Malthus, the 18th Century European explorers and the principle of population in Africa
Population studies
25
Issue: 2
(12 - 2011)
In the second edition of his Essay on the Principle of Population, Malthus included
twelve chapters that offer a remarkable description of population dynamics from
all corners of the world. His discussion of (sub-Saharan) Africa was almost
entirely based on the travel accounts of James Bruce and Mungo Park, two late
Eighteenth Century British explorers. In this essay, | introduce these sources and
discuss the insights that Malthus did, or perhaps should have, derived from both.
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