03-20-2012, 09:25 PM
Havard Wrote:I'm not sure Norway is a good comparison here. Keep in mind that about 80% of Norways area is uninhabitable. S. John Ross who wrote the article I linked above suggests reasonable population to be between 30 and 120 people per square mile. While I would agree that Blackmoor should be on the low end of the scale, 5 people sounds unreasonably low.
Reasons for a low population could be the following:In spite of these factors, I think the current population numbers need to be revisited.
- Cimate, as you mention, though I dont know if it should be much worse than Scottland.
- Wars, wars, and more wars: This is a big one. Although we also know there is migration to the North from the Thonian Empire.
- Swamps: Such large parts of the kingdom are wetlands. It is hard to say how inhabitable these swamps are, yet there are clearly settlements found within the swamplands.
-Havard
S. John Ross' pop figures are fine for a lowland France type place, but are less relevant as you move to other places, like switzerland, frex. 30 per square mile is far to high of a low for less than ideal locations in the medieval period. Even today I'm pretty sure Finland has a pop density of 16 per sq mile in rural areas and I know there are three counties here in new york state that have pop densities of less than 30. Hamilton county has a population density of less than 3 persons per square mile because it is the Adirondak mountans park.
For another example, assuming Rafe is right about 130,000 being the population of medieval Denmark, that yeilds a pop Density for Denmark of about 8 persons per square mile. Denmark may well be a better comparison to Blackmoor than Norway, I should guess.
Anyway, the pop densities vary with location, so the average is just that - an average. FFC has 20% of blackmoor as arable land, 60% forests, 20% swamps. If, using Alex's figure, you assume 3/4 of the population live in the arable part that's 196,875 people on 10350 square miles. That's a population density in the habited areas of 19 persons per square mile. These numbers can be played with, but it seems okay to me, particularly with the wars and such you mentioned.
Having said that, I completely agree that it is an area that could benefit from a closer look.