Why in that first instance did human beings leave Africa and become a globalized species? Most of what we eat, drink, or use originated somewhere else than where we find these objects today. Almost everything we associate with a nation or take pride in as our own is connected with another part of the world, however remotely. Today's capitalist business model can explain why Starbucks coffee - an iconic symbol of globalization - is sold in thousands of locations around the world or why Japan's Canon camera is a globally recognized brand. But the economic definition leaves other questions unanswered. How, for example, did the coffee bean, grown first only in Ethiopia, end up in our cups after a journey through Java and Colombia? How did the name of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteswar, translated into Chinese as Guanyin and in Japanese as Kwanon, inspire the Japanese brand name for a camera?
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