When Did Globalisation Begin?

Globalisation, generally speaking, is a term used to denote the increased connectedness of geographical spaces and scales in the economic, cultural and political realms.

Different definitions of globalisation lead to different historical geographies. (Historical geography is a subfield of geography that studies the spatial processes over long timescales in the past.) A very broad definition (for example, one that defines it as trade between far-away places) might suggest that globalisation is an ancient process, occurring since the beginning of history. A more narrow definition (such as Thomas Friedman s) could say that it is only a feature of the post-Cold War era, when the United States became the sole global superpower.

From a geographer`s perspective, this is an important question, because when globalisation began changes where it began and what spatial processes contributed to it. For example, if globalisation started in the 17^th century with the rise of European colonialism, we might be tempted to explain it as an achievement of Europe. Jones, writing in the 80s argued that Europe s conquest of the world was a miracle based on its unique geographical features. Following Blaut (1999), most geographers today disagree with this determinist account, emphasising instead the violent process of sacking the New World of its resources.

A vague definition of globalisation might even make the phrase useless. It is then, perhaps, the most useful to think about globalisation as a type of process that happened several times during history - sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, at different geographical places, driven by different processes. The current wave of globalisation started in the 1980s, was strengthened by the end of the cold war, and is driven by the economic policies of the major political-economic entities of the world.

What we can learn from this debate is that we can never take geographical concepts for granted - and what we mean by the concept always implies how we view the rest of the world.