*Which other cities in Europe (or the world) do you think are well located?* Also, check out the new video: kzitem.info/news/bejne/ppqq332thZViqqQ
@paulochon7692
Жыл бұрын
Lille, my hometown 🤩
@ecurewitz
Жыл бұрын
Both Olso and Dubrovnik are easily defensible yet have access to trade. Messina is located as a stop point for trade across the dangerous Straits of Messina Outside Europe, New York City has a fantastic harbor and is connected to the Hudson River. And the Erie Canal was built to facilitate even more trade with the interior. Also, Singapore is perfectly situated for trade in Southeast Asia.
@Ernexor
Жыл бұрын
The city of Hamburg ("Das Tor zur Welt") is also well located in my opinion. It has always been a really important trade city for Germany and it is still one of the most important ports in Europe.
@ZestyZaza420
Жыл бұрын
I think Kiel because of the canal going from the north sea to the baltic sea well it was build 1886-1887
@kior5430
Жыл бұрын
strasbourg
@HereticalKitsune
Жыл бұрын
Before having watched the video, as a European aware of some of our history: It's history... Near rivers, large trade roads... Everything was build around it for the last several hundred to thousand years.
@GwainSagaFanChannel
Жыл бұрын
Well yes the same applies to just about anywhere else in the world suitable location is very important for any city or town
@cowhatcat8158
Жыл бұрын
lets make a video game out of this
@mariatheresavonhabsburg
Жыл бұрын
@@cowhatcat8158 Civilization 5.
@wy_doe2320
Жыл бұрын
There is no "our" history you can't group all European history into one lol
@DardS8Br
Жыл бұрын
@@GwainSagaFanChannel Las Vegas and New Orleans be like
@tigervalley62
Жыл бұрын
In regards to Istanbul, I'd argue it's probably the most strategic and well located city not just in Europe but the entire world. It's nothing short of a marvel how well it's located in my opinion. Edit: Typo
@dontdoeconomics9758
Жыл бұрын
IMO only singapore has an edge over istanbul
@TzvetozarCherkezov
Жыл бұрын
No marvel, just the ingenious of the Ancient Greeks.
@roxxxydubois
Жыл бұрын
which is why the site has been continuously settled for 2700 years
@КириллТрифонов-е5ф
Жыл бұрын
I don't really get exactly why Istambul is so important on a global scale nowadays. Is it because of the blockade of russian navy? Because it's the only global -ish power in Black sea region. And in terms of economy there're no rich countries as well as key trade routes in global economy. Istambul's authority can't block the access to the Mediterranean sea for any major power because there're no major powers in Black sea as I see it
@tigervalley62
Жыл бұрын
@@КириллТрифонов-е5ф: It's nothing political. The city has always had a strong historical legacy and marvelous geographic strategic layout behind it going back thousands of years. It was even considered the 2nd Rome back in the day.
@LaVaZ000
Жыл бұрын
Because towns which are in great strategic locations often evolve into major cities, with thousands of years of civilisation, it's bound to happen.
@dutchman7623
Жыл бұрын
There were villages everywhere, but only those who had the best advantages grew to become big cities. And of course time played a role, some cities stopped growing and others took over because of circumstances.
@gilgamesh6135
Жыл бұрын
Precisely
@LaVaZ000
Жыл бұрын
@@gilgamesh6135 It's like those 25 minute videos on why "n% of x country is empty", 90, ney, 100% of the time, a geographical map of the country tells you everything you need to know.
@JohannaA.5013
Жыл бұрын
General Knowledge's videos make me remember the love I had for Cartography. As a kid, I spent hours looking again and again at the Atlas. Seeing climates, vegetation... Naturally, I knew a lot of capital and big cities. I always was good at History and Geopolitics at school.
@grizwoldphantasia5005
Жыл бұрын
I remember how surprised I was to read about continental drift, because like probably everybody else, I had noticed how well Africa and South America fit together.
@General.Knowledge
Жыл бұрын
I always loved maps too! History was my favorite subject at school. Geography not so much because we tended to look more at rocks and rivers and things, not so much maps themselves.
@frigginjerk
Жыл бұрын
Same here. As a kid, and still now, if you want to distract me for a while, just give me an atlas or an online map. I can spend literal hours just looking around at places.
@kadekyudhistiras
Жыл бұрын
I know I'm not alone :)
@chipaguasustudios
Жыл бұрын
Me too
@Stormfox93
Жыл бұрын
Europe is also insanely well located due to its geographical features. Europe's coastline, for example, is 2x the length of Africa's coastline despite being much smaller in size. The sheer number of inlets, bays and rivers on the continent of Europe allowed a lot of cities to develop around strategic (both military and trade) locations.
@etherealbolweevil6268
Жыл бұрын
Most of these places are also very convenient for the airport.
@EveryTongueShallTell
Жыл бұрын
Do you watch Thomas Sowell?
@etherealbolweevil6268
Жыл бұрын
@@EveryTongueShallTell Never heard of her.
@EveryTongueShallTell
Жыл бұрын
@@etherealbolweevil6268 her? ur hilarious
@HoweFare
Жыл бұрын
Not as well located as North America, which has access to two oceans
@mfaizsyahmi
Жыл бұрын
I think there are hidden factors not mentioned wrt some of these cities. A particular one is the geological concept of the fall line. It is where the uplands and lowlands meet, and where the furthest a seagoing ship can go up a river until becomes too shallow. Atlas Pro made a video about it, explaining why the US Eastern seaboard has a string of cities on a straight line. In this video, those cities would be London, Paris, and Seville.
