AN ILLUSTRATIVE 400 YEAR HISTORY OF GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISES. Financial crises have afflicted Mankind from times immemorial. This publication is the first of a three-book commentary on the financial and credit problems facing the world today. In order to better understand this entire problem, it is critical to start from the origin of such world financial crises. This book looks in detail at the most infamous and difficult financial crises in the past four hundred years. In this journey, the story weaves through diverse countries from Japan in the East to Scandinavia and the United Kingdom in Europe to the United States. It has been found that a very common pattern exists in world financial crises, both past and present. Human greed and fear are the two essential components of all financial crises. Human greed accompanied with massive market speculation resulted in a run up in asset prices, creating an "asset bubble." This run up was then followed by a period of aggressive and uncontrolled selling of assets leading to a market meltdown. In the process, several investors and ordinary citizens got burnt----- the winners at the other end of the table were the very privileged investors, who due to special insider information or connections with royalty and "old money" got away with fraudulently earning an unprecedented amount of money. The lessons to be learnt from this book are three-fold. Firstly, there is a dire need for more transparent investor education. Secondly, there is an immediate and urgent need for financial authorities to both develop comprehensive market regulation and to monitor risk management systems. Thirdly, there must be serious consideration of a way of Financial Life, which leads to a fundamental re-evaluation of human relationships.It is possible to be rich, yet honest and the book is dedicated to promoting the achievement of uncommon success in common circumstance.