Very, very slowly. The Little Divergence, where Western Europe started to grow faster than any region had ever done before in a sustained way, started in the 1300s. It was the 1800s before the Great Divergence[1] happened and it became obvious that the West was doing something new in human history, sustained economic growth large enough to outpace population growth, that could be sustained.
Europe generated the capital to invest very, very slowly. The joy of foreign direct investment is in but having to spend centuries saving up.
[1] ACCOUNTING FOR THE GREAT DIVERGENCE
Stephen Broadberry
It's easy when you're the first one in a non-globalized world where you literally create the capital by yourself, for yourself, and then spend it on yourself.
But trying to start an economy in Africa while competing with the pre-existing economy of the rest of the world... How is that the same thing?
