Foundations of Globalization

5

Foundations of Globalization

Chp. 5

Chapter Issue: To what extent did early globalization affect peoples of the world?

Why and How Did Globalization Begin?

(P. 114-117)

·  When trade started among people?

·  When Chandragupta Maurya (332 BCE) combined trade, religion, and military into a trading area in India?

·  When Genghis Khan (1100s) created an empire of trade routes linking Europe and Asia?

·  When Christopher Columbus (1492) made his first trip to the Americas?

Early Trade Routes

·  3rd century BCE – the Silk Road linked Asia and Europe.

·  Ideas also moved along this trade route.

·  The Indo-Arabic number system originated in India, was adopted in the Middle East, where it was passed onto Italian merchants, and then spread through Europe.

One Theory of the Evolution of Globalization

·  Ashutosh Sheshabalaya, an Indian journalist, believes that globalization evolved in 3 distinct phases.

·  First round: Goods and ideas were exchanged along ancient trade routes.

·  Second round: Began in the late 1400s with European Imperialism.

·  Third round: Began after WWII with the rapid growth of world markets and communication technology.

The Concept of Historical Globalization

·  Some agree with Sheshabalaya’s view referring to the period from 1492 to the end of WWII when USA and USSR emerged as superpowers - Historical Globalization.

·  The period Post WWII is referred to as Contemporary Globalization.

·  Others believe that globalization only began in the 1800s when the access to goods began to change the way the masses lived.

How did the Foundations of Historical Globalization Affect People? (P.120-124)

·  Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type (1400s) has been called the most important invention in the 2nd millennium.

·  As literacy increased new ideas about science, religion, politics, and philosophy spread.

The Rise of a European Middle Class

·  After the fall of Rome (476 CE) towns and cities began to grow.

·  Many historians believe that those townspeople and city dwellers were the earliest middle class – people who earned money by practicing a trade or craft.

·  As the middle class grew, trade became more important.

New Ideas, New Technologies, and Historical Globalization

·  Growth of towns, cities and trade provided fertile ground for new ideas and technologies.

·  Example – Indo-Arabic counting system

India Middle East Europe

·  New technologies included large, square sails, and the lateen stern sail, as well as navigational tools such as the magnetic compass, astrolabe, sextant and maps, and gunpowder invented in China (first used in Europe in 1324)

Global Competition for Trade

·  European imperialism, the policy of extending a country’s power by acquiring new territories and establishing control over other countries and peoples, was motivated by trade.

·  From the 16th-18th centuries European governments practiced an economic system called mercantilism where trade was strictly controlled trade to favor the home country.

·  Practices of mercantilism include: closing ports to foreign trade, exporting more than importing, exploiting the colonies for raw materials, forcing colonies to purchase goods manufactured in the mother country.

Global Competition for Trade cont.

·  After the 18th Century mercantilism declined as colonies such as the United States fought for their independence (1776), and books such as Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations challenged government economic control and argued for free trade.

·  Adam Smith laid the foundation for the economic system called capitalism.

·  Britain, France, the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese established large colonial empires because of their strong central governments and superior naval, gun and cannon power.

·  They believed their customs, culture and beliefs were superior to the Indigenous people of the lands they took over.

·  China and Japan had stronger central governments so European colonization attempts there were less successful.

·  Once colonies were established, settlers from the mother country emigrated to the colonies to help run the colony, gather the resources, and protect the mother country’s trade interests.

·  Settlers displaced the Indigenous people, disrupting their way of life and causing conflict.

How Did the Consequences of Historical Globalization Affect People? (P.125-133)

·  Mexico – people slave labour for the silver and gold mines.

·  North America – First Peoples were forced out of their traditional lands.

·  75-90% (8-10 million) Indigenous people died as a result of contracting European diseases.

Differing Approaches to the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

·  North America – mutual trading relationships were established between the Europeans and the Indians.

·  Mexico – Aztecs enslaved and put to work in mines and on plantations.

·  Bartolomé de Las Casas spoke up for social justice for the Indigenous peoples and suggested that Africans be imported to work on new plantations.

Slavery

·  Ancient forms of slavery in the Middle East and Africa were seen as an alternative to imprisoning or executing a criminal or for those who could not pay debt.

·  18th Century slavery changed in that Indigenous or Africans were enslaved based on race, and slaves became chattels.

·  A chattel is a possession – slaves and their descendants became the private property of their owner.

·  Chattel slaves had no legal standing as human beings.

Responses to Slavery

·  The first attempt to limit slavery in the British Empire was in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant governor of Upper Canada.

·  William Wilberforce and the abolitionists fought for The Emancipation Act which abolished slavery in Britain and the British Empire in 1834.

The Grand Exchange

·  In 1493 Columbus changed the diet of the world with his cargo.

·  This trading process is called the Grand Exchange.

·  Ex. Sunflower oil, coffee, grains, cacao, tobacco, potatoes, cattle…

·  Many historians believe that the grand exchange was a key factor in historical globalization.

Industrialization and Social Change

·  By 1750 increased consumer demand led to entrepreneurs developing new machines that could produce goods more quickly, efficiently, and cheaply.

·  Process started in Britain.

·  New machines – steam engine, spinning jenny, power loom.

·  Era between 1750-1850 – industry became mechanized, workers came together in factories, called the Industrial Revolution.

·  By 1830 Britain leading industrial power – 2/3 of world’s coal, ½ of its iron, ½ of its cotton.