|
City |
Year Became #1 |
Population Information |
|
Memphis, Egypt |
3100 BCE |
Well over 30,000 |
|
Akkad, Babylonia (Iraq) |
2240 |
|
|
Lagash, Babylonia (Iraq) |
2075 |
|
|
Ur, Babylonia (Iraq) |
2030 |
65,000 |
|
Thebes, Egypt |
1980 |
|
|
Babylon, Babylonia (Iraq) |
1770 |
|
|
Avaris, Egypt |
1670 |
|
|
Memphis, Egypt |
1557 |
|
|
Thebes, Egypt |
1400 |
|
|
Nineveh, Assyria (Iraq) |
668 |
|
|
Babylon, Babylonia (Iraq) |
612 |
First above 200,000 |
|
Alexandria |
320 |
|
|
Pataliputra (Patna), India |
300 |
|
|
Changan (Xi'an), China |
195 |
400,000 |
|
Rome |
25 |
450,000 (100 CE) |
|
Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey |
340 CE |
400,000 (500) |
|
Ctesiphon, Iraq |
570 |
|
|
Changan (Xi'an), China |
637 |
400,000 (622); 600,000 (800) |
|
Baghdad, Iraq |
775 |
First over 1 million; 700,000 (800) |
|
Cordova, Spain |
935 |
|
|
Kaifeng, China |
1013 |
400,000 (1000); 442,000 (1100) |
|
Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey |
1127 |
|
|
Merv (Mary), Turkmenistan |
1145 |
200,000 (1150) |
|
Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey |
1153 |
|
|
Fez (Fes), Morocco |
1170 |
|
|
Hangzhou, China |
1180 |
255,000 (1200); 320,000 (1250) |
|
Cairo, Egypt |
1315 |
|
|
Hangzhou, China |
1348 |
432,000 (1350) |
|
Nanking, China |
1358 |
487,000 (1400) |
|
Beijing, China |
1425 |
600,000 (1450); 672,000 (1500) |
|
Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey |
1650 |
700,000 (1650 & 1700) |
|
Beijing, China |
1710 |
900,000 (1750); 1.1 million (1800) |
|
London, United Kingdom |
1825 |
First over 5 million; 1.35 million (1825); 2.32 million (1850); 4.241
million (1875); 6.480 million (1900) |
|
New York |
1925 |
First over 10 million; 7.774 million (1925), 12.463 million (1950) |
|
Tokyo |
1965 |
First over 20 million; 23 million (1975) |
Source: adapted from Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth
(1987)
|