1. What is Globalisation?

2. When did it start? An annotated timeline

3. What's different now?

   ---

"“GLOBALISATION” is a relatively recent term. A search in the archives of this newspaper, perhaps the one most closely associated with globalisation, shows the word first used in 1961 in an article on the need for economic reform in Spain. Only in the 1980s did the term get the meaning it now has, when Theodore Levitt, a Harvard academic, used it to refer to the spread of corporations around the world. By the end of the decade, with the Berlin Wall in pieces, the number of articles (and letters to the editor) mentioning globalisation surged. Protests in Seattle in 1999 and in Genoa two years later encouraged more uses of the term, as did global trade negotiations in 2006. But with the current recession, the term is somewhat out of fashion." (Economist on-line, Nov. 5th, 2009)

The Economist  (July, 2009) has a prosaic and practical conception of the term: "the more or less simultaneous marketing and sale of identical goods and services around the world. ...The statistic that perhaps best reflects the growth of globalisation is the value of cross-border world trade expressed as a percentage of total global GDP: it was around 15% in 1990, is some 20% today and is expected by McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, to rise to 30% by 2015. ...Globalisation “is the freer movement of goods, services, ideas and people around the world” ...A former chief executive of Coca-Cola admitted that the company had once upon a time changed its globalisation strategy. “We used to be an American company with a large international business,” he said. “Now we’re a large international company with a sizeable American business.”".


Academics and Social Scientists have a different and more conceptual view: 
Manfred B, Stenger:  Globalisation - a very short introduction, Oxford, 2009.  "Globalisation is not a single process, but a set of processes that operate simultaneously and unevenly on several levels and in various dimensions" (p 36). He suggests that there are five major strands to the phenomenon/process:  economic, political, cultural, environmental, ideological;  and offers the follwing definition: "Globalisation refers to the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness across world-time and world-space. (p15). [Note - Stenger apparently discounts or subsumes the influence of 'technology']

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an extensive discussion of Globalisation definitions and ideas – (note the ‘David Harvey’ cited here is NOT me). "most contemporary social theorists endorse the view that globalization refers to fundamental changes in the spatial and temporal contours of social existence, according to which the significance of space or territory undergoes shifts in the face of a no less dramatic acceleration in the temporal structure of crucial forms of human activity. Geographical distance is typically measured in time. As the time necessary to connect distinct geographical locations is reduced, distance or space undergoes compression or “annihilation.” The human experience of space is intimately connected to the temporal structure of those activities by means of which we experience space. Changes in the temporality of human activity inevitably generate altered experiences of space or territory. Theorists of globalization disagree about the precise sources of recent shifts in the spatial and temporal contours of human life. Nonetheless, they generally agree that alterations in humanity's experiences of space and time are working to undermine the importance of local and even national boundaries in many arenas of human endeavor. "

You could also try the Globalisation Web Site - for a Sociological perspective;
or Global Transformations, by David Held and Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt and Jonathan Perraton, which is well organised and has the major links. This site "serves to support and extend the resources of those who use the Global Transformations books series. The series comprises four books:
    * Global Transformations,  on the changing nature and shape of globalization over time. (Robinson Books Level 3 (327 GLO )
    * The Global Transformations Reader, which offers a comprehensive set of texts on the great globalization debate – texts which are representative of all the major points of view and research traditions on this topic (Robinson Books Level 3 (303.482 GLO )
    * Governing Globalization, which explores how globalization is governed, the problems of governance and what can be done about these. (Robinson Books Level 3 (341.2 GOV )
    * Globalization Theory, which aims to extend our understanding of how globalization can best be examined and explained."

The Levin Institute - State University of New York, has a comprehensive Globalisation 101 site, and defines Globalisation as "Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment  and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world." There is a wealth of basic information and explanation on this page.

See also, Smith, M. K. and Doyle M. (2002) 'Globalization', The encyclopedia of informal education (infed) which, itself, is often a useful port-of-call for ideas and synopses of major ideas and issues, though can become out-of-date rather quickly - much like the rest of the world!

