The economist Andre Gunder Frank turns the conventional Eurocentric view of world history on its head in his book "ReOrient," which interprets European expansion since the 16th century as a long-term rise of the West. In contrast to this perspective, he emphasizes the centrality of Asia, particularly China, where political power, economic innovation, and social stability concentrated between 1400 and 1800. To access the highly sought-after Asian goods, Western European colonial powers used Latin American silver, which in turn promoted commercialization and exchange in Asia. It was only when Asia's rise stalled that Western European entrepreneurs managed to replace imports with their own industrial production. Due to a lack of labor and sufficient energy, they introduced power machines. The Industria.