Economic History of the World from AD 1 to 2008

 
The Atlantic features the above chart showing the distribution of the world's GDP from AD 1 to 2008.  The chart seems overly generous to the West by reducing the space for AD 1 to 1000 (which ignores the collapse of Western Europe and the slow decay of the Eastern Roman Empire).  I also feel that the brown representing the Ottoman Empire should be larger but the small graphic space between 1000 and 1500 reduce the true size of their worth.  It is difficult for some to remember but without finding the resources of the New World, Europe would probably have fallen to the Sultan's economic juggernaut which stretched from the Gates of Gibraltar to the Indian Ocean.

Of interesting note is how India and China's position have changed.  China collapsed in part to its cutting itself off from the world but India grew slowly overtime.  It was not so much that India collapsed but the West's economies just grew so much.