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Population Distribution in Year 1

Michigan Geographic Alliance

Carol Gersmehl & Marty Mater

carol.gersmehl@gmail.commater1ml@cmich.edu

Where did people live in Year 1 and why in those places?

Essential Questions:

1.In Year 1, how was population distributed among world regions?

2.What might explain the regional distribution of population in Year 1?

3.How does population distribution in Year 1 relate to other topics?

- largest ancient cities (430 BCE, 100 CE) - temperature - latitude

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The Michigan Geographic Alliance prepares lessons thatcombine geography and history

for grades 6 and 7.

Our inquiry into ancient

population distributions started

with the “worldmapper” website

(www.worldmapper.org).

Year 2000

The “worldmapper” websiteled us

to data sources for Year 1.

Year 2000

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We found population data for Year 1for the regions shown on the map below,

but we will look firstat data for Year 2000 to become familiar

with the regions.

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Population by RegionsYear 1 Year 1 Year 2000 Year 2000

Rounded* Rounded*

Total** Percent Region Percent Total**

760 0.3 North America 5.0 313,258

5,600 2.0 Latin America 9.0 520,743

5,600 2.0 Northern Europe 4.0 218,335

4,750 2.0 Eastern Europe 2.0 120,714

19,150 8.0 Southern Europe 3.0 179,767

17,000 8.0 Africa 13.0 811,088

3,900 2.0 Northern Eurasia 5.0 281,309

19,400 9.0 West Asia 4.0 269,366

74,000 33.0 East Asia 33.0 2,013,690

75,000 33.0 South Asia 22.0 1,331,464

360 0.2 Australia & Oceania 0.4 22,855

225,520 99.5 World 100.4 6,082,589

(Total all regions)***

*Percentages are rounded to nearest whole number except if less than .5%.**Multiply Totals by 1,000.***Percentages do not sum to 100 because of rounding.

Data sources:

http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/maddison-project/home.htm

http://www.rug.nl/research/ggdc/data/maddison-historical-statistics

http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=7

Which regionshad thehighest

percentagesin Year 2000?

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How would you describe the population distribution

in the year 2000?

Population by RegionsYear 1 Year 1 Year 2000 Year 2000

Rounded* Rounded*

Total** Percent Region Percent Total**

760 0.3 North America 5.0 313,258

5,600 2.0 Latin America 9.0 520,743

5,600 2.0 Northern Europe 4.0 218,335

4,750 2.0 Eastern Europe 2.0 120,714

19,150 8.0 Southern Europe 3.0 179,767

17,000 8.0 Africa 13.0 811,088

3,900 2.0 Northern Eurasia 5.0 281,309

19,400 9.0 West Asia 4.0 269,366

74,000 33.0 East Asia 33.0 2,013,690

75,000 33.0 South Asia 22.0 1,331,464

360 0.2 Australia & Oceania 0.4 22,855

225,520 99.5 World 100.4 6,082,589

(Total all regions)***

*Percentages are rounded to nearest whole number except if less than .5%.**Multiply Totals by 1,000.***Percentages do not sum to 100 because of rounding.

Data sources:

http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/maddison-project/home.htmhttp://www.rug.nl/research/ggdc/data/maddison-historical-statisticshttp://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=7

Here is datafor regionsin Year 1.

For each region, place “counters”

on the world basemap to show its percentage for Year 1.

Start with the highest percentages.

(North America andAustralia & Oceania

each have less than 1% of the world’s total population.)

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Which regions have the 3 highest percentages?

Which regions have the 2 lowest percentages?

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Notice the location of the3 highest percentages

in relation to the Tropic of Cancer.

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AssociationAssociation

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Why did some parts of the world have more people in Year 1?

We will use other maps to investigate this question.

First, we will use a map about large ancient cities.

We have turned on map layers that show the largest cities in 430 BCE and in 100 CE and that show lines of latitude.

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Notice the arrangement of these largest ancient cities.

Are they scattered evenly throughout the world?Are they generally arranged in a line or band?

Notice the location of these largest ancient citiesin relation to latitude (especially the Tropic of Cancer).

_ _ _ _ _Tropic of Cancer _ _ _ _

_____Equator____

_North Pole_

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Association

Pattern

Comparison

Notice the location of these largest ancient citiesin relation to Population of Regions in Year 1.

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Next, we will use a map about temperature.

We have turned on map layers about temperature(Temperature text and Temp Activity)

and about latitude (Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn).

Use the map about temperature,and color hot, cold, and in-between temperatures.

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1. Color boxes with

temperatures higher than 75 red or orange.

2. Color boxes with temperatures 45 or lower blue.

3. Color boxes with temperatures between 46 and 75

green.

In the map about temperature, we have turned on map layers that show color-coded temperature categories.

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Describe the general locations of cold, mid, and hot temperatures in relation to latitude.

Transition

After we find hot, cold, and in-between temperatures,we compare them to where people lived in Year 1.

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Notice which temperatures

match the general line of largest ancient

cities.

AssociationAssociation

After we find hot, cold, and in-between temperatures,we compare them to where people lived in Year 1.

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Notice which temperatures

match the locations of regions that

had thehighest

percentagesIn Year 1.

Can you think of reasons to

explain why colder regions

would have fewer people in

Year 1?

AssociationAssociation

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We can also use the GeoHistoGram.

x

Find Year 1 on the GeoHistoGram,

and then find names of civilizations

that had high percentages in Year 1.

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• Locate and name 3 regions that had the highest population percentages in Year 1.

• Shade the latitude band that had that had most of the largest cities in 430 BCE and 100 CE.

• Shade the latitude band that had “mid” temperatures (rather than cold or hot).

• Write an explanatory paragraph to describe the spatial association between population distribution in the Year 1 and temperature.

Assessment Options:

Use the World Regions Basemap to:

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Possible Extension: Use the

Michigan Geograhic Alliance

“Human Migration Countdown” clickable PDF

to see the relatively late arrival of humans in the Americas.

Why do you think there were so few people in North

America in the Year 1?

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Another extension examines the relationship (association) between landcover, particularly land used for cropland,

and population distribution.

Is cropland available in the

highest population regions?

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Notice the small amount of cropland (lightest yellow)in Africa, South America, and Australia.

Both South Asia and East Asia have areas of

cropland.