Question about economics.

In my story, I will have a village in the north.

It is next to taiga full with great timber and a fishful sea, yet I would like to keep it a medium sized village.

Would saying that those two markets are the only real markets of economic opportunity and that there was already enough competition give reason for it not expanding into a trade center?

Interesting question. But a few things... is Taiga the name of the second village or do you mean something else? And what do you mean by trade center?

Nate wrote:Interesting question. But a few things... is Taiga the name of the second village or do you mean something else? And what do you mean by trade center?

Oh, sorry; Taiga is a Russian word for forest. It is basically a northern forest with lots of pines and other evergreen trees.

By trade center I mean like a huge town. I mean, if the trees are so great and the fish so fruitful, I'd need a reason for the town to remain a village size.

Whether a large city or not develops really depends on a number of factors, and for the sake of simplicity, I'd suggest not coming up with an economics factor.

If you look at states like Montana or Maine, they have plenty of fish and forest, but very few people. The same goes with places like the Amazon. In most cases, people hardly even wonder why a small town is just a small town despite being located in a great area, so you probably don't even need an excuse.

However, if you want to go with the economics factor, just don't have the village located near an ocean or in a river delta. A lot of large cities developed because they are in a natural harbor along the ocean (New York City, San Francisco, Alexandria) or lie at the confluence of rivers (Chicago). Also make sure the river is too shallow for ocean-going ships.

Or you can look at Alaska. Lots of pine and game and fish there... not many people. It's too cold.

A question! Do your people wear clothes? What doesn't make sense to me is how they can be all fish and timber, yet not have ready materials for clothes. So yeah.

Snoink wrote:Or you can look at Alaska. Lots of pine and game and fish there... not many people. It's too cold.

A question! Do your people wear clothes? What doesn't make sense to me is how they can be all fish and timber, yet not have ready materials for clothes. So yeah.

That is the problem; they trade a lot with Merchants and the Dwarves in the mountains to the north.

I think I'll just go with Nate's plan.