@zz27a
Жыл бұрын
It's more like natural selection. Cities were placed everywhere, but the ones in best locations grew faster.
@king_halcyon
Жыл бұрын
Exactly.
@FOLIPE
Жыл бұрын
That, and it also happened elsewhere in the world. Of course in some cases cities are founded in a place because its strategic, but that doesn't mean that the new settlement will outcompete the other strategic towns around it.
@xXxSkyViperxXx
Жыл бұрын
humans lived everywhere. the best locations simply grew into the best cities
@mirandapillsbury7885
Жыл бұрын
exactly
@SpiritmanProductions
Жыл бұрын
Good video. For future reference, 'Thames' is pronounced 'temz'.
@fauvilein
Жыл бұрын
as a born and raised Tyrolean, I gotta throw in Innsbruck as a perfectly placed city. It has a river (actually two but only one of them had relevance for trade) and is placed within a fairly often used trade route from north to south through the Alps. You had to pass by Innsbruck of you wanted to move to the Brenner Pass which is the gateway to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea for much of Northern Europe
@Simonb1977
Жыл бұрын
if you want to trade in large quantities from southern to northern Europe, the easiest (and safest) way is to bypass the Alps altogether and go by ship from Italy, around Spain, past France and on to northern Europe
@zarathustra7291
Жыл бұрын
Innsbruck is a fantastic city.
@Hastdupech8509
Жыл бұрын
@@Simonb1977 But not if you have to move armies from Central Europe down to the peninsula or have to control it (ahem, HRE or the Habsburgs). Also, it is much lower in altitude than other Alpine passes. Plus, today the Brenner pass is the most trafficked land connection (both with freight and people) between Italy and abroad, especially Northern Italy and Germany, which have the tightest commercial relation (from N Italy's pov) and the 5th tightest from a German pov (or so I remembered).
@fauvilein
Жыл бұрын
@@Hastdupech8509 yes, they are not building the Brenner base tunnel for nothing. But sure, it probably is way easier to go there by ship but according to the amount of trucks through Tyrol it is strongly needed.
@memo1070
Жыл бұрын
Great video, it also shows how great and influncial the Romans and the Roman Empire was and is today as more than half of the cities mentioned were established by them
@lordsleepyhead
Жыл бұрын
You forgot an important part in the rise of Amsterdam as an important trade city: due to its location surrounded by shallow waters, Dutch shipbuilders improved the building of flat-bottomed ships, which gave them a huge advantage in trading with less developed ports or trading posts that didn't even have a proper port.
@bbazuin
Жыл бұрын
The whole Amsterdam part of the video is sub par. The maps it shows include a lot of land and dams reclaimed up to and including the 1980s. The Zuiderzee played a key role in Amsterdam's success.
@dutchman7623
Жыл бұрын
@@bbazuin Correct! On some maps I wonder why the Romans did not use the Afsluitdijk to get to Frisia. The Noordzeekanaal saved the harbor of Amsterdam, though the Nieuwe Waterweg offered an even better chance to Rotterdam which became the biggest harbor in the world from 1900 to 1990. Around 1600 Amsterdam benefited from the closing off of the Western Scheldt to Antwerp. So also other aspects lead to city growth.
@bustavonnutz
Жыл бұрын
@@bbazuin Tbf many of the maps used in the video were awful, the silk road one during the Istanbul segment is nightmare inducing.
@GrouRocks
Жыл бұрын
@@bustavonnutz These videos are an American discovering things for the first time after a round of googling. I can't take it serious
@lucasjardimsena
Жыл бұрын
@@GrouRocks he's Portuguese lol
@tiagompb
Жыл бұрын
Lisbon is one of the ancient cities of the world, in Europe just behind Athens as a small settlement. Olisipo was a roman settlement yes, but only around 140 B.C. or so. Having a big natural harbor with easy entry to the Tagus river, Lisbon for sure was built inside the estuary for defense of pirates and barbarian raids. Comparing to other European cities and having already been the most important city in the World in the XV century, Lisbon had a major growth issue which was the lack of fresh water as again the Tagus river estuary has brackish water. The solution to this problem was finally solved in 1750 with the construction of a very big aqueduct, one of the last of its kind and luckily survived a very strong earthquake in 1755 which shocked all Europe.
@dennisenright7725
Жыл бұрын
An excellent port at the mouth of a major river is pretty well guaranteed to be a very good location. Here in north America there are four cities that have superb locations on rivers that access the continent's tremendous inland waterway system. New Orleans and Montreal are as far as sailing ships could easily go up 2 rivers that enabled one to reach the entire center of the continent. Chicago was built where those 2 waterways were within a few kilometres of one another. And New York was an exceptional port that was also situated at the mouth of a smaller river that was a shortcut to the inland waterways
@ferentcristian6455
Жыл бұрын
Don't forget that those cities were established by Europeans.
@HowlingWolf518
Жыл бұрын
Ditto Vancouver and San Fran. Granted, the Sacramento and Fraser don't span the continent, but provincial/state industries depend on them.
@josepedrosilva3593
Жыл бұрын
Lisboan is so well located that it suffered one of history's worse earthshake
@3foon58
Жыл бұрын
I think the Belgrade is very well located, I am surprised you haven't mantioned it.
