depopulation

(noun)

The act of reducing a population; the destruction or expulsion of inhabitants.

Related Terms

Examples of depopulation in the following topics:

  • Disease in the New World

    • European exploration and invasion of the Americas brought with them many foreign diseases, causing widespread depopulation among indigenous cultures.

  • Urban Decline

    • Features of urban decline include deindustrialization, depopulation, economic restructuring, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime, and a desolate landscape.
    • That being said, urban decline results from some combination of socioeconomic decisions, such as the city's urban planning decisions, the poverty of the local populace, the construction of urban infrastructure (such as freeways, roads, and other elements of transportation), and the depopulation of peripheral lands by suburbanization.

  • The Rural Rebound

    • Indeed, in the last 50 years, about 370 cities worldwide with more than 100,000 residents have undergone population losses of more than 10%, and more than 25% of the depopulating cities are in the United States.
    • Symptoms of urban decay include depopulation, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable landscape.

  • The Black Death

    • There was increased social mobility, as depopulation further eroded the peasants' already weakened obligations to remain on their traditional holdings.
    • Severe depopulation and migration of people from village to cities caused an acute shortage of agricultural laborers.

  • Greek Dark Ages

    • Up to 90% of small sites in the Peloponnese were abandoned, suggesting major depopulation.

  • Shrinking Cities and Counter-Urbanization

    • Symptoms of urban decay include depopulation, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable landscape.

  • The Nineteenth Century

    • These economists had seen the first economic and social transformation brought by the Industrial Revolution: rural depopulation, precariousness, poverty, and apparition of a working class.

  • Changes in American Indian Life

    • Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782, and 1837–1838, brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the Plains Indians.

  • The Akkadian Empire

    • Attempts to control access to water led to increased political instability; meanwhile, severe depopulation occurred.

  • The Olmec

    • Archaeologists speculate that the depopulation was caused by environmental changes, specifically riverine environment changes.