The age of globalization began in the 17th century when different parts of the world came in contact with one another by establishing trade relations. While globalization connected different parts of the world, it also gave rise to capitalism. The events leading up to globalization and in turn, capitalism, are interpreted differently by historians such as Timothy Brook, in his book Vermeer’s Hat and by Greg Grandin, in his book Empire of Necessity. This essay focuses on the interpretations of globalization and capitalism by these authors and discusses the impacts of capitalism between the 17th and 19th century. Brook argues that rise of global capitalism initiated through the movement and transculturation of products, people and ideas …show more content…
These transformation, according to Brook, brought an effect called “transculturation”, which connected people from different backgrounds and brought the world together. Another argument that Brook makes is that China was the main deriving force of the migration and movement of people and goods from Europe to Asia. Porcelain from China became popular in Europe and played an important role in the development of regular trade between Europe and Asia. The Europeans soon started to replicate the porcelain bowls. This is also an example of transculturation. Apart form the chartered companies, explorers such as Samuel Champlain’s conquest to find another route to China by using profit earned from fur trade, also played a role in globalization. Brook also emphasized on the role tobacco played in globalization, capitalism and transculturation. Tobacco, originally from the Americas, held a spiritual value to the Native Americans. After the arrival of the Europeans, it became popular but for different reasons. As a result, tobacco plantations were formed and from there, tobacco travelled to different parts of the world, including China, where it started having a different cultural value. This shows how porcelain and tobacco played an important role in connecting people together. Brook also talks about the movement of people that was took place in the 17th century, leading to the movement of culture and ideas. In the book Empire of Necessity, author
Within the source the author is trying to say that the legacy of historical globalization has resulted in advancements in modern society and people have prospered from it. Mainly how the driving force of the ethnocentrism in historical globalization leads to a prosperous society. The specific line of “superior standard of living shared by individuals in the developed world was achieved through historical globalization” supports this and is also referring to how in the first world have benefited. The superior standard of living that the source is referring to is the comforts of life and how living standards have skyrocketed now. This taken along with the author following that up with “in the developed world” means that only the developed/first
Globalization has dependably rivaled other verifiable strengths, including patriotism. Accordingly, history has seen both periods in which the world has turned out to be more incorporated, and times in which the pattern has been switched. There was, for occurrence, a high level of worldwide financial association from the mid-nineteenth century until
Throughout time every society has had to address enduring themes with different results. One of these enduring themes is cultural diffusion and trade. This is particularly apparent during the 1500s When Europeans arrived in the new world. It is also apparent when slaves were brought to the New World during the Atlantic Slave Trade. Although cultural diffusion was negative in that it caused the death of many Native Americans overall cultural diffusion was positive in that it increased communication between the New World and the Old World and it brought new crops and raw materials to the Old World.
The ideological perspectives of the planet Earth are varied at least, and all over the place at most. This variety of weltanschauung often results in one of two things; heated arguments between two or more parties, or position papers such as this one. For the purposes of this paper, I will be discussing three different sources provided for me within the assignment. Each one shows a different point of view on the topic of historical globalization and the legacies that followed after them.
It is believed that for thousands of years, the process of cross cultural buying and selling of goods among people has been continuing in the lands at great distances. Such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. In a similar manner, for centuries, people and organisations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, majority of the features of the current wave of globalisation are similar to those prevailing before the ensuing of First World War in 1914 (Waters, 1995).
Modern society should respond to the legacies and problems created by globalization in the past. Without these responses, relationships with indigenous peoples who were harmed from colonization will never be repaired. There is a popular belief that these should not be acted on because what occurred in the past can not be undone and is not the fault or burden of modern society. This proves to not be true because some issues from the past are just coming to light and being debated and responded to today. Examples of this would be the effect of residential schools on the Aboriginal community, and the debate of who land traditionally occupied by First Nations belongs to. If historical globalization is
In Vermeer’s Hat: The seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, Timothy Brook uses Vermeer’s paintings to show the effects of trade on the world and the overall globalization occurring. Brook argues that this globalization had begun in the seventeenth century. He takes a look at Vermeer’s paintings, and uses them as windows into seventeenth century history to discuss further topics of interest. Through every painting, it leads to a door that
At this point of time, globalization has grown to be a phenomenon that is significantly important economically, politically, and culturally. The amalgamation and incorporation of the world economy around the globe has reshaped business. Not only this, it has created "new social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth, and, occasionally, wretched poverty" (Kiggundu 2002, p. 4) by restructuring the lives of the individuals. For some, globalization is associated to modernism and contemporary practices. Others understand it as American domination (particularly those living in Asia). On the other hand, some people believe it to be the emasculation of America (Kiggundu 2002, p. 4).
