While great cities were known in ancient
times, the number was so few that the total population affected by city
living conditions was comparatively small. Moreover, the populations of
ancient cities have often been exaggerated. Probably at the height of
its power, the population of Athens did not exceed 100,000; Carthage,
700,000; Rome, 500,000; Alexandria, 500,000; Nineveh and Babylon,
1,000,000. All the great cities of the ancient world practically
disappeared with the fall of Rome. After Rome's fall, Constantinople was
the only large city with over 100,000 population in all Europe for
centuries. Down to 1600 A.D., indeed, there were only fourteen cities in
all Europe with a population of over 100,000; and even in 1800, at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, there were only twenty-two such
cities. But at the end of the nineteenth century, in 1900, there were
one hundred and thirty-six such cities in Europe, representing twelve
per cent of the entire population. Moreover, while in 1800 less than
three per cent of the total population of Europe lived in cities, in
1900 the total urban population was twenty-five per cent.
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