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The Reference Desk => History and Tall Tales => Topic started by: bayonetbrant on March 21, 2019, 09:21:28 AM

Title: Most populous Cities in history - moving graph
Post by: bayonetbrant on March 21, 2019, 09:21:28 AM
Very cool interactive graph


https://twitter.com/ThingsWork/status/1108073217199992832
Title: Re: Most populous Cities in history - moving graph
Post by: Barthheart on March 21, 2019, 09:33:09 AM
That is cool!  :bigthumb:

Wonder caused the 3 major massive declines in Beijing pop?
Title: Re: Most populous Cities in history - moving graph
Post by: bayonetbrant on March 21, 2019, 10:22:52 AM
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.
Title: Re: Most populous Cities in history - moving graph
Post by: bayonetbrant on March 21, 2019, 10:28:15 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Beijing

Quote
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).


Quote
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.


Quote
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).
Title: Re: Most populous Cities in history - moving graph
Post by: Sir Slash on March 21, 2019, 12:59:50 PM
Great find! Thank you Brant.  :applause:
Title: Re: Most populous Cities in history - moving graph
Post by: Martok on March 28, 2019, 03:18:37 PM
Very cool!