The World Economy
Description: The World Economy by Angus Maddison presents historical data and analysis on global economic development over the past millennium, combining comprehensive statistics with long-term economic trends
ISBN: 9264022619
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Wikipedia summarizes the conventional view. Africa's GDP increased 2x since the mid 1800's, Europe's increased by 20x.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P...
See this book to see roughly how these estimates are computed: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9264022619/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...
What I'm saying is that if you went to Africa in 1800 I don't believe you would see today's stereotypical child in rags with ribs sticking out of his chest and a swollen belly...
And if you go to Africa in 2012 you probably won't see this, although it was quite common worldwide in the 1800s. If you want to see this, you basically need to go to a war zone, the bush, or maybe Zimbabwe.