This is the second episode of our three part series in which we look at how Europe came to be the dominant global power. In the first episode we looked at Racism and how it was used to justify European imperialism. As the world seeks a decolonial future, it is good to remind ourselves of what colonialism really was, and in this episode we take a closer look at how colonialism actually unfolded. 

Shaun Matsheza continues his conversation with Roger van Zwanenberg, who is the founder of Pluto books, an independent publisher of radical, left‐wing non­‐fiction books. He’s written a new global history, called Wealth and Power, which he is sharing in a series of blogs.  Roger’s work traces the roller coaster story of the past 500 years or so of human history, focusing on how Europe and its offshoots amassed great wealth and power at the expense of the rest of the world.

Image source Walter Crane: Wikimedia

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