Who wrote the ‘Essay on the principles of population’?

Who wrote the ‘Essay on the principles of population’?

Thomas Malthus was an English demographer and political economist. He is best known for his highly influential views on population. In ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’, first published in 1798, Malthus made the famous prediction that population would outrun food supply.

Malthus’s observation was that in nature, plants and animals produce far more offspring than can survive. He argued that Man too is capable of overproducing it left unchecked. Malthus concluded that unless family size was regulated, there would be global famine and mankind would die away.

His theory was widely misunderstood, and raised a lot of controversy. Yet, it transformed him into an international celebrity, and his essay was eventually recognized as what it truly was… the first serious economic study of the welfare of the lower classes.


Believe it or not

Born to Rule

An ancient civilization that flourished in Mesopotamia, which lies in modern day Iraq, practiced a strange ritual to please their gods. During the New Year or during troubled times, the people of Mesopotamia sacrificed the life of their king to satisfy their deities. In real fact, the actual king was given the day off, and helpless commoner was sworn king for the day, jus t so he could be sacrificed! In 1861 B.C. Enlil-Bani was the king’s substitute. But incredibly, just as he was about to be hung, a breathless messenger arrived with the news that the real king had died! Enlil-Bani was saved, and subsequently, ruled Mesopotamia for 24 years!

Birds to the battlefront!

The cavalrymen of Media in the fifth century won many wars against the Greeks riding very unusual mounts into battle. They rode ostriches, not horses!

Saved by April fool’s Day!

In 1634, Nicolas Francois and his wife, Claude, the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine in France, were sentenced to death. They were imprisoned in their palace at Nancy. On April 1, they escaped from to freedom by climbing out of a palace window. Then they swam across the river Meurthe to safety. Witnesses who saw them shouted, to alert the guards, but the guards did nothing! They thought it was just an elaborate April fool’s joke!