List of largest cities throughout history explained

List of largest cities throughout history should not be confused with Historical urban community sizes.

This article lists the largest human settlements in the world (by population) over time, as estimated by historians, from 7000 BC when the largest human settlement was a proto-city in the Ancient Near East with a population of about 1,000–2,000 people, to the year 2000 when the largest human settlement was Tokyo with 26 million.

Rome, Chang'an or Baghdad may have been the first city to have 1,000,000 people, as early as the 1st century or as late as the 8th century. Later cities that might have reached 1 million include Luoyang, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Jinling, Beijing, Edo. There is wide agreement that London was the first city to reach 2 million and New York was the first to reach 10 million.

The Greater Tokyo Area has been the most populous metropolitan area in the world since 1955, with more than 37.393 million residents as of 2020.^[1] Jakarta is expected to overtake Tokyo by 2030, partly due to Tokyo's shrinking population.^[2]

As disagreements between the sources show, any of the pre-19th century figures are uncertain, especially in ancient times. Estimating population sizes before censuses were conducted is a difficult task.

List of the most populous human settlements over time

The following table lists the most populous human settlements by estimated population at specified points in history according to three sources: Ian Morris, George Modelski and Tertius Chandler. City names are in bold where all three sources agree. It shows the evolution of the largest settlement from proto-city to city to urban area to metropolitan area.

