Cities
Let's go straight to the reason why you probably clicked on this video. According to the UN population estimate, the 10 biggest cities in the world are Osaka in
Japan, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Beijing in China, Mumbai in India, Cairo in Egypt, Mexico City
in Mexico, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Shanghai in China, Delhi in India and Tokyo in Japan
A city is a large human settlement. And that description from Wikipedia kind of sounds like the way an alien would describe it
But anyway, there are around 10,000 cities in the world, which for some reason seems like not that much
But they house 55% of the world's population. But countries vary in the way they define cities
For instance, some say any settlement with over 1,500 people is a city
others demand higher population numbers for it to be considered as such
Either way, the point of this video isn't to list out all cities in the world. that would probably take a little longer than a few minutes, the point of this video is to find out
which the largest cities in the world are, the ones I just listed at the beginning. I use the UN
population estimate because it seems to be the most accurate, but there are other ways to measure
this, sometimes with different results. Do we consider population or territory size? And in
either of those cases, what do we define as being the limits of a city? The municipality area
the metropolitan, the urban area? There are just too many variables and ways of looking at it
Not to mention the fact that if we go by active population, 6 out of the top 10 are in China
that would make for a pretty boring video of just touring Chinese cities
So after having listed those top 10 biggest ones according to the UN, here's what I'm
gonna do in this video. I'm going to quickly summarize and talk about the top 10 largest cities in the world and
their history and then as to not leave out most of the world, I'll very quickly and briefly
go continent by continent and pick out a few other interesting ones that by little population
difference, don't make it into this top 10. Tokyo is the biggest city in the world
the seat of the Japanese government and of the emperor of Japan. Originally a fishing village
named Edo, the city became a prominent political center in 1603 when it became the seat of the
Tokugawa shogunate. A fun fact, it began as a fishing village and today the city's fish market
is the largest in the world. Once, a tuna fish was sold for 1.7 million dollars. By the mid-18th
century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world at over 1 million people. Following
the end of the shogunate in 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to the city, which was
renamed Tokyo, literally meaning eastern capital. Today, its urban area holds more than a quarter of
Japan's total population. Like Tokyo for Japan, Delhi is the capital of India. Delhi is one of the
oldest cities in the world and has been continuously inhabited since the 6th century BC. It's been a
capital of various empires throughout history, like the Tomars, the Cha'amanas, the Delhi Sultanate
or the Mughal Empire. In 1803, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, the forces of the British East
India Company defeated the Maratha in the Battle of Delhi, and it became a part of British India
even being chosen as British India's capital when they moved it from Kolkata in 1911. Eventually
as we know, India became independent, and this is now its capital city. Before we keep going with
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for sponsoring this video. Shanghai in China is the third biggest city in the world and home of
the world's longest subway system, over 600 kilometers long. It's one of only four Chinese
cities governed directly by the government. It's the most popular city proper in the world
ahead of Delhi and Tokyo, but this ranking also partly takes into account the surrounding
metropolitan areas. Like Tokyo, it was originally a fishing village, gaining importance in the 19th
century due to both domestic and foreign trade and its favorable port location. In this painting
we can see the old walled city of Shanghai in the 17th century. The city was forced to open
to European trade after the first opium war against the British, and it was here that in 1863
the Shanghai International Settlement was created. In its seal, we can see the flags of all European
colonial powers who held domains in this area, perhaps paving the way for the important international
business center that it is today. São Paulo in Brazil is the fourth largest worldwide and
apparently has the third worst commute time average with people taking an average of 93
minutes to get to work. Its state, also called São Paulo, is the most populous and wealthiest
of Brazil. However, when the Portuguese established a settlement there, it was one of the poorest
regions of their southern American colony. The Portuguese weren't the first to live there though
and natives known as the Tupi people had already been around for a long time. The colonial village
