Page - 46 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 2:1

46 | www.limina-graz.eu used, however, to speak of such exchange during the last half millennium. It is now common to speak of three successive phases of globalization dur- ing this five-hundred-year period. At each phase, a wider network of inter- action emerged, creating new systems of relations with often ambivalent outcomes. The first phase begins with the Portuguese and Spanish voyages in the fifteenth century. These voyages led to the global navigation of the world and the beginnings of European colonialism. This was made possible by advances in maritime navigation and ship construction. The results led to new interactions as, on the one hand, the riches and products of the so- called “New World” were brought to Europe, and, on the other hand, popu- lations (and communicable diseases) migrated from Europe to these newly discovered lands. This first phase continued into the eighteenth century. A second distinctive phase of globalization began in the nineteenth century. What gave this impetus of globalization was the advent of steam power to accelerate long-distance sailing and the invention of the railroad to move goods and people over land. The appearance of telegraphy and telephony speeded up communication over long distances. Steamships promoted the movement of peoples, especially out of Europe to the other continents of the world. This movement of goods and peoples led to a highly connected world, whose networks were suddenly challenged by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The third phase of globalization gained momentum in the latter third of the twentieth century, after the recovery from the devastations of the Sec- ond World War. The technologies that moved this phase along were the new advances in air travel and, starting in the 1980s, the electronic revolution that changed both telecommunications and the accumulation of data. At this point, I want to look at this third phase of globalization in more detail, since we find ourselves in its still evolving forms. Globalization Today and Its Social Impact. A Study of Three Decades Globalization is most obviously an economic phenomenon, but it has deep cultural, political, and social effects as well. One can trace the current phase robert J. schreiter | Globalization and Plural theologies Three phases of globalization since the fifteenth century.