Year	Morris (2010)^[3]			Modelski (2003)^[4]			Chandler (1987)^[5]
	Population	Name	Present location	Population	Name	Present location	Population	Name	Present location
	^[6] 1,000	Beidha	Jordan	^[7] 1,000–2,000	Jericho	West Bank
	Basta^[8]	Jordan
	Çatalhöyük	Turkey
6500 BC				^[9] 5,000–10,000	Çatalhöyük	Turkey
6000 BC	^[10] 3,000	Çatalhöyük	Turkey
4000 BC	5,000	Uruk	Iraq	4,000	Eridu	Iraq
		Tell Brak	Syria
3800 to 3700 BC				^[11] < 10,000	Dobrovody	Ukraine
3700 BC				6,000–10,000	Eridu	Iraq
3600 to 3500 BC				< 10,000	Maydanets	Ukraine
				< 10,000	Talianki	Ukraine
3500 BC				14,000	Uruk	Iraq
3300 BC				40,000	Uruk	Iraq
3200 BC							20,000	Abydos	Egypt
3100 BC							20,000	Memphis	Egypt
3000 BC	^[12] 45,000	Uruk	Iraq	40,000	Uruk	Iraq	30,000	Memphis	Egypt
2800 BC				80,000	Uruk	Iraq		Memphis	Egypt
2500 BC				^[13] 60,000	Lagash^[14]	Iraq		Memphis	Egypt
				20,000	Nippur	Iraq
2400 BC				^[15] 50,000	Mari	Syria		Memphis	Egypt
				40,000	Umma	Iraq
					Girsu	Iraq
					Mohenjo-daro
2300 BC				^[16] 80,000	Girsu	Iraq		Memphis	Egypt
				50,000	Mari	Syria
2250 BC							> 30,000	Memphis	Egypt
2240 BC								Akkad^[17]	Iraq
2200 BC				50,000	Girsu	Iraq		Akkad	Iraq
2100 BC				100,000	Ur	Iraq		Akkad	Iraq
2075 BC							50,000	Girsu	Iraq
2059 BC								Girsu	Iraq
2030 BC								Ur	Iraq
2000 BC	60,000	Memphis	Egypt	^[18] 40,000	Isin	Iraq	65,000	Ur	Iraq
					Larsa	Iraq
					Girsu	Iraq
1991 BC								Ur	Iraq
1980 BC								Thebes	Egypt
1900 BC				40,000	Isin	Iraq		Thebes	Egypt
					Larsa	Iraq
1800 BC				60,000	Mari	Syria	> 25,000	Thebes	Egypt
1770 BC							60,000	Babylon	Iraq
1700 BC				60,000	Babylon	Iraq		Babylon	Iraq
1670 BC								Avaris^[19]	Egypt
1650 BC							^[20] 100,000	Avaris	Egypt
1600 BC				50,000–100,000	Avaris	Egypt	100,000	Avaris	Egypt
1595 BC								Avaris	Egypt
1580 BC								Avaris	Egypt
1557 BC								Memphis	Egypt
1500 BC	75,000	Uruk	Iraq	60,000	Thebes	Egypt		Memphis	Egypt
		Thebes	Egypt
1400 BC				80,000	Thebes	Egypt		Thebes	Egypt
1375 BC							100,000	Thebes	Egypt
1360 BC							80,000	Thebes	Egypt
1350 BC								Thebes	Egypt
1300 BC				120,000	Yinxu (Anyang)	China		Thebes	Egypt
1205 BC								Memphis^[21]	Egypt
1200 BC	80,000	Babylon	Iraq	160,000	Pi-Ramses	Egypt	50,000	Memphis	Egypt
		Thebes	Egypt
1188 BC								Thebes	Egypt
1184 BC							120,000	Thebes	Egypt
1100 BC				120,000	Pi-Ramses	Egypt		Thebes	Egypt
1000 BC	35,000	Qiyi (Qi)	China	^[22] 120,000	Thebes	Egypt	^[23] > 50,000	Thebes	Egypt
				100,000	Haojing (Xi'an)^[24]	China	> 50,000	Haojing (Xi'an)	China
					Memphis	Egypt	50,000	Chengzhou (Luoyang)^[25]	China
					Babylon	Iraq	100,000
900 BC				120,000	Haojing	China		Thebes	Egypt
800 BC				125,000	Haojing	China	> 50,000	Thebes	Egypt
700 BC				100,000	Thebes	Egypt		Thebes	Egypt
					Memphis	Egypt
					Nineveh	Iraq
					Babylon^[26]	Iraq
					Luoyi (Luoyang)	China
					Linzi	China
668 BC							100,000	Nineveh	Iraq
650 BC							120,000	Nineveh	Iraq
612 BC								Babylon	Iraq
600 BC				200,000	Babylon	Iraq	100,000	Babylon	Iraq
					Luoyi	China
562 BC							200,000	Babylon	Iraq
500 BC	150,000	Babylon	Iraq	^[27] 200,000	Babylon	Iraq		Babylon	Iraq
					Luoyi	China
					Linzi	China
479 BC								Babylon	Iraq
460 BC								Babylon	Iraq
440 BC								Babylon	Iraq
430 BC							200,000	Babylon	Iraq
400 BC				320,000	Xiadu	China		Babylon	Iraq
320 BC							> 300,000	Alexandria	Egypt
300 BC				500,000	Carthage	Tunisia		Pataliputra (Patna)	India
220 BC								Pataliputra	India
206 BC								Pataliputra	India
200 BC	300,000	Alexandria	Egypt	600,000	Alexandria	Egypt	^[28] 350,000	Pataliputra	India
							400,000	Chang'an (Xi'an)	China
195 BC								Chang'an	China
190 BC								Chang'an	China
170 BC								Chang'an	China
160 BC								Chang'an	China
100 BC				1,000,000	Alexandria	Egypt		Chang'an	China
25 BC								Rome	Italy
AD 1	1,000,000	Rome	Italy	800,000	Rome	Italy		Rome	Italy
100				1,000,000	Rome	Italy	450,000	Rome	Italy
180							600,000	Rome	Italy
