Claim: Archsum, a small village in Germany, never had a very large population.
Evidence: Archsum (North Frisian: Arichsem) is a village on the North Sea island of Sylt in the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Archsum has a population of around 240 (2013). In 1611, there were 38 farms and the population totalled around 150. In 1709, 25 men out of 53 families were seafarers. Whaling helped to boost the number of inhabitants to 259 by 1745 (40 mariners). By 1850, the number of farms had fallen back to 45. By 1952, the population had declined to just 129. Only during the 1930s, when Sylt was fortified by the military, did the number of inhabitants rise briefly (1939: 306, half of which belonged to the Reichsarbeitsdienst). The village territory covers 679 hectares.