>>215064293
>Europe almost always was the most progressivist place on planet except medivial ages
The Near East was still quite rich during Classical Antiquity. Overall, the eastern half of the Roman Empire (pre-split) was richer than the western half of the Roman Empire (Italy excepted), mostly because of how agriculturally productive Egypt and the Anatolian peninsula were at the time.
Western Europe really started to shine from the 12th century onwards, with the rise of cities of cities like Reims, Brugge, Köln, and Antwerp, but I would say it wasn't until after the Black Plague that Western Europe really overtook Eastern Europe and the Near East (which, not coincidentally, had been devastated by both the Crusades and the Mongol invasions, and afterwards heavily suffered the brunt of the Black Plague). Even though Western Europe intellectually overtook the rest of the world during the Enlightenment era (late 17th century-18th century), wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that Western Europe really surpassed India and China in terms of GDP, and even then, Western Europe had some odd outliers like the Iberian peninsula and Southern Italy, which actually regressed instead of progressing during the 19th century.