Cities are the economic engines of modern civilization. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban centers. Cities produce as much as 80% of the world’s GDP. Even more astounding, cities with populations over 1 million create more than half of the world’s GDP.
Earliest Cities
The earliest cities appeared in Turkey (Çatalhöyük) and Jordan (Basta & Beidha) around 9,000 years ago. Beginning as neolithic towns with populations of ~100, they grew to more than 1,000 and in the case of Çatalhöyük perhaps as many as 10,000. Pre-dating writing and pottery, which reveals much about daily life, archeologists rely on tools, (flint, bone, etc.), home structures, and burial practices to understand the residents. The residents of the Jordanian cities lived in stand-alone single houses, the homes in Çatalhöyük consisted of two or more rooms that were interconnected to their neighbors. They were so densely packed that there were no streets between them. The occupants exited through the roof using ladders. There’s even evidence of communal ovens on some rooftops.
Rapid Growth
The early neolithic cities remained the largest human settlements for several thousand years. The next step in urban development occurred along the rivers in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China. Driven by the agricultural fertility of the river valleys cities grew by an order of magnitude. Archeologists estimate that Uruk (modern Iraq) reached a population of 80,000 in 2800 BC. Over the next 2,000 years, dozens of other cities grew even larger. Ur (also Iraq) was the first to hit 100,000 followed by Avaris, Thebes, and Pi-Ramses in Egypt. The cities of Haojing, Luoyi, and Linzi in China also joined the 100K club. The Indus Valley city of Mohenjo-Daro approached 50,000, before mysteriously disappearing.
The population and economic power of the city continued to grow throughout antiquity. Carthage ruled the western Mediterranean Sea with a population of half a million. Babylon (600K), Pataliputra on the Ganges (375K), and Chang’an (400K) in China all took turns as the largest city in the world. The Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria eclipsed them all becoming the first city to surpass 1 million.
Consolidation and Decline
The development of these megacities spurred economic growth and the creation of large social structures to run them. These structures grew into empires, e.g., Rome, Persia, and China, providing stability and driving more growth. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a self-perpetuating cycle. Limits in communication and transportation technologies combined with social ossification contributed to the downfall of the empires. Without the order they provided, city populations plunged. Rome alone dropped from 1 million to 30,000. Over the next centuries city populations recovered, especially in China, India, and Central America, but their exponential population growth stalled.
Return of Rapid Growth
The combination of the Agricultural revolution efficiently delivering more food and technology concentrating wealth in urban areas, drives more people to cities. The UN estimates that there are 512 cities with populations of more than 1 million. By 2030, it forecasts that number to grow to 660.
Map of World Cities with more than 1 million residents (courtesy of MapPorn)
As always thanks for reading.
Armen
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