[resu_nimda]

I think this is more of an observation on the distribution of land masses than people. Ushuaia is as far south as you can go on a non-Antarctic continent. Conversely there is a ton of accessible and (relatively) resource-rich land north of Copenhagen (much of Canada and Russia, all of Scandinavia). Obviously the "great deal of land" below the Antarctic circle is extremely inhospitable and inaccessible to early settlers.