Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1521, the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan had an estimated population of 200,000. Cahokia in North America in 1250 had about 20,000 people - about the same size as London did at the time - it covered about five square miles.
Bagdad fell to the Mongols in 1258; some estimates put the population at about 1,000,000; others are lower. Soldiers defending Bagdad numbered in the ten's of thousands, adding credence to the city having a large population.
You have to keep in mind that most lower class people had to walk and everything had to be within an hour of walking so that’s like a radius of 3 miles so about 28 sq miles is about as big as city could feasibly get back then. However because of that they were much denser.
I don't know why this is even a question. Populations in the vast majority of cities 500 - 2000 years ago were a fraction of what they are now.
In the 1600s, London had a population of about 1/2 million. In 2022 the population was a little over 8 million. Is there any wonder why cities were smaller?
Maybe I don't understand the question though.
I don't know why this is even a question. Populations in the vast majority of cities 500 - 2000 years ago were a fraction of what they are now.
In the 1600s, London had a population of about 1/2 million. In 2022 the population was a little over 8 million. Is there any wonder why cities were smaller?
Maybe I don't understand the question though.
Looking at it city of Babylon had 200,000 people in 3.5 sq mi base on Wikipedia. A 3.5 sq mi is small size that would not even be town today but small village.
Well million people is well lot of people in it’s time but if million people are in area of 4 sq mi that would be very small city.
As someone mentioned cities were limited in distance to how far people could walk. The Romans often built suburbs whenever the population of a city was deemed to big. Public transit is what allowed cities to sprawl over that 3-4 sq mile limit. Also people in ancient times lived quite densely compared to modern times. Rome had apartment buildings that were 3-4 stories tall.
So what was the upper limit? Just how big did cities get in terms sprawl?
How big was the city of ancient Rome in terms of sprawl? I know maps can be hard to tell my scale of just how big the city is in terms of sprawl.
Most cities where any where from 1 to 5 sq mile? Any cities where much bigger than 5 sq mile?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
