History teaches us that there is no primacy that cannot be reversed. At every turn someone is catching up or taking over in a succession of triumphs and failures. And this has never been more true than today. A momentous transformation of geo-political and global economic dynamics looms on the horizon. For Europe, it's about the rise of an authentic historic nemesis, the avengement of Asia. There are numerous portents: China is shoulder to shoulder with Japan in the role of industrial potentate, India has picked up speed, the economic integration of these giants and the 'small Tigers' of South-East Asia is being cemented. Already six hundred years ago Asia produced significantly more than Europe and the Old Continent imported many goods from those far-flung lands that were essential to its economy and its populations, and continued to do so up to the early nineteenth century. In this major overview, Valerio Castronovo retraces the fluctuating curve of economic and political relations between the East and the West from the fifteenth century to today. While it is true that Europe has emerged victorious over the past two centuries, this was thanks not only to the industrial revolution but also, and above all, to the progressive weakening of the major Asian powers for endogenous reasons. But the power relations of that period are about to be overturned.