User:Omartall90/sandbox

Article Evaluation

• I decide to evaluate the Wikipedia page of the Economy of Senegal which is where my family is from, Economically it is not the best place to live exactly but is one of the most popular destinations in Africa for tourism.
• The Article was on topic mostly all throughout the reading at some points the editor would wander off into topics that tie to the economy of Senegal but besides that it was really well focused.
• The Article is Written in a neutral perspective but lacks the true knowledge of Senegal it definitely would have helped if someone who was from the area was writing this article.
• This Article does only has two credible sources and one of them was not accessible the source was basically the stats of Senegal's economy. This one source was very broad and provided most of the information that was in this article.
• All of the information on this article is outdated most of the stats and economic reforms mentioned in this article are two decades old. The editor could have tried to update this page and inject some of the more recent economic reforms or the current economic status.
• In the Talk section many others pointed at the lack of information and lack of sources in making this article, in fact in the talk sections a user supplied external links and many other sources in order to edit the references section in the article.
• This article is apart of WikiProject Economics and has been rated a Start Class on the quality and Mid Importance on the importance scale which is a scale that says how important it is to edit said article.
• We have talked about other economic situations in other African countries but Senegal is not really in a big economic crisis yet so we probably would not venture into the economics of Senegal.

Project Topic

The Wiki page i have decided to work on is the page on First globalization, i chose this topic simply due to the lack of information on its page and it is a fairly an important era of economy.

What I have Learned In Global Issues

• How to correctly cite sources when editing a wiki page.
• I learned What a talk page is and what is the main purpose of it.
• How to work the references section of a Wikipedia page.
• How to evaluate a wiki page and being able to come the conclusion if the page is well written or poorly written.

First Globalization Edit

"First globalization" is a phrase used by economists to describe the world's first major period of the globalization of trade and finance, which took place between 1870 and 1914. The "second globalization" began in 1944 and ended in 1971 this further leads to the third era of globalization which began in 1989 and continues today.

The Term "Globalization" refers to the time period when organizations developed international influence and began operating on an international scale. Many economists classifies globalization in different ways, some believe that globalization has always progressed, but it has only progressed due to technological developments. Others believe that a breaking point in history caused its progression, but it is known that globalization always revolves around Capitalism, Technological innovation, and Politics.

Origins

Globalization revolves around technological and social advances, which leads to advances in trade and cultural relativism throughout the world. Some economist date that globalization took place during the discovery of The Americas by Christopher Columbus. This assumption is occasionally considered "false" due to the mass discovery of gold and silver in mines this discovery lead to the decrease in value of silver and gold in Europe causing instances of inflation in Spanish and Portuguese empires. The discovery of the Americas and the natives gave European traders a new source of labor between the continents, this increased trade. This stage has not been deemed officially the "First Era of Globalization' because the world trade value was not increasing exponentially as world trade increased by 1% per year from 1500-1800; which further lead to the true first era of globalization. Some can argue the industrial revolution was the breaking point that started the first globalization due to the technology discovered during the time period. The first globalization era paved the way for many economic policies and resources for trade used today, it also introduced many forms of technology that we have used and further improved In present day. Economic powers in the world started to expand and trade would increase as years progressed, and the many inventions that were beneficial for the economy and are the main reasons why the global trade value would start to accelerate.

Technological Advances Contributing to The First Globalization

These forms of technology revolutionized trade, the technological advancements made during the first era of globalization was a vital factor for the progression of globalization at the time. Technology like the steam engine and electric telegraph made trade easier and more efficient; markets began to expand due to the technological advancements and the improvement of communication helped economic powers in the world globalize smaller markets.

Steam Engine

Entering the 18th century, Globalization shifted into gear and world trade started to increase rapidly. The First Technological advancement that contributed to the first globalization was the steam engine which was first introduced in the 17th century, this led to major progress in international trade throughout the economic powers of the world. Although the steam engine was first discovered by Englishmen Thomas Newcomen, coal was its power source and years after the invention of the steam engine coal became the leading source of power in England so in order to maintain the usage of coal for steam engines Newcomen made a device that was able to consume the small coal that was considered "waste material". This device was deemed useful for a short period of time because it was considered as a waste of energy and was difficult to produce, so a Scottish instrument maker name James Watt gradually improved the steam engine's "efficiency as a pump, and made it possible to use the steam engine economically even in districts where coal was comparatively expensive". Watt is often credited for the invention of the steam engine because Newcomen's version of the steam engine was considered an "atmospheric" engine "because it engaged the weight of the atmosphere to produce the working action, by successively admitting and condensing the steam in a single working cylinder." Watt separated the two functions and went on to make the world first genuine steam engine.

The invention of the Steam engine had a great impact on the first wave of globalization because it paved the way for other technological advancements contributed to the increase of global trade. The steam engine improved transportation and gave industries tools to ramp up production, the idea of the steam engine lead to many other inventions that manufacturing companies used in the workplace like driving bellows, spinning machines, and weaving machines. It would also lead to many new forms of transportation made with watts model of the steam engine.

