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Can you name the world's largest cities throughout history?
created by
jonesjeffum
Enter a city in the box below
Correctly named cities will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Source:
Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census
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Historical City Populations
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PLAY GAME
Enter city:
0
/35 cities correct
05:00
Show Missed Answers
Year Became #1
City
Population (Est.)
3100 BC
>20,000
2240 BC
>30,000
2075 BC
>50,000
2030 BC
>50,000
1980 BC
>65,000
1770 BC
>60,000
1670 BC
>100,000
1557 BC
>100,000
1400 BC
>100,000
668 BC
>100,000
612 BC
>120,000
320 BC
>300,000
300 BC
>300,000
195 BC
>400,000
25
>400,000
340
>400,000
570
>400,000
637
>400,000
Year Became #1
City
Population (Est.)
775
>600,000
935
>450,000
1013
>400,000
1127
>200,000
1145
>200,000
1153
>200,000
1170
>200,000
1180
>200,000
1315
>432,000
1348
>432,000
1358
>473,000
1425
>487,000
1650
>700,000
1710
>700,000
1825
>1,335,000
1925
>7,774,000
1965
>15,000,000
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There are
96 comments
for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)
World's Largest Cities Throughout History Quiz
by
jonesjeffum
Created Dec 22, 2009 in
Geography
Featured Jan 27, 2013
Game Plays 55,075
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Tags
City Quizzes
World Quizzes
Population Quizzes
largest
time
Archived comments:
show them
Converge
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 07:06 GMT
18 points
Great game. It might be a nice bonus to add a column with the populations.
leob
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:00 GMT
3 points
Wasn't Ayutthaya, Thailand the largest city around 1700?
Ayreonaut
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:30 GMT
4 points
I did terrible (17/35), but I still enjoyed this quiz. I too would love to see the populations.
bart122333
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 09:30 GMT
13 points
Turkmenistan :D
ericderkonig
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 09:50 GMT
28 points
Merv was once the largest city... then Genghis Khan came. Never, ever piss off the Mongols.
pottedstu
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 09:51 GMT
8 points
It doesn't take "Nanking", but typing "Nanjing" gives it anyway. Very educational, though.
Thisisahandle
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 GMT
7 points
Nice quiz, I learned a lot... but it's a little inconsistent, some cities are listed with the country they were in at the time, some with the country they are in now, and some with neither (London, England should be London, UK and New York, New York should be New York, USA).
Haunter
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 15:29 GMT
7 points
where's atlantis?
CitizenSnips
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 18:06 GMT
24 points
Apparently 1145 was the highwater mark for anything or anybody named "Merv".
BamaGuy
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 21:31 GMT
7 points
the historian in me is angry that i didn't get Thebes or Alexandria, and the Bible scholar in me is angry that i missed Nineveh. and i just finished a 4 week study on the book of Jonah, dang it!
Kryptos18
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 21:52 GMT
6 points
Nice quiz! Can't believe I missed Alexandria... made up for it by getting Akkad at the last minute though!
conradmcmasters
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 22:46 GMT
4 points
Wow, solid quiz even though I did terrible 13/35
sporcalicious
:
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 23:21 GMT
18 points
Istanbul was Constantinople/Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople/Been a long time gone, Constantinople/Why did Constantinople get the works/That's nobody's business but the Turks
expat
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 00:38 GMT
1 point
Curious as to what is the significance of the dates. Any clues?
jonesjeffum
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 00:43 GMT
6 points
the dates are when the city became the largest city in the world.
BillyMumphrey
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 04:17 GMT
7 points
@jonesjeffum; I think expat means; it would be interesting to know if there was some sort of event that toppled those cities from being the biggest.
jonesjeffum
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 04:25 GMT
4 points
I think the black death was the reason that the largest city population actually goes down for a period of time.
gstring
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 05:43 GMT
6 points
There seems to be a considerable amount of disagreement here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities_throughout_history
jonesjeffum
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 06:32 GMT
7 points
you are right it is a lot of estimation from researchers, I just based it off the list in the link
sbelkoski
:
Dec 23rd, 2009 at 19:28 GMT
3 points
@gstring: thanks for posting the link. It makes much really proud for trying Catalhoyuk (and spelling it right!)
npr
:
Dec 24th, 2009 at 00:23 GMT
4 points
great quiz, kudos to whoever got them all
AddiSnow
:
Dec 24th, 2009 at 16:28 GMT
5 points
The Moops got Spain on the map
adamnvillani
:
Dec 25th, 2009 at 01:29 GMT
3 points
On Merv --- I think fans of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune would disagree!
davepro14
:
Dec 27th, 2009 at 03:05 GMT
-2 points
Eden anyone? Population 1 (or 2). :)
LaviniaB
:
Dec 27th, 2009 at 03:24 GMT
4 points
Great quiz - nominated. :)
Comment below threshold:
show it
necolep630
:
Dec 28th, 2009 at 01:02 GMT
-11 points
It's not Constantinople. It's Istanbul. You should change the one that shows up to Istanbul, but accepting both answers is good.
llewdor
:
Dec 28th, 2009 at 03:17 GMT
6 points
It was Constantinople then. And it accepted Byzantium, which is what I tried.
DonnyB
:
Dec 28th, 2009 at 04:25 GMT
3 points
Awesome quiz. Hope to see it on the front soon.
jessbowen
:
Jan 19th, 2010 at 14:09 GMT
5 points
Ur might be the best name for a city ever.
yashcmarathe
:
Feb 27th, 2010 at 17:49 GMT
2 points
Agade should be accepted for Akkad.
Comment below threshold:
show it
sam188
:
Apr 18th, 2010 at 12:52 GMT
-7 points
Been done a couple of times before http://www.sporcle.com/games/jonesjeffum/citys http://www.sporcle.com/games/Growler/largecities
Comment below threshold:
show it
Aristocles
:
Jan 19th, 2011 at 21:46 GMT
-6 points
I'm 90% certain that this is inaccurate, especially cities which were only the largest for a short time, or ones like Fez or Merv, which were probably large in their area, but never by any means the largest. Constantinople was probably the largest city in the world from the later 300s until 1204.
Mistakenblood
:
Aug 17th, 2011 at 06:49 GMT
5 points
I got Memphis but missed Rome. Guess where I'm from.
geome12
:
Mar 16th, 2012 at 14:32 GMT
-1 points
clues by country would be nice?
Gillmacs
:
Sep 22nd, 2012 at 00:34 GMT
3 points
I like this quiz a lot, although didn't score too highly. I spent ages trying to think of an ancient name of Baghdad without actually try the modern name, which of course has always been the name...
Game published: Jan 27th, 2013 at 04:00 GMT
jonesjeffum
:
Jan 27th, 2013 at 04:05 GMT
27 points
This was one of my very first quizzes. Only fitting that it is my 50th published quiz. I have been waiting for this one to be published for a long time.
Emerald_Fusion
:
Jan 27th, 2013 at 04:08 GMT
48 points
Wow I had no idea that Memphis was such an old city.
jonbar18
:
Jan 27th, 2013 at 04:09 GMT
10 points
I did piss poor on this (7 out of 35- woopie!), but I definitely enjoyed this quiz. Very informative, and a great humbler when you give up and realize you missed such stumpers as Rome...
Everblue
:
Jan 27th, 2013 at 05:07 GMT
28 points
The tagline for this quiz is one of the most important lessons of history. Another is 'Never invade Russia during the winter or anytime when it could become winter'.
iceman1731
:
Jan 27th, 2013 at 05:39 GMT
31 points
Some how I don't think this is the Memphis I had in mind.
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