Historical note: I think some compound bows (which were an eastern speciality) had almost the power of the longbow, don't know about the range. I read somewhere that the reason the longbow was a Welsh and English speciality was in part climatic: the wood for the bow is taken from a specific part of the cross section of the yew that combines half with good energy storage under tension, and half with good storage under compression, thus creating a natural compound bow. For some reason ywe grown in other climates doesn't have quite the same characteristics.

Mildly interesting if true.