japan had the most advanced economy in the world before the eighteenth century.
who had the most advanced economy in the world before the eighteenth century?
japan
for much of east asia's history, china was the largest and most advanced economy in the region and globally as a whole. during the first half of the middle ages, china was the most developed state in east asia. the history of trade in east asia was largely shaped by the history of trade within ancient china. ancient china had economic contacts with persia and the roman empire, trading silk, minerals, and spices through the famous silk road. by 1100, the song dynasty hosted a population of almost 100 million people with a sophisticated medieval economic system boasting the use of paper money (written business contracts, mercantile credits, checks, promissory notes, bills of exchange), a maritime shipping power having the largest mercantile fleet in the world patrolling the south china seas and a strong industrial steel manufacturing capacity. for much east asia's economic history, china was one of the most developed economies on earth. after the fall of the western roman empire, for a thousand years from 500 ad to 1500 ad, china was the wealthiest country in east asia in the aggregate total in addition to per capita income. according to "the economist", china was not only the largest economy for much of recorded history for 1800 years of the past two millennia, but it was the world's largest until the end of the 15th century boasting the worlds highest per capita income and most advanced technology at the time. throughout this period, china outperformed its fellow east asian and distant european counterparts in terms of technological development, economic growth, culminating in its ability to maintain a massive territorial empire throughout succeeding medieval chinese dynasties. despite economic stagnation after 1450 and the rise of early modern europe, china's economy still remained the world's largest from the 1500s until 1820 as the world's most populous country and remained the world's largest economy up until 1885, a figure higher than the us economy at the height of its economic dominance after world war ii. china was the wealthiest part of the world from 1200 to the 1300s — aside from italy until the european renaissance took off during the late middle ages and the modern western world and japan overtook china it during the mid and late-19th century. china accounted for around one-quarter of the global gdp until the late 1700s and approximately one-third of the global gdp in 1820 as the industrial revolution was beginning in great britain. china's gdp in 1820 was six times as large as britain’s, the largest economy in europe — and almost 20 times the gdp of the nascent united states.
economy of east asia
the emergence of more advanced states and intensified competition between them spurred on the development of advanced galleys with multiple banks of rowers. during the middle of the first millennium bc, the mediterranean powers developed successively larger and more complex vessels, the most advanced being the classical trireme with up to 170 rowers. triremes fought several important engagements in the naval battles of the greco-persian wars (502–449 bc) and the peloponnesian war (431–404 bc), including the battle of aegospotami in 405 bc, which sealed the defeat of athens by sparta and its allies. the trireme was an advanced ship that was expensive to build and to maintain due its large crew. by the 5th century, advanced war galleys had been developed that required sizable states with an advanced economy to build and maintain. it was associated with the latest in warship technology around the 4th century bc and could only be employed by an advanced state with an advanced economy and administration. they required considerable skill to row and oarsmen were mostly free citizens who had years of experience at the oar.
galley