Largest Cities Through History
About.com has a neat chronological history of the world's largest cities, outlining the rapid growth of urban centers throughout history. A few milestones to look for is Baghdad being the first city to break the 1 million resident mark in the year 800 C.E, London being the first to jump over 5 million around 1900, and New York breaking 10 million less than 50 years later.
Of course, Tokyo reaching 23 million in 1975 is breathtaking and a bit unsettling at the same time, but what struck me as quite interesting is how it took over a millennium years to go from a maximum population of 1 million to 5 million, but then only takes 75 years to more than quadruple that amount of residents and break 20 million in Tokyo. Are our urban populations growing too quickly now?
Of course, Tokyo reaching 23 million in 1975 is breathtaking and a bit unsettling at the same time, but what struck me as quite interesting is how it took over a millennium years to go from a maximum population of 1 million to 5 million, but then only takes 75 years to more than quadruple that amount of residents and break 20 million in Tokyo. Are our urban populations growing too quickly now?