The History of Urbanization, 3700 BC - 2000 AD

This map visualizes the history of urban settlements over 6,000 years.

The data shown in the map comes from a Yale-led study published earlier this month in Scientific Data, which compiled the most comprehensive dataset on historical urban populations to date.

The data has a number of limitations and is “far from comprehensive.” Certain parts of world are better represented than others, and some well known cities do not appear until centuries after they were founded. That said, it is the first global-scale collection of pre-1950 urban populations, and a good starting point for future research.

[duanemalany]

Happy you included Cahokia in 1100. Cahokia actually had a larger population than London by 1200 despite London being around for a thousand years by that time.

[LFSPharaoh]

These timeline videos need some epic background music.

[LittleCorns]

Some shit went down between 1875 and 1900s

[Mink-tDR]

This makes me want to play Civilization >.>

[TheSilentSavior]

Great job max! When you combine this visualization with genetics, we have a very interesting and accurate description of what really took place in history. Thank you.

[JoanisTurnon]

That was interesting... I don't think I've ever managed to watch a 3-minute video with no sound in its entirety. Well done.

[nilouvivid]

Watching this I remembered I had visited Ecbatana years ago and that time I didn't know how much significant it used to be some days . amazing.

[wojeff]

An incredible illustration of the massive urbanization that has occurred

[vladG]

There were a lot of civilization before those old ones mentioned here, and lot of nations existed in dark areas on the map, but history will always be taught according to the dominant empire or class that rules at any given time. No need to take it too seriously.

[freewheeler]

Now release a video where it takes place in real time.

[frankb]

One major problem I noticed was that at 1:17 it reads "1200 BC: Moses leads Israelites out of Egypt". Unfortunately there is no evidence that this was a historical event. In fact there's quite a lot of evidence to the contrary.

[Nkass]

This was way more interesting than I thought it was going to be.

[SamuelSGBailey]

I wish the maps were accurate to show the how little land was desert before we started building civilisations, it puts our position into perspective and highlights how much work we have to repair from thousands of years of mishandling.

[louiekiethsarcon]

I was so shocked while looking at every cities appearing like OMG,

[apokalupsis]

An impressive video )))
Thank you very much, Max!

[JackieScottAmateurAuthor]

A fascinating glimpse of our biography....your meticulous research and methodology is amazing...thanks guys.

[michaelmccurry]

I'm watching this in geography and noticed that you had 1.3 million views but barely any subs. I'm gonna help change that

Love Michael xx

[fishypaw]

3500 BC, people in Orkney (Scotland) where building large stone structures, the best preserved being Skara Brae (3200 BC), a whole village built in stone and still standing to this day. This is before Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. There is evidence that they had links with Europe. Archaeologists found skeletons of voles that had been brought from the area now known as Belgium. They also built the first standing stones circles. The their idea of building standing stone circles and the house design they used then spread throughout the rest of (what we now know as) the UK. The earliest occupation and building at Stonehenge was about 3100 BC
The conclusion being that the first stone buildings, standing circles and unified UK culture all started in Orkney (far north Scotland) about 3500 - 3100 BC.

[Padowan_journey]

Hi Max, could you share a little info about the visual type/apps you are using? It interests me.
Thank you.

[tanzenistsport]

In the end it appears like a bacterial or viral infection in the end stadium.
Shortly after that a host normally dies or gets fever until the parasite dies...