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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.
Population figures from this dataset by Dr. E. Buringh.
Both historical and modern-day names accepted.
Quiz by Dekkie
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Last updated: November 3, 2022
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First submittedJanuary 26, 2022
Times taken6,542
Average score74.0%
Rating4.97
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Population
Cities
2,24m
London
1,05m
Paris
785k
Constantinople
554k
St. Petersburg
440k
Moscow
437k
Berlin
431k
Vienna
409k
Naples
376k
Liverpool
345k
Glasgow
303k
Manchester
281k
Madrid
262k
Dublin
250k
Lisbon
233k
Birmingham
225k
Amsterdam
220k
Barcelona
209k
Milan
195k
Marseille
177k
Lyon
175k
Rome
172k
Leeds
168k
Palermo
167k
Warsaw
160k
Edinburgh
Population
Cities
149k
Hamburg
137k
Bristol
137k
Turin
135k
Sheffield
132k
Brussels
130k
Bordeaux
130k
Copenhagen
128k
Genoa
127k
Venice
118k
Prague
114k
Breslau
113k
Seville
110k
Bradford
110k
Cologne
107k
Ghent
104k
Bucharest
101k
Rouen
100k
Łódź
100k
Munich
100k
Odessa
99k
Nottingham
97k
Dresden
96k
Buda
96k
Nantes
94k
Florence
Population
Cities
93k
Málaga
93k
Stockholm
93k
Toulouse
90k
Rotterdam
88k
Antwerp
88k
Newcastle upon Tyne
87k
Belfast
87k
Valencia
85k
Adrianople
85k
Cork
85k
Kingston upon Hull
85k
Salford
84k
Livorno
79k
Dundee
76k
Königsberg
76k
Liége
75k
Lille
74k
Bologna
74k
Porto
72k
Aberdeen
72k
Magdeburg
72k
Portsmouth
72k
The Hague
70k
Preston
70k
Riga
Population
Cities
70k
Salonica
69k
Toulon
68k
Lemberg
68k
Norwich
66k
Brighton
66k
Strasbourg
65k
Catania
65k
Pest
65k
Sunderland
64k
Danzig
64k
Trieste
63k
Leipzig
62k
Cádiz
62k
Frankfurt am Main
62k
Granada
62k
Messina
62k
Saratov
61k
Bolton
61k
Brest
61k
Kiev
61k
Leicester
59k
Kishinev
57k
Ashton-under-Lyne
57k
Greenwich
57k
Metz
13 Comments
+8
Level 86
Jan 26, 2022
Wikipedia says Edinburgh had 194,000 in 1851.
+6
Level 55
Jan 26, 2022
I'll probably add it in then. Thanks for letting me know.
+4
Level 68
Jan 27, 2022
Brilliant. Nominated!
+3
Level 55
Jan 27, 2022
Thanks!
+3
Level 74
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 74
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)

+2
Level 55
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 79
Nov 3, 2022
Can you accept Den Haag?
+3
Level 55
Nov 3, 2022
Already is.
+1
Level 31
Mar 3, 2024
Why isn't Plymouth and Stoke on here, they both had around 100k in 1850
+2
Level 55
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 55
Aug 9, 2024
Koningsberg should be accepted for Kaliningrad, since that was the name of thw city at the time
+2
Level 55
Aug 9, 2024
Königsberg, not Koningsberg.