1. Introduction and Summary

Countries or regions playing leading roles worldwide have traded places many times during human history. Countries or regions such as Greece and the Roman Empire, facing the Mediterranean Sea, played leading roles on the front stage of the history in ancient times. Moreover, Spain or Portugal held center stage during the Age of Geographical Discovery. European countries, including Spain and Portugal, made inroads into Asian countries and South America to obtain spices such as pepper and mineral resources such as gold and silver in the fifteenth century. Although the thrust of European countries at the beginning of the Age of Geographical Discovery was trade among non-European countries, European countries colonized those countries. Eventually, Spain and Portugal fell to ruin after that the Spanish Armada was defeated by the large English Royal Navy in 1588. The United Kingdom reigned over the world economy after the rise of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth century. The U.K. promoted industrialization earlier than other countries and overcame competition with other countries. In fact, the U.K. was the center of the world economy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Eventually, because its many colonies in Asia and Africa became independent after the two World Wars of the twentieth century, the U.K. lost its capability of sustaining economic growth despite being a victorious country. Moreover, most European countries had been battlefields of World War II. Industries of many kinds were crushed by war and destruction of various kinds. Consequently, their productivity plummeted, requiring time and effort to restore it to pre-war levels.