ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the worldwide historical changes which contributed to the emergence of the Third World. Between 1492 and the present, a diverse world was welded into a more homogenous whole chiefly as a result of two forces: the expansion of European political control and the rise of capitalism. Western control of commercial agriculture involved three primary factors: the movement of crops; control over trade; and the availability of and control over a labour force. During the late eighteenth century and through the nineteenth century, world trade grew dramatically. Somewhat later, Europe began directly organizing colonial production on a large scale by investing overseas. These two economic changes remoulded much of the world’s production and distribution into an interconnected capitalist economy centred on Europe. In the USA, the UK and Japan, the pattern of growth in manufacturing employment and decline in agriculture is very clear and consistent, showing the steady progress of industrialization in these countries.
