List of the largest cities in the world (historical)

The list of the largest cities in the world (historical) provides an overview of the population of the largest urban agglomerations in the world at a certain point in history. The cities are listed with their names in the respective epoch. The contemporary state structure in which the city was located at the time of the statistics is also given.

It should be noted that the numbers are mostly estimates by individual researchers, which can vary extremely under certain circumstances.

Biggest cities in the world around the year 100

Metropolitan areas
rank	Surname	region	Residents	source
1.	Rome	Roman Empire ( Italy )	1,000,000
2.	Alexandria	Roman Empire ( Aegyptus )	600,000
3.	Antioch	Roman Empire ( Syria )	500,000
4th	Luoyang	China	400,000
5.	Carthage	Roman Empire ( Africa )	300,000
6th	Seleukia ctesiphon	Parthian Empire	300,000
7th	Corinth	Roman Empire ( Achaea )	250,000
8th.	Ephesus	Roman Empire ( Asia )	200,000
9.	Anuradhapura	Sri Lanka	130,000
10.	Athens	Roman Empire ( Achaea )	120,000
11.	Peshawar	Kushana	120,000
12.	Capua	Roman Empire ( Italy )	100,000
13.	Pergamon	Roman Empire ( Asia )	100,000
14th	Caesarea Maritima	Roman Empire ( Judea )	100,000
15th	Aquileia	Roman Empire ( Italy )	100,000

Other big cities:

The Roman-Germanic city of Augusta Treverorum , later Trier , had around 30,000 inhabitants in the year 100 and was therefore a cosmopolitan city. By the year 300, 80,000 people were already living in the city.
The Mirador Basin ( Guatemala , Petén ) with the cities of El Mirador (highest population between 300 BC and 100 AD is estimated at 50,000 to 200,000), Calakmul , Nakbe , El Tintal and others.
Teotihuacán in later Mexico had between 200 and 650 up to 200,000 inhabitants.
Tikal (peak in the 8th century with up to 200,000 people)
Xi'an in China had 240,000 and between 618 and 907 around 1 million inhabitants at the turn of the times

Biggest cities in the world around the year 1000

Metropolitan areas
rank	Surname	region	Residents	source
1.	Angkor	Cambodia	1,000,000
2.	Kaifeng	China	500,000
3.	Constantinople	Byzantium	430,000
4th	Kyoto	Japan	175,000
5.	Cairo	Egypt	135,000
6th	Baghdad	Iraq	125,000
7th	Neyshabur	Persia	125,000
8th.	Cordoba	Caliphate of Cordoba	110,000
9.	Al-Hasa	Arabia	110,000
10.	Patan	Nepal	100,000

Largest cities in the world around 1500

Metropolitan areas
rank	Surname	region	Residents	source
1.	Beijing	China	670,000
2.	Istanbul / Constantinople	Ottoman Empire	550,000
3.	Vijayanagar	India	500,000
4th	Cairo	Mamluk Empire	400,000
5.	Paris	France	300,000
6th	Hangzhou	China	250,000
7th	Tabriz	Persia	250,000
8th.	Venice	Republic of Venice	200,000
9.	Tenochtitlan	Aztec Empire	200,000
10.	Naples	Kingdom of Naples	150,000
11.	Guangzhou	China	150,000
12.	Nanjing	China	147,000
13.	London	England	125,000
14th	Milan	Duchy of Milan	100,000

Largest cities in the world around 1870

Metropolitan areas
rank	Surname	region	Residents	year
1.	London	United Kingdom	3,840,595	1871
2.	Paris	France	≈2,300,000	1870
3.	New York City	United States	1,469,045	1870
4th	Vienna	Austria-Hungary	900.998	1869
5.	Beijing	Empire of China	≈875,000	1870
6th	St. Petersburg	Russian Empire	842,900	1873
7th	Berlin	Prussia	826.341	1871
8th.	Istanbul	Ottoman Empire	≈800,000	≈1870
9.	Philadelphia	United States	674.022	1870
10.	Bombay	British India	644.605	1872
11.	Moscow	Russian Empire	601,969	1871
12.	Tokyo	Empire of Japan	595,900	1872