@gazriley624
Жыл бұрын
Don't forget Liverpool one of the best Locations
@teethgrinder83
Жыл бұрын
And Glasgow with the Clyde when ship building was huge lol
@trevorwatts8541
Жыл бұрын
Yeesir
@joostprins3381
Жыл бұрын
Yeah, great connection to the rest of Europe….
@joostprins3381
Жыл бұрын
Rotterdam, for decades the biggest port of the world, now still of Europe, Rotterdam is way more important then Amsterdam and the port for Germany.
@teethgrinder83
Жыл бұрын
@@joostprins3381 that's a really good point, that place has such a massive amount of cargo coming in and now still im surprised it wasn't mentioned. Is it a very old city or relatively new (in European terms, I'm sure you know what I mean lol)
@abadyr_
Жыл бұрын
Paris was originally built on an island in the middle of the Seine "l’Île de la cité" (which was great for defense/protection, and to allow and control its crossing). Then it grew in size to span both banks, aided by easy transport/commerce via the river.
@sydhenderson6753
Жыл бұрын
In fact that location was precisely why the Vikings couldn't capture it.
@ayeshaclassesgk
Жыл бұрын
General knowledge❤️KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. I love watching your videos!❤️Alway's remember to keep your head up high and held high and keep doing what you love and what makes you happy
@nopenopenobody2971
Жыл бұрын
i would add two more cities to the list. Vienna, sitiing at the end of the alps, at the danube river. protected on the eastside by the river and in the north and west of some hills, also one of the most eastern city of westeurope, being extremly central to to the north, south east and west. Lyon is very well placed too. the old town is packed between two big rivers, very well protected from enemies and it lays very central, in france. Its still having effects of the mediterenian weather but always having water (also in the summer, because summer in the mediterrenian is often very dry). so in a very good farming region
@jandron94
Жыл бұрын
The "old town" only. Lyon is almost surrounded by mountains, pushed aside by the bulky massif central, it sits in a valley... Too far from the extremities. Strasbourg, Brest, Bordeaux, Liège, etc. Paris sits on a straight line from extremities (hence the Paris centric TGV network). Lyon has river access to the Med and not the Atlantic.
@MLWitteman
Жыл бұрын
Amsterdam actually only became an important trade city, and the leader in global trade during the 17th century. That happened during the 80 years war, also known as the Dutch Revolt. It took over the position from Antwerp, when that city remained in Spanish hands, and it’s population fled up north or were killed by the Spanish. The strategic location of Amsterdam on the shores of the former Zuiderzee(Southern Sea), and at the mouth of the large river delta of Meuse & Rhine ) helped too. This meant it was ideally placed for trade on the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the major trade with the Far East.
@sydhenderson6753
7 ай бұрын
Antwerp was a perfect location when the Netherlands included what is now Belgium, prior to the Dutch revolt. Afterward it was easily blockaded by the Dutch.
@MLWitteman
7 ай бұрын
@@sydhenderson6753 exactly
@stvk99
Жыл бұрын
as a native resident of Saint Petersburg, the city freaking sucks sometimes. it was built on a swamp (because Peter I was a hellbent idiot) so the construction took thousands of lives; the combination of swamp humidity & constant windy, cloudy, rainy weather can easily make you depressed to live here. Imagine London but more windy. on a plus side though the coastal location means the temperature changes frequently so it's never too hot or too cold for a long time. also, it is an important port but it doesn't have a direct access to the ocean. Northern Europe can easily blockade any ship coming from Russia which has happened multiple times throughout history and even right now. its location also makes it an easy target for invasion because it's too close to other countries. Germany easily sieged it with the help of Finland in WW2 despite the fact that our border with Finland was moved more west. imagine if Spb was the capital at the time? again, not a wise decision for Peter I to move it. but it's pretty, I guess.
@sandraleiva1633
Жыл бұрын
He wasn't an idiot. Russia doesn't have good warm ports. Ports are needed for countries to prosper. Crimea didn't belong to Russia for some centuries to come. You should learn history before making comments you don't understand. That's the whole reason Russia took back Crimea from the Ukraine.
@АлексейСахаров-е3ъ
Жыл бұрын
St Petersburg is the closest possible port to Moscow. It's the main reason for a construction of the city here. If you make a circle with a center in Moscow and an edge near St. Petersburg, the only place where this circle touches sea/ocean is St. Petersburg. Thus the straight road from Moscow to St. Petersburg is the CHEAPEST way to supply Moscow and other populous part of Russia and to export production from Russia. It's all about MONEY. That's why St. Petersburg exists. The cities which location looks alike are (going from East to West): Tianjin, Bangkok, Kolkata, Karachi, Basra, Rostov-on-Don, Odesa, Triest, Venice, Genoa, Marseille, Houston, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires.
@stvk99
Жыл бұрын
@@sandraleiva1633 yes, I know. we were always desperate for them warm waters😂but Crimea while being more strategically important than access to the Baltic is in the exact same situation - ships need to pass Bosforus and Gibraltar before reaching the ocean. in my opinion, we need to develop Pacific (even though Japan is kinda hostile with Kurils and stuff) and Arctic ocean ports. we now have the technology of ice breakers unlike in the 16th century, plus climate change might help us as well. we won't depend on anyone's mercy to freely navigate around the world. although that is on hold right now, for obvious reasons...
