When did globalization begin? Click on the dates in the following timeline to reveal key historical events related to globalization.
200 BCE - 1400 CE Silk Road: The Silk Road was a network of land and sea trade routes connecting Europe and Asia which began over 2000 years ago and continued for 1500 years.
1450 Gutenberg Printing Press: For the first time, multiple and identical copies could be made using this new invention. The information could be shared, communicated and transported easily for the first time.
1450 - 1950 Colonialism: A system where a ‘mother country’ controls trade with and between a series of overseas or conquered colonies: its’ empire. Map shows extent of European empires around 1914.
1492 Christopher Columbus: Technical advances in ships design and navigation allowed for global trade and colonization.
1492-1882 Triangular Trade: African slaves were transported across the Atlantic to provide labour for farms and mines which produced goods to be shipped to Europe to buy more goods to sell in Africa for more slaves and so on and on.
1519-1522 Ferdinand Magellan: Magellan was the first European to sail around the world, increasing the knowledge of seafaring navigation and the interconnectedness of the globe.
1602-1799 Dutch East India Company: The Dutch East India Company, arguably the first multinational corporation, that traded between Europe and Asia.
1760-1870 Industrial revolution: The period of rapid technological development mainly involving the change from hand tools to steam and water powered machines and from small shops to large factories.
1711- 1876 The Evolution of the Steam Engine: The steam engine made it possible to build factories that were not tied to the limitations of wind, water or human power, allowing for the exploitation of human and natural resources on a vast scale.
1831 Michael Faraday: Michael Faraday, inventor of the first electric generator which eventually allowed the more efficient electric motor to replace the steam engine, kicking off what some call the Second Industrial Revolution.
1830-1896 Electric and Wireless Telegraph: Communication is, for the first time, separated from transportation and was, for the first time rapid and global. At first, the messages were sent on wires but later used radio waves.
1876 Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell was first to patent a way to transmit voice over distance, increasing the speed and range of communication
1903 Wright brothers: First airplanes were flimsy and dangerous but within 35 years, commercial airliners connected cities and countries around the world.
1914-1918 World War I: Considered the first global industrial war, the huge social, political and economic disruptions led to the first steps towards the breakup of European empires and colonies.
1939-1945 World War II: The second global industrial war, the resulting disruption led to the end of European empires but the rise of the Cold War and new trading blocs dominated by the ‘Western Powers’ and the ‘Communist Bloc.’
1949 - Present Neo Colonialism: Corporations take over from empires, controlling the resources and economies of LEDCs.
1947 Mahatma Gandhi: Non-violent resistance to colonial domination began the period of decolonization and the decline of the British empire as well as the decline of other European empires.
1958 First computer ‘chip’: The modern computer began to appear at the end of World War II but the first computer chip was made in 1958 leading to what some observers have called the Third Industrial Revolution.
1972 Stockholm Conference: UN’s first conference in the environment. Keith Johnson (Jamaica), U Thant (Secretary General of the UN) and Canadian Maurice Strong (the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment) inspect the official poster for the Conference.
1973 First mobile phone call: Martin Cooper demonstrates the prototype for the first mobile phone.
1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall: Key event in the break up of the ‘communist bloc’ which accelerated the growth of new global markets.
1991 Maastricht Treaty: A stone marker to the agreement creating the foundation for the European Union.
1992 Earth Summit: Conference on the environment and development was hosted by the United Nations on Environment and Development.
1994 Rwandan genocide: Example of political and social upheaval that was the legacy of colonialism.
1995 Free Trade: North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and World Trade Organization (WTO) formed.
1999 WTO protests in Seattle:Public opposition to capitalism and globalization.
2002-2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS): The spread of disease has accelerated as a result of transportation technology. Black indicates confirmed deaths, red indicates confirmed cases of SARS infections.
2007 Apple launches first iPhone: The first generation Apple iPhone was released in 2007 only 3 years later the iPhone 4 was released becoming the iconic example of perceived obsolescence.