For those who missed the community post, the HRE video is still in production, and I will be continuing with it over the coming months. A quick Q&A for this video: Q: "Didn't Rome have 1 million people?" A: Not within the area eventually bound by the Aurelian Walls, no, as this requires an implausible population density. It may have had suburbs beyond the walls, which take its population close to 1 million according to some sources. You can read more about this in the notes page of this projects spreadsheet, linked in the description. Q: "Why are some estimates in this video different to the 2021 video about world cities?" A: I used a different dataset for part of this video, which is more up to date and detailed, but only covers Europe. In most cases the variances are small, but in some cases (such as medieval Paris and Granada) they are more significant. Q: "Why do the modern estimates in this video vary from what Google says?" If you search for a modern city's population out-of-context on a search engine, you'll probably be given the population within the official city limits. This video's data is entirely based on urban area, which in some cases goes significantly beyond the city limits.
One small mistake: in 2022 and 2023 all Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv and Odesa, were in population decline due to the outflow of refugees from the country.
I find it funny how Constantinople dissapears in the 1800s and then makes a sudden resurgence mid-late 20th century quickly becoming the largest city again
By the 1800s colonization had brought incredible prosperity to north western europe, but as the effects of colonization die down things stabilize back to natural levels
most impressive thing is that the first city to ever reach 1.000.000 people was Rome, and it was only surpassed by London more than 1000 years later...
And for a good while inbetween, there were only some 30.000 people living in various villages around the area that used to be Rome and later became Rome again.
@@Yora21 they were not villages it was actually a huge city for medieval standards. That's why it's on the top tho. You can see lots of medieval architecture in Rome still. Rome is called the Eternal City because it never stopped being one of the biggest and it never stopped being the first or still in the top 3 most important cities of the continent for 1800 years straight, until the middle of the 1500s circa.
It was in no way "advanced", simply the centre of a great colonising, destructive and sterilising empire that sucked up all the resources produced by its peripheries.
Definitely, people also don't realize how "Italian" the middle ages were. That's where the biggest cities were until the 1400s. And it's why more than 1/3rd of all of Shakespeare's plays take place in Italy.
@@jeupater1429Shakespeare is a man of the Renaissance. His fascination for Italy was the trend in all of Europe. But this Italymania was really recent.
@@Pokesus Naples was founded in 1000 BC. It was under Spanish rule from 1504 to 1714. By no means insignificant, but I would not call it most of history
It’s because places like Italy, Greece, Persia, Egypt, etc. were geographically positioned in a way that resulted in numerous invasions from all sides, making it very difficult for their cities to experience growth post antiquity.
@@universetraveler5826 that's true for much of the middle ages, but during the early modern period the population of northwestern europe boomed thanks to the prosperity from colonization
@@jonathanpilcher337 Ya most trade and transport was done in and among the Mediterranean as that was what technology allowed and it led to a lot of prosperity, but as the Atlantic became accessible due to ship technology the population centres shifted north and west to the Atlantic coast which now had access to the entire world, not just the Mediterranean sea.
@@croisaor2308 granted in recent years the population has pulled back towards the mediterranean, probably due to the effects of colonization dying down
The boom in the 20th century was a bad one which was resulted by mass immigration from other Turkish regions plus after 1453 Constantinople was in stable position because before that it was plundered and sacked by crusaders
@@ArdaSReal How much of that from rural-urban migration? Whatever the amount you’d figure they got a disproportionate amount in the capital and already largest city.
I wondered too and guess it is because a lot of cities were just under the minimum population to be shown in the video. German population is really spread out and not concentrated on some spots.
Its also because there are some mistakes: Paris population is not 11m but ruffly over one million. The île-de-france (region) is 11 million, but its not the same as the city. Same for madrid, the video showed more than 2m too many inhabitants.
