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100 Biggest Cities of Europe in 1850 with a Map

With the help of a map, can you name the 100 most populous cities in Europe in 1850?
Click on the map to zoom in.
Sources used for population estimates listed in this Pastebin.
Both historical and modern-day names accepted.
Quiz by
Dekkie
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Last updated: May 10, 2026
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First submittedJanuary 26, 2022
Times taken12,321
Average score73.0%
Rating4.98
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Population
Cities
2,362,000
London
1,053,000
Paris
785,000
Constantinople
487,000
St. Petersburg
426,000
Vienna
424,000
Berlin
394,000
Naples
375,000
Liverpool
373,000
Moscow
329,000
Glasgow
303,000
Manchester
281,000
Madrid
258,000
Dublin
250,000
Lisbon
232,000
Birmingham
222,000
Amsterdam
209,000
Milan
195,000
Marseille
180,000
Palermo
178,000
Barcelona
177,000
Lyon
175,000
Rome
172,000
Leeds
163,000
Warsaw
160,000
Edinburgh
157,000
Hamburg
142,000
Brussels
137,000
Bristol
136,000
Turin
135,000
Sheffield
130,000
Adrianople
130,000
Bordeaux
129,000
Copenhagen
127,000
Venice
Population
Cities
124,000
Prague
120,000
Bucharest
120,000
Genoa
111,000
Breslau
107,000
Ghent
106,000
Florence
106,000
Seville
103,000
Bradford
100,000
Rouen
97,000
Belfast
96,000
Buda
96,000
Munich
96,000
Nantes
96,000
Toulouse
95,000
Antwerp
95,000
Cologne
94,000
Dresden
93,000
Stockholm
90,000
Valencia
88,000
Rotterdam
87,000
Newcastle upon Tyne
85,000
Cork
85,000
Salford
84,000
Kingston upon Hull
84,000
Livorno
80,000
Málaga
78,000
Dundee
76,000
Liége
75,000
Königsberg
75,000
Lille
75,000
Strasbourg
74,000
Porto
73,000
Bologna
Population
Cities
72,000
Portsmouth
72,000
The Hague
71,000
Aberdeen
71,000
Odessa
70,000
Iași
70,000
Selânik
69,000
Brighton
69,000
Preston
69,000
Toulon
68,000
Lemberg
68,000
Norwich
66,000
Graz
65,000
Catania
65,000
Pest
65,000
Riga
64,000
Trieste
63,000
Sunderland
62,000
Cádiz
62,000
Granada
62,000
Leipzig
62,000
Messina
62,000
Saratov
61,000
Bolton
61,000
Brest
60,000
Leicester
59,000
Frankfurt am Main
58,000
Danzig
58,000
Kishinev
57,000
Metz
57,000
Nottingham
56,000
Le Havre
56,000
Magdeburg
56,000
Saint-Etienne
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20 Comments
+8
Level 88
Jan 26, 2022
Wikipedia says Edinburgh had 194,000 in 1851.
+6
Level 56
Jan 26, 2022
I'll probably add it in then. Thanks for letting me know.
+4
Level 69
Jan 27, 2022
Brilliant. Nominated!
+3
Level 56
Jan 27, 2022
Thanks!
+3
Level 77
Jul 2, 2022
I found it unlikely that Zaragoza wasn't on this list and did a little digging.

The city was reduced from ~55,000 to under 15,000 during the Napoleonic wars in the beginning of the 19th century, so there is some plausibility in its omission, but I was able to find a census which shows a population of 63,399 in 1857 and of 67,428 in 1860. While it's hard to determine exactly what stage of recovery the city was in in 1854, I think it's probably safe to say that it was more populous than Cadiz or Cartagena by that year, and not, as your list claims, 40,000.

(sauce: https://www.ine.es/intercensal/?L=1 )

+1
Level 77
Jul 2, 2022
Also, as a total aside, how do you determine whether to stick with the transliterations given by that list and when to use more modern interpretations? The German names are of particular interest to me, as the list is quite inconsistent in their implementation. See: Lemberg, Gratz, Prague, Trieste, Wirtemberg, Lubec. (Using ones not actually in the quiz when possible)

It was of course commonplace for different languages to call cities by different names, but sometimes we're using the "English" name and sometimes the German one (presumably German was considered worse than French but better than the Slavic languages?)

Then, of course, there's something like Leghorn, which has fallen out of favor, but is still technically the English name for that city. Anyway, blah blah blah, I'm just curious really, these things always intrigue me. (& I like Pesth; it gives a much better idea of how to actually pronounce the name)

+3
Level 56
Jul 3, 2022
Yeah to be quite frank, I'm not sure if (almost) completely relying on that list was a great idea. I'm probably gonna redo this quiz sooner or later. The transliterations I use are usually dependent on what was commonplace to use for the country's administration at the time. I feel like it would be wrong for example to be using the name "Bratislava" rather than "Pressburg", which was the official name for the city at the time. Either way, it heavily depends on the country.
+1
Level 82
Nov 3, 2022
Can you accept Den Haag?
+3
Level 56
Nov 3, 2022
Already is.
+1
Level 30
Mar 3, 2024
Why isn't Plymouth and Stoke on here, they both had around 100k in 1850
+3
Level 56
Mar 3, 2024
I believe you might be looking at an agglomerate area. These were possibly district figures, meaning that surrounding townships are also included.

E.g. the 1901 census gives an estimate of only 30,458 for Stoke.

+1
Level 62
Sep 22, 2025
That would figure. Stoke wouldn't have included the rest of the towns at that point, just Stoke itself, which isn't very big.
+1
Level 66
Aug 9, 2024
Koningsberg should be accepted for Kaliningrad, since that was the name of thw city at the time
+3
Level 56
Aug 9, 2024
Königsberg, not Koningsberg.
+1
Level 95
Jul 4, 2025
Smashing, about time this got featured
+3
Level ∞
Mar 23, 2026
Industrial Revolution flexing its muscles hard in this one.
+1
Level 56
Mar 23, 2026
It's definitely the time where you'd start noticing the city sizes getting a hell of a lot larger in comparison to the centuries prior.
+2
Level 55
Mar 23, 2026
Should it not be Ashton?
+1
Level 56
Mar 23, 2026
It's a common name for the town and it's accepted.
+1
Level 76
Mar 23, 2026
I was born in Ashton-under-Lyne. It is not a city. It never has been. It is a market town.