1. I met a traveller from an antique land,

2. Who said – “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

3. Stand in the desert … Near them, on the sand,

4. Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

5. And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

6. Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

7. Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

8. The hand that mocked them, the heart that fed;

9. And on the pedestal, these words appear:

10. My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,

11. Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

12. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

13. Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

14. The lone and level sands stretch far away.

15. (Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1817)

Introduction: the era of Malthusian stagnation?

The era from 3000 BC until 1000 AD is known as the Dark Ages as it was one of the “darkest” times of human history and economic development. With the emergence of the first city-states and empires around 3000 BC, there also arose conflicts and wars over territory, resources, trade routes and populations. However, just as quickly as empires seemed to form and grow, they stagnated, collapsed and ultimately fell. After 1 AD and over the next thousand years, with the possible exception of the Chinese dynasties, the great civilizations of the world disintegrated and eventually disappeared.

From the standpoint of economic development, some economists also view the period from 3000 BC to 1000 AD as one long era of “Malthusian stagnation.” During this 4,000-year period, most economies had difficulties in overcoming problems of overpopulation and insufficient food subsistence. Global economic development was at best short-lived, and in the long run, appeared to be at a standstill.