The Archaic Period was a predominantly agrarian society, with trade occurring between communities and cities that had been geographically connected for centuries. Although, as trade and migration were introduced, phenomena such as the expansion of empires and religious movements, economic structure and political ideals led to interconnections between certain parts of the world and the beginnings of globalisation. However this occurred on a significantly smaller scale than that of modern day globalisation, termed mini-globalisations, and many collapsed or became more insular, such as attempts made by the Chinese. These mini-globalisations were episodic and ruptured, with empires often overreaching and needing to retract. Globalisation is often a internationalisation of the capitalist mode of production , a concept that many argue was set in motion by an English Peasant Revolt in 1381, which began the development of a capitalist economy by instigating a negotiation between workers and those with land and money. This is evidenced by an account chronicling the final meeting between King Richard II and the leader of the revolt, Wat Tyler, in which Tyler demanded "equality among all people" and that "all men should be free" to maintain their own income and refuse certain work. Much of the attempted globalisation in the Archaic Period was from the East, and although many did not endure, the mini-globalisations and events such as the revolt created a legacy that was adopted in many cases by the West and led to the Early Modern Period of globalisation and industrialisation. .
The Early Modern period distinguished itself on the basis of expansionism, the method of managing global trade and information exchange. The period of Early Modern Globalisation is discerned by trade arrangements such as the East India Company, the shift of dominance to Western Europe and the rise of new commodities, particularly the slave trade.