Timeline for How small can an isolated society be at the technological level of the 18th century to also be self-sufficient?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18, 2023 at 6:02 | comment | added | Brobi | That could provide a real approximation. Thank you very much, you are extremely helpful. | |
| Oct 17, 2023 at 20:55 | comment | added | Richard Kirk | it's a different culture, but monasteries attempted to be isolated and self-sufficient. They did not try to maintain a population, and they did not have the parliaments that small island cultures often did. They did not have the Industrial Revolution. But they would produce their own food and drink, books, architecture, furniture, and so on. | |
| Oct 17, 2023 at 17:31 | comment | added | Brobi | Oh, that's really interesting! I would not have thought that. You've given me material to read up on. I thank you! | |
| Oct 17, 2023 at 17:17 | comment | added | Richard Kirk | The Vikings used to smelt bog iron when they needed it. They did this in much smaller communities that would fit in a longship or two. These were not stable communities was such, but they show that iron working is possible from scratch. The Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland is an example. That could have supported between 30 and 120 people, but it was probably a temporary place to repair boats rather than a permanent community. | |
| Oct 17, 2023 at 16:53 | comment | added | Brobi | Thank you very much for the explanation, dear Richard!! I have emphasized in several places that it is not a matter of total isolation. I also believe that a population of 500 could not possibly have bronze production as I described at the beginning. Very likely, neither could 5000. 5000 might just be the population of the capital from the civilization as I described it. My own guess as to population size is somewhere between 25000 and 75000, but I'm not at all sure on this point, as the spread in estimated population size makes clear. | |
| Oct 17, 2023 at 16:38 | history | answered | Richard Kirk | CC BY-SA 4.0 |