Christopher Columbus set out to map a short cut to India and prove the world was round, he ran into America thinking it was India.

It must be the single most lucrative nautical blunder in history. The outcome is Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Tobacco. He underestimated the circumference of the world, but won the spice trade race, which lead to great wealth growth for Spain.

Christopher Columbus was born in the Italian seaport of Genoa in 1451, to a family of wool weavers. As a child he helped his father at the loom and then as a young lad went to sea. He became an experienced sailor and moved to Lisbon in Portugal to try and gain support for a new journey he was planning. He visited the courts of the kings and queens of Europe asking for help and money. Finally Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, agreed to support him.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Europeans wanted to find sea routes to the East. Columbus wanted to find a new route to the Far East, to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he could reach these lands, he would be able to bring back rich cargoes of silks and spices. Columbus knew that the world was round and realised that by sailing west, instead of east around the coast of Africa, as other explorers at the time were doing, he would still reach the East and the rich Spice Islands.

Genghis Kahn flattened the world when he conquered nations to free its people from oppression and in the process introduced the pension system, paper money, postal systems, the cannon and the metric system.

Genghis Khan was the official title of a Mongol warrior named Temujin, a 13th century ruler who founded an empire that included parts of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. After a childhood of violence and enslavement, Temujin became a powerful tribal chieftan. By 1206 he had unified rival clans and taken the title Genghis Khan (or Chinggis Khan), meaning "universal ruler." Over the next three decades he led a constant military campaign that ravaged vast areas and subjugated millions of people, earning him a reputation in the history books as a brutal monster. His successful military tactics included quick cavalry attacks and novel methods of siege warfare, and he is famous for adapting his methods to meet new challenges. In recent years his image in the West as a warmonger has been tempered somewhat with the acknowledgment that under his rule there was a beneficial transfer of culture and technology as his armies moved through Asia, the Middle East and Europe. An able administrator, Genghis Khan established an empire that lasted more than 150 years after his death. Over time his empire was divided and weakened and most of his conquests were lost; his last ruling descendant, Amil Khan of Bukhara, was deposed by Soviet forces in 1920.

And now the world has been completely flattened with the advent of internet. It has freed people from ignorance through freedom of knowledge and information and the average intelligence quota of the average person has increased.

History of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter "Y2K to March 2004," what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?

First there was the pony express, then express rail, telegraph, cable, then internet, now we sell to the world from a laptop. And that's what we do best, selling silk ties and sourcing materials for cufflinks.

Regardless of how many reviews we write on similar subjects there is always value in them because history is noted and predictions for future styles are accurately based on a lot of research. We are very well connected with industry members who keep abreast of the broader market and freely share this information with us.