Globalization deals with the break down of traditional boundaries in the face of increasingly global financial and cultural trends. It is a process that results in the growing interconnectedness of the world. Globalization is understood as the force that promotes the global interdependence of economies, political systems, and societies. It creates a complex system of exchanges of goods, services, people, wealth, knowledge, and beliefs. Both Timothy Brook’s Vermeer’s Hat and Sidney Mintz’s Sweetness and Power deal with the role of commodities in world history. Mintz analyzes the history of sugar production and consumption in Europe. Mintz discusses how the fall of sugar as a luxurious and exotic product to a necessity for the most common of the working class was able to command a revolution in diet and lifestyle, during industrialization and the rise of capitalism. Brook tells the story of tobacco’s route from the Americas to Europe. As tobacco became a commercial crop, it allowed for a new system of trade, further connecting Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Both works highlight the importance of each respective commodity in the linking of the global community. The integration of both sugar and tobacco in global trade had a profound impact on the power structures of society in the seventeenth century.
This essay will further the notion that globalisation occurred during Christopher Columbus’s journey to the Americas as it formed the basis for wider commercial activity to occur. The debate in question is marked by various views. One argument is that globalisation began prior to Columbus whereas other scholars believe the structure of a defragmented economy was the cause. Furthermore this essay will aim to analyse the concept of globalisation as being valued for demonstrating the interaction and interconnectivity in the human past. This facilitated the structures of the new world. However the definition of globalisation must be noted in order to come to a suitable judgement of its effectiveness in the human past and when it began. Globalisation
There is controversy over when globalization began because there is no crystal clear start to globalization. Some people believe that globalization started when the Buddhist leader Chandragupta combined aspects of trade, religion, and military to create a protected trading area. Others believe that globalization began under Genghis Khan’s rule. The Mongolian warrior-ruler created an empire that had trade integrated into it. There are also some experts that believe that the rise of globalization was linked to 1492, the year Christopher Columbus made his first trip to the New World.
‘Globalization: What’s new? What’s not? (And so what)’, portrays the speed in which globalism has increased through many different factors; economically, military, environmentally and socially. This is an idealist analytic approach, not set in stone. This leads on to
Globalization involves a variety of links expanding and tightening a web of political, economic and cultural inter-connections. Most attention has been devoted to merchandise trade as it has had the most immediate (or most visible) consequences, but capital, in and of itself, has come to play an arguably even larger role than the trade in material goods. Human movements also link previously separate communities. Finally, there is the cultural connection. All the individual data would indicate that we are undergoing a process of compression of international time and space and an intensification of international relations. The separation of production and consumption that is the heart of modern capitalism appears to have
Scholte briefly examines six differing theoretical approaches to explaining globalization – what are they? What is the central theme of each?
The rise of globalization following WWII generated three important factors that define today’s world. McNeill and McNeill agree with Pollard, Rosenberg, and Tignor that multiple economic changes, such as the creation of financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) contributed to the globalization of the world economy. Carter and Warren further this argument by claiming that globalization has caused shifts in the modern economy, namely the rise of Asian economic powers. However, all three historians agree that the rise of globalization goes hand in hand with the rise of inequality in today’s world. Gaps in power, wealth, and access to information have only widened due to the trend of globalization. The final key factor defining our world today are the ongoing processes affecting development countries. McNeill and McNeill argue similarly to Carter and Warren that the end of imperialism generated new nations who quickly realized the free market was a pathway to stability. However, Pollard et al. and McNeill and McNeill place importance on financial institutions like the IMF forcing developing nations to reform their economies to be subservient to the world’s economy. Together, these historians argue that the trend of globalization following WWII caused factors like the modern global economy, the rise in inequality, and the development of new, decolonized nations to be key determiners in the world today.