I don't know the specifics of the former two, but Europe raped the rest of the world to get rich. Oh, and we had laws regulating the flow of goods and capital to such an extent that it's doubtful that any modern trans-nat could have survived - much less prospered - in the regulatory environment of 19th cent. Europe. The closest we got to a genuine trans-nat was the British East Empire Company. And a fat load of good it did for East India...

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.