@apveening
Жыл бұрын
@@stvk99 And thanks to the idiot antics of Putin Russia will lose Outer Manchuria including Vladivostok to West Taiwan.
@stvk99
Жыл бұрын
@@apveening hahaha, sure mate. Any moment now🤓
@andrelinked
Жыл бұрын
Venice has a great historical location, similar to St.Petersburg at the end point of a inclosed sea, also it was a major port during the Middle Ages, similar to other cities is near the mouth of the Po river. Other cities like Ravena had similar qualities but since they are no longer have ports Venice wins
@darriendastar3941
Жыл бұрын
That was utterly fascinating. Thank you for making this video.
@General.Knowledge
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for watching!
@jeroenska.
Жыл бұрын
As Europeans founded many of the major cities in other continents, there are many examples outside of Europe with similar strategic positions. Think of New York, Rio de Janeiro or Cape Town for instance. I think what often sets them apart from other cities is Europeans emphasis on water as mechanism for trade, rather than trade routes on land.
@FOLIPE
Жыл бұрын
You really think that only europeans founded cities in such strategic places? I don't know whether that's sad of pitiful
@jeroenska.
Жыл бұрын
@@FOLIPE of course not, but in relation to the video I mentioned cities that were found by Europeans but not in Europe. Then I mentioned their relation to water as something that sets them apart from cities founded by natives. For instance the ancient cities of Mesopotamia were found on rivers but as a source of water in the desert. Not because of trade, which happened mostly on land. So besides the water source their foundations lie in land trade routes. Every city was founded in their location because of the constraints of their time and place.
@magical11
Жыл бұрын
@@jeroenska. Most major cities sit on waterways as a source of fresh water and trade. It's not at all a uniquely European thing. Shanghai sits on the mouth of a major river. So does Hong Kong and Guang Zhou and Tokyo. It's probably the exception for a major city to not sit on a river/harbour. Also the ancient Mesopotamians 100% used the Euphrates and Tigris as a transport route. They were vital to the ancient trade economy.
@jeroenska.
Жыл бұрын
@@magical11 and was irrelevant until it was one of the 5 Chinese ports that had to open up to European traders in the 19th century. Of course other cultures had their own reasons for the placement of their cities, all I'm saying is that they're different than the ones Europeans had.
@magical11
Жыл бұрын
@@jeroenska. Irrelevant ... to who? The Europeans? No shit. But your head must be way up your ass if you think Guang Zhou was "irrelevant" to China and East Asian trade. It must have had some significance if it was one of the biggest cities in the world for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
@shoutinghorse
Жыл бұрын
The river Thames is pronounced 'TEMS' It makes me laugh how many people still don't know this. 🙄🤣
@adurmus12
Жыл бұрын
As a turkish, even i know that
@nicon1391
Жыл бұрын
Another city that could have been added to this video is Athens. It is located strategically in the centre-south of Greece and at the southern part of the Balkan peninsula, lying extremely close to the port of Piraeus, the largest in the Mediterranean. On its other 3 sides it is surrounded by mountains, serving as natural fortifications and in the past it has rivers providing frest water to the city. It is the gateway to the Aegean and the Mediterranean or to the Balkans and central Europe, depending on your direction.
@goldfinger0303
Жыл бұрын
Athens is not that greatly situated compared to any of these cities though. In reality, as soon as its empire collapsed to the Macedonians, it fairly quickly turned into a backwater city during Roman and later Ottoman times.
@nicon1391
Жыл бұрын
@@goldfinger0303 Most european cities and capitals were conquered at some point in their history or went through periods of decline, that doesn't diminish their geopolitical and geographical value.
@goldfinger0303
Жыл бұрын
@@nicon1391 You're right. London was captured several times. As was Milan, Byzantium, etc etc. Except those cities remained relevant in whatever new Empire occupied them. Athens was irrelevant during Roman rule and Ottoman rule, and only began to become relevant again in the past few decades due to the port of Piraeus. Thessaloniki was a more important city for much of history.
@jeremiahkivi4256
Жыл бұрын
Rivers or bodies of water in general I always assumed. St. Petersburg was for that reason anyways, so I imagine many others were similar. The few that aren't near bodies of water are usually chosen for defensive locations.
@cgt3704
Жыл бұрын
Honorable mentions: -Constanța, Romania -Kiev, Ukraine -Kaliningrad, Russia -Riga, Latvia -Novgorod Russia -Antioch,Turkey -Frankfurt, Germany -Venice/Genoa, Italy -Dubrovnik, Croatia -Hamburg, Germany -Barcelona, Spain -Sevastopol, Ukraine -Akkerman, Ukraine -Kruje/Durres, Albania -Galați, Romania -Moscow, Russia -Bucharest, Romania -Stockholm Sweden -Syracuse, Italy -Skhodra, Albania -Galați, Romania -Thesaloniki, Greece -Izmir, Turkey
@bloodkelp
Жыл бұрын
Kiev
@fallendown8828
Жыл бұрын
How the fuck is Trebizond strategically well placed? It is literally middle of nowhere. It was mountainous tribal lands of caucasia at it's east, great towering mountains at it's south, a loong mountainous coastline that can not be easily used for transportation in it's west and the only good thing going for it in it's north the Black Sea. But there is much better places that is at the coast of Black Sea and is on top of trade routes rather than middle of nowhere. By the way i am a Turk and only reason Trebizond had any importance was people who feared just escaped to this place so they can be as far away from invasions like Muslims and Turks coming and it kinda became big on Rum culture it had since it is middle of nowhere and extra hard to govern or encourage people to settle to assimilate
@benismann
Жыл бұрын
novgorod but no moscow?
