List of largest cities throughout history

This article lists the largest human settlement in the world (by population) over time, as estimated by historians, from 7000 BCE when the largest populated place in the world 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 urban area was Tokyo with 26 million. Alexandria, Rome, or Baghdad may have been the first city to have 1,000,000 people, as early as 100 BCE or as late as 925 AD. They were later surpassed by Constantinople, Chang'an, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Jinling, Beijing, Edo, London (the first city to reach 2 million), and New York (the first to top 10 million), among others, before Tokyo took the crown in the mid-20th century. As of 2020, the Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37.393 million residents.[1]

Many of the figures are uncertain, especially in ancient times. Estimating population sizes before censuses were conducted is a difficult task.[2]

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]
Year		Population	Name	Present Location		Population	Name	Present Location		Population	Name	Present Location
7000 BCE		[6] 1,000	Beidha	Jordan		[7] 1,000–2,000	Jericho	West Bank
			Basta[8]	Jordan
			Çatalhöyük	Turkey
6500 BCE						[7][9] 5,000–10,000	Çatalhöyük	Turkey
6000 BCE		[10] 3,000	Çatalhöyük	Turkey
4000 BCE		5,000	Uruk	Iraq		[7] 4,000	Eridu	Iraq
4000 BCE		5,000	Tell Brak	Syria		[7] 4,000	Eridu	Iraq
3800 to 3700 BCE						[11] < 10,000	Dobrovody	Ukraine
3700 BCE						6,000–10,000	Eridu	Iraq
3600 to 3500 BCE						[11] < 10,000	Maydanets	Ukraine
3600 to 3500 BCE						[11] < 10,000	Talianki	Ukraine
3500 BCE						14,000	Uruk	Iraq
3300 BCE						40,000	Uruk	Iraq
3200 BCE										20,000	Abydos	Egypt
3100 BCE										20,000	Memphis	Egypt
3000 BCE		[12] 45,000	Uruk	Iraq		40,000	Uruk	Iraq		30,000	Memphis	Egypt
2800 BCE						80,000	Uruk	Iraq			Memphis	Egypt
2500 BCE						[13] 60,000	Lagash[14]	Iraq			Memphis	Egypt
2500 BCE						[13] 20,000	Nippur	Iraq			Memphis	Egypt
2400 BCE						[15] 50,000	Mari	Syria			Memphis	Egypt
						[15] 40,000	Umma	Iraq
							Girsu[14]	Iraq
							Mohenjo-daro	Pakistan
2300 BCE						[16] 80,000	Girsu	Iraq			Memphis	Egypt
2300 BCE						[16] 50,000	Mari	Syria			Memphis	Egypt
2250 BCE										> 30,000	Memphis	Egypt
2240 BCE											Akkad[17]	Iraq
2200 BCE						50,000	Girsu	Iraq			Akkad	Iraq
2100 BCE						100,000	Ur	Iraq			Akkad	Iraq
2075 BCE										50,000	Girsu[14]	Iraq
2059 BCE											Girsu	Iraq
2030 BCE											Ur	Iraq
2000 BCE		60,000	Memphis	Egypt		[18] 40,000	Isin	Iraq		65,000	Ur	Iraq
							Larsa	Iraq
							Girsu	Iraq
1991 BCE											Ur	Iraq
1980 BCE											Thebes	Egypt
1900 BCE						40,000	Isin	Iraq			Thebes	Egypt
1900 BCE						40,000	Larsa	Iraq			Thebes	Egypt
1800 BCE						60,000	Mari	Syria		> 25,000	Thebes	Egypt
1770 BCE										60,000	Babylon	Iraq
1700 BCE						60,000	Babylon	Iraq			Babylon	Iraq
1670 BCE											Avaris[19]	Egypt
1650 BCE										[20] 100,000	Avaris	Egypt
