Page 149 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1926 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Ar ctic Ocean
LARGEST URBAN AREAS
in 2004

Moscow
London
Paris
New York City Beijing Seoul
Los Angeles Tokyo-Yokohama
Tehran Delhi Shanghai Osaka-
Atlantic Cairo Karachi Kobe
Kolkata
Ocean Pa cific
Mexico City Mumbai Manila
Ocean
Lagos
Pacific Ocean Indian Jakarta
Ocean
Sao
Paulo
Rio de Janeiro
N
Buenos Aires

0 3,000 mi
0 3,000 km

points around which capital cities evolved and the axes recently. Only three hundred years ago there were prob-
mundi at which leaders could maintain contact with the ably no more than fourteen cities in the world with pop-
gods. Frequently, both the ceremonial complexes and the ulations exceeding 200,000 (in imperial China, Beijing
cities that surrounded them were designed as miniatures of 650,000, Hangzhou 300,000, Guangzhou 200,000; in
the cosmos, in which the appropriate rituals could be per- feudal Japan,Tokyo [earlier Edo orYedo] 680,000, Osaka
formed to ensure that stability and harmony prevailed. 380,000, and Kyoto 350,000; in the Moghul empire,
Astronomy thus was important not merely for timekeeping Ahmadabad 380,000 and Aurangabad 200,000; in Iran
and the regulation of the rhythms of agriculture; it was cen- [then Persia], Esfahan 350,000; in the Ottoman empire,
tral to the physical plans.The social geography of the cities Istanbul [then Constantinople] 700,000; and in Europe,
was predominantly centripetal: the higher the status, the London and Paris both over 500,000 and Amsterdam
closer a resident lived to the center, but the urban fabric and Naples both just over 200,000). No more than fifty
also contained walled “quarters” that separated tribe and other cities exceeded 50,000.
clan. The specialists who first emerged as temple and Despite their small size, however, each of these capital
palace functionaries later evolved into producers for the cities served as the focus of its own “world economy,” an
market. Similarly, the merchants who conducted long- economically autonomous section of the planet able to pro-
distance trade evolved from the networks of tribute that vide for most of its own needs. Such economies comprised
had been secured by military action. an immediate core region that provided foodstuffs and
Most classical capital cities were small and compact, within which modification of the earth was greatest,a mod-
yet they were many times greater than other settlements estly developed middle zone controlled by the projection of
in their domains. Levels of urbanization—the percentage the capital city’s military power and exploited for trans-
of the population living in urban areas—never exceeded portable resources and products, and a vast and relatively
10 percent. Secondary centers were few and small and the untouched periphery that ensured separation from other
bulk of the urban population clustered in the capital city. worlds,except where long-distance merchants made contact
This pattern of capital city primacy prevailed until very at trading centers located where the peripheries touched.