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It would be interesting to compare population density of europe vs the rest of the world over history. I have imagined that europe was always heavily populated
by m463 3y ago
It would be interesting to compare population density of europe vs the rest of the world over history.
I have imagined that europe was always heavily populated, while north america was sparsely populated (allowing endless bison). Might not be that true, maybe europe wasn't that dense, and also disease killed so many when the first europeans arrived.
- panick21_ 3y agoThe US used to have many competitors to the bison. Many different kind of larger bison. Different types of horses. Giant sloths and so on. The European Northern plane just turned more into forest rather then remaining more open.
- svachalek 3y agoContact with Europeans spread new diseases that killed off the vast majority of the Native American population. So it's likely Europe was more populated but not to the degree that settlers found here -- they were moving into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago> I have imagined ... north america was sparsely populated (allowing endless bison) The "endless bison" in America was actually only during a relatively short period of time. IIRC there was a gap of almost a century between when the Native American population was decimated due to disease, and when settlers of European ancestry headed out west. During that gap the bison population exploded.
- pchristensen 3y agoThe book 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created goes into a lot of detail about this.