@grimbledore2972
Жыл бұрын
What is antioch we dont have antioch city
@cgt3704
Жыл бұрын
@@grimbledore2972 i meant the current turkish city of Antakya, as its built on the same spot as the former one
@Freedmoon44
Жыл бұрын
I personally love the history of Nantes in France, a small Gaulish tribes settle near the edge of the river Loire and at the estuary, becomes a Roman city after the conquest but a relatively small one compared to Rezé which was further down the estuary on the southern side of the river. Starts thriving once the Germanics are coming as it possessed walls, but afterward by the times Vikings settled themselves on the island of Nantes and its surrounding smaller island the city was pretty much abandonned because its strategical value was just destroyed and its relative distance from the center of the Kingdom meant it wasnt worth it to live there. But then a King of the Bretons came in to reconquer the place from the Vikings and essentially rebuilt and resettled the place over time to become the capital of the Dukes of Brittany, because its strategic placement allowed it to controll trade over the largest river in France
@FilK79
Жыл бұрын
Belgrade is older and bigger then half of the cities you showed at begining, it has a incredibly strategic location, devia ver isso melhor, cumprimentos!
@axnowledge660
Жыл бұрын
one very underrated city is the city of Trondheim, Norway. Throghout history it's been very defensible due to the river running through it, which serves as a natural moot
@ferentcristian6455
Жыл бұрын
Norways and Swedens city name sounds so bad ass. Trondheim sounds amazing as a city name.
@blackfang101
Жыл бұрын
Pretty much every major city in norway is very underrated as far as positions go, well, that is as long as you don't take the climate and the issue of an overall lack of farmlands in the wider area into account. The amount of properly successful invasions of norway by anyone but other norwegians can be counted on half a hand, and one of them started with every single one of these major locations occupied before any war was even declared.
@glavatazelva
Жыл бұрын
I think that Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, could be on this list because almost all the rivers of the Pannonian plain flow towards that city and the mouths of those rivers into the Danube are not far from that city. when we add to that the fact that the Pannonian plain is somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe due to the mountains that surround it, the location not far from one of the main exits from the lowlands is what adds to its importance!
@catenaris
Жыл бұрын
However, isn't it impossible (at least nowadays) to ship boats through the danube all the way to Constanța and beyond because of some poor renewal combined to the low depth of the river and some corruption issues? If that's indeed the case, it reduces the strategic value of the city (less for trade and it would still be a factor for fresh water, but still a risk factor for flooding). When I look at Ventusky in the summer and see the extreme heats in the Pannonian Basin, especially considering it's expected to get worse quicklier as other places, I often somehow think that nowadays it isn't such a valuable location as it may once have been 😄 But maybe I'm overlooking something!
@nikola_tomic
Жыл бұрын
Belgrade is an example of how being well located can be both blessing and a curse, besieged around 140 times destroyed 40 times...
@darkorange835
Жыл бұрын
Could you do an asian version of this? LIke I do believe that European cities have an extreme edge over city location but I would love to see a asian version of this. Like wouldn't want to know how china, japan or india's extremely important cities gained there current locations?
@HernasRoom
Жыл бұрын
Japan, specifically, doesn't really have a strategic city. It has a megalopolis, which crosses a large part of the country in the shape of a "belt." That entire corridor is the heart of the country.
@darkorange835
Жыл бұрын
@@HernasRoom now thats some amazing info about a city i have no idea about. Thanks for this my guy.
@Xdalz27
Жыл бұрын
Many cities build in bad place for asia That's why many countries in asia want to move their capital somewhere else
@Xdalz27
Жыл бұрын
Like Dhaka,Bangkok, and Jakarta it's flooding or sinking
@darkorange835
Жыл бұрын
@@Xdalz27 yeah i know that but there must have been reasons why some cities are built right now. Like coastal cities were built due to their being a natural docking station. Like i think in the Indian city of Chennai and kochi both being like super important coastal cities due to their significance in coastal trade and military. Other examples like Beijing and Shanghai are for political and historical significance. And other examples could be seol the s.korean capital for being built on top of the river Han making it very important for trade, commerce and political control.
@billylardner
Жыл бұрын
4:25 The river Thames is pronounced "tems", just so you know!
@SiqueScarface
Жыл бұрын
I would add Cologne. When it was founded (together with its twin city Deutz) by the Romans, it controlled the Rhine and thus the border between the Roman Empire and the barbarian lands to the east. In medieval times, it sat right on the most important West-East trading route, which ran just north of the mountain ranges of the Central Holy Roman Empire, thus being both easy to travel, but close to the sources of precious metals and textile products. During the industrialization, it was close to the iron works of the Ruhr area and to the Dutch harbors, turning Cologne in an important traffic hub.
@abdiganisugal825
Жыл бұрын
4:25 The Thames River is not pronounced how it's spelt, rather it's pronounced closer to "tems."
