Land, power and population density in the global population shifts of 1500-1960

Abstract

The regional distribution of world population underwent profound changes during the age of exploration and colonization, in which a handful of European powers colonized the better part of the remaining continents. One consequence is that many countries in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, after sharp contractions of indigenous populations following exposure to Old World diseases, today have populations in which European or African descendants form majorities and speak predominantly European languages. Migration and in some cases colonization also altered population compositions in countries including South Africa, Cape Verde, Fiji and Singapore. And descendants of 'emigr'es came to outnumber those of "stayers" even for non-colonizing countries, including, e.g., Ireland and Lebanon. We identify major determinants of who settled where, during this era of colonialism and migration, demonstrating that both "natural" factors like availability and fertility of agricultural land and climate and disease prevalence, on the one hand, and power inequalities and cultural variables, on the other, explain the broad patterns of migration.