This course introduces students to the nature and history of economic development under capitalism. The aim of the class is to ask what exactly capitalism is, how it began, how it developed and spread around the world, and how it came to exist in the form that it does today. More specifically, how did we get here, and what exactly do we mean by here? This is a somewhat voluminous subject, so we will try to stick to an overview of the topics. The animating issue is the overall economic relations and outcomes under capitalism; while we also aim to understand just how much of a role was played by, amongst other things, the development of technology, colonialism and imperialism, and racial oppression.