5 Biggest Cities in the World

[MTGAP]

What are the 5 biggest cities in the world? I would guess the top 3 are: (in order)

Qarth

King's Landing

Vaes Dothrak

Not sure about the other 2. Maybe one of the Free Cities? Meereen maybe? Another city in Westeros?

[Naive Ned]

IIRC, Meereen is larger than Kings Landing. Dany says something along the lines "that Meereen makes even Kings Landing feel like a small town".

And Isn't Oldtown close to the same size as KL, just not as dirty (prologue in AFFC).

And what about Braavos, that seemed HUGE!

[Werthead]

The biggest cities in Westeros are:

King's Landing (500K+)

Oldtown (nearly 500K)

Lannisport (350K?)

Gulltown (50K?)

White Harbour (less than 50K?)

Although the precise ordering of GT and WH is unclear.

For the world outside, I'd hazard a guess that Braavos, Meereen and Qarth are bigger than any city in Westeros. Astapor and Yunkai are much smaller than Meereen (which is apparently as big as those two combined) but it's difficult to work out their size in relation to the Westeros cities. I gather than Pentos is a fairly small city as well. Valyria before the Doom was probably the biggest city in the world.

The world book and ADWD should give us more info on the other Free Cities.

[Blackstone]

I don't think we know enough to say this for sure.

Braavos seems to be the biggest, and most important city in the world.

Qarth

Mereen folllowing after.

Old Town is likely on that list somewhere, but pretty far down.

I doubt that Vaes Dorthak would even pass White Harbor. The Dothraki don't live in cities, Vaes Dothrak is more like a religious center.

[the_dragon_rider]

Just a thought : Asshai seems well-known even in Westeros, so maybe it's a big city ?

[Ser Skywalker]

In reading I always got the impression that the large eastern cities were much larger than any city in Westeros. Braavos did seem to be the largest city in the whole world.

1. Braavos

2. Mereen

3. Qarth

4. Astapor/Yunkai/Asshai

Sorry about any mispellings.

[Werthead]

I find it helpful to think of the cities in terms of their real-world counterparts (or presumed real-world counterparts):

Braavos = Venice: big, important, powerful, but limited in size and population by geographic factors. Nevertheless it appears far bigger than KL in AFFC.

The Free Cities = Amsterdam and other western European and Mediterranean city-states of varying size and influence.

Qarth = Constantinople: huge, vital trade link on major sea and land-based trade networks.

King's Landing = London in the early medieval period, large and impressive but not a patch on what it would later become, or cities further east.

Valyria before the Doom = Rome at the absolute height of its power.

Meereen is tricky as it doesn't appear directly to correlate with any real-world location. One of the Greek cities comes to mind but Meereen would seem to be far bigger than Athens in the medieval period. Maybe it's more closely based on the power of those cities in say the Hellenistic period?

Asshai we don't have much information on, but it does appear to be a massive city in the distant east, perhaps comparable to Aden or another Arabian, Indian or even Chinese city or city-state of the medieval period? If it's based on an Asiatic culture of the time, than Asshai could be the biggest city in the world that we have heard of to date.

Transient population should also be remembered. For example Tyrion says that King's Landing has 500K people in it (to Oberyn) at the moment the city is rammed full of refugees. We don't know if Tyrion is factoring this into his calculations or if the city has many more than 500K people in it at that moment but Tyrion is just using a commonly-mentioned (and possibly totally guessed) figure. As major trading hubs, Braavos and Qarth's populations also probably vary a lot based on how many ships are in port or on the season (although Qarth, which is probably located south of Dorne's latitude, is probably not affected as much by season variations whilst the far more northerly Braavos could actually be icebound in harsh winters).

In summary my guess would be:

1. Asshai

2. Qarth

3. Meereen

4. Braavos

5. Another of the Free Cities, probably Volantis.

[Jacen]

I agree 100% with Werthead's analysis, based on what we know so far he seems to have the best guesses.

Though, maybe just maybe I would put Myr or Lys above Meereen.

I've also always been intrigued by the city of Tyria. It is shown as a LIVE city, right by old Valyria. What's up with that?

[Guest Other-in-law]

I'd say Qarth is hands down the biggest, of those the central characters have seen so far. It has towers taller than those of any of the free cities, and Xaro Xhoan Daxos' manse was as big as a market town, and made Illyrio's manse look like a swineherd's hovel. Dany is told that it is the greatest city in the world and she doesn't contradict the statement, even in her own thoughts. Since she has visited all nine of the free cities already, that means that even Braavos would be smaller. Of course we don't know anything of Asshai or Yi Ti yet.

Vaes Dothrak might take up as much land area (more than any of the Free Cities, at least), but it's actual population is like that of a village, usually, and it's buildings are generally much smaller and spread out than in any normal city. Mereen is big, but we never get the sense of awe for it that we do of Qarth.

[Too Good To Be True]

Meereen reminds me of Babylonia.

What about Norvos? It seems pretty inpressive to me; and after all the Prince of Dorne (who was probably the third most powerful man in the realm after King and Tywin; maybe not in terms of men, but in other ways, and in historic stature) took a Norvoshi bride.

