The widespread use of innovations like the internet makes it appear that we are living in the first "global" age. However, individuals have been forging links across the global for centuries. During their travels, merchants and traders encountered new peoples, cultures, and goods. The exchange of ideas, raw materials, and craft techniques resulted in the production of entirely new, global goods. 

Items that speak to these worldwide connections are important additions to the Winterthur collection. Through them we can better understand the growth and power of great world empires; the spread of luxury goods across the world; and how the blending of different cultures has created objects much more complex than labels such as "American Made" or "Made in China" can describe. 

Image: A New Map of the World from the Latest Observations. From John Senex, A New General Atlas (London, 1721-40). Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1964.510