Reddit reviews Atlas of World Population History (Hist Atlas)

Aldaron, 2016-10-25:

> We are using mostly Colin McEvedy's and Richard Jones's "Atlas of World Population History". It might be a little outdated, but it gives cohesive data for every region of the world, which is far more important than the possible "errors of calculus". Also, the most glaring difference to other more modern authors is the America's and we have increased the given values by this book by a large ammount. ;-)

Aldaron, 2016-12-22:

> > The "Atlas of World Population History" by McEvedy and Jones puts the population of the Aztec and Inca empires in the end of the 15th century at a total of 8-9 mln (divided equally between the two). The total population of bith the americas in the same period is estimated to have been 14 mln.

> What I have done is rather easy: I have just used the data in the book for America to take the proportional part and addapt it to the consensuated 54 (IIRC) million people for all America.

> In other words, if Aztec and Inca empire were 8 million over 14 in McEvedy (or 57%), in 2.0 Aztec and Inca empire are 30 million together, or around 15 million each (do note these numbers are by heart and could be wrong, but are around these ones).

Human ability to reproduce may not really be the limiting factor to consider. How well agricultural practices were able to support a given population and that rapid of a growth rate, for example, might be more informative. And were there even 19.3 million people in 2300-1800 BCE?

There should also be some evidence of an origination point where these 19 million Noachian people originated and immigrated outward from--hypothetically some indication of higher densities of population during that era from which individuals and groups began to steadily move away from, toward better prospects and less competitive environments.

(EDIT: McEvendy and Jones, authors of the Atlas of World Population History, estimate 27 million people in 2000 BCE.)