1600 BCE						50,000–100,000	Avaris[19]	Egypt		100,000	Avaris	Egypt
1595 BCE											Avaris	Egypt
1580 BCE											Avaris	Egypt
1557 BCE											Memphis	Egypt
1500 BCE		75,000	Uruk	Iraq		60,000	Thebes	Egypt			Memphis	Egypt
1500 BCE		75,000	Thebes	Egypt		60,000	Thebes	Egypt			Memphis	Egypt
1400 BCE						80,000	Thebes	Egypt			Thebes	Egypt
1375 BCE										[20] 100,000	Thebes	Egypt
1360 BCE										80,000	Thebes	Egypt
1350 BCE											Thebes	Egypt
1300 BCE						120,000	Yinxu (Anyang)	China			Thebes	Egypt
1205 BCE											Memphis[21]	Egypt
1200 BCE		80,000	Babylon	Iraq		160,000	Pi-Ramses[19]	Egypt		[21] 50,000	Memphis	Egypt
1200 BCE		80,000	Thebes	Egypt		160,000	Pi-Ramses[19]	Egypt		[21] 50,000	Memphis	Egypt
1188 BCE											Thebes	Egypt
1184 BCE										120,000	Thebes	Egypt
1100 BCE						120,000	Pi-Ramses	Egypt			Thebes	Egypt
1000 BCE		35,000	Qiyi (Qi)	China		[22] 120,000	Thebes	Egypt		[23] > 50,000	Thebes	Egypt
	[22] 100,000				Haojing (Xi'an)[24]	China	[23] > 50,000	Haojing (Xi'an)[24]	China
					Memphis	Egypt	[23] 50,000	Chengzhou (Luoyang)[25]	China
					Babylon	Iraq	[20] 100,000	Chengzhou (Luoyang)[25]	China
900 BCE				120,000	Haojing	China		Thebes	Egypt
800 BCE				125,000	Haojing	China	> 50,000	Thebes	Egypt
700 BCE				100,000	Thebes	Egypt		Thebes	Egypt
					Memphis	Egypt
					Nineveh	Iraq
					Babylon[26]	Iraq
					Luoyi (Luoyang)[25]	China
					Linzi	China
668 BCE							[20] 100,000	Nineveh	Iraq
650 BCE							120,000	Nineveh	Iraq
612 BCE								Babylon	Iraq
600 BCE				200,000	Babylon	Iraq	[20] 100,000	Babylon	Iraq
600 BCE				200,000	Luoyi	China	[20] 100,000	Babylon	Iraq
562 BCE							200,000	Babylon	Iraq
500 BCE	150,000	Babylon	Iraq	[27] 200,000	Babylon	Iraq		Babylon	Iraq
					Luoyi	China
					Linzi	China
479 BCE								Babylon	Iraq
460 BCE								Babylon	Iraq
440 BCE								Babylon	Iraq
430 BCE							200,000	Babylon	Iraq
400 BCE				320,000	Xiadu	China		Babylon	Iraq
320 BCE							> 300,000	Alexandria	Egypt
300 BCE				500,000	Carthage	Tunisia		Pataliputra (Patna)	India
220 BCE								Pataliputra	India
206 BCE								Pataliputra	India
200 BCE	300,000	Alexandria	Egypt	600,000	Alexandria	Egypt	[28] 350,000	Pataliputra	India
200 BCE	300,000	Alexandria	Egypt	600,000	Alexandria	Egypt	400,000	Chang'an (Xi'an)[24][28]	China
195 BCE								Chang'an	China
190 BCE								Chang'an	China
170 BCE								Chang'an	China
160 BCE								Chang'an	China
100 BCE				1,000,000	Alexandria	Egypt		Chang'an	China
25 BCE								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[25]	China
570								Ctesiphon[30]	Iraq
575							500,000	Ctesiphon	Iraq
600	[31] 600,000	Daxing (Chang'an)[24]	China	600,000	Constantinople	Turkey	500,000	Ctesiphon	Iraq
622							500,000	Ctesiphon	Iraq
637							400,000	Chang'an[24]	China
650								Chang'an	China
700				1,000,000	Chang'an[24]	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	[3] 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
1825							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

