5.1 Industrialization and Global Capitalism

Period 5 – Industrialization and Global Integration, c. 1750 CE to c. 1900 CE

Industrialization fundamentally altered the production of goods around the world. It not only changed how goods were produced and consumed and what was considered a “good,” it also had far-reaching effects on the global economy, social relations, and culture. Although it is common to speak of the “Industrial Revolution,” the process of industrialization was a gradual one that unfolded over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, eventually becoming global.

Illustrative examples, production and export of natural resources:

• Cotton
• Rubber
• Palm oil
• Sugar
• Wheat
• Meat
• Guano
• Metals
• Diamonds

Illustrative examples, decline of Middle Eastern and Asian share in global manufacturing:

• Shipbuilding in India and Southeast Asia
• Iron works in India
• Textile production in India and Egypt

Illustrative examples, commodities that contributed to the expansion of the 19th-century global economy:

• Opium produced in the Middle East or South Asia and exported to China
• Cotton grown in South Asia, Egypt, the Caribbean, or North America and exported to Great Britain and other European countries
• Palm oil produced in Sub-Saharan Africa and exported to European countries
• Copper extracted in Chile and the Western United States

Illustrative examples, transnational businesses:

• The United Fruit Company based in the U.S. and operating in Central America
• Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) founded by British bankers

Illustrative examples, financial instruments:

• Stock markets
• Insurance
• Gold standard
• Limited-liability corporations

Illustrative examples, state-sponsored visions of industrialization:

• The economic reforms of Meiji Japan
• The development of factories and railroads in Tsarist Russia
• Muhammad Ali’s development of a cotton textile industry in Egypt