Why Does the Grand Narrative of Western Civilization Play Such a Central Role in Most Global History Curricula?

In 2001 a submerged robot, searching the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off of the island of Cyprus, found the remains of an ancient Greek vessel. The research team identified it as a Hellenistic trader carrying a shipment of wine between Rhodes and Alexandria. The discovery supports the idea that in the ancient world the Mediterranean Sea was a giant highway for transporting products, peoples, and cultures from one site to another. This assisted the process of cultural diffusion and contributed to the growth of early empires. The Democracy Reader includes classic and modern speeches, essays, poems, declarations, and documents on freedom and human rights. In the United States, whose official history as a nation does not begin until 1789, the “grand narrative” has become especially entrenched. Prominent founders, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were enamored with the Greco-Roman world, albeit based on very limited historical knowledge.