Today, Tokyo is the most populous city in the world. And which cities were the largest in the past?
Over the course of human history, a great number of cities have held this title. From Jericho in 7000BC to Tokyo in AD2000, this map plots 48 cities from history, each estimated to have been, at one time, the largest in the world.
| 7000 BC | 1,000-2,000 | Jericho | West Bank |
| 6500 BC | 5,000-10,000 | Çatalhöyük | Turkey |
| 5000 BC | 4000 | Tell Brak | Syria |
| 4000 BC | 5000 | Uruk | Iraq |
| 3800-3700 BC | 10000 | Dobrovody | Ukraine |
| 3700 BC | 6,000-10,000 | Eridu | Iraq |
| 3600-3500 BC | 10000 | Maydanets | Ukraine |
| 3600-3500 BC | 10000 | Talianki | Ukraine |
| 3500 BC | 20000 | Abydos | Egypt |
| 3100 BC | 20000 | Memphis | Egypt |
| 2500 BC | 60000 | Lagash | Iraq |
| 2400 BC | 40000 | Mohenjo-daro | Pakistan |
| 2300 BC | 80000 | Girsu | Iraq |
| 2250 BC | 35000 | Akkad | Iraq |
| 2100 BC | 100000 | Ur | Iraq |
| 1800 BC | 60000 | Mari | Syria |
| 1650 BC | 100000 | Avaris | Egypt |
| 1360 BC | 80000 | Thebes | Egypt |
| 1300 BC | 120000 | Yinxu | China |
| 1200 BC | 160000 | Pi-Ramses | Egypt |
| 1000 BC | 100000 | Chengzhou (Luoyang) | China |
| 900 BC | 125000 | Haojing (Xi’an) | China |
| 700 BC | 100000 | Linzi | China |
| 650 BC | 120000 | Nineveh | Iraq |
| 500 BC | 200000 | Babylon | Iraq |
| 479 BC | ? | Sravasti | India |
| 460 BC | ? | Rajagriha | India |
| 300 BC | 700000 | Carthage | Tunisia |
| 200 BC | 350000 | Pataliputra | India |
| 100 BC | 1000000 | Alexandria | Egypt |
| 200 AD | 1200000 | Rome | Italy |
| 500 AD | 500000 | Constantinople | Turkey |
| 575 AD | 500000 | Ctesiphon | Iraq |
| 600 AD | 600000 | Daxing (Chang’an) | China |
| 800 AD | 700000 | Baghdad | Iraq |
| 935 AD | 450000 | Cordova | Spain |
| 1100 AD | 1000000 | Kaifeng | China |
| 1160 AD | 250000 | Fez | Morocco |
| 1180 AD | 250000 | Polonnaruwa | Sri Lanka |
| 1210 AD | 500000 | Merv | Turkmenistan |
| 1300 AD | 1500000 | Hangzhou | China |
| 1350 AD | 660000 | Cairo | Egypt |
| 1400 AD | 1000000 | Jinling | China |
| 1500 AD | 1000000 | Beijing | China |
| 1700 AD | 1000000 | Ayutthaya | Thailand |
| 1850 AD | 2320000 | London | UK |
| 1925 AD | 7774000 | New York (urban area) | United States |
| 2000 AD | 20500000 | Tokyo (urban area) | Japan |
Source: theguardian.com