@@johnny5247 the sources go into detail there. Apparently they just looked at urban areas and disregarded stuff like the administrative area of the city or metropolitan areas. This explains why Barcelona and not Rome is shown in the last still. But frankly only that, because some of the biggest population centres are simply missing while others are shown. Like why list Bordeaux, but not Frankfurt or Sevilla or Bergamo? Why Stuttgart, but not Valencia or Rhein-Ruhr or Katowice? Germany itself has 15 urban areas over 1 million inhabitants. Obviously the cities at their centres are smaller and they tend to be less densely populated than other european cities, but did that stop them to include Toulouse? Maybe it was a function of how densely an area is populated and how many people live there? But again, why exclude Valencia or Sevilla then?
Just an info about my city (Siracusa in Sicily). It was capital of eastern roman empire from 663 to 669, and it was the second biggest city of the empire till the infamous 878 year.
@@jonathanpilcher337Bro, %90 of the comments are nothing but celebrating Ollie's work. What are you two even talking about? Even scrolling down you can bately see any!
Thank you for your nice video:) One thing to note though. You sometimes use metropolitan areas and sometimes the city proper. E.g., for Berlin or Paris, as Berlin had a population of around 2.08 million in 1910, and not 2.9 million. Similarly, Paris nowadays has a population of 2.2 million, but the metro area is huge (and densly connected)
OllieBye has consistenly used the urban areas (continuously build up areas), not the city proper or the metropolitan areas, since it is the only relevant way of comparing cities in the XIXth and XXth centuries. As for Paris, I wrote a comment as some figures are underestimated, especially in the Middle Ages and during the first industrial revolution.
The population of Palermo during the Norman era is far, far too low. Donald Matthew in his overview of of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily estimates it’s size at more than 100,000. This easily stands to reason since it was the hub of the Mediterranean.
I think you missplaced Nizhny Novgorod on Veliky Novgorod at the end, Nizhny is east of moscow and is over 1M inhabitants while veliky is like 200k or something like that
I love how this map illustrates not only population but also lots of other details, like the color of the circle always represents the most relevant thing in that era. This map is probably one of the best imo.
Hi from Rio, Brazil. If 350 CE - 1000 CE was displayed slowly too, the importance of Constantinople (Istanbul) would be EVEN greater!! Just WOW... Istanbul is the Eternal City in history, the only phoenix of world History, it never dies, and it's back again.. I don't get why this fact isn't recognized? Why people desperately try to hype Paris, Rome, London?
Constantinople/istanbul is well known as a major city in Europe. But it doesn’t mean other European cities like Rome are less important it’s all subjective 🔹Rome - the capital of the Roman Empire, and the capital of the Catholic Church being the seat of the pope, and probably the first city to reach 1 million inhabitants, even though in the 11th century after Rome fell the pope in Rome orchestrated the crusade and in a way indirectly reestablished romes rule in the levant. 🔹Paris. Is was the center of the European enlightenment which was one of the most important event in history. And was a major city as seen in the video as Paris consistently remain amongst the largest Europeans cites for the past 800 years. 🔹London is the capital of the largest empire in history. And is the first major industrial city. The first truly mega city as it was the first to reach 2, 3, 4 , 5 , million inhabitants. The first city to built a modern sewage system, first metro system, the first power grid system, etc etc etc making London the first truly modern city
sometimes quality is more important than raw numbers. China is cosistantly the largest country in the world. What did it acheive other than being invaded and the world's factory though? Same thing with Istanbul.
