As A G Hopkins identified, Globalization is by definition a process that affects the whole planet, and that is why I would argue that it was the year 1895 that we have to conclude globalization truly began, for it marks the date that the last part of the globe was set foot on in Antarctica by Norwegian explorers, and thus ends mans 300,000 year path to stretch itself across the entire earth. If globalization were to take a mere economic form, then I would struggle to pit the date as much beyond 1492 when all of the earths continents were finally linked up with the establishement of enduring interconnections, but it seems to me that the cultural element of globalization is at least on par with if not surpassing the importance of economics and the discovery of new horizons is as much a part of that when achieved as part of human endeavour to set new records and achieve scientific advancement than it is to barter goods and establish trade routes. In a way, the discovery of the last remaining unexplored islands in the late 1800’s is no similar to the present-day desire to reach Mars. Sure private enterprise is reaping the rewards of the new world of space travel, but it is an inbuilt human desire to reach such lengths in the first place. Globalization represents the process of breaking down those barriers that infringe on our ability to reach distant shores but in order to consider the world as truly uniform in its interconnection, for me the date that has to be given to denote its birth has to be that when the world can first be considered truly linked together by human beings.
And for those that may challenge this point of view by pointing to an earlier date, I would say think of this. Is it really globalization by its very definition if not all of the globe is involved? Is it really globalization if it penetrates deep into the hearts of the English countryside with Chinese vases, Persian silks and Indian cotton but not paintings of penguins, primitive tools of newly discovered pacific tribes in the late 19th century or types flora and fauna in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Sure the west may have felt at the centre of the known world by the mid 1800’s but what about those still largely uncontacted tribes in south America or the Indian ocean such as those on North Sentinel Island? Nay, it is only truly global by definition when it has become truly global in practice. What was considered as important to discover for economic and military purpose is not always the same as the scientific. What new economic benefit was it to have placed the Norwegian flag on the Antarctic continent? Certainly nothing directly as far as I can see, rather it was a technical and cultural millstone that allowed Homo Sapiens to proudly call themselves the first global race (since the break up of Pangea 175 million years ago.)
Therefore if we are to appreciate globalization as a process, and take its meaning to be both literal and meaningful, as far as I am concerned, no other date can truly suffice.