was founded with the creation of a Jesuit college of 12 priests who wanted to convert
the natives to Christianity. Eventually, in the 17th century, with the discovery of gold
in nearby areas, more people started migrating to the village, allowing it to grow and become
a full city by 1711. When the gold ran out, they began growing sugar and exporting it
through the city's ports, increasing its wealth. When Brazil became independent in 1822, Sao
Paulo was declared an imperial city, a sign of its growing importance until today. A fun
In fact, the city has the largest Japanese immigrant community in the world, with an
estimated 1.5 million people of Japanese origin. Mexico City in Mexico occupies the number 5 slot in this top 10 of biggest cities
Mexico's capital is the oldest capital city in the Americas, one of only two founded by
indigenous people. The other is Cuito in Ecuador. It was originally built on an island of Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs in 1325, being called Tenochtitlan
This version of the city was almost completely destroyed in the 1521 siege and subsequently
redesigned and rebuilt by the Spanish colonizers. Mexico City was the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the
Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the federal district was created in 1824 as
the capital of independent Mexico. And so we can see its importance throughout history, first as the capital of the Aztecs
then of the Spanish colonial empire and then of independent Mexico. It's also unique in the fact that it's the only one of these gigantic cities that
has more than 2400 hectares of UN protected ancient farmland inside of its borders
Cairo in Egypt is the 6th largest in the world, the only one in Africa to make it into this
top 10, and we should note there is not a single European city in it
Cairo is the capital of Egypt and home to more than 25% of Egyptians, known for its proximity
to the Pyramid of Giza, the only of the 7 wonders of the ancient world that still exists
The ancient city of Memphis where ancient Egypt had its capital I believe was also located in this area And so we could argue that it been settled and served as the capital of the region for literally thousands of years
And even just Cairo itself was founded in 969 AD during the Fatimi dynasty
At the time, they also built one of the world's oldest universities there, the Al-Azhar Mosque
And Cairo became a center of learning, also becoming the official capital in 1168
The Cairo Citadel, built by Sultan Saladin in 1169, served as the seat of government
of Egypt until the 19th century. Maintaining much of its importance through Ottoman and then British occupation, it became
the capital again upon full independence. Since the 1960s, its population has doubled and its growing tendency continues
Going back to India, we have Mumbai at number 7, previously known as Bombay, India's leading
financial city. Every day, over 200 trains go into the city with people traveling to work
the world's busiest railroad. Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands
and has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the 3rd century BC, the islands formed part of the
Mauria Empire, for instance, and changed hands of local rulers for some time. Eventually
it was a part of the Mughal Empire, who in 1534 were forced to cede the city to the Portuguese
who heavily developed the area for their own colonial benefit, building many religious places
and fortifications. Through royal marriages and purchases, the islands of the city slowly
made their way into the possession of the British. In 1668, they were leased by the
British government to the East India Company for 10 pounds a year. I imagine a symbolic
value. And it was at this time that the city really began to grow. In 1661, it had 10,000
people and by 1675, that number had increased to 60,000, continuing to grow throughout British
occupation. The opening of the Suez C in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports
of the Arabian Sea. Upon India's independence in 1947, the city started growing even more with
massive expansion taking place. The local port still handles around 55% of all of India's sea
cargo. Also traveling back to China, Beijing. China's capital and the world's most populated
capital city, also directly ruled by the state council. Beijing is one of the oldest cities in
the world as well, dating back 3,000 years. It's the last of the four great ancient capitals of
China and has been the political center of the country for most of the past 8 centuries. Humans
have lived there for 27,000 years and the first walled settlement dates back to 1045 AD, first
being the capital of the state of Yan. Changing hands a lot throughout many rulers, it became the
capital of the Ming dynasty and all of China in 1420, the same year the forbidden city was completed
Throughout the following centuries, it always occupied an important role in Chinese history
and governance up to modern times. Interestingly, in an effort to prevent pollution in 2017, the Chinese government announced plans
