In many respects, the recent expansion of the Internet retraces the geography of Europe’s first colonization of the globe from the late 15th century onwards. Are these new forms of electronic communication a continuation of capitalism’s inexorable expansion, or are they symptomatic of a new ‘media age’ that is qualitatively distinct? This essay explores the comparison between the ‘rich trade’ of early colonialism and some of the uses of the Internet, and notes the similarities in the marking out of status in hierarchical and differentiated societies. At the same time, though, the ‘death of distance’ has significant implications for forms of cultural life, and for new modes of resistance to domination.
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