General and Regional Histories

• World Map of Al-Idrissi, 1158 © Taurus Design

UNESCO has launched a series of collected works - People writing their own history. Instead of just tracing the past of nations, these collections aim to provide a greater understanding of civilizations.

• History of Humanity
• General History of Africa (new website under construction)
• History of Civilizations of Central Asia
• General History of Latin America
• The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture
• General History of the Caribbean

The world's memory is composed of more than just kings and heroes, battles and conquests, great cathedrals and monumental undertakings.

Through this broad perspective, readers gain a global understanding of the evolution of societies, flourishing of cultures, major currents of exchange and interaction with other parts of the world.

These collections also aim to provide a culturally relevant perspective. They provide the point of view of the populations concerned, whose past has often been distorted, discredited or treated as peripheral to the history of the colonizers and the dominant nations – those who usually write history. The idea here is to rediscover a people's consciousness and the vision it develops of its own destiny. This shift in perspective is reflected by the significant number of local historians, with impeccable academic credentials, who contributed to these collections as editors and authors.

• The UNESCO General and Regional Histories: A Contribution to the Rapprochement of Cultures (Video, 10mn)