ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, the economic emergence of Europe was studied in some detail. It represented the first example of a process of economic development that significantly diverged from that of the world in general. East Asia also entered a development trajectory that differed from that of the rest of the world, although somewhat later than that of Europe. However, East Asia was no stranger to economic growth and development. China went through several periods of economic efflorescence before 1900, and Japan went through such a period from the 1600s to 1868. However, neither country managed to make the transition to industrialization based on the application of science to the production process. Both came into contact with the West, and this contact, in one way or another, touched off a process that ultimately led to an industrialization process (based on applying science to production), first in Japan and then, more recently, in China.
