If you take the 10 countries that went on to become the Western empires, in 1500 they were really quite tiny -- five percent of the world's land surface, 16 percent of its population, maybe 20 percent of its income.
後に 西洋列強となる 10の国々を見ると 1500年にはいずれも小国でした― 占める国土は世界の5% 人口は16% 所得は20%位でした