418 Chapter 22
town that had become prosperous during the slave
trade, grew so fast in the early nineteenth century that
it surpassed such capital cities as Moscow and Madrid
in size (see table 22.2). In 1850 the British isles con-
tained seven cities larger than Rome, the historic center
of Europe. Nearly a quarter of the British population
lived in metropolitan areas of 100,000 or more, while
only 4.6 percent of France and 2.3 percent of Spain
lived in such urban regions. The great Swiss cities of
Geneva (31,000) and Zürich (17,000) were suddenly
smaller than British towns such as Bradford (104,000).
In 1800, two of the ten largest cities in Europe (London
and Dublin) were in the United Kingdom; by 1850,
four of the ten largest (London, Liverpool, Glasgow,
and Manchester) were in the U.K.
When the effects of the population explosion
reached continental Europe, so did urbanization. Just as
Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield had ex-
ploded from regional towns into major urban centers,
new cities grew in Europe. Essen, in the Ruhr valley of
western Germany, changed from a small town of 4,000
people in 1800 into a sprawling city of 295,000 at the
start of the twentieth century. The transformation of
L/ odz (Poland) was even more dramatic: A village of
200 people in 1800 became a city of 315,000 in 1900.
By 1900 only three of the largest cities in Europe were
in Britain.The Agricultural Revolution
The first explanation of the vital revolution was an im-
proved food supply. Although the nineteenth century
still experienced famines in some regions (especially
Russia) and occasional disasters such as the potato
famine of the 1840s, the pattern of regular subsistence
crises that characterized early modern history ended byBritish cities are highlighted in bold-faced type. Note the importance of British cities in the data for 1850, a date often chosen as the point at which Britain
had become a predominantly industrial society.
Europe in 1800 Europe in 1850 Europe in 1900
City Population City Population City Population
London 1,117,000 London 2,685,000 London 6,586,000
Paris 547,000 Paris 1,053,000 Paris 2,714,000
Naples 427,000 St. Petersburg 489,000 Berlin 1,889,000
Moscow 250,000 Naples 449,000 Vienna 1,675,000
Vienna 247,000 Vienna 444,000 St. Petersburg 1,267,000
St. Petersburg 220,000 Berlin 419,000 Moscow 989,000
Amsterdam 201,000 Liverpool 376,000 Hamburg 931,000
Lisbon 180,000 Moscow 365,000 Budapest 732,000
Berlin 172,000 Glasgow 357,000 Liverpool 704,000
Dublin 165,000 Manchester 303,000 Manchester 645,000
Rome 163,000 Madrid 281,000 Warsaw 638,000
Madrid 160,000 Dublin 272,000 Brussels 599,000
Palermo 139,000 Brussels 251,000 Naples 564,000
Milan 135,000 Milan 242,000 Madrid 540,000
Venice 134,000 Lisbon 240,000 Barcelona 533,000
Hamburg 130,000 Birmingham 233,000 Amsterdam 511,000
Barcelona 115,000 Amsterdam 224,000 Munich 500,000
Edinburgh 202,000 Milan 493,000
Source: B. R. Mitchell, European Historical Statistics, 1750–1970(London: Macmillan, 1975), pp. 76–78; Chris Cook and John Paxton, European Political Facts,
1848–1918(London: Macmillan, 1978), pp. 213–32.TABLE 22.2The Major Cities of Europe, 1800–1900