[Glorantha] urban percent

[Donald R. Oddy]

In message <p06230922c0317beae812@[10.0.1.3]> David Dunham writes:

>I've done some quick web research, and consulted my own notes, and 
>don't see any good rule of thumb for what percentage of a settled 
>population lives in cities. 10-15% in Babylon and Ur? 3% in medieval 
>Russia? 1/3 of Peloponnesian War Athens?
>
>Obviously there will be a range of variation. Presumably the percent 
>would be higher in a Civilization (per RQ3 terminology) vs Barbarian 
>land.

I'm amazed that Athens had as much as a third of the population
living in the city and suspect in that case it must have imported 
a lot of food from outside the city state. Alternatively there
was a lot of agricultural activity within the city walls.

The other figures sound like the right sort of range although
medieval Russia may reflect a substantial proportion of nomadic
tribes - i.e. not settled.

Total population compared to usable land area also affects these
figures. Medieval Japan had lots of cities compared to medieval 
England simply because they had a far larger population for a
similar land area. They did that by devoting their agricultural
resources to rice so got higher productivity per acre than England
which practiced mixed farming including livestock.

So for Glorantha I'd expect to see the fertile plains of the
Oslir river supporting 15% city populations. Less fertile areas
of the Empire 10% and lands like Sartar as low as 5%. For an
example of 3% I'd go for Pavis and Prax. About the only place
30% is likely is Silver Shadow where the population of the city 
of Glamour can be supported by imported grain in the same way
that the city of Rome was supported by grain from Egypt.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/