Largest cities in the world around 1910

Core cities
rank	Surname	region	Residents	was standing
1.	London	United Kingdom	7.160.441	1911
2.	New York City	United States	4,766,883	1910
3.	Paris	France	2,888,110	1911
4th	Chicago	United States	2,185,283	1910
5.	Vienna	Austria-Hungary	2,083,630	1910
6th	Berlin	The German Imperium	2,071,257	1910
7th	Tokyo	Japanese Empire	2,050,100	1914
8th.	St. Petersburg	Russian Empire	1,962,000	1910
9.	Moscow	Russian Empire	1,617,157	1912
10.	Buenos Aires	Argentina	1,582,884	1914
11.	Philadelphia	United States	1,549,008	1910
12.	Bombay	British India	1,018,388	1911
13.	Hamburg	The German Imperium	931.035	1910
14th	Istanbul / Constantinople	Ottoman Empire	909.978	1914
15th	Budapest	Austria-Hungary	880.371	1910
16.	Shanghai	China	832,500	1910

Largest cities in the world around 1950

Urban agglomerations
rank	Surname	region	Residents	was standing
1.	New York City	United States	12,338,470	1950
2.	Tokyo	Japan	11,274,641	1950
3.	London	United Kingdom	8,360,847	1950
4th	Osaka - Kobe - Kyoto	Japan	7.005.284	1950
5.	Paris	France	6,283,018	1950
6th	Moscow	Soviet Union	5,356,392	1950
7th	Buenos Aires	Argentina	5,097,612	1950
8th.	Chicago	United States	4,999,060	1950
9.	Calcutta	India	4,513,496	1950
10.	Shanghai	China	4,300,942	1950
11.	los Angeles	United States	4,045,514	1950
12.	Mexico city	Mexico	3,365,081	1950
13.	Berlin	Germany	3,337,621	1950
14th	Philadelphia	United States	3,127,806	1950
15th	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	3,026,195	1950
16.	Leningrad	Soviet Union	2,902,789	1950
17th	Bombay	India	2,857,359	1950
18th	Detroit	United States	2,769,254	1950
19th	Boston	United States	2,550,818	1950
20th	Cairo	Egypt	2,493,514	1950

literature

Tertius Chandler: Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth. An Historical Census , Lewingston (NY) 1987. ISBN 0-88946-207-0
Jean-Claude Golvin: Metropolis of Antiquity , Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005.
George Modelski: World Cities: -3000 to 2000 , Faros 2000, Washington 2003.
Alfred Schinz: The Magic Square: History of Chinese City Planning , Axel Menges, Honolulu 1990.
A Dynamic Map of the World Cities' Growth

Single receipts

^ Frank Kolb : Rome. The history of the city in antiquity , Munich 1995, p. 453f
^ Manfred Clauss : Alexandria. Fate of an ancient cosmopolitan city. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2003
^ ^A ^b ^c Jean-Claude Golvin: Metropolen der Antike , Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m George Modelski: World Cities: -3000 to 2000 , Faros 2000, Washington 2003
^ Frank Kolb: The city in antiquity , Munich 2005
^ Alfred Schinz: The Magic Square: History of Chinese City Planning , Axel Menges, Honolulu 1990
↑ Buringh, Eltjo (2010). Medieval Manuscript Production in the Latin West. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004175198
↑ Susan Naquin: Beijing Temples and City Life. 1400-1900. University of California Press, Berkeley 2000
↑ Statistical Yearbook of the City of Vienna ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 62.@1@ 2

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t World Urbanization Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved October 29, 2017 .

[1] Frank Kolb : Rome. The history of the city in antiquity , Munich 1995, p. 453f

[2] Manfred Clauss : Alexandria. Fate of an ancient cosmopolitan city. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2003

[Golvin2005-3] A ^b ^c Jean-Claude Golvin: Metropolen der Antike , Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005

[Modelski2003-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m George Modelski: World Cities: -3000 to 2000 , Faros 2000, Washington 2003

[5] Frank Kolb: The city in antiquity , Munich 2005

[6] Alfred Schinz: The Magic Square: History of Chinese City Planning , Axel Menges, Honolulu 1990

[7] Buringh, Eltjo (2010). Medieval Manuscript Production in the Latin West. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004175198

[8] Susan Naquin: Beijing Temples and City Life. 1400-1900. University of California Press, Berkeley 2000

[9] Statistical Yearbook of the City of Vienna ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 62.@1@ 2

[:0-10] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t World Urbanization Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved October 29, 2017 .