Period accurate population numbers, density and roads/trade networks

[Azélor]

This is a link the medieval demographic made easy, keep in mind that this is Euro-centrist and a simplification of reality.
This is an interesting paper about italian demographics in the renaissance period. Northern Italy was considered very urbanized at the time compared to Europe's average.
The central place theory can help in placing settlements. Even today, in many places you can see that cities of the same size tend to be spaced more or less evenly if the geography allows it. Yet the model doesn't work for very large cities (metropolises).

Also, these 2 threads try to have a realistic demographic :
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=45391
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=38899

[Antoine.L]

This is a link the medieval demographic made easy.

Thank you Azelor, Very interesting and usefull resources.

[eepjr24]

I don't think this was linked yet and I liked the points he made:

http://ravenswing59.blogspot.com/201...one-right.html

[Ultrahuntr]

Thanks all for sharing these resources! They're gonna come in handy.

[NeonKnight]

OK...I've been gone a LONG time from the foum, but here is some info I do know.

First and Foremost, believe it or not, but of all the resources (wood, timber, water, metal etc) the one no-one thinks of, but is by far the single most important for settlement location is.....SALT. Good Ol Sodium Chloride:

https://seasalt.com/history-of-salt


As to roadways...

**EDIT*** Found my old Post:
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...l=1#post102116
In a nut shell, think of it this way. ALL animal life (and that will include humans, and fantasy creatures as well) are inherently lazy. And what I mean by this is, 'we' want to expend as little energy as possible. So we will travel in straight lines, choose to go around a hill rather than over it, etc, etc. so there's that. Further, it takes a lot of energy to make a road in and of itself. so why do that when the animals that cam before have already done a lot of that work by making their own trails already. Early settlers often used Game trails as their early roads as they already led to points of importance (fresh water, food, etc), and so only a little work was required to clear these trails to make roads

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_road_transport

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...390-story.html

EDIT #2 - More Animal Trail Info

https://www.deersolution.com/blog/creatures-of-habit