Depopulation

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Depopulation is a term used to describe any great reduction in a human population.^[1] It can be used to refer to longterm demographic trends, as in urban decay or rural depopulation, but it is also commonly employed to describe large reductions in population due to violence, disease, or other catastrophes.^[2]

History is replete with examples of large scale depopulations. Many wars, for example, have been accompanied by significant depopulations. During the Age of Imperialism, Europeans migrating to new continents brought with them not only devastating new means of waging warfare and/or violent economic systems such as slavery, but also, often inadvertently, infectious diseases to which indigenous peoples had no resistance. These factors, particularly the latter, sometimes had a devastating impact on the indigenous inhabitants.

Some notable historical examples of large depopulation of entire continents include:

• The Black Death in Europe, Asia and the Middle East in the Middle Ages;
• Spanish flu
• The impact of the Muslim and European slave trades on the continent of Africa
• The impact of European colonialism and accompanying introduced infectious diseases in the Americas and Australia.

Some examples of depopulation of large regions brought about mainly by warfare include:

• The Mongol Conquests of China, the Russian steppes and the Middle East;
• Tamurlane's military campaigns in the Middle and Near East;
• The Thirty Years War in Europe;

- and a great many others.

Famine has also frequently played a role in depopulation, whether as a result of war, climatic conditions, human incompetence and so on.

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