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Peak: 1870 (9.5%)

The United Kingdom was the first country to industrialize. After 1870, the United States and Germany catch up.

Peak Year: 1945 (27.7%)

The United States peak reflects that most other countries had been battered by WW2. The US proportion has fallen steadily since then as other countries recovered from the war and developed on their own.

Peak Year: 1100 BCE (33.7%)

Nadir: 1974 (2.8%)

Agriculture came to the Ganges plain early, but as the rest of the world caught up, India’s relative importance declined. The industrial revolution came late to British India and the main part of the population remained in subsistence agriculture until the 21st century. The socialist economics brought stagnation to India, but eventually economic reforms were introduced.

The figures in the Maddison and HYDE databases are usually in terms of the modern boundaries. There is some interesting in analysis to be done using those figures without reference to the historical boundaries.

Peak Year GDP: 39.8% of the world GDP in 1100 CE (22.2% of population)

Nadir: 3.7% of world GDP in 1961 (20% of population)

The peak year shows China before the Mongol invasions when China was the population and the technological leader of the world.

The nadir of China in 1961 shows the disastrous rule of Mao Zedong. China starts substantial recovery under Deng Xiaoping, surpassing the US in GDP during the early 2020’s.

States emerged gradually from loose tribal entities. In most locations, this process is poorly documented as the invention of writing tends to occur at around the same time as states.

In general, I am giving proto-states the benefit of the doubt, as I think it more useful to include something instead of “None”. For example, the Iroquois Confederacy had no governmental structures outside the “Council of 50”. It still seems appropriate to record this tribal alliance and ask how big its population was. I will also count the alliance created by Vercingetorix in Gaul.

I have noticed that geographical sources like Geacron tend to ignore proto-states and even fully functional kingdoms, especially in Africa.

Sometimes the iconography of a state continues but the state itself does not actually control its territory or a significant part of its territory. This is often in the context of a civil war, but not always. Somalia, Congo and Haiti are current examples of failed states. Historically the Holy Roman Empire and the interregnum and Sengoku Era Japan are examples of states do not actually control their territory.

Whenever possible, I try to show the actual situation on the ground.

Civil wars are common throughout history. They may be efforts an area to secede from existing state (American Revolution, American Civil War), to take control of an existing state (English Civil War, Chinese Civil War) or both (Russian Civil War).

Most geographical sources neglect these events. Geacron does not show the United State until 1784. Centennia does not show the Russian or English Civil Wars.

Given the frequency of civil wars, I can’t try to show them all. For me to show a civil war the following must be true.

1. The war must last more than a year
2. Each side must control at least one major city

Civil wars are often waged by loose alliances of disparate groups. If the alliance is coordinating military operations, I am considering to be a state, even if it does not meet other definitions of a state. I think that is more useful to provide information on the whole alliance, so the user can the see resources available. Separatists I will usually list separately even if they are allied with groups trying to takeover the whole country. This can be quite complex e.g. the Russian Civil War.

During wars, enemy territory (or even liberated allied territory) is often occupied without annexation. This is usually a temporary measure.

I consider that occupied territory belongs to the occupier until withdrawal or local administration is restored. It is common for an independent country to have foreign troops as occupiers become allies. Today, the US maintains substantial military presence in Germany, Japan & South Korea but they clearly American allies not colonies.

In a colony, the colonial power controls territory without integrating into hegemon’s nation. The colony may have its own administration and military, but they under the control of the colonial power.

This can be significant. For example the Wikipedia shows for 1870 (using the work of Angus Maddison)

1870	China 189,470	India 134,882[q]	UK 100,180[r]	U.S. 98,374	Russian Empire 83,646	German Empire 72,149[s]	France 72,100[t]	Italy 41,814	Japan 25,393[u]	Spain19,556[v]

As India was actually British colony at the time, the British Empire had a larger GDP than China.

In some recent cases, the client state had the iconography an independent state, but the actual control lay with the hegemon. The Warsaw Pact duing the Cold War was an example of this, even though nominally independent, their rulers where chosen in Moscow and their military was subordinated to the Soviets. A similar system existed in World War Two for various states controlled by the Germans as well as Manchukuo controlled by the Japanese.