@timothymeyer3210
Жыл бұрын
also its the River Thames, not the Thames River
@abdiganisugal825
Жыл бұрын
@@timothymeyer3210thanks, turns out you're correct. A bit strange though since its the thames river is used in a number of bbc shows.
@dgm66
Жыл бұрын
Okay, we get it. No need for dozens of comments about it.
@abdiganisugal825
Жыл бұрын
@@dgm66 I think I was the first to comment it. If i knew others would comment about it after me i wouldn't have bothered.
@mbern4530
Жыл бұрын
Lisbon was so well placed for the age of discoveries that when the Iberian union happened the king of Spain considered moving his capital there since it was better located to rule his overseas colonies. He was counselled against it and never did it, but had he moved his capital its unlikely that Portugal would have been to break away. And just to clarify, Lisbon wasn't created as Roman settlement like London, archaeology shows people living there since the stone age and its one of the oldest human settlements on Earth.
@MCArt25
Жыл бұрын
yea a lot of Southern Spanish and Portuguese settlements date back to the Phoeniceans or even before that era the Iberian peninsula was an important mining area during the ancient era, a lot of metal ore in those mountains that was easy to reach
@XcUtiOn96
Жыл бұрын
"the king of Spain considered moving his capital there since it was better located to rule his overseas colonies". Why would Philip II want to move his seat of power to Lisbon when he was the one that made Madrid the capital because he wanted to rule directly from a place he had 100% control over? With this I'm not saying that moving the capital to Lisbon wouldn't have been the best decision (in fact, making Madrid the capital ended up being one of the worst decisions he could make since the city at the time was in the middle of nowhere and had no navigable rivers, which ended up making Madrid a parasitic city that competed with Toledo and Valladolid and made both of them lose population), but what you said is just a popular legend without any document that could back it up.
@VRDejaVu
Жыл бұрын
hum, what? No. No Portuguese city could have been the capital of Spain since they weren't the same country. One easy way to see it is that the same king that was Filipe II of Spain was named Filipe I of Portugal cause although both countries had the same king they were still 2 countries. Portugal and Spain had a Dualist Monarchy during those 60 or so years.
@bigz4302
Жыл бұрын
I'm surprised you didn't mention Moscow, being located strategically where it could control alot of the inland trade over the various rivers that would come to make up Russia, Kyev could've been mentioned for the same reason
@georgiykireev9678
Жыл бұрын
"Varangians to Greeks", a crucial trade route back in the day. The only reason it became less relevant in the last couple of centuries is because cargo ships got too big for rivers, so now going all the way around Europe is more efficient
@toxxickillerzz5114
Жыл бұрын
Like the video, really well done and interesting, one small detail the river Thames in London is pronounced tems not thames
@Ludichetnik
Жыл бұрын
How about Belgrade? On two rivers and just under big Panonian flat ground
@robbyh.8165
Жыл бұрын
In Europe: Gothenburg, Oslo, Stockholm, Glasgow, Berlin, Hamburg, the Rhein-Ruhr, Marseille, Copenhagen, arguably Venice and also Athens. In the Americas: New York City, Washington D.C., arguably San Francisco, Quebec City, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. In Asia: Tokyo, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dubai, Bangkok, Vladivostok and arguably Kolkata/Calcutta and Dhaka. In Africa: Cairo, Alexandria and Cape Town. In Australia/Oceania: Melbourne, Wellington and Sydney.
@bblunder
Жыл бұрын
"If the world was only one country, Constantinople would be its capital" - Napoleon Bonapart
@FOLIPE
Жыл бұрын
Well his empire was basically an european empire.
@francoisdvanderwesthuizen
Жыл бұрын
Bosphorus strait is the part between the sea of mamara and the black sea, while the Dardanelles is between the Mediterranean and mamara seas
@faenethlorhalien
Жыл бұрын
Actually, Paris' location is quite terrible. Too close to the Benelux, it means that it has always been a weak spot for France. During WW1, there was a LOT of worry that it would be taken by Germany early on (think Schlieffen plan), and it fell quickly during WW2. You don't want your capital in Europe too close to a border. A good city in location is, actually, Kyoto, in Japan. Surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and with a rive on the southern, undefended side, it was basically an impregnable fortress back in samurai times.
@mrsupremegascon
Жыл бұрын
A city is either well located for trade/administration or well located for defense. You can't have both. A city like Kyoto surrounded by mountains is great to defend, but not to trade or being the center of the country. That's why Tokyo took over eventually.
@christophernicolson5086
Жыл бұрын
It would be really interesting to talk about cities that grew up around a trade feature changed or coped when that feature changed. Ports silting up; Mills and mines closing, etc.
@neca_diskrecija
Жыл бұрын
Belgrade and Nish in Serbia have excellent position
@wilconran13
Жыл бұрын
Another key point about Lisbon is it's also effectively an easily defensible peninsula, the Lines of Torres Vedras were one heck of a defensive bastion, blocking off the only way to enter by land (from the north). Although, they're not technically part of the city being slightly outside.
@mikatu
Жыл бұрын
If Lisbon was so good in terms of defense how the hell the moors took it over, and then were expelled and then the French were expelled as well?? For a city so good in defense it wasn't very effective! The Lines of Torres were built exactly because the defense of the city was so poor.
