England. William Wheelwright founds the Wheelwright Pacific Steam Navigation Company (WPSNC), which sends and receives cargoes of nitrogenous substances (obtained from the abundant heaps of bird droppings in Chile and Peru) between England and the west coast of South America. Nitrogenous compounds are essential for making fertilizers, which make agriculture much more productive in Europe. The chemical process for producing fertilizers requires a lot of energy, which is provided by coal. This virtuous circle is one of the new drivers, triggering a development that ends the Malthusian cycles that had been recurring for at least six centuries (i.e., rising income and population, followed by crises that cause income and population decline). The world begins to steadily increase income and population for several centuries.
