What interests me the most is not so much the #1 oldest, but more those cities where the past is still visible, or the city is similar to the same one that stood there thousands of years ago.<p>Specifically, I find Yerevan very interesting. If someone from 2,000 years ago stood there today, they'd certainly realize it was the same city: the same Mount Ararat towering over the city, the same river Hrazdan running by the city, the name is pronounced very similar (pronounced Erebuni vs. now pronounced Erevan.) If you traveled a bit forward in time, to 400-something CE, then a modern inhabitant of Yerevan could even read the ancient writing in the city!<p>Compare that with cities like Puning, China (to quote Wikipedia: "The history of human settlement in Puning can be traced back to the Neolithic Age".) Rich history, but I guarantee that someone from 2,000 years ago would have no idea where they are. (That's certainly not all of China, though, many places haven't experienced that much change.)<p>Anyone know more of these cities, where it'd be obvious to the ancient inhabitants that it was the same city?
Indian history hasn't been well researched because of various reasons. However, recent efforts are pushing back continuous settlement dates by multi-thousand of years. For instance: Varanasi is in above wiki link with 1200 BC as inhabited since. However [0] pushes it back to at least 4500 BC.<p>0: <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Varanasi-is-as-old-as-Indus-valley-civilization-finds-IIT-KGP-study/articleshow/51146196.cms" rel="nofollow">https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Varanasi-is...</a><p>>>> The results that have come from a detailed geo-exploration (exploration conducted through GPS technology) conducted by seven IIT-Kgp departments, tracing the different stages through which civilization progressed, and how Varanasi has been able to maintain continuity as a living civilization, unlike comparable seats of human settlement in the world. The researchers have dug 100-metre-deep boring holes all over Varanasi to conclude that there is evidence of continuous settlement at least till 2000BC. There are enough indications that by the time the data collection is over, there would be enough to prove that this date can be pushed back to about 4500BC.The oldest part of this civilisation has been traced to the Gomati Sangam area of Varanasi, as indicated by the underground layers that have already been tested.
As a Tunisian, I'm confused by why Carthage is not on the list. Yes, it was destroyed and rebuilt by the Romans, but the general vicinity has been continuously inhabited ever since.<p>Actually, a few other Tunisian cities are missing that trace their origins back to late B.C./early A.D., such as Monastir, Mahdia, and El Jem.<p>Any thoughts on this?
Splitting these by continent is somewhat disingenuous since many of the oldest civilizations and settlements are at the intersection of Africa, Asia and Europe.
I had the opportunity to visit Byblos, Lebanon and spend a few hours walking around. It was fascinating to me how many different civilizations had left physical imprints: Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, European Crusaders.<p>I highly recommend a visit to any city on this list.
While I don't see any examples of on this list, except perhaps for Pula, emerging archaeological evidence indicates that in the Balkans region around 7000 years ago massive towns (cities?) began emerging with up to 40,000 people living in some settlements. The homes were arranged in tight lots next to one another, with evidence for some homes even being 2 story structures.<p>The inhabitants of these communities were the same Neolithic farmers who crossed from the Near East, over Anatolia into Greece and then up into the rest of Europe around 8000 years ago.<p>They not only introduced farming to Europe, but also herding and domesticated cows and sheep. There is some linguistic evidence that the word Taurus (representing the bull in the Zodiac) is a remnant of the language these people spoke, which would make sense as they were the ones to introduce the bull to the ancestors of the Proto-Indo-European speakers.
I guess that the criterion for inclusion is "does anyone have a vested interest in including their own city and is persistent enough to fight their way through edit wars." That is, it's a fun list, but shouldn't be considered authoritative of anything.<p>E.g., Seoul shouldn't be there. The ancient capital of Wiryeseong was a separate city that was abandoned in the middle ages (in fact we aren't even sure exactly where it was), and the most likely location is on the other side of the river from Seoul's old city area: the (suspected) Wiryeseong area wasn't part of Seoul until 1963.
What is most striking to me about this list is how you can use it to trace the broad sweep of human habitation on the planet. The oldest continuously inhabited cities date back 5000 years and the youngest (in Oceania) only a few hundred. So for 5000 years humanity lived on a planet with unexplored and unexploited regions. That's all done now. The entire planet is now completely overrun with homo sapiens, but that project wasn't completed until very recently. Sydney only goes back to 1788 and Canberra to 1913, almost within living memory. I don't think humanity is anywhere near coming to grips with this new reality.
In the '70s and '80s when Japan was booming there was a popular meme that they were advantaged by having their cities destroyed in the war so were able to rebuild them along more modern lines. I don't know if it's true but it seems plausible.<p>In Stranger in a Strange Land, Michael Valentine Smith talks about the Martian habit of abandoning places when the memories became too intense to tolerate.<p>If we earthlings were repulsed by places with too much history such old places would have a limited lifespan. While we'd lose out on the context of history, we'd escape some of the deep ruts of blind tradition and be less buried by sedimentary layers of "that's how we've always done it."<p>War is a terrible evil, but at least it tends to breaks up such ossified remains. If we defeat war, we should look for other mechanisms to till the soil to promote new growth.