Braavos seems massive and small at the same time (note how most action is centred round the Temple and one or two bars; yes, because these are Westerosi/Arya haunts, but still).

We need a list of sizes (hint GRRM!!!)

Is it safe to say (decreasing sizes):

Braavos

Norvos

Tyrosh

---------

Myr/Lys (I picture these as similar, middling cities)

---------

Pentos

Qohor

Qarth largest; and Meereen being bigger than any of these or at least the size of Braavos; Astapor, Yunkai, and places like vaes tolorro being towards the bottom.

I never picture Asshai as a city, more as a province.

[Guest Other-in-law]

I never picture Asshai as a city, more as a province.

It is a city.

Dany was lost. "Go? Where should we go?"

"Asshai, I would say. It lies far to the south, at the end of the known world, yet men say it is a great port."

Yi Ti might be more of a province, I don't recall a specific mention of it as a city. If it is, that's probably huge as well; it always sounded vaguely chinese to me.

[RhaegarTargaryen]

The more eastern cities would have the largest cities by my guess.

of the Free Cities, Braavos would likely be the largest and most powerful.

Quarth is extremely large, it seems, larger than any Westeros city and a definite top three of any other.

Asshai I would label, by sheer popularity, top three,

and Mereen also in the top three.

These three cities seem to be the largest, but it's quite hard to determine which falls before or after the others.

Kings Landing and Oldtown are the largest in Westeros.

but it seems Valyria would have had to be the largest of them all.

To harbour that many Dragons and contain seven (I believe) volcanoes, having so mnay smiths and magical properties, hundreds of thousand slaves and having many royal families and their kin. It must have been huge.

[UNIT81]

I find it helpful to think of the cities in terms of their real-world counterparts (or presumed real-world counterparts):

Asshai we don't have much information on, but it does appear to be a massive city in the distant east, perhaps comparable to Aden or another Arabian, Indian or even Chinese city or city-state of the medieval period? If it's based on an Asiatic culture of the time, than Asshai could be the biggest city in the world that we have heard of to date.

if you're thinking of it that way i would think of asshai in terms of shanghai...theres the obvious similarity in names and they're both eastern. it would also make it huge and justify its position in your list.

[MTGAP]

Okay, first, about this quote:

Dany was lost. "Go? Where should we go?"

"Asshai, I would say. It lies far to the south, at the end of the known world, yet men say it is a great port."

On that map of the world (which could be wrong but it looks good), Asshai is not far from Qarth (it's much closer than the free cities, or Westeros). And yet Asshai is at the end of the world, and Qarth is at the center of the world.

Also, what made everyone think Braavos was so big? I never got that impression. I mean they have the big Titan, but otherwise...

I do agree that Qarth is the largest and richest city in the world. Meereen is also very big.

Also when you think about it, we've only been exposed to about 1/4 of the world. The Summer Islands must be around the equator, and they are a ways south of Dorne, so that means we've only seen the northern hemisphere of either the western or the eastern side of the globe. Even the "eastern" cities and kingdoms are still on the same hemisphere.

[Werthead]

The world map is purely speculative.

As for the Qarth/Asshai thing, yes, Qarth/Constantinople was a vital trade centre but there were still cities in China at that time which were far larger and if we're paralleling Asshai to China, then Asshai could be larger even if it's not as centrally located.

[RhaegarTargaryen]

If we are comparing the shadow to the East and China, then Asshai would likely parallel as Beijing or Hong Kong these days.

[Too Good To Be True]

Also, what made everyone think Braavos was so big? I never got that impression. I mean they have the big Titan, but otherwise...

I thought this myself, but presumed I was wrong as everyone seems to think it's large.

To me, it seems like a massive port but a small town - as I said above, the action goes on in a very small place. That may be because they only go to westerosi haunts or the temple/one small house, but nevertheless, it may not be so big; certainly not as you move further from the sea.

[DrownedCrow]

Myr/Lys (I picture these as similar, middling cities)

My impression was that Lys is probably one of the biggest Free cities, perhaps the second biggest after Braavos. After all, it is the site of a very impressive temple of the red priests which is mentioned a number of times. It seems likely that this would be located in one of the largest cities in the area.

Also, what made everyone think Braavos was so big? I never got that impression. I mean they have the big Titan, but otherwise...

There is a quote in one of the books to the effect that even the rulers of Westeros would hesitate to piss off Braavos. This wouldn't make much sense unless the city is very large and powerful.

[Werthead]

Braavos can build a war galley in a day, which requires serious, serious manpower. Braavos is also said to have the most powerful navy in the world, which again would require a substantial population.

[Lyanna Stark-Targaryen]

What are the 5 biggest cities in the world? I would guess the top 3 are: (in order)

Qarth

King's Landing

Vaes Dothrak

Not sure about the other 2. Maybe one of the Free Cities? Meereen maybe? Another city in Westeros?

Vaes Dothrak isn't the biggest or even close. It's basically empty unless there are functions, only the crones live there and it's not really a city so much as a place to stay for when all of the khalasars come to the mother of the mountains. So yeah, it's big enough for a lot of people, but it's usually empty.