ABSTRACT
Gregory King (1648–1712), the first known creator of long-range global population projections, wrote that “if the World should continue to A° Mundi [anno mundi] 20,000 [A.D. 16,052] it might then have 6,500 million” (King, 1696). In reality, the world’s population will reach the number projected by King early in the next century, most likely in about 10 years from the writing of this chapter. In hindsight his projection left much to be desired. But did he provide knowledge and insights that were interesting and valuable to his contemporaries?
