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World/Global history first appeared in the United States in the 1980s and has grown strongly in the Anglo-Saxon world. World history attempts to break national boundaries on historical research and it has brought about far-ranging syntheses. The expression ‘global history’ has developed little by little and tries to take into account the phenomenon of globalization, that is the withdrawal of the role of the State and the growth of that of other players (NGOs, foundations, transnational companies, the civil society). This movement is bringing about methodological innovations like combining scales, the search for new comparisons and connections, and decentering perspectives. World/global history was originally viewed with suspicion in Europe but today interest in it is growing. The newness of this movement must not be taken too strictly as it borrows some of its principles and methods from preexisting movements such as comparative, post-colonial or transnational history.