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But looking at the American situation in the context of the broad sweep of world history, it’s amazing how dominant America has become, economically speaking. For most of human history, the most powerful economic powers, or those that produced the largest share of global economic output, were simply the countries that housed the most people and controlled the most land. One of the reasons for this is that industrialization is a very recent phenomenon. Up until about 300 years ago, economies across the world were mainly agricultural, with most of the value produced from the land.
但是，如果放在世界历史进程这一大背景下进行审视，美国的情况仍然值得我们赞叹：这个国家竟然能在世界经济中取得如此重要的地位。因为在人类历史上的大部分时间里，顶尖的经济强国，或者说那些在全球经济产出总量中占据最大份额的国家，大多是拥有最多人口并且控制着最多土地的国家。原因之一在于，工业化直到近几个世纪才开始出现。直到大约300年以前，世界各地的经济都多以农业为主，大部分的价值都由土地创造。
Nevertheless, certain civilizations developed huge advantages against their rivals. Economic historian Ian Morris says that for most of human history, a civilization’s economic strength depended largely on when it experienced an agricultural revolution. From there, it would take a nation thousands of years to turn itself into a true economic powerhouse. That is, until the industrial evolution upended everything. Here, in chronological order, are the five most powerful economic empires of all time:
然而在这个过程中，某些文明却取得了竞争对手难以企及的优势地位。经济史学家伊恩•莫里斯指出，在人类历史的大部分时间里，一个文明社会的经济实力在很大程度上取决于当地农业革命发生的时间。在此之后，一个国家还需要花费数千年的时间，才能变成一个真正的经济强国。也就是说，要等到产业的演进颠覆了一切之后才有可能实现。下面将按照时间先后顺序，列出史上最强盛的五大经济帝国：
