes do not mention feudalism, science, literature and arts, and explicitly lists the Silk Road as one of the phenomena that "happened outside Europe". Sorry, I do not understand the relevance of the quote referring to the importance of mobility and networks since it does not mention them in exclusively Eurasian context. Finally, our readers expect that all information be verified in the article not on Talk pages. Please also remember WP:3RR because edit warring may have serious consequences. Borsoka (talk) 14:55, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, It is you participating in edit warring, by insisting the template will be there.

Our readers indeed expect (or would like to have) comprehensive articles for broad subjects and indeed the sources I presented here are already cited in the article!

Name calling other editors and accusing us of acting to make up and fabricate history has serious consequences - violations of conduct which will very likely be reported. Sunriseshore (talk) 15:15, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

I could do this all day, if I wanted to.

"Knowledge could and did come from anywhere, and accordingly required modes of transmission and entailed interpretation. Eurasianists who work primarily on texts often think of these processes of transmission in terms of the translation of written language. The Global Middle Ages has left us a huge range of extant examples, involving either translation into a second language or the co-existence of texts in parallel languages. We could think of: doctrinal and liturgical texts moving from Greek to Slavonic; Buddhist sutras moving from Sanskrit into Chinese (as Glen Dudbridge outlines); philosophical and scientific works from Greek, Persian and Sanskrit into Arabic, and later into Latin (and even back to Greek again); thirteenthcentury bilingual surrender treaties struck between the Christian rulers and conquered populations of Islamic Spain; diplomatic communications such as the various letters to and from the Mongols; routine translation of government documents in empires such as those of the Liao or Mongols; and practical documents such as the multilingual agreements inscribed on the ninth-century Kollam copper plates in five different scripts representing four different languages"

All of the subjects you raised concerns about have indeed been cited, indeed this is from one of the citations of the science section. Sunriseshore (talk) 15:30, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

For the time being, any reader may easily conclude that large parts of the article are fabricated from various sources. The article needs comprehensive sources because without them editors can only present their own understanding of the subject. Again, claims must be verified in the article not on Talk pages. Borsoka (talk) 15:36, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

The article has comprehensive sources, the journals and textbooks shown to you are from a world history perspective, discuss the time period in question and summarize the positions of academics as to what 'made' the period in the region. I will say again: All claims shown here are from preexisting citations in the article!

Please read what has been given to you.

Your persistent and bad faith fabrication accusation has indeed been noted and will be certainly be addressed. Sunriseshore (talk) 15:42, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

That you are quoting long texts from an article on the Talk page does not verify your list of subsubjects/subsections in section 3. Actually, your quotes only prove that some of these themes can/should be presented in an article about global history in the period between 500 and 1500 but does not suggest these are "Eurasian trends" or they are linked in any way. Borsoka (talk) 15:54, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

The majority of these quotations explicitly mention the Eurasian context when discussing their subject matter, and do describe the said trend that occurred in the diverse regions of Eurasia at that time. Even those that don't explicitly say Eurasia or Eurasianists describe in detail of the afromentioned trend. Sunriseshore (talk) 16:02, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

If the cited source does not explicitly mention those trends in Eurasian context why are they mentioned in such context in the article? Just for the record, the article still does not verify the themes in section 3. Borsoka (talk) 16:20, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

What I referred to specifically are occasions where the word 'Eurasia' itself is not used but perhaps another term including Old World, Afro-Eurasia or mentioning entire regions of Eurasia in the same paragraph and comparing them (clearly discussing Eurasia).

And for the most part 'Eurasia' is mentioned.

The article does verify the themes in section three. The soures in the subsections do, and there are three cited sources in the header. Sunriseshore (talk) 16:38, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

If the cited works mention those trends in a wider context than Eurasia, why are those trends mentioned as "Eurasian trends"? The article still does not explain based on reliable sources why are those phenonema mentioned in the subsections are listed. Borsoka (talk) 17:08, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

The article Middle Ages has the same "problem". They all do. You don't understand what SYNTH is. Your arguing for the sake of it. Seems mightly WP:POINTY and WP:ICANTHEARYOU. -- GreenC 17:21, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

