AHC: Russia as populated as China by 2015

I've posted similar maps already and still don't see the problem. The climate in Novosibirsk or Tomsk isn't significantly colder than, say, Saskatoon or Calgary, and are significantly wetter as well. There's a sizable area strung out in the south and other parts which can support significant amounts of people compared to OTL.
 
If Russia manages to have a very high fertility rate they might surpass China. Today multiple countries in the world like Afghanistan, Niger, Mali and Nigeria are growing quickliy in population, due to natural growth. What if russia managed to have a TFR of 6-7 combined with a life expectancy of 80. How could something like this be acomplished? Could the Soviets achive this with their totalitarian rule?
 

samcster94

Banned
If Russia manages to have a very high fertility rate they might surpass China. Today multiple countries in the world like Afghanistan, Niger, Mali and Nigeria are growing quickliy in population, due to natural growth. What if russia managed to have a TFR of 6-7 combined with a life expectancy of 80. How could something like this be acomplished? Could the Soviets achive this with their totalitarian rule?
The Tsar seems like a better time to do it.
 
I've posted similar maps already and still don't see the problem. The climate in Novosibirsk or Tomsk isn't significantly colder than, say, Saskatoon or Calgary, and are significantly wetter as well. There's a sizable area strung out in the south and other parts which can support significant amounts of people compared to OTL.

You have your facts wrong, here's Calgary & Edmonton. 6 Months of warmth for growing instead of 3 for Novosibirsk, might I suggest that you provide some data for future assertions? Otherwise points made without evidence could be dismissed without evidence.
Calgary:
temperature-graph.png

Edmonton: 6 months vs the Siberian 3
temperature-graph.png

As for the south its somewhat more difficult without railroads, in the territory of Ming, Qing, and the steppe hordes in contrast to gun-trotting Canadian settlers pushing out disorganized disease decimated natives.
 
You have your facts wrong, here's Calgary & Edmonton. 6 Months of warmth for growing instead of 3 for Novosibirsk, might I suggest that you provide some data for future assertions? Otherwise points made without evidence could be dismissed without evidence.
Calgary:
temperature-graph.png

Edmonton: 6 months vs the Siberian 3
temperature-graph.png

As for the south its somewhat more difficult without railroads, in the territory of Ming, Qing, and the steppe hordes in contrast to gun-trotting Canadian settlers pushing out disorganized disease decimated natives.
Do you not think that maybe some different crops that are more effective more human agriculture in Sibiria exists or can be breed into existance. I think that the most important for growth in Sibira, would be a change in social norms, social control, social systems and social behaviour.
 
You have your facts wrong, here's Calgary & Edmonton. 6 Months of warmth for growing instead of 3 for Novosibirsk, might I suggest that you provide some data for future assertions? Otherwise points made without evidence could be dismissed without evidence.
Calgary:
temperature-graph.png

Edmonton: 6 months vs the Siberian 3
temperature-graph.png

As for the south its somewhat more difficult without railroads, in the territory of Ming, Qing, and the steppe hordes in contrast to gun-trotting Canadian settlers pushing out disorganized disease decimated natives.

My data is from the exact same sources you're using. Am I just reading the graphs and charts wrong? Because those graphs look almost the same, same as the charts.
 
Do you not think that maybe some different crops that are more effective more human agriculture in Sibiria exists or can be breed into existance. I think that the most important for growth in Sibira, would be a change in social norms, social control, social systems and social behaviour.

You're talking on the span of centuries and millenniums; selective breeding of the time required a decent livestock market in existence and a substantial farming population to go with it none of which exists when the cossacks conquered the region initially. Keep in mind that just like Canada settlers would need to clear away lots and lots of forests, a laborious job made somewhat better since they could sell their lumber by the St. Lawrence river (or the lack of trees to cut down in the prairies). Conversely there was little reason to settle the region without better breeds and the earliest intentional breeding occurred around the 18th century. Regardless of the breed there's sheer physics, less heat and less sunlight puts a absolute limit on crop yield per acre; even sunless fungus requires organic matter to breakdown for energy.

My data is from the exact same sources you're using. Am I just reading the graphs and charts wrong? Because those graphs look almost the same, same as the charts.

Maybe, the line's the average and the coloured regions are the average max and mins; Calgary gets about 2-3 more months of growing which is nearly double Siberia's.
 
A Russia that has a population explosion based on potatoes would make the Irish Potato Famine look like nothing once late blight is introduced.

A Siberian society reliant on potatoes as the sole carbohydrate would also be one hard June frost away from starvation. Although potatoes can come back from a frost, they can only make large tubers if they have a sufficiently long growing season aftwrwards, which Siberia does not have.

Additionally, China has a massive advantage in that you can grow crops in the winter and spring, at least south of the Yellow river, and in southern China, you can potentially have multiple rice crops a year.
 
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