Altered Maps XII: Not to Scale

[Arakhor]

Well, if they will highlight China and India, they're off to a good start.

 

[sophie]

Well, if they will highlight China and India, they're off to a good start.

It's close though. China+India+Indonesia is what, 2.7? You add in the rest of SEA you get another .3, another .25 with Japan+ROK+DPRK+Taiwan. .1 with Philippines, and .18 with Pakistan, So effectively 3.58 billion

Rest of the world:
1.1 Billion for Africa
.7 from Asia (Excluding circled region)
.6 from NA
.7 from Europe (including Russia)
.4 from SA
.027 from Australia+New Zealand

So my very rough estimate is about 3.527. Basically the map is just demonstrating how friggen massive China and India are population-wise. But I would have assumed we already knew that.

*Edit* In hindsight it seems really obvious, but I had no idea how populous Pakistan was. Also how sparsely populated SA is when you take Brazil out of the equation

 

[Lohrenswald]

No, there is not enough about Poland.


Link to video.

 

[Mango Elephant]

Fun fact: Java is the most populous island in the world, even larger than Honshu.

Also, there are almost as many people in Bangladesh than Russia.

 

[hoplitejoe]

That is also not really a circle.

 

[LamaGT]

Is there any reason why Asia is so populous?

 

[Borachio]

Rice would be my best guess.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Climate ensures more than one huge harvest per year, unlike in temperate and mediteranean areas.

 

[Masada]

Climate ensures more than one huge harvest per year, unlike in temperate and mediteranean areas.

There's an "Asian" climate? And even the harvest observation isn't true.

Rice would be my best guess.

Ahhhhh. That's part of the reason. But keep in mind that China's wheat and corn harvest together has about the same tonnage weight as China's rice harvest. Basically the story is that wheat was/is the main food crop in the Red River region/Northern China. In the South wet rice is the dominate crop but that only really became a populous area after, say, the 800s when the introduction of new rice strains and massive internal migration created the conditions for the large-scale development of irrigation. The Columbian Exchange saw corn which grows well at height and on relatively poor soil and the potato which grows anywhere support further growth as new areas were opened up for cultivation. It was the latter two which supported the long boom in China's population under the Qing.

Java kind of, sorta, mirrored China. Except that its first major crop was dry rice. Oh, and population growth only really started to take off when large-scale food imports became a thing after the 1860s (or thereabouts). Prior that Java's population was large but confined to the few areas that could support wet rice agriculture. With food imports, the introduction of other sources of calories and large scale irrigation projects in newly opened up areas, Java's population boomed. So much so, that something like 20% of the population starved to death during the Second World War when the Japanese and Allies disrupted the archipelago's transportation networks.

 

[Crezth]

There's an "Asian" climate?

I laughed beyond.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

There's an "Asian" climate? And even the harvest observation isn't true.

That's racist. And i meant that area is mostly in the tropical climate plus monsoons plus huge rivers.

What do you mean the harvest observation isn't true ? There isn't more than one harvest for rice in that area ? I dunno about today, prolly with the irrigation tech we have we can get two for grain and other stuff.

 

[LamaGT]

There's an "Asian" climate? And even the harvest observation isn't true.



Ahhhhh. That's part of the reason. But keep in mind that China's wheat and corn harvest together has about the same tonnage weight as China's rice harvest. Basically the story is that wheat was/is the main food crop in the Red River region/Northern China. In the South wet rice is the dominate crop but that only really became a populous area after, say, the 800s when the introduction of new rice strains and massive internal migration created the conditions for the large-scale development of irrigation. The Columbian Exchange saw corn which grows well at height and on relatively poor soil and the potato which grows anywhere support further growth as new areas were opened up for cultivation. It was the latter two which supported the long boom in China's population under the Qing.

Java kind of, sorta, mirrored China. Except that its first major crop was dry rice. Oh, and population growth only really started to take off when large-scale food imports became a thing after the 1860s (or thereabouts). Prior that Java's population was large but confined to the few areas that could support wet rice agriculture. With food imports, the introduction of other sources of calories and large scale irrigation projects in newly opened up areas, Java's population boomed. So much so, that something like 20% of the population starved to death during the Second World War when the Japanese and Allies disrupted the archipelago's transportation networks.

Europe had pretty much the same conditions (bar the rice, though even that grows here) and yet its population isn't as gigantic as that of East Asia. Why is Europe "underpopulated" then?

 

[strijder20]

Also, there are almost as many people in Bangladesh than Russia.

No, more.

 

[Angst]

 

[Arakhor]

Ah, the famous Mappa Mundi. A good choice, Joachim.

 

[Masada]

That's racist. And i meant that area is mostly in the tropical climate plus monsoons plus huge rivers.

One of those has nothing to do with climate; and a huge swathe of Asia sits outside the Monsoon or doesn't rely on the Monsoon itself.

What do you mean the harvest observation isn't true ? There isn't more than one harvest for rice in that area ? I dunno about today, prolly with the irrigation tech we have we can get two for grain and other stuff.

Two rice harvests has been the norm in the Southern Chinese lowlands for like... 1200 years. Same for Java. And the Khmer managed three in 1200AD.

Europe had pretty much the same conditions (bar the rice, though even that grows here) and yet its population isn't as gigantic as that of East Asia. Why is Europe "underpopulated" then?

I'm not sure it is? If you compare like with like, Europe doesn't stack up that badly. Parts of it are densely populated; parts of it are not. I guess the difference is that the parts of Europe that are/were densely populated are smaller than the parts of China that are/were densely populated.

 

[Borachio]

 

[madviking]

highest paid public employees by state

 

[JohannaK]

Interesting... sports are a really big thing there, I heard?

 

[chegel]

No love for baseball? I thought baseball was the most americaniest sport there is.