Page 193 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1494 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

numbers of people they controlled and taxed. In the last strong supporter of the view that population growth can
two hundred years, population growth has created new stimulate innovation, particularly in agriculture.Yet it is
and even more complex human communities, so that clear that such arguments should not be overstated, for
modern states have had to acquire new administrative there have been all too many instances (some of which
and technological skills to manage, tax, and coordinate are listed above) when overpopulation did not generate
the activities of many millions of people. All in all, new and more productive technologies, but led to social,
increasing population density counts as one of the main economic, and demographic collapse.There seems to be
drivers of social complexity in human history. a feedback loop between innovation and population
Population growth and the human migrations that growth. But it is not entirely clear which side of this feed-
resulted from it have also been a major cause of ecolog- back loop is most powerful, and the answer may vary
ical degradation in human history. There is increasing from place to place. Was population growth a cause or
evidence that this was true even in the Paleolithic era as a consequence of change? Theorists and governments
communities of foragers developed technologies that have been divided on the issue, sometimes arguing for
had a significant impact on their environments. It seems measures to support population growth, sometimes see-
likely that the arrival of humans led to the extinction of ing overpopulation as a prelude to decline.
many species of large animals, particularly in Australia, The debate has raged most furiously in discussions of
Siberia, and the Americas. In Australia and the Americas, the industrial revolution.Was population growth a cause
it is possible that 70–80 percent of all mammal species or a consequence of innovation? There is no doubt that
over 44 kilograms in weight were driven to extinction populations were growing rapidly in the eighteenth cen-
after the arrival of humans (Christian 2004, 200). But tury in much of the world, or that population growth
the slow spread of agrarian communities during the last stimulated innovation by providing cheap labor and
ten thousand years has had a much more profound expanding markets for food and other basic necessities.
impact on the environment. Above all, it led to defor- Furthermore, in Britain growing populations increased
estation as farmers moved into forested zones, clearing the demand for fuel, which highlighted the shortage of
trees as they went, at first temporarily and then more per- wood and stimulated increasing use of coal, thereby
manently. Overpopulation and overfarming occasion- encouraging the fundamental innovations (above all the
ally caused regional breakdowns in production and the steam engine) that led to increased use of fossil fuels.Yet
abrupt decline of entire regions. At the end of the third it’s also possible to argue that innovations in agriculture
millennium BCE, the populations of Mesopotamia, which industry and commerce in turn led to further population
lived mainly from sophisticated forms of irrigation farm- growth. Global population growth was caused in part by
ing, collapsed. The cause was probably overirrigation the exchange of crops, animal species, and human
leading to salinity, which undermined the productivity of migrants between Eurasia and the Americas (though the
the soil.The sudden decline of Mayan civilization at the exchange of diseases between the continents caused a
end of the eighth century CE may also have been caused sharp decline in populations in the Americas). It has also
by overexploitation of fragile environments, leading to an been suggested that in many areas, both in Europe and
abrupt decline in the fertility of the land. elsewhere, the spread of new, commercialized forms of
Finally, though population growth has been a conse- production and employment in rural areas (proto-
quence of the human capacity for constant innovation, it industrialization) may have enabled young couples to
can in its turn stimulate innovation by providing new create families younger, whereas previously they might
markets and new incentives to increase productivity, and have had to wait until enough land became available to
by increasing the number of people contributing to the set up a new household and start producing children.
pool of new ideas. Ester Boserup (1981) has been a Population growth was also caused in part by an increase