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Global Interactions in the Early Modern Age is an interdisciplinary introduction to cross-cultural encounters in the early modern age (1400–1800) and their influences on the development of world societies. In the aftermath of Mongol expansion across Eurasia, the unprecedented rise of imperial states in the early modern period set in motion interactions between people from around the world. These included new commercial networks, large-scale migration streams, global biological exchanges, and transfers of knowledge across oceans and continents. These in turn wove together the major regions of the world. In an age of extensive cultural, political, military, and economic contact, a host of individuals, companies, tribes, states, and empires were in competition. Yet they also cooperated with one another, leading ultimately to the integration of global space.

A cross-cultural analysis of the management of religious pluralism in the early modern era can serve to contextualize and relativize our understanding of toleration in the Western world. To that end, this article compares policies and practices employed by governments in the Protestant Dutch Republic concerning Roman Catholics with those used by Sunni Ottoman authorities toward Christians, Jews, and Shi'ites in Arabic-speaking provinces. Despite important differences in approach, authorities in both societies managed their pluralistic environments by marginalizing minorities in various ways. Their practice served to protect the public religious order while also according minorities the privilege of private worship.