200	800,000	Rome	Italy	1,200,000	Rome	Italy		Rome	Italy
280							500,000	Rome	Italy
300				1,000,000	Rome	Italy		Rome	Italy
340								Constantinople (Istanbul)	Turkey
350								Constantinople	Turkey
361							300,000	Constantinople	Turkey
400	500,000	Rome	Italy	800,000	Rome	Italy		Constantinople	Turkey
410								Constantinople	Turkey
450								Constantinople	Turkey
500				500,000	Constantinople	Turkey	400,000	Constantinople	Turkey
					Jiankang (Nanjing)^[29]	China
					Luoyang	China
570								Ctesiphon^[30]	Iraq
575							500,000	Ctesiphon	Iraq
600	^[31] 600,000	Daxing (Chang'an)	China	600,000	Constantinople	Turkey	500,000	Ctesiphon	Iraq
622							500,000	Ctesiphon	Iraq
637							400,000	Chang'an	China
650								Chang'an	China
700				1,000,000	Chang'an	China	800,000	Chang'an	China
750							800,000	Chang'an	China
775							600,000	Baghdad	Iraq
800	1,000,000		Chang'an		China	800,000		Chang'an		China	700,000		Baghdad		Iraq
833							900,000	Baghdad	Iraq
900	750,000	Chang'an	China	900,000	Baghdad	Iraq	900,000	Baghdad	Iraq
925							1,100,000	Baghdad	Iraq
932							1,100,000	Baghdad	Iraq
935							350,000	Cordoba	Spain
1000	1,000,000	Kaifeng	China	^[32] 1,200,000	Baghdad	Iraq	350,000	Cordoba	Spain
1013							400,000	Kaifeng	China
1050							400,000	Kaifeng	China
1071							400,000	Kaifeng	China
1100				1,200,000	Baghdad	Iraq	442,000	Kaifeng	China
1102							442,000	Kaifeng	China
1126							420,000	Kaifeng	China
1127							200,000	Constantinople	Turkey
1145							200,000	Merv	Turkmenistan
1150							200,000	Merv	Turkmenistan
1153							200,000	Constantinople	Turkey
1160							200,000	Constantinople	Turkey
1170							200,000	Fez	Morocco
1180							200,000	Hangzhou	China
1200	^[33] 1,000,000	Hangzhou	China	1,000,000	Baghdad	Iraq	255,000	Hangzhou	China
					Hangzhou	China
					Kaifeng	China
1210							260,000	Hangzhou	China
1250							320,000	Hangzhou	China
1273							432,000	Hangzhou	China
1300				1,500,000	Hangzhou	China	432,000	Hangzhou	China
1315							432,000	Cairo	Egypt
1325							500,000	Cairo	Egypt
1348							432,000	Hangzhou	China
1350							432,000	Hangzhou	China
1358								Jinling (Nanjing)	China
1391							473,000	Jinling	China
1400	500,000	Jinling (Nanjing)	China	1,000,000	Jinling (Nanjing)	China	487,000	Jinling	China
1420								Jinling	China
1425								Beijing	China
1450							600,000	Beijing	China
1492							669,000	Beijing	China
1500	600,000	Beijing	China	1,000,000	Beijing	China	672,000	Beijing	China
1550							690,000	Beijing	China
1575							706,000	Beijing	China
1579							706,000	Beijing	China
1600	700,000	Beijing	China	1,000,000	Beijing	China	706,000	Beijing	China
1635								Beijing	China
1637								Beijing	China
1650							700,000	Constantinople^[34]	Turkey
1670								Constantinople	Turkey
1675							750,000	Constantinople	Turkey
1684								Constantinople	Turkey
1685								Constantinople	Turkey
1690							700–800,000	Constantinople	Turkey
1700	650,000		Beijing		China	1,000,000		Ayutthaya		Thailand	700,000		Constantinople		Turkey
1710								Beijing	China
1720		Edo^[35]	Japan					Beijing	China
1750							900,000	Beijing	China
1775							1,000,000	Beijing	China
1800	1,100,000	Beijing	China	1,100,000	Beijing	China	1,100,000	Beijing	China
1821							1,300,000	Beijing	China
1825							1,350,000	Beijing	China
							1,335,000	London (urban area)	United Kingdom
1841							1,948,000	London	United Kingdom
1850							2,320,000	London	United Kingdom
1851							2,362,000	London	United Kingdom
1861							2,803,000	London	United Kingdom
1875							4,241,000	London	United Kingdom
1900	6,600,000	London	United Kingdom	6,500,000	London	United Kingdom	6,480,000	London	United Kingdom
1914							7,419,000	London	United Kingdom
1925							7,774,000	New York (urban area)	United States
1936							10,150,000	New York	United States
1950							12,463,000	New York	United States
1965							15,000,000	Tokyo (urban area)	Japan
1975							20,500,000	Tokyo	Japan
2000	^[36] 26,400,000	Tokyo	Japan

