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10 March 2006 Volume 2, Issue 9 The recent Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, brought us an international village of the world’s finest athletes; while sitting in front of our television sets, we create the electric “global village,” coined by Marshall McLuhan. We got to thinking about the ways in which events and ideas in world history bring us to the games we now watch with rapt attention. For example, the first organized skiing competitions were held by the Norwegian military in the 1760s, with cash prizes for shooting while skiing (which became the Winter Olympics biathalon event) and for the fastest downhill run. It makes sense that winter sports would start to come to the forefront during the centuries of the “little ice age” (1300 to 1850 CE). And since the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and Russia, the number of countries in the Winter Olympics has swelled to 84 (from only 57 in Calgary in 1988). Although we’ve gotten used to seeing opening ceremonies with athletes from Azerbaijan to Ukraine, it still takes a recent map to be sure exactly where in the world is Slovenia (between Italy and Croatia) and Moldova (between Romania and Ukraine). This issue of World History to Go focuses on some significant ideas and events in history that contribute to the evolution of the Winter Olympics and competitive sports around the world. The World of Sports
The “Little Ice Age”Evidence from sediments and ice cores reveal that a little ice age (shorter than the typical 80,000 to 90,000 years) of long duration from approximately 1300 to 1850 CE swept across the northern hemisphere. Viking outposts in Greenland populated during the Medieval Warm Phase (800–1300 CE) succumbed to the freeze between 1200 and 1300 CE. Food production plummeted in preindustrial Europe. Even in the best of times, where diets consisted mostly of bread and potatoes, daily food consumption seldom exceeded 2,000 calories. Widespread malnutrition was followed by famine and the outbreak of infectious diseases. The bubonic plague followed the great European famine in 1400 CE. Between 1100 and 1800 CE, France experienced frequent famines, twenty-six in the twelfth century and sixteen in the nineteenth century. Increasing cold temperatures shortened the growing season by at least one month in northern European countries and the elevation for growing crops retreated about 18 meters. In New England, 1815 CE was called “the year without a summer.” With the warming after 1850 CE, this little ice age came to an end. [From the article, “Climate Change,” in the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History.] “New” CompetitorsThe end of the Cold War brought a round of geographical re-construction. When the Soviet Union imploded, scholars were forced to grapple with the geographical positions of newly independent republics in the Baltic, Caucasia, and Central Asia, as well as with those of former Soviet client states in Eastern Europe. At the same time, the entire area studies framework came under attack by scholars who objected to its rigid spatial divisions, its roots in Cold War geopolitics, or its general lack of theoretical rigor. By the turn of the millennium, many scholars were turning to an alternative form of global geographical construction based not on discrete regions but rather on webs of interaction, on the dispersed patterns of transnationalism, and on the widespread phenomenon of globalization. Inside the Berkshire Encyclopedia:
For more related topics, try articles like Eastern Europe, Ethnic Nationalism, Games, and Russian-Soviet Empire. Despite the rise of such non-bounded spatial concepts, alternative regionalization schemes at the global scale have retained salience. In the Cold War, a popular tripartite division of the globe, based on economic and geopolitical criteria, yielded the so-called First, Second, and Third Worlds. With the end of the Soviet Union, the Second World disappeared, undercutting the conceptual basis of that formula. While the First and Third Worlds linger in the public imagination, a more common gambit is to bifurcate the world into a wealthy “North” and an impoverished “South.” This construct, while polemically useful, is geographically imprecise, as certain countries in the southern half of the terrestrial landmass (Australia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, for example) are far more prosperous than some countries of the North (Albania, Ukraine, and Tajikistan, for example). In short, while no single scheme of geographical construction is ever adequate for all purposes, most shed some light on the global order, whether of the past or the present. [From the article, “Geographic Constructions,” in the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History.] 
The History of World SportIf you've been forwarded this newsletter, sign up to recieve new issues of World History to Go twice a month.
For another type of world history experience, take a look at the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport. You’ll find a detailed exploration of over 300 sports, including ancient, non-Western sports and sporting activities-covering history, rules, champions, and triumphs and controversies. Coverage begins with the origins of sport among prehistoric hunters and gatherers and extends to the global sports industry of the twenty-first century. And here's what other journals are saying about our Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport, just designated a Booklist Editors' Choice: “Engaging illustrations and photos, as well as numerous sidebars, tables and charts . . [and] a sense of scope and comprehensiveness not afforded by other sports references.” -Against the Grain “The highlighted sidebars include poems, quotes, history and time lines, organizations, and sketches of famous individuals.” -School Library Journal With warm regards, |
There is no evidence that sports are necessary for human existence. Although a particular sporting contest might enflame passions and spark a riot, there are no instances of sports starting or ending wars. Two world wars, a cold war, and numerous regional conflicts, for instance, have occurred during the time of the modern Olympic Games. Sports do not drive the economies of the world, nor do they determine foreign policy, and there is no quantifiable evidence that they are necessary in schools. There exists much anecdotal testimony, however, about the usefulness of the arts, including sports, for creating multidimensional, interesting individuals. Athletic events, for example, prompt conversations that cut through all divisions of society, and sports metaphors sprinkle the language: “on target,” “level playing field,” “sticky wicket,” “throw in the towel.” Sports are a universal phenomenon that can be found with all peoples and in all times, and they invite cross-cultural comparisons to help ascertain what it means to be human. [From the article, “Sports,” in the
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