There's no better way to understand the world than through charts.

Business Insider reached out to its favorite analysts, economists, and traders to get their most important charts of 2012.

The responses we received vary dramatically, and the insights are revealing.

All of the big stories of the year are here: the rally in Treasuries, the year in stocks, the euro crisis, the changing nature of global energy, and the era of the central banker.

We'd like to express our huge thanks to everyone who contributed to this feature.