Mote in God's eye

Found an interesting list on About.com, based on a book by Tertius Chandler called Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. It's essentially a look at the largest city in the world throughout recorded history.

What caught my eye was how Memphis, Egypt was the world's largest for nearly 1,000 years, followed by the second-place city (Thebes, Egypt for nearly 800 years). Their reigns dwarf that of any other cities.

It's also interesting how over the 5,000 years covered by the list, Rome, London, and New York are the only Western cities that appear.

Year Became #1/City/Population Information

3100 BCE: Memphis, Egypt; Well over 30,000
2240, Akkad, Babylonia (Iraq)
2075, Lagash, Babylonia (Iraq)
2030, Ur, Babylonia (Iraq) 65,000
1980, Thebes, Egypt
1770, Babylon, Babylonia (Iraq)
1670, Avaris, Egypt
1557, Memphis, Egypt
1400, Thebes, Egypt
668, Nineveh, Assyria (Iraq)
612, Babylon, Babylonia (Iraq), First above 200,000
320, Alexandria
300, Pataliputra (Patna), India
195, Changan (Xi'an), China, 400,000
25, Rome, 450,000 (100 CE)
340 CE, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 400,000 (500)
570, Ctesiphon, Iraq
637, Changan (Xi'an), China, 400,000 (622); 600,000 (800)
775, Baghdad, Iraq, First over 1 million; 700,000 (800)
935, Cordova, Spain
1013, Kaifeng, China, 400,000 (1000); 442,000 (1100)
1127, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
1145, Merv (Mary), Turkmenistan, 200,000 (1150)
1153, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
1170, Fez (Fes), Morocco
1180, Hangzhou, China, 255,000 (1200); 320,000 (1250)
1315, Cairo, Egypt
1348, Hangzhou, China, 432,000 (1350)
1358, Nanking, China, 487,000 (1400)
1425, Beijing, China, 600,000 (1450); 672,000 (1500)
1650, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 700,000 (1650 & 1700)
1710, Beijing, China, 900,000 (1750); 1.1 million (1800)
1825, London, United Kingdom, First over 5 million; 1.35 million (1825); 2.32 million (1850); 4.241 million (1875); 6.480 million (1900)
1925, New York, First over 10 million; 7.774 million (1925), 12.463 million (1950)
1965, Tokyo, First over 20 million; 23 million (1975)

Uncredited photo of the Alabaster Sphynx at Memphis from Egypt a Perspective.