I'm not sure how many people have truly lived off the grid for the past 150 years. It probably numbers in the low thousands across the entire planet.
As mentioned in the article, American homesteaders were settling into so-called wilderness for $0 but which had been cleared of the people already living there. Few homesteaders lived more than a day's ride away from a military fort.
Even "mountain men" who rejected colonizer society went into the wilds fully equipped with its technology, and would frequently cycle out for supplies.
Furthermore, a lot of the land they had occupied was already partially cultivated and developed by indigenous tribes. And those indigenous tribes were trading with the colonists - and they had to, because their traditional ways of life were no longer possible, or they had been pushed off the lands where they used to live.
Uncontacted indigenous tribes are probably the last ones to truly live "off the grid". But, maybe not. They also live in a network of shared resources. They rely heavily on a small society of a hundred or so people.
The number of single families and individuals who have truly "lived off the grid"? Without significant support from larger groups, including common defense, trading, scavenging, and theft? For their whole lives? And prospered? I would guess there has never been anybody who accomplished that, from the beginning of time.
Sure, you can redefine "off the grid" to mean dozens of things, but doesn't it have a somewhat accepted definition of "not currently connected to the major utility and supply networks"?
As mentioned in the article, American homesteaders were settling into so-called wilderness for $0 but which had been cleared of the people already living there. Few homesteaders lived more than a day's ride away from a military fort.
Even "mountain men" who rejected colonizer society went into the wilds fully equipped with its technology, and would frequently cycle out for supplies.
Furthermore, a lot of the land they had occupied was already partially cultivated and developed by indigenous tribes. And those indigenous tribes were trading with the colonists - and they had to, because their traditional ways of life were no longer possible, or they had been pushed off the lands where they used to live.
Uncontacted indigenous tribes are probably the last ones to truly live "off the grid". But, maybe not. They also live in a network of shared resources. They rely heavily on a small society of a hundred or so people.
The number of single families and individuals who have truly "lived off the grid"? Without significant support from larger groups, including common defense, trading, scavenging, and theft? For their whole lives? And prospered? I would guess there has never been anybody who accomplished that, from the beginning of time.