Somewhere roundabout EC2 is the remains of some religious building, with an office built over it. Walk past the big glass windows, double-take then blag your way in politely and admire it. It's a serious chunk of stonework that's literally been built around. It's so peculiar to see the juxtaposition. I think it's related to henry 8th's destructions. Does anyone know it?<p>I did a search but couldn't find it, what I did find is quite interesting. Take a look at the top picture here <a href="https://symbolsandsecrets.london/page/21/" rel="nofollow">https://symbolsandsecrets.london/page/21/</a><p>Scroll down for some more of londinium and assorted london relics.
Since Damascus is on the list, it's worth noting that some of the building techniques that possibly originated thousands of years ago are still in use in some remote Syrian villages.<p>See:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roof_shapes#/media/File:Traditional_adobe_beehive_architecture_of_Syria.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roof_shapes#/media/Fil...</a><p><a href="https://syrianvoicesmediationandart.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/syrian-beehive-dome-building-and-plans/comment-page-1/" rel="nofollow">https://syrianvoicesmediationandart.wordpress.com/2016/04/04...</a>
Thats nice. What about the oldest school, though?<p>Garbarnmumg:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabarnmung" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabarnmung</a><p>28,000 years of teaching the next generation agriculture and animal husbandry.
Reading through the comments I see people from all over the world offering insights about various places. Then I realised all the comments here are in English. There must be an equivalent for languages continuously spoken over time.
With the world explored and mapped, it is hard to fathom new cities being built. Nevertheless, that will certainly happen in the future.<p>What will the catalyst be? Will it be nuclear war, which devastates and contaminates an area for decades? Will it be disease that makes existing urban areas less desirable to live in? Will it be economic opportunity, as we discover new uses for land or a new way to use land? Space Travel?<p>I see a small parallel to startups: it is easy but dangerous to say "there are no new ideas in that industry". Yet often some of the primary companies are those that survived the early "land grab" of customers.
"Continuously" is a word that lets a lot of institutions claim to be the oldest or longest running thing. I feel like I've been to a dozen restaurants that make this claim.
Wow, this is a great example of a rather terrible wikipedia page. Grouping it by continent. No mention of the Middle East at all (Erbil anyone?). Oceania is just a list of every major city in AUS/NZ, even listing 1913s Canberra while omitting basically every other country in the region.<p>Not trying to diminish the work that went into it so far, but it is a great example to always keep in mind how wikipedia works, how its content is built and to never trust it as a source in itself.
In the UK there's a common derision of tourists from (sorry but) the USA who find themselves dumbfounded by the age of some rickety old pub from the eighteenth century they've tracked down. This Wikipedia page emphasises how little this old rock's got on the rest of the world.<p>Apart from Australasia.<p>Though seriously, I appreciate that Oceana's indigenous peoples are highly nomadic, but is it really the case that there's no continuous settlement there until European colonisation?
There is some definite bias here. I can assure you that San Diego was inhabited by the native people long before 1789. They might not have called it San Diego, but they certainly had a concept of settlement.<p>1789 is more like their colonization year, not their settlement year.
This list seems quite incomplete. Check for example:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu#Early_history" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu#Early_history</a><p>There are probably more cities like this.
Jesus folks are getting owly. Yesterday I mentioned here, that in addition to inhabited cities there are very old nomadic populations, some very much older that the oldest continuously inhabited city.<p>And got totally smashed by bad feedback, and eventually flagged (?!) for saying this.<p>What gives? HN is normally such a tolerant place, full of curious people. Is this topic so emotionally toxic that no alternate dialog is tolerated? I'm honestly confused.
I live in one of the cities mentioned on this page (Augsburg), I think it's pointless to argue of how much is still around from the old ages and if people respect it. The age of a city builds a certain character on a city, the quirks and things that go on for some reason that has been forgotten since before America was discovered.<p>Puts some perspective into "for an american, 200 years is a long time", doesn't it?
If you ever go to Pula, make sure to visit the Arena (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pula_Arena" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pula_Arena</a>) and pass by Zlatna Vrata (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_the_Sergii" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_the_Sergii</a>) both are ~2000 year old
Also interesting (from the "See also" section) -- List of oldest known surviving buildings[0].<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_known_surviving_buildings" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_known_surviving...</a>
Stupid comment maybe but I wished there was a global list.<p>I was surprised though at the limited number of sites inhabited continuously since earlier than 2000BCE. I would believe that good natural sites (natural harbors with a river) would have been continuously inhabited since neolithic.
Interesting that Marakkesh is listed as 1070CE.
Marakkesh is where the 'gladiator' Maximus fights, and moves to Rome from, in the movie. That's during the reign of Commodus, which places it at around 190CE.
We have a tendency to group all ancient cities together in our minds, but the difference between Luxor/Thebes(3200BC) and Rome(753BC) is about the same as between Rome and New York City(1624).
I'm incredibly impressed to find that Tangier is ther third oldest continously inhabited city in Africa, I go through it almost every year to visit Morocco, such a beautiful country.
This map is a nice visualization of the oldest cities:
<a href="https://i.redd.it/qc23w3nl85u31.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.redd.it/qc23w3nl85u31.png</a>
The list doesn't seem to be complete, Shiraz has been inhibited since 2000BC and it's not listed on the page.<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Shiraz" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Shiraz</a>