science

List of largest cities throughout history

List of largest cities throughout history is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of largest cities throughout history rather than just read about it. In short: 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, Jiankang and Chang'an may have been the first cities to have 1,000,000 people, as…

Key takeaways

List of largest cities throughout history belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of largest cities throughout history to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of largest cities throughout history from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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, Jiankang and Chang'an may have been the first cities 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, Beijing and Edo. There is a 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 was the most populous metropolitan area in the world from 1955 to 2025, with more than 37.393 million residents as of 2020. Jakarta overtook Tokyo in 2025, partly due to Tokyo's shrinking population. 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.

See also Historical urban community sizes, 7000 BC – 2000 List of largest European cities in history List of largest cities, present day Estimates of historical world population Valeriepieris circle

References

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)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of largest cities throughout history

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of largest cities throughout history claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of largest cities throughout history before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of largest cities throughout history ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of largest cities throughout history

In research: List of largest cities throughout history appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of largest cities throughout history in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of largest cities throughout history is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cities-related lists of superlatives, Demographic history, Historical geography lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of largest cities throughout history outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of largest cities throughout history in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of largest cities throughout history means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of largest cities throughout history out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of largest cities throughout history in simple terms?

Why does List of largest cities throughout history matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of largest cities throughout history?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of largest cities throughout history.