Great Divergence
![Maddison's estimates of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity in 1990 international dollars for selected European and Asian nations between 1500 and 1950,[1] showing the explosive growth of some European nations from the early 19th century](/uploads/202501/12/Maddison_GDP_per_capita_1500-1950.svg0627.png)
![The European book output rose between 500 and 1800 by the factor 100.000, particularly after the Printing Revolution in 1450[2]](/uploads/202501/12/European_Output_of_Books_500–18000627.png)
![Comparative populations (millions, log scale) of China and Continental Europe between 1000 and 1975.[20]](/uploads/202501/12/China_Europe_population_1000-1975.svg0627.png)
The Great Divergence, a term coined by Samuel Huntington (also known as the European miracle, a term coined by Eric Jones in 1981), referring to the process by which the Western world (i.e. Western Europe and the parts of the New World where its people became the dominant populations) overcame pre-modern growth constraints and emerged during the 19th century as the most powerful and wealthy world civilization of all time, eclipsing Qing China, Mughal India, Tokugawa Japan, and the Ottoman Empire.