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Cities Worldwide Ranked by Founded year (oldest cities)

Year of founding (inception) recorded in Wikidata, oldest first. Negative years are BCE. Source: Wikidata (CC0 1.0 (public domain)).

Summary

Adana ranks #1 (lowest first) with 6000 BCE. Aleppo is second with 5000 BCE. The top five are Adana, Aleppo, Jerusalem, İzmir and Damascus. The median across all 300 is 1776; Thủ Đức is last at 2021.

#1
Adana · 6000 BCE
Median
1776
Coverage
300 cities with at least 1 million people
Data year
As recorded in Wikidata
Last updated
2026-11-14
Top 10: FoundedBar chart of the top 10: 1. Adana -6,000; 2. Aleppo -5,000; 3. Jerusalem -4,000; 4. İzmir -3,000; 5. Damascus -2,000; 6. Irbid -1,399; 7. Medina -900; 8. Yerevan -781; 9. Rome -752; 10. Konya -699.Adana-6,000Aleppo-5,000Jerusalem-4,000İzmir-3,000Damascus-2,000Irbid-1,399Medina-900Yerevan-781Rome-752Konya-699
Top 10: Founded. Bar chart of the top 10: 1. Adana -6,000; 2. Aleppo -5,000; 3. Jerusalem -4,000; 4. İzmir -3,000; 5. Damascus -2,000; 6. Irbid -1,399; 7. Medina -900; 8. Yerevan -781; 9. Rome -752; 10. Konya -699.

Full ranking

Cities Worldwide Ranked by Founded year (oldest cities)
RankCityCountryFounded
1AdanaTürkiye6000 BCE
2AleppoSyrian Arab Republic5000 BCE
3JerusalemIsrael4000 BCE
4İzmirTürkiye3000 BCE
5DamascusSyrian Arab Republic2000 BCE
6IrbidJordan1399 BCE
7MedinaSaudi Arabia900 BCE
8YerevanArmenia781 BCE
9RomeItaly752 BCE
10KonyaTürkiye699 BCE
11TripoliLibya601 BCE
12MilanItaly599 BCE
13DelhiIndia500 BCE
14NanjingChina494 BCE
15TangierMorocco401 BCE
16AlexandriaEgypt, Arab Rep.330 BCE
17ChengduChina310 BCE
18ParisFrance300 BCE
19AntalyaTürkiye149 BCE
20FushunChina107 BCE
21ViennaAustria100 BCE
22LondonUnited Kingdom47
23BursaTürkiye202
24QuanzhouChina260
25TbilisiGeorgia455
26KyivUkraine482
27BirminghamUnited Kingdom601
28BasraIraq638
29GizaEgypt, Arab Rep.642
30PalembangIndonesia683
31BaghdadIraq762
32FezMorocco789
33KyotoJapan794
34PragueCzechia800
35AlgiersAlgeria944
36CairoEgypt, Arab Rep.969
37KazanRussian Federation1005
38HanoiViet Nam1010
39YangonMyanmar1035
40OuagadougouBurkina Faso1050
41MarrakechMorocco1065
42Madrid citySpain1083
43Yan'anChina1089
44ShymkentKazakhstan1101
45MunichGermany1158
46KabulAfghanistan1200
47Chiang MaiThailand1201
48Nizhny NovgorodRussian Federation1221
49BerlinGermany1244
50ShanghaiChina1292
51SurabayaIndonesia1293
52Kocaeli ProvinceTürkiye1327
53Phnom PenhCambodia1372
54SeoulKorea, Rep.1395
55AhmedabadIndia1411
56PuneIndia1436
57IstanbulTürkiye1453
58JodhpurIndia1459
59BucharestRomania1459
60LagosNigeria1472
61Santo DomingoDominican Republic1496
62WuhanChina1500
63OdesaUkraine1500
64MumbaiIndia1507
65HavanaCuba1515
66Panama CityPanama1519
67Mexico CityMexico1521
68JakartaIndonesia1527
69MaracaiboVenezuela, RB1529
70QuitoEcuador1534
71GuayaquilEcuador1534
72LimaPeru1535
73CaliColombia1536
74RecifeBrazil1537
75BengaluruIndia1537
76BogotáColombia1538
77ArequipaPeru1540
78ZapopanMexico1541
79SantiagoChile1541
80GuadalajaraMexico1542
81SemarangIndonesia1547
82SalvadorBrazil1549
83OnitshaNigeria1550
84BarquisimetoVenezuela, RB1552
85São PauloBrazil1554
86ValenciaVenezuela, RB1555
87GuarulhosBrazil1560
88Santa Cruz de la SierraBolivia1561
89Rio de JaneiroBrazil1565
90CaracasVenezuela, RB1567
91ManilaPhilippines1571
92CórdobaArgentina1573
93AmritsarIndia1574
94LuandaAngola1575
95León de Los AldamaMexico1576
96TegucigalpaHonduras1578
97HohhotChina1580
98Buenos AiresArgentina1580
99SamaraRussian Federation1586
100VoronezhRussian Federation1586

Showing the top 100 of 300. Premium downloads the full list as CSV or JSON.

About the top 10

Profile facts: Wikidata (CC0).

Related rankings

Source and method

Year of founding (inception) recorded in Wikidata, oldest first. Negative years are BCE.

Source: Wikidata. Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain). Retrieved: 2026-11-14.

Data: Wikidata (CC0)

Values are shown as published. Provider terms: Wikidata. All licences: Sources & licences.