The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions

Even today, the Americas remain sparsely populated relative to Europe and Asia. The population densities of the continents (population per km2) as of 2018 are estimated as follows: Asia, 95; Europe, 73; Africa, 34; North America, 22; South America, 22; Australia, 3.

The U.S. geopolitical leadership has shown two faces to the world. One was the U.S. interest in building law-based multilateral institutions, including the global institutions of the UN system and regional institutions such as the European Community (and later European Union), of which the United States was a champion from the start. The other was

The economic importance of geography is therefore constantly reshaped by changing knowledge and technologies.

The industrial revolution emerged as a result of the interaction of geography, technology, and institutions.

At the same time, private commercial trade independent of the tributary trade was highly restricted. Indeed, in 1371, the Ming emperor had prohibited purely private trade. Zheng He’s patron and sponsor was the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–24). Upon the emperor’s death, his son discontinued the voyages on the grounds that they were unnecessary, expensive

The great upheavals of the Mediterranean region following the fall of Rome, along with the weakening of the Persian (Sassanid) Empire in the seventh century, opened the way for yet another lightning conquest, this time by Arabs on horseback and camel who emerged from the Arabian desert with a new religion. Islam, and a succession of vast Islamic em

the high productivity of agriculture, which supported these large populations, also made possible a sophisticated division of labor, the development of writing systems, the rise of scientific knowledge (mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, agronomy), and the novelty of governance of large populations.

The Phoenicians displayed legendary trading and financial skills (Plato describes them in his Republic as “money-loving” compared with the “wisdom-loving” Greeks) but not military dominance. Thus, the Phoenicians were conquered by the rising tellurocracies of the era. Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Persian Empire conquered the Levantine city-sta

For more than three thousand years, semi-nomadic horsemen from the steppes settled, invaded, battled, dominated, and retreated from the temperate lands to the south. Regularly outnumbered, they won their victories through superior horsemanship, cavalry charges, careful planning, and valor. Their names—Huns, Alans, Goths, Turks, and Mongols—still in