First Globalization presents an original and sweeping conceptualization of the grand cultural-civilizational encounter between Asia and Europe. With his "metageography" of the vast Eurasian zone, Gunn shows how between 1500 and 1800, a lively two-way flow in ideas, philosophies, and cultural products brought competing civilizations into serious dialogue and mostly peaceful exchange. Ranging from discussions of the natural world, livelihoods, and religious and intellectual encounters to language, play, crime and punishment, gender, and governance, this book replays the themes of enduring hybridity and "creolization" of cultures.