I love how you can see the effects of the Battle of Manzikert with Constantinople's population. Its the same with the Black Plague but you can see it in every city. Everything just got decimated
Thank you for you video, very well made and pleasant to watch, but I have to criticize some of your figures for Paris, which are undoubtly underestimate : In the first half of the XIVth century, before the Great Plague, it had certainly not 83 000 in 1328 but around 200 000 inhabitants, as indicated in the only available medieval census of 1328 which counted the "feux fiscaux", so the number of families for a specific royal tax (the "taille") : the figure was then 61 098 "feux fiscaux", so at least 180 000 inhabitants and probably more than 200 000. It then declined brutally, (one third less so still like 130 000 +) and probably kept declining to a minimum of 100 000 around 1440 as the exhausted kingdom of France was winning its final war of the Hundred Years' War. By 1500 its population had bounced back to around 150 000 (so not 94 000). So the problem is that you miss the point that Paris was by far the largest city in Western Europe in the late medieval time (1280 - 1500), even if Italy was far more urban than France with, before the Great Plague, 4 cities above 100 000 (Milan, Venice, Genoa, Naples) and others around 40/80 000 like Florence, Palermo and Bologna (France had no such large cities apart maybe Rouen which had probably more than 40 000 inhabitants at that time). The figures for the XIXth and XXth centuries are well known and show (your figures which underestimate the growth outside the city proper during the first industrial revolution are in brackets) : 1860 : 1.9 million (1.6) - 1870 : 2.3 (2.0) - 1880 : 2.8 (2.4) - 1890 : 3.2 (2.8) - 1900 : 3.8 (3.3) - 1910 : 4.4 (3.8) - 1920 : 4.8 (4.4) - 1930 : 5.6 (5.5). In the years 1860 to 1930, before cities became car centric, there was no such thing as urban sprawl so the continuously build up area was well defined. Anyway, for the periods before 1240, from 1550 to 1850, and from 1930 to 2023, your figures are as accurate as they could be.
A medieval state is a very relative thing, there cannot be any real state under the feudal system. The same goes for Charlemagne's France or Otto's HRE
Istanbul has been a major city for over a millennia. If you have a chance to go you can feel that it's comfortable in that role, its history is everywhere and on display. It's a beautiful convergence of the ancient and modern all administered by an army of cats. You can sit on a Byzantine wall while you sip your Starbucks across from the old British embassy from the 15th century.
@@UshakovDanilaАга, постоянно проживающий жителей в Москве уже 17 миллионов, из них только 13 записаны Росстатом, из за этого такое недопонимание получается.
the industrial revolution starting in england rlly changed things around Birmingham and Manchester were as big a cities like st Petersburg and Vienna and also caused industrialised population booms spread across northern europe first
It's amazing how (relatively) quickly the population levels fluctuate. I wonder if the people just all die when a city halves over a hundred years or if they're migrating somewhere else.
Very good video. Berlin really did have 4.5 million inhabitants until Germany's capitulation, 1 million more than today. Berlin was the industrial centre of Germany with world-famous companies like Siemens and Volkswagen. With the division and destruction of the city after the capitulation of Germany, the once third largest city in the world lost its importance. If it hadn't been for the division and the war, Berlin would probably have a population of 7-9 million today. Due to its rapid growth, Berlin had already created large areas of land, such as the Grunewald forest, which is still located outside the city today. At that time, it was assumed that the Grunewald would soon function as a green lung in the centre of the city.
So Istanbul has grown by almost 6 million residents in just twenty years? That´s crazy. And highly problematic, I´m sure. For example if another earthquake strikes. Don´t want to think about it.
If there is an earthquake and there will be, be sure there will be no more Türkiye for long years due to earthquake bringing a lot of economical issues. İstanbul is the heart of Türkiye. I am not even talking about people dying not because I don't care because I don't even wanna think about how many deaths there will be...
