Globalization; a new phenomenon?

People assume that the rise of global companies and foreign ownership is some sort of new occurrence. Think the Dutch East India company, the Suez Canal, and even the Panama Canal to name a few. The Suez Canal was made by a French architect De Lesseps created the Suez Canal Company, and employed 1.5 million labourers, including slaves, and over ten years to complete this massive work. This great project costs thousands of local their lives. The Panama Canal was made by the same French builder, raising $60 million from investors, hiring French to lead locals that happily worked and risked death, of yellow fever or landslides. It failed and still locals worked on it. The point I'm making is that local people were happier to risk all and work hard but have work all the same. Global employer or local.