I found this fascinating. Things I noticed:

– For a much longer time than I’d expected, city formation is slow, and confined to the Middle East.

– About a thousand years in: Gilgamesh.

– Gradually, cities spread east and west, then fill in the gaps.

– Some cities I think of as really old are not nearly as old as some less well-known cities.

– Some cities I think of as very modern are actually old.

– Lots of cities in Africa, many of them medieval or before.

– Unsurprisingly, things start to get busy around the early Middle Ages.

– There’s a slowdown around, I think, the time of the Black Death, but no caption for it.

– Things get really busy around 1800.

– Surprisingly many cities were founded in the 20th century.

Originally shared by Amanda Patterson

http://metrocosm.com/history-of-cities/