Türkiye is in the world's second most active earthquake belt. Turkey's largest fault line passes through Istanbul. In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake occurred in the city of Izmit, only 50-100 km away from Istanbul. Three months after this earthquake, another 7.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in the city of Düzce, 300 km away from Istanbul. In these earthquakes, which took place 3 months apart, there were not many problems in the buildings in Istanbul. There was great destruction in the cities of Izmit, Adapazarı and Düzce. I experienced these 2 great earthquakes in the city of Bolu. Since I live in the village, our house was not damaged. But I felt the earthquake very strongly. The population of Istanbul is now more than 16 million. There are approximately 1.2 million buildings and around 5 million flats (independent sections). 300 thousand of 5 million independent sections are very risky structures. It is planned to build new independent sections instead of 300 thousand independent sections within 5 years. While Turkey was waiting for a big earthquake in Istanbul for years, the biggest earthquake happened in another region. On the same day, there were 2 earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.7 in a row. I think there has never been an earthquake of this magnitude in succession in the world. More than 50,000 people died. There was great destruction in 5 big cities with a population of more than 500 thousand. The population affected by this earthquake is as much as the total population of the city of Istanbul. In a possible earthquake in Istanbul, similar results may occur as in the Maraş-centered earthquakes in 2023. Tens of thousands of people may lose their lives in an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 and above. The reason for the high number of deaths in earthquakes in Turkey is the high number of buildings before 2000. Most of the buildings before 2000 are not resistant to severe earthquakes above 7. The quality of the buildings is insufficient. After 2000, earthquake regulations related to buildings were issued 3 times. Most of the buildings that are built properly with the current regulation can withstand an 8-magnitude earthquake. In the two major earthquakes in 2023, none of the approximately 300 thousand buildings built under the leadership of the state's Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ) institution, according to the new regulations, were destroyed or even damaged. More than 95% of the buildings destroyed in these earthquakes were buildings built before 2000. Unfortunately, 5% of it was destroyed due to human error and material problems. Those responsible for the buildings were arrested. Especially for the last 10 years, Turkey has been trying to make very large earthquake regulations and neighborhood-based urban transformation. However, some people in the neighborhoods and some non-governmental organizations opposed this urban transformation, that is, the demolition of old buildings and the construction of new ones, either financially or for political and other reasons. After this last earthquake, it became clear that the first priority of people is not money, but human life. The state decided to provide 50% contribution to those who want to replace their old buildings with new ones. That also had an effect. The demand for urban transformation is very high. Within a year, approximately 300 thousand new buildings will be built in the cities where the earthquake took place. 3-4 months after the earthquake, some buildings were built and started to be delivered. In 5 years, approximately 300 thousand old buildings in Istanbul will be renewed with urban transformation. If there is no earthquake in Istanbul in 5-10 years, most of the buildings in Istanbul will become resistant to an earthquake of magnitude 8 in accordance with the new regulations. I
You mixed up Veliky Novgorod (population 0.2 mln, a bit SE from St Petersburg) and Nizhny Novgorod (population 1.4 mln). Also looks like locations of Ukrainian cities (Kyiv, Kharkiv) is off. But nice effort despite that!
Yes, this isn't very accurate. In the 9th-10th century OHRID was the centre of Slavic literacy and religion and was one of the largest cities of the time yet it doesn't get a mention.
The Battle of Manzikert paved way for the Turkification of Anatolia which laid the seeds of the Ottoman empire which conquered Constantinople ending Rome and triggering the Age of Discovery which shaped much of the modern world,... A battle can only be this impactful
We will come once again wait and see and this time the Balkans will also want us to come again. Just as their ancestors wanted our ancestors to come instead of the Cardinals...
UN Urbanisation Prospects (2018 revision): population.un.org/wup/Download/ You can view it in a more human-friendly format in my Google Sheets spreadsheet, linked in the description.
@@scarymonster5541 In 1914 it was changed from Sankt Petersburg (meaning Saint Peter's City in German/Dutch) to Petrograd (City of Peter in Russian) because Russia was in war with Germany. In 1924, Soviets wanted to deal with everything associated with ,,old ways" so they changed it to Leningrad, in honor of Soviet leader Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov (a.k.a. Lenin) [There were plans to rename Moscow to Stalinodar (meaning gift of Stalin), but thank God, that failed, even Stalin himself rejected the proposal.] In 1991 or 1993, I'm not sure which year it was, it reverted to it's original name, Sankt Petersburg, or Sankt Peterburg, I'm not exactly sure how Russians spell it nowdays. When USSR and communism fell, there was absolutely no reason to keep Soviet name of the city.
