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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.