to limit the capital's population to 23 million people. I'm not sure if this has been done or not
Dhaka in Bangladesh is next. It ranks number 9 in terms of population, but is the sixth most densely populated worldwide
The area of Dhaka has been inhabited since the first millennium, rising to prominence
in the 17th century as a provincial capital and commercial center of the Mughal Empire
the center of the Muslim trade in Bengal. It was one of the most prosperous cities in the world at
the time, attracting many European traders because of its seaport, even being called the Venice of
the East. In 1947, after the end of British rule, the city became the administrative capital of East
Pakistan. In 1971, it became the capital of an independent Bangladesh and still holds great
importance for the country, region, and even the world. Osaka in Japan is number 10
Osaka was considered Japan economic hub in ancient times By the Kofun period it was an important port but only on a regional level briefly serving as the imperial capital in the 7th and 8th centuries Osaka continued to flourish during the Edo period and became known as a center of Japanese culture
Following the Meiji Restoration, it expanded in size and quickly industrialized, contributing
to the growth of its population and economy, attracting, for instance, many Korean immigrants
Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Japan
and apparently known as the Manchester of the Orient. The city suffered a lot during World War
II, but has since recovered and is now, for example, the fifth most expensive city to live
in in the world. And so, now that we got a better look at this top 10 and their historical context
let's go throughout the world, continent by continent, and simply list out some of the other
biggest cities throughout the world. Starting with Europe, the two biggest cities in Europe are in
countries that are also in Asia, but the cities themselves are in Europe. Istanbul is first with
15 million people, followed by Moscow with 12 million. Then London, Saint Petersburg, Berlin
Madrid, Kiev, Rome, Bucharest, I was surprised by this one, and Paris. Other big cities outside of
Europe's top 10 are Vienna, Warsaw, Barcelona, Milan, among others. If you want and let me know
in the comments, if so, I can do specific videos for each of these, going more into depth at the
history of the biggest or even the oldest cities per continent. In North America, the biggest is as
we saw Mexico City, followed by New York, then Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Houston, Havana
this one also surprised me, Montreal, Ecatepec de Morelos, and Philadelphia. Moving to Central
and South America, Sao Paulo is the biggest, followed by Lima in Peru, Bogotá in Colombia
Rio de Janeiro, Santiago in Chile, Caracas in Venezuela, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Salvador
in Brazil, and Brasilia. Then Africa, whose biggest city is Cairo, like we saw, followed by Lagos in
Nigeria, whose population is actually larger than Cairo if we only consider the city limits themselves
but the UN uses different criteria apparently. Next is Algiers in Algeria, Casablanca in Morocco
Kinshasa Brazzaville in Congo, and Johannesburg in South Africa. In Asia, the biggest ones are the
ones we saw within that top 10, but some other very big ones are Karachi in Pakistan, Kwanzu in
China, Jakarta in Indonesia, Laor in Pakistan as well, Seoul in South Korea, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam
and Bangkok in Thailand. And finally in Oceania where the top 10 has 8 Australian cities, one from
New Zealand and one American, which is Onululu in the US state of Hawaii. The biggest is Sydney
then Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, among other Australian ones. You might have noticed some
of these actually surpass some we saw in the UN top 10 worldwide. This is because each country
and each ranking has different ways of accounting for population. Some countries define a city as
the city proper within geographic city limits, other consider administration areas, others
metropolitan or urban areas. So it's kind of confusing and impossible to compare them. The
best option is, I think, using that first UN estimate. So those are the biggest cities in the
world, the top 10 biggest in terms of population, how they came to be settled and developed throughout
history, providing a very quick summary of that historical path and a few interesting aspects
about them at those times and today, as well as other cities throughout the world that are
incredibly big, even if by a matter of small difference in population numbers, they don't
make that top 10. Did I make any mistakes or do you have any additional information? Let me know
in the comments below and also if you'd like to see this for every continent, especially since
Europe was very much left out with historical facts about each continent's largest or oldest
cities. Thanks so much for watching this video, subscribe if you want
and I will see you next time for more general knowledge