References

"The World's Cities in 2018" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
Rosenberg, Matt (November 4, 2019), "Largest Cities Throughout History", ThoughtCo, retrieved December 28, 2020
(a) Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Ian Morris, Social Development, Stanford University, October 2010. This contains supporting materials for the following book: (b) Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—For Now, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. ISBN 978-0-374-29002-3.
George Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 0-9676230-1-4. Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of former estimates can be read at Evolutionary World Politics Homepage Archived 2008-12-28 at the Wayback Machine
Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census, Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987. ISBN 0-88946-207-0. Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of Chandler's estimates are summarized or modified at The Institute for Research on World-Systems; Largest Cities Through History by Matt T. Rosenberg; or The Etext Archives Archived 2008-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. Chandler defined a city as a continuously built-up area (urban) with suburbs but without farmland inside the municipality.
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).
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.
A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement located ca. 25 km north of Petra.
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).
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).
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.).
Suggested to be more than 45,000 in Morris's published text (p. 632).
According to Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 218), Nippur shares the top with Lagash with 60,000 inhabitants in 2500 BCE, 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).
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.
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).
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).
Location uncertain. Maybe west of Sippar.
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.
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.
When the city first passed 100,000, suggested by Richard Forstall (pp. 541-542).
According to Chandler's list of the largest cities (pp. 523-527), Thebes was the largest for 1400-668 BCE, but Memphis was also supposed to be somewhat larger during 1205-1188 (p. 94, p. 460).
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).
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).
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.
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.
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).
Modelski's list of world's largest cities (p. 219) excludes Linzi for 500 BCE, though Table 5 (a) lists Linzi with 200,000 inhabitants (p. 41).
According to Chandler's list of the largest cities (pp. 523-527), Pataliputra was the largest for 300 to 195 BCE, but Chang'an is listed as the largest already in 200 BCE (p. 462).
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.)
Seleucia was founded on the right bank of Tigris opposite to Ctesiphon. Figures for Seleucia include the population of Ctesiphon as a suburb during the Seleucid era and vice versa during the Sassanid era.
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.
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).
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.
Includes Üsküdar in Asia Minor as a suburb.
According to Morris (p. 483), Edo grew into the world's biggest city by 1720, but the estimated population for Edo is not given.
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.

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)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[UN-World-Cities-2018-1] "The World's Cities in 2018" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved May 5, 2020.

[2] Rosenberg, Matt (November 4, 2019), "Largest Cities Throughout History", ThoughtCo, retrieved December 28, 2020

[Morris-3] (a) Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Ian Morris, Social Development, Stanford University, October 2010. This contains supporting materials for the following book: (b) Ian Morris, Why the West Rules—For Now, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. ISBN 978-0-374-29002-3.

[Modelski-4] George Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 0-9676230-1-4. Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of former estimates can be read at Evolutionary World Politics Homepage Archived 2008-12-28 at the Wayback Machine

[Chandler-5] Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census, Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987. ISBN 0-88946-207-0. Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of Chandler's estimates are summarized or modified at The Institute for Research on World-Systems; Largest Cities Through History by Matt T. Rosenberg; or The Etext Archives Archived 2008-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. Chandler defined a city as a continuously built-up area (urban) with suburbs but without farmland inside the municipality.

[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).

[Define-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).

[Tripilya-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).

[Nippur-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 BCE, 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).

[Lagash-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.

[Mari1-15] 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).

[Mari2-16] 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).

[Akkad-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.

[Avaris-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.

[100,000-20] When the city first passed 100,000, suggested by Richard Forstall (pp. 541-542).

[Memphis-21] According to Chandler's list of the largest cities (pp. 523-527), Thebes was the largest for 1400-668 BCE, but Memphis was also supposed to be somewhat larger during 1205-1188 (p. 94, p. 460).

[Haojing-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).

[Luoyang-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).

[Xian-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.

[Luoyang2-25] 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 BCE, though Table 5 (a) lists Linzi with 200,000 inhabitants (p. 41).

[Pataliputra-28] According to Chandler's list of the largest cities (pp. 523-527), Pataliputra was the largest for 300 to 195 BCE, but Chang'an is listed as the largest already in 200 BCE (p. 462).

[Nanjing-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.)

[Seleucia-30] Seleucia was founded on the right bank of Tigris opposite to Ctesiphon. Figures for Seleucia include the population of Ctesiphon as a suburb during the Seleucid era and vice versa during the Sassanid era.

[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.

[Istanbul-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.

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