Acculturation and the World Economy. Colonialism

In the contemporary world, cultural interdependence is reinforced by trade. By engaging in trade, cultures can obtain localized resources found only outside their home regions. Many different resources and types of artifacts are now bought and sold on worldwide markets.

Global resource and commodity markets were first established on a sustained basis in southern and western Europe during the Renaissance. At that time, Italian traders cornered the market on imported spices and other valuable commodities from Asia.

The establishment of international trade in Renaissance Europe resulted in the development of the world economy which involves a global system of economic exchange and a political system composed of many separate, independent countries. The world economy as we know it today is primarily a European innovation. It began to diffuse from its origin in Europe over a period of several centuries.

Exploration and colonialism encouraged the diffusion of European-based trade in resources and artifacts to other parts of the world. By 1900 most of the world had become incorporated into the world economy and very few cultures remain unaffected by it today. As a result, traditional cultures such as the Inuit have undergone substantial acculturation. The acculturation process is just beginning for the Yanomami, who up to now have lived in seclusion in their remote Amazon homeland.

The search for natural resources was an important incentive for Europeans to explore and settle other areas of the world. As new lands were opened to European culture, new products became available on European markets. Gold from Latin America, spices from Asia, and food and furs from North America revolutionized Europe's economy. Maritime Europe came to dominate world trade in these products. As a result, this region became the wealthiest and most technologically advanced area of the world. Western Europe was well on its way to becoming the center of the world economy.

Colonialism. The most significant process by which the world's separate economic systems were integrated into a world economy was colonialism — the takeover and management of local economies and political systems by foreign powers. Between 1450 and 1900, nearly all of the world outside Europe experienced at least one period of European political and economic domination (Figure 2-12).

Figure 2-12. Colonialism by European nations dominated the globe until the end of the second World War. Colonialism of countries occurred in two major waves. The first wave involved the settlement of the Americas; the second concentrated on Asia and Africa

European colonizers recognized several advantages to maintaining political and economic dominance of their colonies. Many colonies contained reserves of valuable resources and other useful raw materials. Spanish colonies in South and Middle America contained valuable gold and silver mines. In what is now the United States, English and European explorers were frustrated in their search for these precious elements. The resources that they did find—timber, furs, and arable land—in the long run proved far more valuable to the world economy than did Spanish gold and silver.

Colonies were also valued as sources of labor. In some colonies, indigenous people were enslaved or put to work in European-owned agricultural or mining enterprises. In labor-deficient areas, Europeans quickly arranged for the importation of labor from elsewhere. As a result, millions of Africans and many Asians were forcibly relocated to distant regions during the four hundred years of active European colonialism.

The European powers also valued their colonies as potential markets for European manufactured products. By promoting or enforcing acculturation of non-European cultures, the colonial powers generated local demands for European artifacts. The resulting trade in European goods enriched the colonial powers while rendering the colonies economically dependent on the Europeans.