>>314852097Timing doesn't have much to do with it. China had an empire for 10,000 years and did jack shit due to institutionalized corruption (smart kids were drafted into the government and taught to exploit those less educated). It was perpetually self-defeating and took Europe slapping their shit economically to actual begin reforms (which, as I recall, never really worked).
It's less about time and more about resources (probably the biggest, since that equally applies to sustainable food/less focus on survivability and also to things like easily accessed iron/metals), the chance of inspirational genius (for things like writing, civilized governmental bodies, etc.) and also the hostility of your neighbors (small tribes band against larger threats, regions band against larger threats, states band against larger threats - a process which led to kingdoms and countries).
