Largest Cities in the World, By Year
I encourage you to click through to an animated visualization of the largest cities in the world, by year.
A few surprises, but the biggest one to me was how long Naples hung around on the list.
The fall and rise of the Chinese cities is also interesting. People seem to get freaked out by China's growing prosperity, a fear for which I have zero sympathy -- people exiting poverty in China is an unalloyed good. But here is a thought for context. I can't absolutely prove that it is correct but I am pretty sure it is true. The history of the world is that, with the exception of the 200 years from about 1800-2000, China has for 4000 years been the largest economy in the world. Chinese prosperity today is not some aberration, it is a return to normal.
Update: OK, I think I got it to embed:
New project:
A “Bar Chart Race” animation showing the changing ranks of the 10 biggest cities in the world since 1500.
Fascinating to watch giant cities vanish after falling in conquests, and amazing that three UK cities were in the top 8 in the late 1800s. pic.twitter.com/KglMZbYobr
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) March 18, 2019
