Yes, but if there were no diseases, the population would not just keep on growing and growing. War and famine would act if diseases wouldn't. Imagine a group of early settlers finding a huge valley, with fertile ground in the lower hills, and large amounts of vegetation filled with birds and boar in the higher parts of the hills. Running down the middle of the valley is a river, with many fish and clean water. This is ideal for the settlers to populate. As expected, the population grows very fast at first, with a mixture of hunting, fishing and simple farming methods used to provide food, each family in the population provides for themselves. One year, it doesn’t rain very much at all, but the people hardly notice as there is still a surplus of food and the river is large enough to support their farms by itself. As the population grows, more and more people begin to use the lower hills as homes, taking advantage of the fertile ground for farming, and using the river to help irrigate. As the population grows, more people must move to the higher hills, as there is no longer any room for farms on the lower regions. At this point, maybe a disease would have struck the densely populated lower hills, causing a massive decline in population. Once again, there is a surplus of resources to the survivors, and a similar pattern repeats. However, for some unknown reason, no disease emerges. The population will shrink anyway. As the upper hills are populated, the trees on it are cut down to make room for houses and the now favorable farms, destroying hunting as a major source of food. By this point, about 50% of the population are providing food, as there is demand for craftsmen, and especially engineers, because it is more difficult to irrigate further away from the river. This means that people are relying on efficient means of farming to support the population. As there is too much irrigation, the river shrinks, this coupled with over-fishing in the river eliminates fish as a major food source as well. As happened when the population was small, once again there is little rain one year. This time, there is not enough water in the river to support many farms, and there is a severe shortage of food. People from the higher hills group together, raiding and taking land from people nearer the river. Any domesticated animals have been culled, as there is no water, or already have been killed for food. As the irrigation techniques are useless if there is no water, the farms are no longer efficient. This means that only a small portion of farms are having to provide for both the rest of the farms, and the craftsmen and engineers. Because the land on the hills is now useless, and there is no longer any demand for craftsmen and engineers, only the farm-owning people have any sort of wealth anymore. There is a famine, and this coupled with the widespread wars over good land kills a large chunk of the population. Once again, there is another surplus of resources, as the river grows again, so does the fish population. The forests slowly grow back, it will be several years until these are sustainable sources of food again, but until they are, the remaining farms can provide. The pattern eventually repeats itself again.
Topic: Diseases......... good? (Read 10809 times)
