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Is it plausible to give us Asian-level population densities in Europe, as a result of much more widespread rice cultivation? IOTL, rice is grown in the Po River Valley and the Spanish Levant. Can we see rice becoming the predominant staple food of Italy and the Iberian peninsula, causing Asian-style population densities (e.g. 120 million in Italy, 100 million in Iberia, etc)? What about rice growing in the Rhine Valley? Rice is already grown IOTL in northeastern China and northern Japan with subarctic climates, so could it work in Germany? Admittedly, most of Europe will only be able to sustain one rice crop a year instead of two or even three in say Thailand or Vietnam.
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