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Globalization: The Columbian Exchange

Decent Essays

According to Osterhammel and Petersson, globalization “summarizes a wide spectrum of experiences shared by many people” (2). I agree with this statement and would go on to claim that globalization is a group of processes and events, some beneficial and some harmful, that have resulted in the spread of networks across the world. However, this spread of networks did not happen over night. This is in part because not all interactions are transformed into networks, as these require a certain degree of longevity. In order for interactions to become networks, groups must consider the range between each other and their interactions must be important or impactful, intense, fast, durable, and frequent. For the reason that each of these characteristics must be present in order for networks to form, globalization has been in the works for many centuries and is still at work today. Therefore, while the historical events and processes of past centuries have provided the roots of globalization, the modernization of recent decades has built upon these roots to connect the world in a way …show more content…

The frequency of plants, animals, and even diseases being transported between the Old and New Worlds meant that a network had been formed between the two that would surely last. In a similar way, “the migration of Africans caused by the Atlantic slave trade represented a new level and intensity of integration, for it was the continual and regular transportation of a mass ‘commodity’” (48). There were also other major long-distance commercial links being forged, and in fact, “the first truly global trading network resulted from the silver mined in the Spanish colonies in America” (49). One more major development around this time was the creation of the printing press, which “made it easier for [Europeans] to develop potentially unlimited spheres of communication”

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