See also

• Historical urban community sizes, 7000 BC – 1875
• List of largest European cities in history
• List of largest cities, present day
• Estimates of historical world population
• Valeriepieris circle

External links

• Top Ten Cities Through History, animation showing the ten largest cities throughout history according to Chandler
• Top 20 Most Populated Cities in The World 1500 to 2100 (History + Projection)

Notes and References

1. Web site: The World's Cities in 2018 . May 5, 2020 . . 31 August 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183632/https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/urbanization/the_worlds_cities_in_2018_data_booklet.pdf . live .
2. Web site: Jakarta to Topple Tokyo as World's Biggest City by 2030 . April 11, 2023 . .
3. (a) Web site: Morris . Ian . Ian Morris (historian) . October 2010 . Social Development . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110726164950/http://www.ianmorris.org/docs/social-development.pdf . 26 July 2011 . Ian Morris. This contains supporting materials for the following book: (b) Book: Morris, Ian . Why the West Rules—For Now . Why the West Rules—For Now . Farrar, Straus and Giroux . 2010 . 978-0-374-29002-3 . New York . Ian Morris (historian).
4. Book: Modelski, George . World Cities: -3000 to 2000 . Faros2000 . 2003 . 0-9676230-1-4 . Washington DC . George Modelski. Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of former estimates can be read at Web site: Modelski . George . George Modelski . 12 January 2008 . The Evolutionary World Politics Homepage . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081228052839/http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/ . 28 December 2008 . The Evolutionary World Politics Homepage.
5. Book: Chandler, Tertius . Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census . Edwin Mellen Press . 1987 . 0-88946-207-0 . Lewiston, New York . Tertius Chandler. Chandler defines a city as a continuously built-up area (urban) with suburbs but without farmland inside the municipality. Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of Chandler's estimates are summarized or modified at: (a) Web site: Chase-Dunn . Christopher . Polities and Settlements Research Working Group . The Institute for Research on World-Systems . 14 October 2022 . 24 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220424173719/https://irows.ucr.edu/research/citemp/citemtoc.htm . live . (b) Web site: Rosenberg . Matt . 4 November 2019 . Largest Cities Throughout History: Determining population prior to census-taking was no easy task . ThoughtCo . 28 December 2020 . 18 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160818124242/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm . live . (c) Web site: Populations of Largest Cities in PMNs from 2000BCE to 1988AD . https://web.archive.org/web/20080211233018/http://www.etext.org/Politics/World.Systems/datasets/citypop/civilizations/citypops_2000BC-1988AD . 11 February 2008 . Etext Archives .
6. The date that the population of Beidha, Basta and Çatalhöyük is estimated to be 1,000 is given as 7500 BCE in Morris's published text (p. 632).
7. Suggested to be the largest cities in Modelski's text, but not given constantly prior to 3700 BCE (p. 3, p. 17, and p. 20). No entry is suggested for the Halafian and Ubaid periods.
8. A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement located ca. 25 km north of Petra.
9. The rough year that Çatalhöyük was supposed to be the largest is not given in Modelski's text which cites Ian Hodder's report (p. 3 and p. 17). The year 6500 BCE is based on the recent report by Hodder (Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995–99 Seasons (Çatalhöyük Research Project), Cambridge, UK: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2005.) where less inhabitants (1,500 to 2,000) are suggested by Craig Cessford (pp. 323–326).
10. The date that the population of Çatalhöyük is estimated to be 3,000 is given as 6500 BCE in Morris's published text (p. 632).
11. Suggested to be housing up to 10,000 people in Modelski's text (pp. 24–25), but only Eridu is listed as the largest city in Table 2 (a) (p. 22). The estimate is based on the author's personal communication with Mikhail Videiko, Institute of Archaeology, Kiev, October 2002 (p. 75). The previous estimates by S. I. Kruts for Maydanets and Talianki are 8,000 (1,575 housed within 270 ha) and 14,000 (2,700 houses within 450 ha), respectively (Pitskhelauri, K. N., and Chernykh, E. N. Eds., Kavkaz v sisteme paleometallicheskikh kultur Evrazii, Metsniereba, Tbilisi, 1989, pp. 146–156.).
