World history is the study of human history around the globe through time.
World history stretches beyond the boundaries of nation-states or civilizations to form a macro history of the human story. Just as the history of the United States is more than the history of 50 individual states, world history is the study of the global human experience and changes in that experience through time. World historians study global forces and large historical themes such as climatic change, the spread of religions, and the expansion of the market economy. World history enables us to improve our understanding of how humans have interacted with each other and the planet in the past to shape the present. World history became an established field of study with the founding by historians and educators of the World History Association in 1982.