when did globalisation started?

Question

Information and communication technologies (such as telecommunications, satellites, the digital revolution and computers) have lent momentum to the process of globalisation, but it is actually the developments in transport technology, the postal services and the printed media that have set the process in motion. ??? wat do you say

Answer 1

Like the industrial revolution or renaissance, it's a matter of where you want to define it. You could look at the 19th century China trade & its effects as Globalization, for that matter the colonial period as a whole could be viewed as Globalization.

What is the Silk Road if not part of globalization? Sure it took longer than Indonesian made T-shirts take getting to Wal-mart, but hey it is still importing clothing from halfway around the world.

Answer 2

My say, globalization is a vague term. Everyone wants to trade. I view it as a gamble between being the victor or the victim. The idea was good, but the effect was bad as it lead to different types of abuses. While other extremists magnify it's flaw and use it to gather sympathizers.

Terminologies such as this has been used psychologicaly...letting you feel you're left out when you are not a part of it. Example: United Nations, World Bank. Being a part of any organization doesn't make anyone more special. The country itself should make itself attractive for investors.

But bear in mind what makes a product special- or even a service - is when you are unique and independent.

Philippines was left out becuase local producers always thought more export means more money- choosing better products for foreigners- bad apples to the locals (not 100 % but most in the agriculture business because of quality control criterias), while local people had been hypnotized by creative advertisements what people should patronize... they should have thought that if local people purchase your goods, you dont need too much clearance, transportations and long distance communications.

While China was able to secure their interests first before participating in the global race.

*For conspiracy fanatics, they'll view globalisation as one of the goals of the One World movement. which i cannot disagree.

Answer 3

Globalisation is a new-ish (but now old fashioned) buzz word, which is why it is not very useful. Global trade has existed for thousands of years. The breaking down of trade barriers and the idea of trade for its own sake- as a moral force in itself- is post industrial revolution and was used to justify building the European colonial empires. Matthew Perry's visit to Japan was a very salient example of the idea- and one can see how 'modern' it appears, when one considers the use of the World Trade Organisation mechanism to stop small/weak nations protecting their economies.

And to learn about the economic and trade ideas that were behind the modern concept of 'globalisation,' I would suggest you examine the development of organisations like the World Trade Organisation and International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the breakdown of the Bretton Woods agreement.

Globalisation is little heard these days because we are again retreating into nationalistic tribes. Globalisation suited the powerful countries when it was used to break into cheap labour markets and get commodities, but now the ideas are being turned against these same countries- for instance urging them to stop protecting agriculture and manufacturing.

So the push to drop trade barriers is now unpopular among the countries that have the power to push the international agenda. Modern intellectual property laws- which are now VERY broadly interpreted and last for decades- are also used to prevent profitable industries developing in emerging states. This emergence was one of the unfulfilled promises of globalisation.

Answer 4

In my humble opinion the basis for "The First Era of Globalization" was the world-wide telegraph network a.k.a. "The Victorian Internet" (with pneumatic tubes as a "Victorian Wide Area Network" and Chappe's optical telegraph as an early WIFI). Beginning with the laying of the first transatlantic cable in 1858.

"Imagine an almost instantaneous communication system that would allow people and governments all over the world to send and receive messages about politics, war, illness, and family events. The government has tried and failed to control it, and its revolutionary nature is trumpeted loudly by its backers. The Internet? Nope, the humble telegraph fit this bill way back in the 1800s." (Review "The Victorian Internet", Amazon.com)

"News of the first transatlantic cable in 1858 led to predictions of world peace and an end to old prejudices and hostilities. Soon enough, however, Standage reports, criminal guile, government misinformation and that old human sport of romance found their way onto the wires." (Review "The Victorian Internet", Publishers Weekly)

"The Transatlantic cable bridged the North American continent and Europe, and expedited communication between the two. Whereas it would normally take weeks to deliver a message by ship, it now took a matter of minutes by telegraph." ("Transatlantic telegraph cable", Wikipedia)

"The telegraph lines from Britain to India were connected in 1870 (those several companies combined to form the Eastern Telegraph Company in 1872). The telegraph across the Pacific was completed in 1902, thus telegraph at last was the girdle around the world." ("Telegraphy : Electrical telegraphs", Wikipedia)

(And if you *really* want to stretch the concept, you could see a neolithic "globalisation" based on trading routes for flint stones, obsidian, shells from the Mediterranean, spices from China, tin from Spain and Cornwall, amber from the Baltic, copper from Cyprus, silver from Greece, gold fom Ireland, and diamonds from India.)

Answer 5

Even before the discovery of America there was a kind of global economy involving Europe, Asia and Africa. However, it affected mostly the ruling elite. Peasants didn't know much about it. The spread of printing definitely helped.
Civilization and Capitalism by Fernand Braudel is very interesting if you are really into it.

Answer 6

by utilising the somewhat definition of globalization, i'd would desire to assert that all of it started in Greece (Macedon) with Alexander III (the excellent). His conquest did not merely take administration of land and human beings, it unfold Hellenism by way of the civilized international of that ingredient.

Answer 7

where it started is debatable, but it definately picked up force after world war 2

Answer 8

Nope: the smoke signal and what we call primitive art: untranslated languages from lost civilizations.

Boaz