The Year 1000 Audiobook By Valerie Hansen cover art

The Year 1000

When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization Began

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Year 1000

By: Valerie Hansen
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.74

Buy for $18.74

*A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice*

From celebrated Yale professor Valerie Hansen, a “vivid” and “astonishingly comprehensive account [that] casts world history in a brilliant new light” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and shows how bold explorations and daring trade missions first connected all of the world’s societies at the end of the first millennium.

People often believe that the years immediately prior to AD 1000 were, with just a few exceptions, lacking in any major cultural developments or geopolitical encounters, that the Europeans hadn’t yet reached North America, and that the farthest feat of sea travel was the Vikings’ invasion of Britain. But how, then, to explain the presence of blond-haired people in Maya temple murals at Chichén Itzá, Mexico? Could it be possible that the Vikings had found their way to the Americas during the height of the Maya empire?

Valerie Hansen, an award-winning historian, argues that the year 1000 was the world’s first point of major cultural exchange and exploration. Drawing on nearly thirty years of research, she presents a compelling account of first encounters between disparate societies, which sparked conflict and collaboration eerily reminiscent of our contemporary moment.

For readers of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, The Year 1000 is a “fascinating…highly impressive, deeply researched, lively and imaginative work” (The New York Times Book Review) that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about how the modern world came to be. Expeditions & Discoveries Ancient History World Viking Civilization Ancient Africa Latin America Maritime History & Piracy Middle Ages Imperialism

Critic reviews

"Sometime around the year 1000, Norsemen (and a few women) crossed from Greenland to what is now Canada. This audiobook marks that achievement as the first time goods and ideas could—at least, theoretically—travel around the world from the Americas to Europe, Africa, and Asia, introducing the possibility of true globalism. International and intercontinental trade routes stretched for thousands of miles, ready for European explorers to connect to them. . . . the material is fascinating to those with an interest in the distant origins of the modern world."

People who viewed this also viewed...

The Silk Roads Audiobook By Peter Frankopan cover art
The Silk Roads By: Peter Frankopan
Henry V Audiobook By Dan Jones cover art
Henry V By: Dan Jones
Global Historical Perspective • Fascinating Trade Details • Clear Narration • Insightful Cultural Connections

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
This was very informative. The facts provided created a great perspective of why we are today.

Great Book and Read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loving stories about people, places, and things, I enjoyed listening to this book. The perspective it proposes and explores - that globalization is not a recent human trend, but a movement that began over a thousand years ago - is interesting. However, I am not sure what function the notion of the year 1000 being a hinge of history serves. Sure, it gives the book an arresting title. However, what was 1000 and whose 1000 was it? Then, as now, different civilizations and tribes have different calendars. Seriously, the events the author discusses happened over five or six centuries both before, during, and after what we think of as 1000, for no particular reason. The point is, humans ventured further afield, encountered each other, and trade and violence ensued. Interesting how that pattern repeats itself for over more than a thousand years. Nonetheless, this unscientific book told some travelers' tales I'd not encountered before, as well as repositioned the familiar ones. I enjoyed the float. Look elsewhere for a deep dive. The narrator has a smooth, engaging voice. However, pronunciation of place names stumped her several times. I really don't hold that against her. None of us can really know what the place names (even if those names were then used) sounded like a thousand years ago.

Fun listen but not a deep dive into history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narration is clear.

Detailed, impressive descriptions of these lesser known leaders and cultures of the Middle East and Asia.

Important leaders: 1000–1400

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narration could have been better but the contents of the book are fascinating even when the author admits she is speculating.

Fun listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good information on trade details but the history is dated and does not reflect many facts uncovered in the 21st century.

Dated history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews