Largest economy in the world in history?

[Dida]

We all know that the US has been the largest economy in the world for a while. But who occupied the field before America?

 

[Azale]

Immediately before? Germany I think had just surpassed the Brits.

 

[silver 2039]

And before them China and India.

 

[Cutlass]

During what time period? The British Empire if taken as a whole had it for a while. Once upon a time I'm sure it was Rome.

 

[luiz]

The USA surpassed Britain somewhere in the last decade of the 19th Century, or so I have read.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

In some respects it did. Certainly in steel production, but I don't know about other fields.

 

[Taras Bulba]

going way back.... I'd make a rough estimate and say (from what brief world history I know, please correct me if I'm wrong)

Minoans -> Egyptians -> Phoenicians -> Persia -> Greece -> Carthage (for a short period of time?) -> Rome -> Kingdom of Burgundy (this is just a random guess, idk much about this time) -> Venice -> Ottoman Empire -> Portugal (for a short period of time?) -> Spain -> Great Britain -> Germany -> US -> China?

idk... that's just my guess... I'd imagine each of those was top at one point... or in China's case, will probably be soon

 

[WICKLC1]

Heres a list from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

going way back.... I'd make a rough estimate and say (from what brief world history I know, please correct me if I'm wrong)

Minoans -> Egyptians -> Phoenicians -> Persia -> Greece -> Carthage (for a short period of time?) -> Rome -> Kingdom of Burgundy (this is just a random guess, idk much about this time) -> Venice -> Ottoman Empire -> Portugal (for a short period of time?) -> Spain -> Great Britain -> Germany -> US -> China?

idk... that's just my guess... I'd imagine each of those was top at one point... or in China's case, will probably be soon

Kind of Western centric. I'm quite certain that China would have led for many of those periods of history. They were certainly a rival of Rome back in the day, and certainly were tops in the world with the European 'Dark Age'. I'm pretty sure it wasn't until the mid-1800's that the British Empire surpassed China. And this link seems to support that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

So for the overwhelming vast majority of the post-Jesus calender, china was on top.

 

[silver 2039]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

This is the correct link. And like I said it was China and India until about 1870. And even in 1870 China was number 2. And in 1913 it was still number 3. And its back to the number 2 spot currently.

So for most of history China pwned and it still does.

 

[Dachs]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

This is the correct link. And like I said it was China and India until about 1870. And even in 1870 China was number 2. And in 1913 it was still number 3. And its back to the number 2 spot currently.

So for most of history China pwned and it still does.

Because that's definitely an accurate measure of the diplomatic and military power of a state p)...I think that a good deal of that is inflated due to population and to European-driven trade, most of which doesn't actually benefit China that much. Plus, China's 'Self-Strengthening Movement' to increase industrialization was basically a corrupt failure. Not exactly a great basis of pwnage.

 

[knez]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

This is the correct link. And like I said it was China and India until about 1870. And even in 1870 China was number 2. And in 1913 it was still number 3. And its back to the number 2 spot currently.

So for most of history China pwned and it still does.

err... not really

after the middle ages china maybe was number whatever, but thats only cause it's so freaking big and has a lot of people --> it's not real sign of strenght

this largest economy things is somewhat important, but not really that important...

 

[silver 2039]

We're talking about largest economy people. Not military power or diplomatic or whatever.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

Because that's definitely an accurate measure of the diplomatic and military power of a state p)...I think that a good deal of that is inflated due to population and to European-driven trade, most of which doesn't actually benefit China that much. Plus, China's 'Self-Strengthening Movement' to increase industrialization was basically a corrupt failure. Not exactly a great basis of pwnage.

Between the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of Venice, Europe was pretty damned irrelevant when it came to major Eurasian trade. And Venice was little more than just a middle-man between East and West anyway. It took the Portuguese expeditions before serious European trade routes were formed. And even than their fleets were rather pathetic compared to what the Chinese fielded half a century earlier. (before dismantling.)

In terms of wealth, power, military might, cultural and technological sophistication, China was on top of the world until the Industrial Revolution.

 

[citedon]

What led to the discovery of the new world by Europeans? They were desperately trying to establish the best trade routes with China and India. Why? Because that's where the money was. If things keep going the way they are now, the Orient will be back on the top of the heap again in a few years.

 

[Taras Bulba]

Kind of Western centric. I'm quite certain that China would have led for many of those periods of history. They were certainly a rival of Rome back in the day, and certainly were tops in the world with the European 'Dark Age'. I'm pretty sure it wasn't until the mid-1800's that the British Empire surpassed China. And this link seems to support that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

So for the overwhelming vast majority of the post-Jesus calender, china was on top.

Oh... well.... I don't know much about the history of China, nor when its claim to fame was...

 

[cybrxkhan]

For much of history before this last century or two, China and India.

 

[Brighteye]

China and India between them have half the world's population, and probably have had for most of human history. They really ought to have big economies, especially when the rest of the world is divided into much smaller areas.

 

[Taras Bulba]

China and India between them have half the world's population, and probably have had for most of human history. They really ought to have big economies, especially when the rest of the world is divided into much smaller areas.

population doesn't necessarily mean that it has a good economy....

I wouldn't call Indonesia or Brazil's economy THAT amazing... they're not bad, but its not like they're stellar

plus... look at Venice... Venice was VERY powerful economically (and militarily because of its navy, which was quite handsomely funded) but geographically and population wise, wasn't necessarily that big

 

[aronnax]

Venice might have been a major trading and economical power, possibly even the biggest economically in Europe til the Portuguese totally crashed their trade. However their trade was produced from goods taxed not once but twice, thrice, four times blah blah blah by the tens of states. And the amount of goods that trickled into Europe was so little that it takes only a few Portuguese Caravels to crash the entire trade between Egypt and Venice.

The role of European nations in the global economy is relatively tiny until possibly somewhere in the late 1770s or 1780s when trade between the Americas and India become more of a European monopoly and the just beginning of the Industrial Revolution