It started way back in the fifteenth century. The day Vasco de Gama went round Africa the globalisation began. As a phenomenon it has passed through several stages and today we are experiencing a stage, which has been named globalisation.
Globalisation is a western phenomenon or rather it is a European phenomenon.
In fact it could be called a British phenomenon. The west is nothing but an extended Europe with the Europeans physically occupying the lands in America and Australia. The British took with them their culture, politics and economics to these countries and were able to establish themselves after almost annihilating the indigenous populations. In the rest of the world either they were not able to do so due to various reasons or perhaps did not want to settle down in some of the countries they came across. The colonisation was the beginning of globalisation.