[411111111111111]

yes, it was.

the first industrialization started in the middle 18th century though, so not sure what your point is.

[coldtea]

Probably that already in the "middle 18th century" it was close to a billion people (and in any case, many more than low thousands: hundreds of millions).

Heck, ancient Athens alone (a single Greek city) had a population in the "low thousands" in 500 B.C.

[detaro]

There is no point in the past 2000 years where world population is estimated to be "hundreds of thousands".