The graph shows percentage GDP distribution in the last 500 years. I am not sure how you get an accurate data for something like this? For what its worth, note that China and India had a much bigger slice of the pie, even at the time of the European Renaissance. Latin America is listed in 1500, although the America was not yet discovered. I presume these are the Inca civilizations, etc. There is little change between 1500 and 1800 when China reaches the maximum historic percentage and then the industrialization in Europe and USA is starting to put the big time squeeze on India and China. And when you have a rapid economic decline you got a fertile ground for the revolutions and naturally Mao shows up at the exact China’s all time low point in 1950. About the same time there is Gandi in India. Note that they list “Western Europe” only (what about the central European countries?) Should the Ottoman Empire and Russia be listed separately? Still you can see that Europe is pretty much the same percentages for the last 500 years. I would imagine that both India and China gained in the last ten years (the chart breaks in 2000), but if anything they are just returning to their former glory. The world looked like a three way balance in 1500.
via chart is by Catherine Mulbrandon at Visualizing Economics.
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