Until the 15 th century, technical progress achieved in Europe relied upon technology transfers from Asia and the Arab world.Īt the end of the 15 th century and during the 16 th century, trade started to follow other routes. India also played an active role in trade exchanges between China and Europe. The main route linking Europe to India (whether from the state of Gujarat in North-West India or from Kerala and the Calicut or Cochin harbours in the South-West) passed through the Mediterranean Sea, Alexandria, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula and finally the Arabian Sea. Trade between Europe and China followed terrestrial and maritime routes (via the Black sea). Until the forced integration of the Americas in global commerce, the main axis of intercontinental trade exchanges involved China, India and Europe. In 1700, the indigenous population constituted three-quarters of the population in 1820, their proportion had dropped down to 3%. Indigenous populations were either wiped out or driven outside the settlement zones of European settlers. In North America, the European colonization started during the 17 th century, mainly led by England and France, before undergoing a rapid expansion during the 18 th century, an era also marked by massive importation of African slaves. A convenient justification for exploitation and extermination. It is worth recalling that during a long period of time, Europeans, supported by the Vatican, did not consider indigenous people from the Americas as human beings. In the case of most islands of the Caribbean Sea, the whole indigenous population had been wiped out. One century later, only around 8 million inhabitants were left (including European settlers and the first African slaves). In 1500, just at the beginning of the brutal intervention of the Spaniards and the Portuguese in Central and South America, this region had at least 18 million inhabitants (some authors put forward much larger figures of close to 100 million ). Later on, they completed their domination in Australia and finally Africa. Simultaneously, European powers started the conquest of Asia. The Spanish conquistadors and their Portuguese, British, French and Dutch counterparts together conquered the whole geographical area, commonly known as the Americas, by causing the death of the vast majority of the indigenous population in order to exploit the natural resources (in particular gold and silver). It was the starting point of a brutal and bloody intervention of European sea powers in the history of American peoples, a region of the world that had, up to then, remained insulated from regular relationships with Europe, Africa and Asia. The beginning of Globalization goes back to the outcomes of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus that brought him, on October 1492, to the shore of an island in the Caribbean Sea. In this study, Éric Toussaint covers the period from the 15 th to the 21 st century, focusing on the dramatic effects of capitalist globalisation.