In the year 1500, China accounted for 30 per cent of the world’s GDP while India ran a close second with 25 per cent. Three centuries later, these figures had changed dramatically, with a small group of northwest European countries contributing the greater part of the world’s GDP while retaining only a small percentage of its population. The story of how the European nations conquered the world is deeply rooted in industrial strength exerting its influence upon the sea power of these nations. In fact, the subjugation of a vast country like India by a small European nation and its commercial representative—the East India Company—is a classic example of the change in global power equations. Economists refer to the period around 1500 as the Great Divergence, when per capita income began to grow astronomically in the European countries while it remained static in India and China. In the case of India, there is little doubt that the question of who was entitled to hold knowledge, rather than what the level of knowledge was, led to the beginning of the Great Divergence and a change in prosperity. The fact that non-Brahmins were kept in ignorance prevented India from progressing in many fields.