It's our job as editors to organize content in a comprehensive way into a Wikipedia article. There is no source that says "break it down into these sections". We make it up. We need to create sub-section titles and topics. We do that on our own without a "list" somewhere. Even if such a list existed, it would be ridiculous to use it because it would rely so heavily on a single source, it might actually be copyvio, the article would be a mirror of that source. And you might say then multiple sources, but they don't exist. Not even in topics like Middle Ages would the same list exist across multiple sources. Borsoka your requirements have been consistently without basis in policy or common sense or how other articles like this work. In 20 years, I've never seen anyone require a "list" in a source to justify section titles in an article. You keep changing your position. First it's dedicated sources that must be books entirely dedicated to the topic. Now you require a list in a source that uses the same name as the section title. Sheesh! None of those requirements are based in policy. -- GreenC 17:44, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

I copy my answer from above ([1]): "The article about Middle Ages is quite different: it is based predominantly on sources dedicated to the Middle Ages or its subperiods, or to themes from medieval perspective (medieval art, medieval military, medieval life, medieval economy, women in the Middle Ages, etc). In this article, these comprehensive sources are mainly missing." No, I do not require a list in a source that uses the same name as the section title. I request a verification for the claim that those mentioned in section 3 are the trends in Eurasian history during the post-classical period. Borsoka (talk) 17:47, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

It's worth noting that Borsoka has initiated his own disputes on the Middle Ages, and therefore may not be the most neutral in this mannner. It seems there are edit wars with Johnbod, who you accused of 'misleading the community'.

Therefore Borsoka seems to be using one article to promote their own points of view here. Sunriseshore (talk) 18:04, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Yes, original research and original synthesis are grave problems in our community. In a discussion, one party cannot be neutral. No, it is not me who promote my own points of view. Please remember that an administrator reminded you WP:AGF today [2]. Borsoka (talk) 18:13, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

You are in fact doing just that- you have clearly made many edits to that article accused other editors of wrong doing. Now you come here and claim that article somehow supports your position here.

Please remember, you are forcing your positions repeatedly without properly acknowledging what is shown to you, even when community consensus has responded to your allegations. In any case your accusations of fabrication combined with accusations of others of 'misleading the community' indicates a clear pattern not barring the response of a single administrator- I think we are going to need more opinions and review of your behavior across the board. Sunriseshore (talk) 18:24, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Sunriseshore, please calm down. The definition of "fabrication" has now been explained to you (or rather, you yourself copied and pasted it at ANI), and continuing to repeat the word, along with "POV promotion" and "behaviour review" is rather unhelpful. Comment on content, not on the contributor. You might also want to remind yourself on who brought the Middle Ages article up.

Borsoka, please try to take a less brute-force route, and to try to engage with other editors? At any point in this discussion, you could have explained your meaning of "fabrication", but you chose to instead ignore Sunriseshore's (understandable) misinterpretation as they constantly repeated it. Unilaterally antagonizing the main editors of this article was undoubtedly a mistake if you wanted to make real progress. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 20:11, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

I request a verification for the claim that those mentioned in section 3 are the trends in Eurasian history during the post-classical period.. Who can say what "the" trends were, it's subjective, different authors and sources will emphasize different things. There is no such thing as "the" trends, which implies an authoritative final judgement. It doesn't exist. Nevertheless, we can list "trends", which some sources in this field look at. Those sources are in the article. -- GreenC 21:00, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

If there is no such thing as the "trends" why the article uses the term? And why are those "trends" are emphasized in connection with Eurasian history? Which reliable sources list those "trends"? Borsoka (talk) 01:22, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

The article uses the word "trends", but it doesn't use the phrase "the trends", as you have. They are not the same thing. I won't repeat what I wrote above, which you obviously did not care to read. -- GreenC 05:28, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

For the time being, I stop debating this issue because it has led to nowhere. What is clear several comprehensive sources are needed to develop the article. We cannot write "global medieval history" based mainly on a manual for the development of this branch of history ([3]) because WP is not the place where academic subjects could be developed. In addition, sources approaching regional history from global perspective should primarily be used in order to avoid original synthesis. Borsoka (talk) 06:13, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

A Cambridge World History is in fact already cited here. You really did not check the majority of sources which are world history based, or at the least connect/compare a regional event with other regions.

Thanks for the tip-that suggestion is your single best contribution so far- I'll be happy to take a look

Good day to you! Sunriseshore (talk) 06:24, 8 January 2024 (UTC)