Authors: Ian Morris

Tags: #History, #Modern, #General, #Business & Economics, #International, #Economics

Why the West Rules--For Now (154 page)

^*Medievalists may be surprised to see the Western score in Table A.1 stay at 26,000 kcal/cap/day between 1000 and 1400, when (as is well known) western European society was expanding vigorously; but the Western scores in this period actually represent the core in the Muslim eastern Mediterranean, which went through a period of stagnation (described in
Chapter 7
). Western European energy capture remained below 25,000 kcal/cap/day throughout these centuries, catching up with the Mediterranean world only in the fifteenth century.

^*I should stress again that my basic, medium, and full literacy categories set the bar much lower than twenty-first-century literacy providers would do. Anyone able to fill out a modern job application or a tax return would rank well up in the full category.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

PART I