Why isnt Canda+south America

Originally posted by machine Why doesnt Canada have a large population, whereas their neighbours to the south do. And why wasnt South America populated by Europeans????

Edited by pikeshot1600 - 27-May-2006 at 07:03

Originally posted by pikeshot1600 Originally posted by machine Why doesnt Canada have a large population, whereas their neighbours to the south do. And why wasnt South America populated by Europeans????       Canada in general has a harsh, long-winter climate.  In the age of exploration and settlement, the dense forests and short growing season didn't allow for supporting a large population.   South America has very large numbers of European descendants, particlarly Brazil, Argentina and Chile.  Many came from Italy, Portugal and Germany, as well as Spain in earlier times.  Those three countries experienced much immigration at the same time as the US.

Yes, during the immigration period, even some Welsh set up settlements in Argentina. Decebal is right about Canada, it does not have the greatest amount of land that can be populated. Look at Iceland compared to Greenland. Iceland has about twice as many people, but nowhere close to the land area.

A key factor in Canada's smaller population is not just the climate, but historical. America at one time actively sought huge numbers of foreign immigrants from many different countries (France, Germany, Ireland, etc), whereas in Canada non-British immigration was discouraged at one time.

As far as Central and South America, it was populated by Europeans but the native population always remained very large; this is a factor of pre-Columbian population densities, which were far higher in places like Mexico and Peru than they were in places like Nova Scotia or California. There are also historical factors at work here, too. The early models of colonialism under the Spanish sought not to displace the native groups off their land, as later models of colonialism (particularly British and American), but rather to incorporate them as converts and subjects in a sort of feudal system - the encomiendas were directly modelled after the manorial system of feudal economies. To the Spanish the natives were not squatters to be evicted, but people that could be turned into a new peasant class to be exploited.