Readers who are tired of the popularized version of globalization touted as a recent phenomenon will find this book rewarding for both its historical depth and its contemporary significance. Dealing with globalization in both time and space, a team of prominent sociologists, historians, political scientists, economists and theologians/ethicists from both Asia and Europe discuss globalization in terms of actual civilizational encounters and their various consequences. Essays range from political and economic developments to the issues of universalistic global ethics, covering a wide geographical terrain that includes China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South and North Korea, as well as the European continent. In this volume, the reader will also find issues in regional development with a special focus on gender, and a remarkable contribution on the formation of historical empires such as the Mongol Empire as an early exemplar of globalization.