Poverty is a perennial problem in world history, but over time, its causes have shifted from local issues like natural disasters or warfare to more global economic issues which impact on available resources, systems of distribution and potential solutions. "Poverty in World History" focuses upon the period from around 1500 onwards when poverty became a global issue, and uses the process of globalisation as the chief lens through which to study and understand poverty in world history. The result is both a tying together of significant strands of world history and an examination of changing attitudes towards poverty and poor relief throughout the world. This wide ranging study underscores a major consequence of increased cultural and economic interaction among the world's societies, highlighting the similarities and differences in impacts and responses to the resulting 'smaller' globe. Topics include: innovations in early modern poor relief; the causes of trends towards a globalisation of poverty after 1500; poor relief since 1945 to the present; and, poverty, morality and the state. A genuinely global survey of world poverty from 1500 to the present day, "Poverty in World History" is essential reading for students of World History.