Correction: Europe's 17th-Century Population Was ~100 Million, Not 1 Million

The statement that Europe's population in the 17th century was "about one million people" is incorrect by a factor of 100.

Historical demographers estimate the population of Europe (including European Russia) in the year 1600 at approximately 78–80 million, rising to roughly 100–110 million by 1700, despite the devastation of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and recurring plagues.

A population of 1 million would be roughly the size of a single large early-modern city (like London or Paris by 1700) or a small modern European country (like Cyprus or Montenegro), not an entire continent.

Sources: McEvedy & Jones, Atlas of World Population History; UN historical estimates; Livi-Bacci, A Concise History of World Population.