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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mythusmage" data-source="post: 2141898" data-attributes="member: 571">Population tends to expand to fit a land's carrying capacity absent mechanisms that curtail such growth. A land's carry capacity depending on numerous factors, such as soil, precipatation, temperature, plant life, and technology. Very often population will expand to a territory's apparent carrying capacity, only to decline to fit the actual carrying capacity. Often precipitously. See the Anazasi of New Mexico for an example.For a good example of what can happen when a technologically advanced people colonize a virtually empty land take a look at the demographic history of colonial America and the early United States. While both Europeans and American Indians were recovering from devastating die offs at the time, it was the Europeans who recovered fastest and so were able to provide a constant supply of colonists who would, eventually, overwhelm the aborigines.Currently the fastest growing areas have a growth rate of around 2.3% per annum. In a land empty of people the growth rate could yet much higher. At, say, a growth rate of 4.6% every 20 years the population can add up in 10 generations. Note that this rate does include fatalities. (Note that I am likely grossly underestimating population growth.)Update: At a growth rate of 5% over 200 years at 20 years per generation our 100 colonists  would see about 63% growth for a population of 163. At a 10% growth rate the same period of time would see the population expand to 264 people.And I just realized I screwed things up. I'll get back to this later.</blockquote>

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