Pages: 407-438

The author considers modern approaches to explanation of human history as a whole. He argues that the most adequate approach is a demographic theory of history. The key idea of the demographic theory of history is that the population growth is the main reason of historical evolution. The author suggests a new explanation of the human history as a whole and of some key points of human history (such as the appearance of capitalism, K. Jaspers’s theory, relationship between surplus product and social evolution). In contrast to Boserup’s approach, he argues that development of human technology was caused by production of luxury in many cases and had little influence on the growth of agricultural production.