Most populous Cities in history - moving graph

[bayonetbrant]

Very cool interactive graph


https://twitter.com/ThingsWork/status/1108073217199992832

[Barthheart]

That is cool! 

Wonder caused the 3 major massive declines in Beijing pop?

[bayonetbrant]

Wonder caused the 3 major massive declines in Beijing pop?

My gut says probably some form of plague / disease


I know Lisbon had the double-whammy of earthquake-generated flood w/ a fire right behind it, but I don't recall anything that dramatic about Beijing.

[bayonetbrant]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Beijing

Genghis Khan believed the Jin was trying to rebuild military strength further south in breach of the terms of peace and decided to reinvade the Jin. By winter, Mongol troops were again besieging Zhongdu.[75]

In 1215, after a bitter siege in which many of the city's inhabitants starved, Zhongdu's 100,000 defenders and 108,000 households surrendered.[76] The city was still looted and burned by the invaders.[77] Zhongdu was renamed Yanjing and its population shrank to 91,000 in 1216 (with 285,000 in the surrounding region).

During the Ming dynasty, 15 epidemic outbreaks occurred in the city of Beijing including smallpox, "pimple plague" and "vomit blood plague" - the latter two were possibly bubonic plague and pneumonic plague. In most cases, the public health system functioned well in gaining control of the outbreaks, except in 1643. That year, epidemics claimed 200,000 lives in Beijing, thus compromising the defense of the city from the attacks of the peasant rebels and contributing to the downfall of the dynasty.

The city's population, which had fallen to 144,000 in 1644, rebounded to 539,000 in 1647 (the population of the surrounding area rose from 554,000 to 1.3 million).

[Sir Slash]

Great find! Thank you Brant. 

[Martok]

Very cool!