ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a historic fashion, the development processes of various societies. It focuses on the role that technology has played in regard to the organisation of these societies and its exchange with the life-sustaining system. The importance of economies of scale in major industrial sectors was a main driver for globalisation. In the 1970s, companies discovered that it paid to concentrate on specific technology areas and markets. When the population of hunters and gatherers rose above the regional 'ecocapacity' and all habitats had been colonised, competition for food began. Contagious diseases introduced by the Europeans decimated the agricultural societies of Central America and the Andes, and the remaining people were suppressed by force. Increased availability of fuels and better transport facilities enabled cheap large-scale industrial production of commodities based on the supply of raw materials from all around the world.
