More than 95% of the 7.69 million square kilometers of land are uninhabited. Why is this country so wonderful?

This is Australia. On a land of 7.69 million square kilometers, there are only more than 25 million people living there, which is more than 7 million people less than in Chongqing, my country. Most of these people live within 50 kilometers of the coastline, and more than 95% of the country is almost empty. What is the reason that Australia only lives by the sea? Does everyone want a sea view room?

8 people and 10,000 cattle, occupying "Israel"

Don't be surprised, this is not to capture Israel, but to say that there are only 8 people and 10,000 cattle living in Australia, a land larger than Israel.

This is the area called Anna Creek. This piece of land larger than Israel is actually a private ranch, and it is also the largest private ranch in the world. There are usually only 8 workers here, looking after 10,000 cattle, and occasionally the farmer comes once in a while. The total population of this area does not exceed 12 people.

It is so sparsely populated that it cannot be said that it is everywhere in Australia, but it is also very common! There are more than 10,000 people living in Pilbara County in the west, and its area is not much different from Japan. Among the more than 10,000 people, half of the population is concentrated in a small town called Newman.

Even more outrageous is the open pastoral area in the southwest, which is comparable in size to France, but only 3,750 people live there. Do you think it's strange? Driving from the southwest town to the northwest town of Kununurra, there are less than 70,000 people living along the 3,200-kilometer road.

In Europe, this distance can go from Madrid to Istanbul. The population along the route is more than one million, but Australia has less than 70,000 people.

Statistics show that two-thirds of Australia's population mainly live in the five major cities in the coastal areas, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, and most of the rest live in some relatively small cities around the big cities. in small cities. The total area of these cities accounts for about 0.22% of Australia's land area.

Generally speaking, Australians are reluctant to leave the seaside, and the people of the whole country are concentrated in an area 50 kilometers away from the coastline. Further inland, most of them are no-man's land. It was not without reason that Japan coveted this land back then.

Historical Reasons for Living by the Sea

When Australia is big, it is a continent; when it is small, it is an isolated island in the South Pacific.

It was not discovered by accident until the 17th century. It was designated as a colony by the United Kingdom in 1788 and is actually a prison for British exiled prisoners. The colonists all came from the sea, and the first area to occupy and live must be by the sea. It is convenient to land here and it is close to the ship. It is backed by cannons. It is relatively safe to advance, attack and retreat.

After becoming a penal colony, about 150,000 prisoners were sent to Australia. The administrators naturally hope to drop the prisoners as soon as possible, and leave when they arrive at the place. The fastest way is to throw them directly by the sea, and let them rely on themselves.

From 1788 to 1868, Britain sent 150,000 prisoners to Australia. This population was harmless in Britain, but it had a huge impact in Australia.

British prisoners gradually became masters in Australia, where they settled where they first landed. These are basically good natural harbors. Later, with the rapid development of maritime trade, it is not surprising that these landing points are close to the water, and they have developed into big cities.

The climatic reasons for living by the sea

Of course, these prisoners who were exiled to Australia were certainly not law-abiding people. After landing, I must have explored inland, but I was finally persuaded by the harsh climate.

Southwest Australia is far away from Antarctica. The cold ocean current blowing from Antarctica is extremely cold and dry, and this area cannot absorb enough heat to change the nature of this cold ocean current. Without rain, it is not suitable for farming and survival. , people will naturally be less.

In the vast central area, because of the barrier of the Great Dividing Range in Australia, the warm and humid air from the Pacific Ocean cannot enter the inland. The inland areas are basically plains, and the highest mountain is only more than 2,000 meters high, which is completely unable to meet the conditions for uplifting airflow to achieve rainfall. As a result, this area is basically in a desert and semi-desert state, and the living environment is harsh.

The Tropic of Capricornus passes through Australia, and the land south of the Tropic of Cancer is controlled by subtropical high pressure, and there are extreme climate blessings such as El Niño and La Niña, resulting in high temperature and drought in this area, which is extremely prone to fires. The fires in Australia that year killed many wild animals for a similar reason.

The wildfires have been raging for a long time. On the one hand, Australia does not work hard to put out the fire. On the other hand, there are really no people in this area. The fire will burn for a year and a half, and it will not cause huge casualties and property losses. It is just that the small animals here suffer. .

In the northwestern region of Australia, although there is rainfall, it is extremely unstable, and it is like opening a blind box every year. In 1998, a tropical cyclone brought more than 740 mm of rainfall here, and the rain in one day caught up with the average rainfall in London in a year.

In 1924, the meteorological records here showed that there was not a single cyclone landed throughout the year, so that the annual rainfall was only 4 mm, which was lower than the average annual rainfall in the Sahara Desert. Although these are all extreme years, they are not much better in normal times, with droughts and floods and floods.

Geographical reasons for Australia's small population

There are only more than 25 million people living in a land of more than 7 million square kilometers, which is indeed a bit of a "waste of land". And the more than 25 million people have only been realized because the population has doubled in the past 50 years. Before the 1970s, the population of Australia as a whole was just over 10 million.

The main reason why the population of this continent is so underdeveloped is because of its isolation from the world. From the perspective of animal evolution, we can see the huge influence left by the isolated islands in the Pacific Ocean.

According to research, about 50,000 years ago, the sea level was about 120 meters lower than it is now, and ancient humans once set foot on this land. Then sea levels rose and Australia was cut off again. I have slowly evolved for tens of thousands of years, and it was not until I became a British colony that a large influx of people began.

The vastness of land and sparse population is indeed a major feature of Australia. The only country in the world that can match it may be Canada, and Russia barely counts as half of it. There are different opinions in different periods on whether a country has a larger population or a smaller population, but in general, a vast country still needs enough people to guard it.

You see, there are few people in Australia, and even a big fire cannot be extinguished. We can only wait for the rain to extinguish the fire. On the other hand, when a mountain fire broke out in Chongqing, one side was in trouble and all sides supported it, and the fire was extinguished quickly with a united effort. So, too many people are not only harmful!