depopulate

I realized I was interested in defining what this word really means. It says, "substantially reduce the population of an area". So, by this definition I suppose it would be that people either leave an area or they die.
This is a good definition of what is happening to the average person in northern Syria and northern Iraq right now. It is also happening in Libya.
So, one way to look at this is ISIS and Al Qaeda are depopulating Shias, Christians, Yazidis, Turkmen and anything else that isn't extremist Sunni from these areas. And everywhere they go they will do more of this depopulating those areas too.
This is one reason why I think seeing ISIS especially as a social phenomenon among Sunnis now in the middle east might be useful. One useful analogy would be lemmings jumping off a cliff because there are too many of them.
From this point of view it is what any animal (mammal) will do when the environment can't support as many individuals as live there with local water and local tillable land.
So, in Scientific terms what is happening is what all mammals might do given the same dynamics in an area. Ebola might also be a part of this.
So, looking around the world we may see more of this sort of thing other places where local potable water and local tillable land cannot support the number of individuals present over time of any species of mammal including man.




de·pop·u·late
dēˈpäpyəˌlāt/
verb
1. substantially reduce the population of (an area).

   "the disease could depopulate a city the size of New Haven"

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Translations, word origin, and more definitions
Depopulate - Merriam-Webster Online
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depopulate
Merriam‑Webster
Definition of depopulate from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary with audio pronunciations, thesaurus, Word of the Day, and word games.
Depopulate | Define Depopulate at Dictionary.com
dictionary.reference.com/browse/depopulate
Dictionary.com
Depopulate definition, to remove or reduce the population of, as by destruction or expulsion.