The Arab centralization made a lot of Spanish cities the biggest ones of Europe, Spain is usually a very rural country but they changed a couple of those things to benefit modernization and industries like the wood one or the iron. Spain during arab rule was on their gold age in therms of population and advance
Turks indeed had a decisive role in triggering historical major events like the Migration Period, Crusades, shaping the history of Balkans, Islamization of Northern India, Age of Discovery as well as ending the Middle Ages with the conquest of Constantinople, fall of the Roman Empire.
Essentially the whole reason the Europeans discovered the new world and began colonizing was because of the Ottomans taxing everything that comes through Asia. The Ottomans had a direct impact on pretty much the most important events in recent history
@@vagabond57097 It's not due to Ottomans, but due to Venice. Venice was the major center for trade from the east and Portugal was looking for another route.
@@stsk1061 No it was mainly the Ottomans taxing everything coming through the Silk Road from Asia. Constantinople was the most important city to control if you wanted to tax Europe and get rich basically. The Europeans (Portuguese) found a way to cut out the middlemen, the Ottomans, and establish trade routes themselves by sailing around Africa which kicked off the age of discovery by Europeans sailing further west
Interestingly, on a map of population sizes in Europe for 1801, the then size of Moscow is given as 400.000 in the winter and 250.000 in summer (where everybody goes out to their dasha? :) ).
Yeah I agree, historical flags would be much more useful in providing historical context. For instance its a bit confusing when you see that Cordoba is the largest city when its got the Spanish flag to it, rather it would be more clear it being shown under the caliphate.
While Moscow has 12 million people registered about 25-30 millions people living in Moscow agglomeration and participate in it economic life by working/studying there
I've been watching you for years, and you cintinue getting better every video! Your productions are a quick overveiw that ties together many historical events.
You can see what a massive impact industrialisation had on the UK. For those that don't know people were forced out of the country side and into city slums while the country side was transformed into areas for corps or sheep. UK countryside is scared from this period in history l.
@@bryaninvictus9530 Reconquista (718-1492), which I know as crusade, for 800 years, Europe had a work to kill in Europe Muslims. Divide and rule policy is used in accordance with the complete Christianization strategy of Europe, they cause a civil war in Cordoba and cause division in an event known as the The Fitna of al-Andalus (1009-1031).
The fitna of Al-Andalus, basically a civil war that ended the Caliphate of Cordoba and started the kingdoms of Taifas until the Almoravid invasion from North Africa. From most of the biggest cities of Al Andalus the governors declared themselves caliphs and Cordoba was sacked at some moments
Paris does not have over 11 million inhabitants, but just over 2 million. The Ile de France has 11 million, but not Paris. Madrid also suddenly has far too many inhabitants.
I don`t think he displayed a majority religion here, just the official religion of the government or something like that. Constantinople was mostly greek and orthodox for a significant amount of time after conquest for example
There are more issues, like in 17th century, Riga (not marked) was bigger than Stockholm (marked), or Novgorod shown as one of the largest cities in the USSR (perhaps, messed with Gorkiy/Nizni Novgorod). So, I wouldn't take that as granted...
Wow, the decline of Saint Petesburg is kinda sad. It would be the largest city in Russia and possibly Europe if the Russian revolution and WW2 didn't happen.
In 1993 Ukraine had 5 cities with population over 1m - kiyv, harkiv, donetsk, dnepropetrovsk, odessa. In your map it's only 3. So how can I trust about all the other information?
Very good-looking Video! But i have one question: in the modern era, which City is the one in eastern France/southwestern Germany or northern Switzerland?
@@TheZestyCar it cant be Geneva. Geneva is a bit more south. From what it looks like, i would assume that it is Bern, Basel, Freiburg, Zürich or Strasbourg. Zürich seems the most likely, but than i dont know why Stuttgart (which has more inhabitans than Zürich) is not shown.
Russia moment author mistaken by putting Veliky Novgorog (Great new city in russian 220 000 peoples) instead Nizhniy Novgorod (Lower new city in russian 1 200 000 peoples)
