Climate change and the population collapse during the "Great Famine" in pre-industrial Europe.

ABSTRACT: Population dynamics, economy, and human demography started with Malthus, the idea that population growth is limited by resources and "positive checks" occur when population growth overshoots the available resources. In fact, historical evidence indicates that long-term climate changes have destabilized civilizations and caused population collapses via food shortages, diseases, and wars. One of the worst population collapses of human societies occurred during the early fourteenth century in northern Europe; the "Great Famine" was the consequence of the dramatic effects of climate deterioration on human population growth. Thus, part of my motivation was to demonstrate that simple theoretical-based models can be helpful in understanding the causes of population change in preindustrial societi

SUBMITTER: Lima M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3925430 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature