All throughout antiquity and the Roman empire it seems like the historians constantly alluded to the "East" (India, Mesopotamia, Central Asia etc.) as the area with wealth. When did Western Europe or the European civilizations surpass the Asian civilizations in wealth?

by bumenkhan

From what I understand, the Roman Empire and Republic always looked at the East as where the wealth is. This would make sense as France, Germany, England etc. were tribal gaulic people.

I believe this definitely held true during the Middle Ages. Europe was over run by "barbarians" which demolished trade and the economy while the Arabs were having a golden age of wealth. I've also always read that India was pretty much universally always VERY wealthy and the same goes with China. I would imagine 9th century England was much poorer than 9th century India or Persia.

When did the European monarchies start to surpass the prominent Asian civilizations in wealth? Is it primarily due to the founding of the new world? The Renaissance? Improved naval warfare tech? Was their a geographic reason to it?

aocypher

You could state that it was primarily due to geography, as the Atlantic ocean is alot narrower than the Pacific ocean. Europe's wealth started supplanting eastern wealth when they essentially "looted" the wealth of the new world and added it to their own.

Additionally, western Europe did not have to worry about constant invasions and harassment from the nomadic hordes. This gave them the time and space to kick off the industrial revolution, which was a huge boost to productivity - and thus, wealth generation.