---

12000BC(E):  our hominid ancestors had settled all five continents from their origins in East Africa: see, e.g. The National Geographic's Genographic Project

8000BC(E):  Cultivation (Farming)  begins in the Fertile Crescent, north-central China, North Africa, north-western India and New Guinea -> increased populations, settled permanent villages and fortified towns – powerful (and relatively rich) communities based on agriculture and food production -> distinct ‘craftsman’ (innovation and invention of new tools and artefacts) + professional soldiers and bureaucrats (governors). (see, e.g., History World International)

3000BCE:  Writing invented in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Central China; + the Wheel in South-West Asia, rapidly diffusing throughout Eurasia (geography and climate, and our principal food crops and domestic animals) c.f. the Inca, who managed a mighty empire without either) – world population, about 1 million

1600 - 1100BCE - Shang Dynasty in China providing our earliest recorded written history

221BCE: Qin Emperor unified much of north-west China -> Han, Sui, T’ang, Yuan and Ming dynasties ruling large empires to 1500CE, and included major advances in astronomy, maths and chemistry: - new ploughshares, hydraulic engineering, gunpowder, tapping natural gas, the compass, mechanical clocks, paper, printing, and sophisticated metalworking -> vast irrigation and water transport systems, codification of laws, standardisation of weights and measures, values of coinage, -> the Silk Road, linking to the Roman empire – only to succumb to ‘fateful political decisions’ to turn inwards, halt overseas navigation and trade and mandated a retreat from further technological development (according to Stenger, op cit.).

[For an impressive depiction of the growth of these trade networks between 3500BC and 1500AD see Andrew Sherratt, ArchAtlas (University of Sheffield) Trade Routes - Growth of Global Trade.  Consequences:  economic and cultural exchange -> major migrations and population increases (see, also, Michigan Global Change Lectures) -> rise of major cities + culture clashes, ‘globalisation’ of previous local religions, and spread of disease.  History World is also a useful site to check dates and events - try travel & transport timeline, or commerce & industry - see the "single subject timelines" for instance.]

1350AD Plague kills up to 1/3 of population in China, Middle East and Europe, spreading in both bubonic and pneumonic versions from Asia and China - the Black Death, and eventually, in the 1500s (16th C) an estimated 18million native Americans.

1452:  Printing:  The Gutenberg Bibles printed - the founding of the 'modern' globalisation?

1492:   Columbus finds the Americas, instead of the Asian spice islands, and begins the European colonisation of the Americas.

1500 – 1600: the (European) Renaissance: a (the?) transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern era as the 're-birth' and beginning of modern history. "a rediscovery of rational civilization (exemplified by Greece and Rome) after the medieval centuries - seen as superstitious and artistically primitive."

1600-1750: The European Enlightenment: (see, also, the New World Encyclopedia) Wikipedia: “The Enlightenment is held to be the source of critical ideas, such as the centrality of freedom, democracy, and reason as primary values of society. This view argues that the establishment of a contractual basis of rights would lead to the market mechanism and capitalism, the scientific method, religious tolerance, and the organization of states into self-governing republics through democratic means. In this view, the tendency of the philosophes in particular to apply rationality to every problem is considered the essential change.” + the reformation (of the Catholic Church) -> major European growth and expansion of trade: National Joint Stock companies of Dutch East India Company, and the British East India Company (and East India Company) both formed in the early 1600s., and, of course, the archetypical example of the evils of trade, exploitation and greed – the triangular slave trade.

1607: The first permanent British settlement in North America – Jamestown, Virginia – whose prosperity grew through tobacco, and the slaves used to grow, harvest and process it.

1620: the Pilgrim Fathers sail to America on the Mayflower, a ship belonging to the Plymouth Company (main interest, cod fishing), which had a royal charter to found and govern new colonies in America.

