| 1352 BC | Egypt | Egypt's wealth is demonstrated by the magnificent grave goods of Tutankhamen, a youthful and comparatively unimportant king. They include iron daggers, a chariot, a wooden chest, depicting the king in battle behind his prancing chariot horses, the throne-panel showing Ankhesenamen endearingly touching her husband, and the scene on an ivory chest of the young Ankhesenamen and Tutankhamen picking flowers. The tomb, which – exceptionally – was not robbed, was discovered by the English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, and opened in 1923. |
| 30 BC | Palestine, Rome | King Herod the Great does much for Judaea on a material level, developing its economy, re-fortifying Jerusalem and beginning the rebuilding of the temple there. By behaving as a Hellenistic monarch, however, he gains the hatred of the Jews and despite restricting his taste for grandeur he has to keep control by force. |
| 1297 | Japan | The Japanese shogunate cancels all the debts of its retainers in order to relieve their growing impoverishment – the consequence of high living standards and partible inheritances. The Japanese ‘feudal’ structure is collapsing under these strains. |
| June 1528 | England, Spanish Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire | The economic crisis and distress in England, caused by war with the Habsburgs, leads to incipient rebellion, riots in Kent, and a general refusal to fight; the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, is obliged to make a truce with Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, Habsburg regent of the Netherlands. |
| 10 September 1720 | UK | The ‘South Sea Bubble’ (financial crisis in Britain) bursts. The South Sea Company, holding a monopoly over trade with South America, had offered in January to take over the national debt and this had led to financial speculation, especially in August, resulting in disastrous panic and ruining thousands of people by December. |
| 1810 | UK | Ireland is in economic crisis as its population increases to around 6 million, and poverty increasingly results from archaic inheritance laws that encourage the subdivision of ever-smaller family agricultural plots. |
| 1861–1865 | USA | The USA, or the North, has a booming economy during the Civil War as production and profits soar. There is inflation, too; prices rise 117% and wages rise just 43%. |
| 1869 | USA | Foreigners invest $1.5 billion in the USA; US interests invest $100 million overseas. |
| 1890 | USA | It is estimated that 1% of the US population holds more than half of the nation's wealth. |
| 5 May–27 June 1893 | USA | Panic grips Wall Street as the stock prices dive in the USA. By the end of June, some 600 banks and 15,000 businesses have closed and 74 railways have declared bankruptcy. |
| 1897 | USA | Foreigners invest $3.4 billion in the USA; US interests invest $700 million overseas. |
| 1976 | USA | The median price for a single-family home in the USA reaches $38,100. |
| 27 August 1998 | Russia | The Russian government's decision to stop propping up the ailing rouble leads to uncertainty about the future of President Boris Yeltsin and the entire reform process, causing global stock markets to plummet. |
| 11 June 1999 | UK | British chancellor Gordon Brown denounces the burden of debt for developing countries and pledges a $50 billion reduction from Britain, with further reductions to follow. |
| 18 June 1999 | Germany | The Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations unveils a $100 billion package of debt relief for developing countries, at the end of a three-day economic summit in Cologne, Germany. |
