Very, very slowly. The Little Divergence, where Western Europe started to grow faster than any region had ever done before in a sustained way, started in the 1300s. It was the 1800s before the Great Divergence[1] happened and it became obvious that the West was doing something new in human history, sustained economic growth large enough to outpace population growth, that could be sustained.

Europe generated the capital to invest very, very slowly. The joy of foreign direct investment is in but having to spend centuries saving up.

[1] ACCOUNTING FOR THE GREAT DIVERGENCE Stephen Broadberry

http://www.ehes.org/ehes2015/papers/Broadberry.pdf