1648: Sovereign States:  the Treaty of Westphalia (ending the thirty years war, and, arguably, the predominance of religion as the basis of common rule) and giving birth to the ‘western common model’ of independent sovereign states.

1720: South Sea Bubble -  the second major European speculative bubble, after the tulip bubble in the Netherlands in 1593.

1765:  Arkwright invents the water (spinning frame) (water powered).
1698:  Savery invents a steam driven pump.
1705:  Newcomen invents and patents his steam engine, to pump water from mines, and the technology of the Industrial Revolution begins.
1769:  James Watt patents his seperate condensor and fathers the modern steam engine.
1804:  Trevithik's steam train moves coal by tramway (rather than rail), for the first time, and the rail age is born
1825:  the Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using locomotives designed by George Stephenson.
1838:  Brunel's Great Western steamship enters service - extending steam transport from London to America.

1821:  UK establishes the gold standard in law, following de facto use for more than 100 years.

1848:  Marx and Engels publish the Communist Manifesto:  which neatly encapsulates a critical essence of globalisation: “The discovery of America prepared the way for might industry and its creation of a truly global market. The latter greatly expanded trade, navigation, and communication by land. These developments, in turn, caused further expansion of industry. The growth of industry, trade, navigation and railroads also went hand in hand with the rise of the bourgeoisie and capital which pushed into the background the old social classes of the Middle Ages. .. Chased around the globe by its burning desire for ever-expanding markets for its products, the bourgeoisie has no choice but to settle everywhere; cultivate everywhere; establish connections everywhere. .. Rapidly improving the instruments of production, the bourgeoisie utilises the incessantly easing modes of communication to pull all nations into civilisation – even the most barbarian ones. .. In a nutshell, it creates the world in its own image.” (Steger, p 32)

1866: Transatlantic telegraph link finally becomes fully operational (after first cable laid in 1858)

1885:  Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed - and Canada becomes a country (actually established under the British North America Act of 1867) - see Map

1897/99:  Crow's Nest Pass Agreement between the Canadian Government and the CPR, fixing and freezing freight rates to and from Western Canada "into perpetuity", with consequences (e.g. Harvey, 1980) which lasted until 1995, when the effective subsidisation of grain freight rates was finally repealed.

1913: Major European colonisation of the South, massive trade (12% of GDP for the industrialised countries, not surpassed until the 1970s); world wide brands – Coca Cola, Campbell Soups, Singer sewing machines, Remington typewriters. “There is no question that interstate rivalries intensified at the outset of the twentieth century as a result of mass migration, urbanisation, colonial competition, and the liberalisation of world trade. The ensuing period of extreme nationalism culminated in two world wars, a long global economic depression, and hostile measures to protect narrowly conceived political communities.” (Stenger, 2009, p 35).  Trade => Empires or Empires => Trade? where Prof. Ken Morgan concludes that "The current consensus is that trade and empire were significant for British economic growth in the Hanoverian period, even if they were not decisively important. British hegemony in empire and trade by 1815 was such that Britannia did rule the waves; but this would not have been achieved without the strong support provided by the 'military-fiscal' state and the Royal Navy. "

1914-18: The Great War: Grim statistics: 65m mobilised, 8.5m killed.

1917: The Russian Revolution.

1922: Soviet Republics united into the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), on which Leon Trotsky commented in 1936: "It is a lie and a triple lie to allege that socialism has been realized in the USSR." Others simply said that the USSR was a lie in every word

1929: The Great Crash -> the Great Depression.

1933: The New Deal launched by President Roosevelt in the US.
1933: Nazi Government in Germany – the Third Reich.

1939 – 45: World War II. 50-70m killed, of whom, 20-25m military.

1944: POST WAR 'CONCENSUS:   Bretton Woods: International ‘summit’ meeting - Establishment of the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development - IBRD) and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) as major arms of world governance, and the foundation of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, signed in 1947), as the intended companion of the Internatinal Trade Organisation (ITO), eventually to become the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, to complement the United Nations (1945 - see here for a brief history, and here for a brief outline of the organisation and its agencies).

