There are many hypotheses about this; history only happens once, so it's hard to test them. Here are a couple of the more interesting ideas. Jared Diamond: Eu

There are many hypotheses about this; history only happens once, so it's hard to test them. Here are a couple of the more interesting ideas. Jared Diamond: Eurasia runs east-west and has a large temperate zone. This supports enough biodiversity that the plants and animals you need to start farming can be found in one place. Other continents run north-south, lack biodiversity, and couldn't be farmed until Europeans introduced some critical species. Lots of lawyers and economists, whose names I've forgotten: By default, someone bigger than you nicks whatever you make, until you get sick of making stuff. The exception is when you make weapons, and nick stuff from people bigger than you. Something strange and kind of miraculous happened in England a few centuries ago, and led to the only society that isn't like that.