First cities to reach 1 million people.

[polako]

I don't know if anyone ever posted this before. I found this list in a TOP 10 book from 2000. Here are the first cities to reach 1 million people:

1. Rome(Italy)-133 B.C.
2. Alexandria(Egypt)-30 B.C.
3. Angkor(Cambodia)-900
4. Hangzhou(China)-1200
5. London(UK)-1810
6. Paris(France)-1850
7. Beijing(China)-1855
8. Guangzhou(China)-1860
9. Berlin(Germany)-1870
10. Manhattan-1874

Any surprises?

[eddyk]

I remember a list that said Babylon was the former biggest city in the world....being the first to reach 200,000 (or something like that)....and this is like 500/600 years ago.

And London was the First to reach 1m
NY 5m/10m
and Tokyo 20/30m

[silly thing]

where is xian?

[samsonyuen]

Angkor reached 1 million? Wow!

[frankiego]

The list is right !

[Zaki]

Originally Posted by eddyk

I remember a list that said Babylon was the former biggest city in the world....being the first to reach 200,000 (or something like that)....and this is like 500/600 years ago.

And London was the First to reach 1m
NY 5m/10m
and Tokyo 20/30m

You read wrong then. Rome was the first to reach a million. Cities reached 200,000 in mesopatania, china, and egypt before 1000 BC. not 500/600 years ago.

[brooklynprospect]

I read somewhere that Tokyo reached 1 million sometime before 1800.

Actually Japan was fairly developed in the late Edo Period. Just about as developed as it was going to get without an industrial revolution. Perhaps that's one reason why it picked up so quickly on its modernization efforts after Admiral Perry came along.

[polako]

Originally Posted by brooklynprospect

I read somewhere that Tokyo reached 1 million sometime before 1800.

Actually Japan was fairly developed in the late Edo Period. Just about as developed as it was going to get without an industrial revolution. Perhaps that's one reason why it picked up so quickly on its modernization efforts after Admiral Perry came along.

According to the Japanese government Tokyo passed the 1 million mark in 1886, but I just found on some website about Tokyo's history that it had 1.2 million people in the early 1700's, which is very weird. Maybe someone can explain this.

[Alejandro_MEX]

Actually, some of the first cities to reach 1 million people are some of the world's largest cities today. For instance:
Tenochtitlan (Actual Mexico City)
Edo (Actual Tokyo)

Both were the world's largest cities in 1500, like today.

[Azn_chi_boi]

Originally Posted by polako

I don't know if anyone ever posted this before. I found this list in a TOP 10 book from 2000. Here are the first cities to reach 1 million people:

1. Rome(Italy)-133 B.C.
2. Alexandria(Egypt)-30 B.C.
3. Angkor(Cambodia)-900
4. Hangzhou(China)-1200
5. London(UK)-1810
6. Paris(France)-1850
7. Beijing(China)-1855
8. Guangzhou(China)-1860
9. Berlin(Germany)-1870
10. Manhattan-1874

Any surprises?

Great List... no surprises...

[Chibcha2k]

yes....where are the mayan cities?

I think Copan, reached 5 million inhabitants

[United-States-of-America]

Damn. Look at ancient Rome!

[brooklynprospect]

Originally Posted by Chibcha2k

yes....where are the mayan cities?

I think Copan, reached 5 million inhabitants

Estas bromando?

[C-Kompii]

Originally Posted by silly thing

where is xian?

I also read that Xi'an (one of the ancient capitals of China and originally known as Chang'an) had a population well over 1 million during the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D - 907 A.D). It was a center of trade & commerce where all the silk roads ended up, as well as a city of great cultural importance.

-G'day-

[Oaronuviss]

I heard London was the first.
The cities before that barely had that many people in their entire countries.
It's doubtful that Rome had 1 million at such a young time in earth's history.
I'm not arguing this as fact, as I'm not sure...it just seems rather odd.

[frankiego]

Actually douring the Roman empire , population was about 1.5 mils

[Küsel]

In the 3rd century Rome could have reached 3 mio, during Julius Caesar it was already 1.5 mio.

Anyone knows how big Ur, Uruk and Babylon were?

[polako]

After browsing the internet for a while I'm not sure that this list is actually right. The only thing that stops me from updating it is that my beloved island of Manhattan is in it.

[BobDaBuilder]

Also heard that Rome did get up to a million. I am sure in China or asia somewhere in that period they had large cities also.

I remember Sun Tzu mention in the Art of War very large human armies of 100,000 men or more which were massive in that period so you gotta say that China must have had big towns too.

[Küsel]

MC is still far from 30mio, sorry. The only metro that reached this number is Tokyo and if you want the multicentred Pearl River Delta. But Mexico is somewhere between 19 and 23mio. I don't know why its numbers were always exaggarated. Already in the end 70s they said it's the biggest city with 20mio. The first was not true and the second neither....