re: How Did Our Ancestors Survive Without A/C?

I think body acclimation and home/building design are the most relevant reasons.

quote:

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A/C is the reason the Sun Belt exists

B(A)C nobody moved to the South if they could avoid it

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This argument sounds good at first. And while there were much higher populations in the more Northern states it’s hard to say if this wasn’t more due to the NE being the better, closer or more established immigration route from Europe. Certainly there were many millions of people living in the southern states around 1920, well before AC was common. Much less than in the NE but still a lot.

A population map showing breakdown by county/parish May be more useful to show people in southern states not venturing quite as far south…the heat difference even by just 100 miles or so can be a lot.