File:Trade patterns of British Trade ships 1800s.png

Trade patterns used by British ships in between 1800 and 1860

Steamship

The invention of the steamship had a great impact on the first wave of globalization before its invention trade routes were reliant on wind patterns but the creation of the steamship reduced shipping time and shipping cost. By 1850, nearly 129 countries used steamships for trade and approximately 5,000 imports and exports were made to 5,000 different cities thus increasing the value of the world global economy at the time. Before the Steamship was made sea routes were made on the wind patterns while sailing, trade boats from western Europe would sail south to reach what was called the "trade winds" which would lead through the Caribbean and towards Africa. This triangular route between Europe, Africa, United States and the West Indies would later become a main trade pattern in the world. The First steamship ever made was unfortunately unsuccessful, it was made by American inventor John Fitch in 1787. They were deemed too expensive to build and too difficult to maintain the steamship would later be improved gradually, made in 1807 by American inventor Robert Fulton after successfully testing his version of the steamship "The Clermont" on the Hudson River in 1825. The first steamships were used to tour civilians but were later used for trade; due to the steamship international trade increased and vessels were not reliant on wind anymore. The steamship ruled trade and travel for nearly a century, its demise as a primary resource for trade started during the beginning of the 19th century due to the discovery of other forms of transportation.

Steam Train

George Stephenson "Blucher" the first steam locomotive made specially to run on rails.

Following the discovery of the Steamship, after a century of dominance, the steamship was soon replaced by the Steam Locomotive as the primary source for trade in the world. The steam train substantially impacted the first stage of globalization because it also leads to many other social and technologically advances especially in Europe. The production of the first running steam locomotive was made by Richard Trevithick in 1803, it was specifically made to run on rails simply because the engine was too powerful to run safely on road or wooden tracks. It was convenient because the railroad systems connected cities, regions, nations, and some continents to each other making trade routes much faster and wider. Although Trevithick is credited for the first steam locomotive, it is claimed that his version lacked the marketing and further innovation, so other inventors attempted to upgrade the steam train to improve its performance. English Inventor George Stephenson started experimenting with Watts steam engine early in his career; he grew fond of the concept so he decided to work on his first steam locomotive crafting it by hand. 10 months later, Stephenson completed his first steam train and tested its abilities, the train was able to pull 30 tons of material on a uphill track. Economic powers benefited a lot from the steam train because it made trade much faster than the steamship in some instances, British iron production increased a huge 2,500% from 1796 to 1854. It also benefited socially, the invention of the steam train introduced a stream of new job opportunities in big cities and it also increased populations substantially making relocating for some people much easier. It made living easier in Europe and some other countries, during this time workers gained more benefits as in some workers went from working the through the day from working a certain amount of hours and getting paid by the hour. Plus, due to the steam locomotive, prices for certain products decreased due to rapid production which would lead to increase in demand; giving people extra money to spend. The invention of steam locomotive was considered a turning point in globalization because it provided a lot of revenue for many businesses which lead to economic highs at the time.

Electric Telegraph

Morse Patent telegraph made in 1837

Arguably the most important technological advancement introduced during the first globalization is the electric telegraph in 1837. The electric telegraph's importance during this time was tremendous because it separated communication from transport, before its invention, in order to transport important information it must have been transported by boat or train which was not fast enough to relay important to information nationwide markets thus making markets more local and regional. The telegraph sent information long distances to another connected telegraph in around 4 minutes with Morse code. The electric telegraph was made by American inventor Samuel Morse a former painter who studied and was interested in electricity, He worked on the electric telegraph and perfected it in 12 years. He would later test is abilities in front of Congress in 1844 relaying a message from Washington to Baltimore showing them its reliability and value. The electric telegraph became so popular because of its convenience for both business owners and civilians, it made communication shorter and way less expensive, people would pay per word for a telegram usually ranging from 1 to 2 dollars per word. Merchant and producers made a lot more money with the invention of the telegraph, as stated before markets focused on its local region but the telegraph helped expand markets and giving business owners the opportunity to seek market information and transactions away from their area. By 1851 in the United States, there were about more than 50 telegraph companies operating around America. Although The telegraph was made years before, its transatlantic communication abilities were made in 1865 which of course result in an increase in international communication.

Capitalism during the first globalization

Map View of The Suez Canal

Capitalism is known as a driving force in Globalization and during the first globalization capitalism was starting to become popular in many countries. During the 18th century, production and manufacturing was becoming more and more developed with all of the new technological advances so a lot of business moved towards factory production. This was important for capitalist because factory production gave more control over the workforce, organized production and increased productivity. It also deskilled many workers that were specifically trained for a certain thing that job could have been replaced by machinery, also it molded some societies into two separate classes the industrial capitalist and waged workers.

During the first globalization, Great Britain was the main political and economic power in the first world. The British government believed in free trade politics, meaning that they can not apply tariffs, quotas, subsidies or prohibitions to any product or form of service. By 1860, Great Britain was the leader of Europe in GNP overthrowing the Russia who were the former leaders. Britain belief of free trade politics would soon become popular as other countries started to shift towards the free trade agreement. This lead to an increase in GDP and also international production chains and networks expanded. Arguably, the most important political event that took place during the first globalization was the order and construction of the Suez canal a man-made waterway passing through the Red Sea connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean essentially connecting making a direct trade route between Europe and Asia. This was an important event because this meant that trade boats did not have to circumnavigate around Africa to get from Europe to Asia. The construction of the Suez Canal was conducted by the Suez Canal Company created by French Diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps who was hired by the Ottoman Empire to create the Suez canal company and was granted a 99 year lease over the Suez canal's construction. Although political turmoil because of the colonization of Egypt between France and Great Britain affected the construction of the Canal, when the Suez canal opened in 1869 it would go on to becoming a huge tool for international trade and would later be responsible for 7.5 % of the worlds ocean trades.