[Zhang Fei]

[Well, discounting the Gobi and other parts not easily populated.

The areas that support a population are more densely populated and have been for a while.

Rice produces more food/acre than wheat, rye or barley.]

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Ireland, Scotland and Wales are mostly wasteland. Between rocky soil and mountains, they were the reason every time the weather turned bad, hunger or famine beckoned. Land area-wise, England is less than 50% of the 1800 UK (which included all of Ireland), but it comprises most of the tillable land.

[Black Agnes]

Dunno.

The Scots won a battle or two vs. the English in the early 1300’s but seem to have lost the majority of the rest of them. But until the early 1700’s England doesn’t seem to have cared enough about it to have actually invaded.

Scot food was mostly oats. English ate wheat. It took lots of excess of both to feed heavy horse mounted troops and Scotland doesn’t seem to have had that after the famine of 1315 (end of medieval warm period).

[Black Agnes]

As I said, I have a tinfoil reason (actually several of them) for why the European/MidEast revolts seem not to have gained ground.