GEOG 205 Lecture : GEOG 205 - Population.docx
Document Summary
80% of the world"s population is in one of the primary clusters. Dry lands: about 20% of world"s surface, desert belt crosses the entire african continent, deserts tend to match other deserts found at similar latitudes, world"s major deserts. A very slow evolutionary process perhaps 4 million years or longer. First hominids" the rift valley of east-central africa. Confined to africa until about 1 million years ago. First human ancestor to spread beyond africa homo erectus. Homo sapiens first emergence around 100,000 years ago. Subsequent global migrations from 1 million to 4,000 years ago. Main activities collecting wild food plants, fishing, hunting. Common size of hunter-gatherer bands around 50. A typical group territory was one day"s walking distance. Contemporary hunter and gatherer societies on the periphery of world settlement. Less than 0. 005% of the world"s current population. Areas the arctic, congo and amazon basins, the australian outback, interior new.