ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the remarkable technological changes of the 19th century: changes in production techniques introduced higher levels of efficiency and optimism; while developments in modern transportation and communication effectively shrunk the world until it functioned like a single, world market for goods, capital, labor and services. It describes the development of these global markets in trade, finance and migration. The chapter traces larger patterns of global economic integration over the entire period. The expansion of the modem postal service and the development of new technologies effectively shrunk the world to its inhabitants. The chapter describes the political developments and their consequence for world trade. A global financial system grew to support this expanding network of trade. This new system was home to a wide range of international borrowers and lenders, gathered in some of Europe's largest cities, to secure the capital for both private and public ventures.
