Hello,
It would be my pleasure to write this article for you. I've been a keen armchair student of economics, geopolitics and history for over twenty years, and have actually just finished reading Charles Mackay's seminal "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds" which is directly concerned with economic growth in the 18th century.
I would argue that the great economic growth in Europe in the mid-late 1800's was to a great extent the result of colonial expansion, and the new technologies and socio-political changes that enabled it - technological innovation in agriculture, transportation, and communication (the Industrial revolution), the movement from feudal systems to industrial/capitalist systems, the growth of "property rights" etc.
Citations would include the aforementioned Charles Mackay, Professor Michael Hudson, and other scholarly works such as Clarke's "A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World".
I think this is a particularly pertinent topic today, as we go through a similar Industrial/technological revolution, which is again uprooting the established political, economic and social order around the world.
Please feel free to reach out in the chat to discuss further, it would sincerely be my pleasure to work on this article for you.
Thanks and all the best,
Hilton