Monday, May 11, 2020

First Urban City in History




Gone are the days when people lived in the village, having their own households, a portion of arable land, a few animals there.

 The population grew, everything became a bit crowded and so the cities were created, which had other functions, commercial and craft, where you live with your neighbors. For 200 years, since industrialization, cities have grown in size, creating an ever-expanding oil and cement civilization. I know that the first city was Mureybet in Syria, founded in 10,000 BC

Mureybet - Alchetron




Then came Catalhoyuk in Turkey,  Jericho in Palestine, Ur, Eridu, Lagas, Ummah, Uruk, and Babylon in Iraq, Dobrovody in Ukraine, Abydos, Thebes and Memphis in Egypt, Mohenjo-Darro and Harrapa in India, Yinxu and Chengzhou in China.

Ancient Çatalhöyük - Wikipedia


In the classical period, Athens was established in Greece, Alexandria in Egypt, Carthage in Tunisia, etc.  But the first really sexy city was Rome, a real modern city by the standards of the time.

There are many sources that show that Rome was the first city to have 1 million inhabitants in the first century.  You may also like : Inferno "Historical Review and facts"

Alexandria, Egypt - Ancient History 


The second city to reach such a population would be Chang'an in China in the ninth century, Baghdad in Iraq and Kaifeng in China in the 10th century.

The first city with a population of 1,500,000 was Hangzhou in China in 1300.

The first city with a population of over 2 million was London in 1850, in the midst of the revolution. industries.

Aerial view of London, 1850. View of London looking north-east Getty Images


In 1870, London would have a population of 4 million, and in 1900-6 million.

London In 1900 Londonist








In 1925, the population of New York City reached 7 million, and after in 1962 to reach 15 million.

New York: the world's largest city in 1925 AD Highbrow 


But cities are not only measured by area and population, but also by the endowment and quality of life it offers to the population. Mohenjo Daro had a systematized infrastructure. The concept of "citizenship" and "vote" appeared in Athens.

Carthage was a great commercial center, and Alexandria was a true cultural capital.

Carthage - Ancient History Encyclopedia






Baghdad and Constantinople were great cultural and religious centers. Small city-states like Florence, Genoa, or Venice created their commercial maritime empires.

The first industrialized city with infrastructure, modern sewerage, factories, and plants, was London, which faced problems regarding poverty, disease, and congestion. Paris was perhaps the first city of style, a city of entertainment, a capital of fashion.



But the first mega-city was New York because it was not only huge in area, but also in height with its skyscrapers, dominated by jobs in the tertiary sector, being imitated by other cities such as Shanghai, Dubai, Tokyo. and so on.

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