1945: - Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed with US (allied) atomic bombs. WWII ends, and the nuclear age begins.
1945:    United Nations Charter  comes into force (24th October), this day has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948.
 
1946: Cold War begins as the Iron Curtain descends across Europe from Stechin (Stettin) on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic.
[See, also, the changing map of Europe: 1519-2009]

1947: IMF begins operations.
1947: GATT signed, eventually to become the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995.

1961: The Berlin Wall is erected.

1962: Cuban Missile Crisis - timeline

1971: UK, Ireland and Denmark join the European Union.
1971:  Collapse of the Bretton Woods Fixed exchange rate system - and the beginning of 'floating' exchange rates (and, as a result, of the importance of inflation and the primacy of Monetary policy.

1972: The Great Grain Robbery - USSR buys 440m. bu. wheat (15m tonnes, c.f. 'normal' years' purchases of 300 - 400k tonnes) from the US, greatly exceeding forecasts of their imports, and leading to major commodity price spikes - wheat prices tripled by the end of 1973, corn and soybean prices more than doubled, and wholesale food prices climbed 29%.

1973: OPEC embargoes oil exports to the US in response to the Yom Kippur war and the US support of Israel. US oil prices rose almost 4 fold. "on October 17, OPEC struck back against the West by imposing an oil embargo on the U.S., while increasing prices by 70% to America's Western European allies. Overnight, the price of a barrel of oil to these nations rose from $3 to $5.11. In January 1974, they raised it further to $11.65."

[These 3 events - the floating (depreciating) $; Food Commodity Price Spike; OPEC's oil price spike - led to fears of Malthusian catastrophe and also to rapid monetary expansion (especially in the UK and US) to avoid raw material price driven recession -> double digit inflation (25% in the UK for almost 2 years). See UNCTAD stats for commodity price index history (nominal terms). It practically coincided with the Club of Rome's publication of the Limits to Growth report (1972)

1988:  The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by the UN’s World Meterological Organisation and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which has three working groups and one task force, as the world begins to recognise the possible dangers of climate change.
 
9/11/1989:  Collapse of the Berlin wall, following Gorbchev's "Perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness)

1991:  Iraq invades Kuwait, and the first Iraq war (Desert Storm) results, driving Iraq out of Kuwait.

1995: World Trade Organisation (WTO) formed - see, also, a companion site (GATT.org.)

1999: 30,000 demonstrators disrupt the WTO summit in Seattle

2001:  China joins the World Trade Organisation.
  
9/11/2001:  al-Qaeda coordinated attacks on Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, New York and the Pentagon, Washington using hijacked airliners, killing almost 3,000 people, including 19 hijackers, leading to war in Afghanistan to 'destroy' Osama bin Laden's base - in this case the Wikipedia entry is about as good as any other.

March, 2003: The 2nd Iraq War

7/7/2005:  London subject to 4 suicide bombings, killing 52 and injuring 700, in an apparent response by British Islamic fundamentalists against the Iraq war. on 21 July, another bombing attempt failed.

2006 – 2008:  World Commodity Price Spikes. (Wikipedia, in this case, is a good summary site - though the World Bank, FAO and OECD and IFPRI are also relevant).

April, 2007: New Century Financial, which specialises in sub-prime mortgages, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and cuts half of its workforce.
August 2007: French bank BNP Paribas suspends three investment funds with exposure to US sub-prime mortgage stocks
September 2007: Northern Rock suffers a run (the first on a British bank for ?? years), and is forced into public ownership.

15/9/2008:  Lehman Brothers bankruptcy  – the final ‘trigger’ for the Credit Crunch.

August 2012: Russia joins WTO, following 19 years of tortuous negotiations.

What next??  To see where we have come over the last 200 years - see Gapminder World.
See, also:  WorldMapper (wealth) (also, communications) - though data now somewhat out of date.

---