A commercial modernisation (from the late six teenth century to the industrial revolution), a mercantile period during which an international division of labour, strengthened by the metro politan administrative structure, began to develop. As colonial powers systematically appropriated the wealth of Third World col onies, an impoverished countryside co-existed with urban areascharacterised by a limited mar ket for consumergoods, and a demand for labour commensurate with their almost exclusively commercial and administrative functions.