From: SolomonW@citi.com   
      
   On Wed, 17 Oct 2018 07:43:51 +0100, Martin Edwards wrote:   
      
   > On 10/16/2018 11:20 AM, SolomonW wrote:   
   >> On Tue, 16 Oct 2018 07:51:03 +0100, Martin Edwards wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On 10/15/2018 3:46 PM, reader wrote:   
   >>>>> In all honestly, as far as I can tell the only thing   
   >>>>> stopping the Industrial Revolution from happen in ancient   
   >>>>> Roman times, instead of the 18th century, was the Roman   
   >>>>> elite.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Simple, all of the prerequisite technology elements of the industrial   
   >>>> revolution were not in place.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> China was the leader in technology until about the 17th century.  If it   
   >>>> were to have happened anywhere else it would b china.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> A 1st century roman in egypt described a rudimentary steam engine, which   
   we   
   >>>> associate with the industrial revolution as a primary energy conversion   
   >>>> prerequisite.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>> In the fifteenth century the Chinese had ocean going ships, they might   
   >>> have discovered Europe rather than the other way round.  Unfortunately   
   >>> the caravan companies lobbied the government and ships above a certain   
   >>> size were banned.   
   >>   
   >> These ships were not trading ships, they were very expensive and so were   
   >> stopped for that reason.   
   >>   
   > If that were the reason they would have died out naturally.  Why was it   
   > necessary to ban them?   
      
   https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-purpose-behind-the-Ming-Dynas   
   ys-ban-on-maritime-trading   
      
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