@wilconran13
Жыл бұрын
@@mikatu Every city in Europe has fallen to someone or other at this point, thousands of years of history add up. Doesnt make them bad
@wilconran13
Жыл бұрын
@@mikatu some wildly famous defensible fortresses like Constantinople, Vienna and Belgrade have fallen a half dozen times, they're not suddenly meaningless cause they lost a siege
@krystofviktora1211
Жыл бұрын
I would really like second video with more European cities. Great video
@tammo100
Жыл бұрын
I need to comment on Amsterdam. Amsterdam became a large city not because of its location but because of politics and war in the 16th century. Antwerp is a city that is much better situated on the deep Scheldt river, as opposed to Amsterdam on the undeep and boggy Amstel river and surroundings which were very prone to flooding. After the fall of Antwerp in 1585 to Spain, Antwerp lost half of its population and most of the refugees fled to Amsterdam. The influx of refugees, who were often rich and powerful traders, made Amsterdam grow rapidly. As a result the port of Amsterdam also grew and the ships became larger too. But at some moment in history the ships became too large to reach Amsterdam. Therefore most ships anchored near the island of Texel to the north. In 1876, the North Sea Canal was constructed to make it possible for large ships to reach Amsterdam. But by then the port of Rotterdam already took over because it was much better situated and nowadays Rotterdam is by far the largest port in Europe. My point is: Amsterdam became important because of geopolitics, not because of geography.
@GreenIsTheWayForward
Жыл бұрын
Great video! Amsterdam was originally not that well located, as it was surrounded by swamps and the area had to deal with floods regularly during storms. The later Dutch waterworks like dykes and polders massively improved this. In the 19th century a large canal was dug straight west to connect Amsterdam to the North Sea, and in the 20th century another canal was dug connecting Amsterdam to the Rhine river. Amsterdam always had competition from London and especially Antwerp, also well located trade ports, and later Hamburg at the German Elbe river mouth. Another Dutch city that is extremely well located is Rotterdam, at the mouth of both the Rhine and Meuse rivers, and indirectly also the Scheldt river. Among other benefits, the Rhine connects the highly industrialized Ruhr area in Germany to the rest of the world. Rotterdam actually expanded into the North Sea, creating land to facilitate extended construction of the port, warehouses, and oil silos. This allowed Rotterdam to become the biggest trade port in Europe, and for some time even the world until several East Asian ports overtook it. Talking about the rest of the world, I would nominate New York, Guangzhou/Canton, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dhaka and of course Shanghai for being excellently located for trade. All are located at river mouths connecting them to the hinterland, and major international trade ports. I recently read up on the construction of the almost 600 km long Erie Canal connecting New York to the Great Lakes, making it the main thoroughfare for people migrating west and growing it into the main US East Coast port. Fascinating history. What made and makes all these cities so great is not only their ability to trade, but also the toll revenue from passing ships for which these cities had to do nothing but exist in the right spot.
@apveening
Жыл бұрын
Before the "Noordzeekanaal" (due west of Amsterdam) was dug, there already was the "Noordhollandsch Kanaal", about due north of Amsterdam for the same reason, but less successful. In Asia I would also mention Hong Kong, there was a reason it was a British colony.
@lenyabeavis
Жыл бұрын
Hello from Saint-Petersburg :D
@zacsayer1818
Жыл бұрын
The River Thames is not pronounced Tames let alone Th-ames, but Tems! Nor was London the Roman capital of Britannia, that was Camulodunum, now known as Colchester! So much wrong in this video!
@ProfessorArcanum
Жыл бұрын
Meanwhile Gibraltar is only "for now" a British Overseas Territory
@Coastal_Cruzer
Жыл бұрын
You might wanna cut out the sponsor section from your vid. Just in case you're unaware ET is a scam
@ecurewitz
Жыл бұрын
Some of the worst located cites are Naples which is built right on top of a volcano, as is Auckland, NZ. And Mexico City was built in a swamp and is currently sinking Venice Italy was once a fantastic location as it was easily defensible and had access to trade, but now is sinking
@naphackDT
Жыл бұрын
Venice was always sinking. It's just that people back then would simply build a new layer of pavement on top whenever a part of the city sank too low. The problem with Venice isn't that the city is sinking but rather that people put too much sentimental value in some old buildings.
@pawer_themaw
Жыл бұрын
I was always shocked seeing capitals near the border of a country, especially that Warsaw is close to the middle of Poland.
@harrytheprince6951
Жыл бұрын
On one hand it makes sense, on the other it's unfortunate that you didn't choose any inland cities for this video. The mouth of a river, access to the sea and a strategic position is usually easy to find on a coast. Inland cities are much harder to place and some aren't really that well placed from a geographic, or strategic point of view - Berlin comes to mind. An example for an extremly well placed city would be Passau in Germany, sitting right where two of central Europe's largest rivers meet, they could capitalise on shipping trade, had ample access to fresh water and the land around it is flat enough to provide for farming.
@SuperHipsterGamer
Жыл бұрын
What do you mean? Neither London or Paris are coastal.
@harrytheprince6951
Жыл бұрын
@@SuperHipsterGamer As for London, I‘d argue that the Thames is almost as wide as a loch until close to the outskirts of the city. When it comes to Paris I have to admit that I was completely wrong. I thought the sea to city layout was similar to London - a very wide river until almost at the city borders, but the Seine is much narrower. So Paris is actually pretty much what I meant. But still, another example would be analysing why Madrid is where it is. Inland cities are more complex from a historical point of view. Streets were harder to build compared to a port and as a result, trade was limited. So there must be different reasons why Leipzig for example, became a local trading hub and member of the Hanseatic League iirc.