12. Suggested to be more than 45,000 in Morris's published text (p. 632).
13. According to Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 218), Nippur shares the top with Lagash with 60,000 inhabitants in 2500 BC, though Table 2 (b) suggests that the population of Nippur is 20,000, the value of which is even lower than those estimated for Mari (50,000); Uruk and Umma (40,000); Memphis, Ebla, Urkesh, and Shuruppak (30,000) (p. 28).
14. Girsu (Telloh), the later capital of the state of Lagash, was situated 25 km NW of Lagash (Tell al Hiba), though both sites are frequently referred as Lagash.
15. According to Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 218), Girsu shares the top with Mari with 50,000 inhabitants, though Table 2 (b) suggests that the population of Girsu as well as Umma and Mohenjo-daro is 40,000 (p. 28).
16. According to Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 218), the population of Girsu for 2300 BCE is estimated as 50,000, which is less than that appears in Table 2 (b) and is the same value with that estimated for Mari (p. 28).
17. Location uncertain. Maybe west of Sippar.
18. Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 218) excludes Girsu for 2000 BCE, though Table 2 (b) lists Girsu with 40,000 inhabitants (p. 28), sharing the top with Isin and Larsa.
19. The palace of Pi-Ramses (Qantir) was founded 2 km NE of Avaris (or Hawaret, Tell el-Dab'a), the residential area of which overlaps.
20. When the city first passed 100,000, suggested by Richard Forstall (pp. 541–542).
21. According to Chandler's list of the largest cities (pp. 523–527), Thebes was the largest for 1400–668 BC, but Memphis was also supposed to be somewhat larger during 1205–1188 (p. 94, p. 460).
22. Modelski's list of the world's largest cities treats Thebes and Haojing as the top cities with 100,000 inhabitants (p. 218), though the same list on the next page (p. 219) as well as Table 2 (c) place the population of Thebes at 120,000, while that for Haojing as well as Memphis and Babylon at 100,000 (pp. 33–34).
23. Chandler listed Thebes, Haojing, and Chengzhou (Luoyang) as the largest, second-largest, and third-largest cities (p. 460), though Luoyang is supposed to pass 100,000 in 1000 BCE (p. 541).
24. Haojing, which formed the capital of Western Zhou together with Fenghao, was located 15 km SW of Chang'an, the capital of Tang dynasty as well as the present center of Xi'an. Han capital was located 5 km NW of the center of modern Xi'an. All these sites are now within the sub-provincial city of Xi'an.
25. Chengzhou was founded on the east side of the Luo river with Wangzheng on the west side. Both cities were later annexed to form Luoyi (Luoyang), the center of which has often shifted.
26. According to Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 219), the population of Babylon for 700 BCE is estimated as 120,000, which makes Babylon the only city to appear as the largest, while Table 8 (a) shows that Babylon has 100,000 inhabitants in 700 BCE (p. 55).
27. Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 219) excludes Linzi for 500 BC, though Table 5 (a) lists Linzi with 200,000 inhabitants (p. 41).
28. According to Chandler's list of the largest cities (pp. 523–527), Pataliputra was the largest for 300 to 195 BC, but Chang'an is listed as the largest already in 200 BCE (p. 462).
29. Based on historical documents, in Southern Liang dynasty, Jiankang (Nanjing) had 280,000 registered households, and assuming an average Nanjing household had about 5.1 people at that time, the city had more than 1.4 million residents. (Shufen Liu, "Jiankang and the Commercial Empire of the Southern Dynasties", in Pearce, Spiro, Ebrey eds. Culture and Power, 2001:35.)
30. [Seleucia]
31. The population of Daxing (Chang'an) in AD 600 is estimated at 250,000 in Morris's published text (p. 632), while the supporting material describes 600,000.
32. Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 219) estimates the population of Baghdad for AD 1000 as 1,500,000, which is much higher than the value listed in Table 8 (b) (1,200,000 inhabitants) (p. 55).
33. The population of Hangzhou in AD 1200 is estimated at 800,000 in Morris's published text (p. 632), while the supporting material describes 1,000,000.
34. Includes Üsküdar in Asia Minor as a suburb.
35. According to Morris (p. 483), Edo grew into the world's biggest city by 1720, but the estimated population for Edo is not given.
36. The population of Tokyo in AD 2000 is estimated at 26,700,000 in Morris's published text (p. 632), while the supporting material describes 26,400,000.