Nayan Chanda (born 1946 in India) is the founder and former editor-in-chief of YaleGlobal Online

Magazine,

He is the author of Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors Shaped
Globalization(Yale University Press, 2007) Chinese, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese
and Turkish translations of the book have been published.

Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and

Warriors Shaped Globalization
Since humans migrated from Africa and dispersed throughout the world, they have found countless ways
and reasons to reconnect with each other. Nayan Chanda follows the exploits of traders, preachers,
adventurers, and warriors throughout history as they have shaped and reshaped the world.

For Chanda, globalization is a process of ever-growing interconnectedness and interdependence that

began thousands of years ago and continues to this day with increasing speed and ease.

Hardwire = make (a pattern of behaviour or belief) standard or instinctive.

"it takes about three weeks for a new habit to be hardwired in your brain"
ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF GLOBALIZATION

 The previous discussions answered the question what is globalization,

(Globalization or globalisation is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and
governments worldwide.)
 the next question “ where did it start”
Telling the story of the origins and history of globalization is no easy matter since there are a number of different
perspectives on these issues.
 In this section we will offer five different ways of thinking about what turn out to be very complex issues.
1. Hardwired
 Nayan Chanda ( 2007 : xiv) argues that “ globalization stems, among other things, from a basic
human urge to seek a better and more fulfi lling life ” (2007: xiii).
 This leads him to trace “ the initial globalization of the human species, [to] when in the late Ice
Age, a tiny group of our ancestors walked out of Africa in search of better food and security. In
fifty thousand years of wandering along ocean coasts and chasing game across Central Asia, they
finally settled on all the continents. ”
 Chanda focuses on four specific aspects of globalization that relate to a basic “ urge ” for a better
life –
1. trade (or commerce),
2. missionary work (religion),
3. adventures and
4. conquest (politics and warfare).
 All of these are key aspects of globalization, all can be traced to early human history, and all, as
well as much else, will be dealt with in this volume. However, Chanda ’ s view that globalization is
hardwired into humans is not the one accepted here since we argue that we are now living in a
distinctive global age.
2. Cycles 4. Events
3. Epochs 5. Broader, More Recent Changes

ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF GLOBALIZATION

 The previous discussions answered the question what is globalization,

(Globalization or globalisation is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and
governments worldwide.)
 the next question “ where did it start”
Telling the story of the origins and history of globalization is no easy matter since there are a number of different
perspectives on these issues.
 In this section we will offer five different ways of thinking about what turn out to be very complex issues.
1. Hardwired
 Nayan Chanda ( 2007 : xiv) argues that “ globalization stems, among other things, from a basic
human urge to seek a better and more fulfi lling life ” (2007: xiii).
 This leads him to trace “ the initial globalization of the human species, [to] when in the late Ice
Age, a tiny group of our ancestors walked out of Africa in search of better food and security. In
fifty thousand years of wandering along ocean coasts and chasing game across Central Asia, they
finally settled on all the continents. ”
 Chanda focuses on four specific aspects of globalization that relate to a basic “ urge ” for a better
life –
1. trade (or commerce),
2. missionary work (religion),
3. adventures and
4. conquest (politics and warfare).
 All of these are key aspects of globalization, all can be traced to early human history, and all, as
well as much else, will be dealt with in this volume. However, Chanda ’ s view that globalization is
hardwired into humans is not the one accepted here since we argue that we are now living in a
distinctive global age.
2. Cycles 4. Events
3. Epochs 5. Broader, More Recent Changes
 ORIGINS AND
HISTORY OF
GLOBALIZATION
five different
ways
1. Hardwired
2. Cycles
3. Epochs
4. Events
5. Broader, More
Recent Changes
1. Hardwired
Chanda focuses on
four specific aspects
of globalization that
relate to a basic “
urge ” for a better
life –
1. trade (or
commerce),
2. missionary work
(religion),
3. adventures and
4. conquest (politics
and warfare).