There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Sentence: [T]he Europeans did not invent globalization.

Paragraph: The first phase of globalization occurred long before the introduction of either steam or electric power…Chinese consumers at all social levels consumed vast quantities of spices, fragrant woods and unusual plants. The peoples of Southeast Asia who lived in forests gave up their traditional livelihoods and completely reoriented their economies to supply Chinese consumers….___(1)___. These exchanges of the year 1000 opened some of the routes through which goods and peoples continued to travel after Columbus traversed the mid- Atlantic. ___(2)___. Yet the world of 1000 differed from that of 1492 in important ways….the travellers who encountered one another in the year 1000 were much closer technologically. ___(3)___. They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000. ___(4)___. If globalization hadn’t yet begun, Europeans wouldn’t have been able to penetrate the markets in so many places as quickly as they did after 1492.

We can attempt to place the given sentence by breaking the passage down into three segments -

The discussion till Blank (2) can be considered the first segment: it introduces the idea that globalization was already underway well before the industrial era. It highlights the economic interconnectedness between Chinese consumers and Southeast Asian suppliers, emphasizing that trade networks and economic reorientations were already shaping societies. The missing sentence does not fit here in Blanks (1) or (2) because the focus is on early economic exchange rather than the role of Europeans in globalization.

The discussion between Blanks (2) and (3) can be labelled as the second segment: it explores how trade routes developed in the year 1000, predating Columbus’s journey. It sets up a comparison between different historical periods - 1000 and 1492 - but the idea this comparison is leading to is still unclear. 

This is where the final segment [the discussion after Blank (3)] fits in. It delivers the passage’s key argument: European involvement in global trade was not a beginning but a continuation of pre-existing systems. It reinforces the idea that the economic structures and trade routes established before 1492 were instrumental in enabling European expansion. The given sentence would best fit Blank (3) because we make a declaration ["The Europeans did not invent globalization"] and then follow up with information that reinforces this idea [“They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000”]. 

Hence, Option D is the correct choice.