Simply put, there are too many of us here. Let’s look at it from the very beginning. The history of our planet began in prehistoric times. English naturalist Charles Darwin described this in detail in the 19th century, in his book The Origin of Species[i].
It was a scandal in the beginning
At the time, his theory of human origin was very controversial, as he was the first to describe the connection between the first human and the ape. Of course, this theory did not meet with understanding until later in the 20th century, when scientists began to study it and confirmed that Darwin was not far from the truth.
However, Scientists until now still do not agree exactly on the details of the origin of our Planet. One thing is certain; the history of Human development has begun to be written about 12-9 million years ago i (the last common human – hominins– ancestor).
So what is the real population history?
At that time, we can´t speak about any overpopulation, because various animal species prevailed over humans on our planet. During the Paleolithic, the first human species appeared – Homo habilis.
Their behavioral modernity also consisted of abstract thinking and behavior. The first groups of people liked to form groups, and thus their population began to grow slowly. However, there could be no question of any large numbers of people, because people lived for a maximum of 30 years.
As the temperature on our planet increased, so did the conditions for the development of society. It should be noted that human society has not only developed in one place, but in several places in the world. Archaeologists have found the first findings and the oldest tools in the area of today’s Africa.
Homo erectus comes on the scene
A more developed ancestor – Homo erectus – comes on the scene in the Mesolithic. It undergoes humanization, which means upright walking, the cerebral part enlarges, grows in height, and the face takes on a human form. Homo erectus also stayed in groups, and in addition to hunting, he also began to collect various crops.
As we move on the timeline towards the Neolithic (5000 – 3000 years before Christ), we also move into the development of man. Somewhere at this time began to develop a “modern” man – Homo sapiens. As we know, its two branches developed independently of each other – Homo Neanderthal and Homo Cro – Magnon. In time, they became extinct.
Our direct predecessors
Only the strongest Homo sapiens remained on the scene, from which our great ancestor Homo sapiens sapiens evolved sometime during the Eolithic (3000- 2000 years before Christ).
The world experienced the first rise of the human population after the year 0. AD. This was mainly due to the favorable climate, the beginning of agriculture, and the emergence of crafts.
As we know, the population has been growing exponentially since then. Except for small exceptions during plague, famine, or war (when a large part of the population died at once).
To put it simply, after the First World War, every 10-15 years, the world’s population grew by a billion. And that’s a lot!
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species#:~:text=On%20the%20Origin%20of%20Species%20(or%2C%20more%20completely%2C%20On,the%20foundation%20of%20evolutionary%20biology.