City

:For alternate meanings see city (disambiguation)

History of cities

Towns and cities have a long history, although opinions vary on whether any particular ancient settlement can be considered to be a city. The first true towns are sometimes considered to be large settlements where the inhabitants were no longer simply farmers of the surrounding area, but began to take on specialised occupations, and where to trade, food storage and power was centralized. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations.

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By this definition, the first towns we know of were located in Mesopotamia, such as Ur, and along the Nile, the Indus Valley Civilisation and China. Before this time it was rare for settlements to reach significant size, although there were exceptions such as Jericho, Çatalhöyük and Mehrgarh.

Related Topics:
Mesopotamia - Ur - Nile - Indus Valley Civilisation - China - Jericho - Çatalhöyük - Mehrgarh

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The growth of ancient and medieval empires led to ever greater capital cities and seats of provincial administration, with Rome, its eastern successor Constantinople and successive Chinese and later Indian capitals approaching or exceeding the half-million population level (it is estimated that Rome's population exceeded one million people by the end of the last century BCE). Similar large administrative and ceremonial centres emerged in other areas, though on a smaller scale.

Related Topics:
Empire - Capital - Rome - Constantinople - Chinese - India

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During the European Middle Ages, a town was as much a political entity as a collection of houses. City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community: "Stadtluft macht frei" ("City air makes you free") was a saying in Germany. In Continental Europe cities with a legislature of their own wasn't unheard of, the laws for towns as a rule other than for the countryside, the lord of a town often being another than for surrounding land. In the Holy Roman Empire (i.e. medieval Germany and Italy) some cities had no other lord than the emperor.

Related Topics:
Middle Ages - Continental Europe - Holy Roman Empire

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In exceptional cases like Venice, Genoa or Lübeck, cities themselves became powerful states, sometimes taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai, which enjoyed a considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.

Related Topics:
Venice - Genoa - Lübeck - Sakai

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Most towns remained far smaller places, so that in 1500 only some two dozen places in the world contained more than 100,000 inhabitants: as late as 1700 there were fewer than fifty, a figure which would rise thereafter to 300 in 1900. A small city of the early modern period might contain as few as 10,000 inhabitants, a town far fewer still.

Related Topics:
1500 - 1700 - 1900

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While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe's larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic economy fuelled by the silver of Peru. By the 18th century, London and Paris rivalled the well-developed regionally-traditional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul, Kyoto and Venice.

Related Topics:
City-state - Poleis - Mediterranean - Baltic Sea - 16th century - Atlantic - Peru - 18th century - London - Paris - Baghdad - Beijing - Istanbul - Kyoto - Venice

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The growth of modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. Today the world's population is about half urban, with millions still streaming annually into the growing cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Related Topics:
Industry - 18th century - Urbanization - Migrants from rural communities - Asia - Africa - Latin America

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