Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the world's population was increasing faster than the food
supplies needed to sustain it. His reasoning was that food
supplies grew
linearly
, adding acreage and crops incre-
mentally by year, whereas population grew
exponentially
,
compounding on the year before. From 1803 to 1826,
Malthus issued revised editions of his essay and responded
vigorously to a barrage of criticism.
The predictions Malthus made assumed food produc-
tion is confi ned spatially, that what people can eat within a
country depends on what is grown in the country. We now
know his assumption does not hold true; countries are not
closed systems. Malthus did not foresee how globalization
would aid the exchange of agricultural goods across the
world. Mercantilism, colonialism, and capitalism brought
interaction among the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and
the Pacifi c. Through global interaction, new agricultural
methods developed, and commodities and livestock dif-
fused across oceans. In the 1700s, farmers in Ireland grew
dependent on a South American crop that was well suited
for its rocky soils, the potato. Today, wealthier countries
that lack arable land, such as Norway, can import the major-
ity of its foodstuffs, circumventing the limitations of their
GREENLAND
0.7
U.S.
(Alaska)
6
0
°
CANADA
0.2
40
°
40
°
UNITED STATES
0.6
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
BAHAMAS
0.9
CUBA
0.3
MEXICO
1.4
Tropic of Cancer
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
PUERTO
RICO
20
°
20
°
20
°
JAMAICA
1.6
1.5
0.3
1.3
BELIZE
U.S.
(Hawaii)
2.1
HAITI
HONDURAS
NICARAGUA
2.2
BARBADOS
0.4
2.0
GUATEMALA
1.2
1.4
EL SALVADOR
0.6
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
1.2
PACIFIC
COSTA RICA
PANAMA
1.5
VENEZUELA
1.5
GUYANA
SURINAME
1.0
COLOMBIA
1.2
1.1
FRENCH GUIANA
0
°
Equator
ECUADOR
1.5
OCEAN
PERU
1.4
BRAZIL
1.1
WORLD
POPULATION GROWTH
ANNUAL NATURAL RATE OF
POPULATION INCREASE BY COUNTRY
BOLIVIA
1.8
20
°
20
°
20
°
Tropic of Capricorn
PARAGUAY
1.3
ARGENTINA
1.0
2.5% or greater
0.4
CHILE
0.8
URUGUAY
1.5-2.4%
40
°
40
°
40
°
40
°
0.5-1.4%
0.4% or less
Data not available
160
°
140
°
120
°
80
°
60
°
40
°
60
°
60
°
60
°
60
°
SOUTHERN
OCEAN
0
1000
2000
3000 Kilometers
0
1000
2000 Miles
Figure 2.7
World Population Growth, 2010.
Annual natural rate of population increase by country.
Data from
: United States Census Bureau, International Data Base, 2011.
