ABSTRACT
Understanding currently explosive urbanization across the post-colonial world, its distinctive characteristics, and how to make sense of it, cannot be complete without situating it within the long historical geography of colonialism and globalizing capitalism. From this perspective, we are now observing the return of these regions of the world to the centre of urbanization processes. Cities originated in Asia and were larger and more prosperous there, and in the Americas, before Columbus's 1492 voyage to present-day Cuba, Hispaniola and the Bahamas catalysed European colonialism (Sjoberg 1960; Bairoch 1988; Sheppard et al. 2009). For Europe, colonialism and capitalism were closely entwined. Local, urban-based proto-capitalist economic practices were scattered along the coasts of Asia, Africa and Europe prior to 1492. Subsequently, Europe shifted from being peripheral to Asian prosperity and trade to become the core of the global economy, as colonialism enabled capitalism, the continent entered its industrial revolution, and its cities grew accordingly (Bairoch 1988; Blaut 1993; Goody 2007). Amsterdam (home of the world's first stock market), Paris and London each took their turn as the world's metropolis, reflecting their country's waxing and waning role in Europe's competition to control the world.