@hbowman108
Жыл бұрын
"sitting right where two of central Europe's largest rivers meet" I thought this was silly, but then I realized that being in North America might reset my scale on "large" rivers by a lot. Passau is at the junction of the Danube and the Inn.
@marcanton5357
Жыл бұрын
Constantine the Great renamed Byzantium as Nova Roma, only later, after his rule was it renamed Constantinople.
@LoneRanger869
Жыл бұрын
Established Titles (as with all the other similar companies out there) is a complete scam: you do not have any title nor are you legally entitled to one, you do not own any land, and every governmental entity in England and Scotland will quickly tell you that the certificate is not worth the paper it's printed on. Protecting the environment is a worthy cause, so just donate directly to those or other organizations.
@spacebear1130
Жыл бұрын
can't tell if you intentionally said river Thames wrong to catch out people, anyway great videos man keep up the work.
@ant647448336
Жыл бұрын
Nice to see my homeland, Gibraltar, mentioned in this video.
@mendamend
Жыл бұрын
Interesting video. One little point of contention, the name of the southern Spanish city in the English language which this entire video is in is Seville, not Sevilla. That is like calling Gothenburg the name Göteborg which is incorrect.
@khushveersingh3297
Жыл бұрын
Ideal location for city 1. Having river was important for constant supply of water and trade. 2. Easily defendable. With natural defence lines like Istanbul. Even Delhi was on higher ground with 100s of rain water storage ponds so was favorite location of many empires.
@V3ntilator
Жыл бұрын
Norway have the second longest coastal line on the planet. One of the reasons why Norway is huge on cruise ships, fishing, oil, gas, oil tankers etc.
@warspite1995
Жыл бұрын
Love the video, but I feel i should point out Thames is pronounced Temz . No TH sound. Like tamez but with a different a sound.
@Andrew-gn9qp
Жыл бұрын
Paris is strategic because of the large flat and fertile farmland surrounding it, and Paris is located along the Seine river between Flanders (the Netherlands) and Italy which made it a major trading hub since the 5th century.
@frederickbaez9167
Жыл бұрын
You should do a video like this but for the America's! There are a bunch that are super well located like San Juan, Puerto Rico due to it being the gate to the Caribbean and that it was used for replenishment of supplies from Spain on its way to other spanish colonies
@Hession0Drasha
Жыл бұрын
We really need to build a canal from the dnister river to the bug, through lviv. To connect ukranian cities to all of the major cities of europe from riga to toulouse. All internal river networked. Only major cities disconected are in Italy/Iberia and the UK, but they all are easily reachable via the ocean.
@swampertdeck
Жыл бұрын
Why not use a 17th century map of Holland when talking about 17th century Amsterdam. The coast and land/water areas look very different from today, which is quite relevant when talking about why the geographical locatio was chosen.
@nenenindonu
Жыл бұрын
3:15 the world*
@papazataklaattiranimam
Жыл бұрын
Only Eurasian city in the world😎
@micha2909
Жыл бұрын
Genoa and Venice were very important seaports because they are on the northern tip of the Mediterranean. They were the Mediterranean ports of medieval Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Genoa is connected to Germany via Milan and the Gotthard route crossing the Alps, Venice is via Verona and the Brenner route. Hamburg is the North Sea's most inland seaport, perfectly serving Central Europe via the Elbe River all the way to Prague. Rotterdam sits at the mouth the Rhine, which is Europe's economically most important inland waterway. Rostov on Don is basically the deepest-inside-Eurasia Atlantic seaport (similar to Chicago in North America), even connected to the Caspian Sea and most of European Russia via large inland waterways, but it is totally underdeveloped.
@enomiellanidrac9137
Жыл бұрын
I saw the title and I knew that the would be a reference to Civilization game at some point.
@CommissarMitch
Жыл бұрын
Shoutout to Stockholm, located on a small island in a river and built out as time went onwards. Very strategic.
@teethgrinder83
Жыл бұрын
Hey you have a sponsor like that but didn't mention Glasgow's position, shocking! 😂 Seriously though Glasgow is a very well placed city too, it used to be great for ship building
@TheDuckMan2523
Жыл бұрын
Hmm, could it be because places that are easily defendable, near navigable waterways, in easy to build, arable areas were convenient choices for starting a city?
@SPYROS4KX
Жыл бұрын
your add is a scam
@kaliyuga1476
Жыл бұрын
I knew you were going to talk about Sevilla (my homecity) before starting the video
@mariajoaoferrazdeabreu150
Жыл бұрын
Congrats. Great video!
@jensschroder8214
Жыл бұрын
Berlin. The city of Koenigsberg (capital of Prussia) was outside the German heart. So the Prussians moved the capital to Berlin. There the Prince could rise to the rank of King and later to Kaiser. Koenigsberg became Kaliningrad and today it is in a very unfavorable position. Vienna: if you look at Austria today, Vienna is unfavorably close to the border. A few years ago even at the border of the Iron Curtain. But you have to keep in mind that Austria-Hungary used to reach much further east. Today, Vienna is once again benefiting from trade with its eastern neighbors.
@MDMA-w9l
Жыл бұрын
Belgrade should be on this list too as it lies on two rivers - Danube and Sava.
@6zeekoe9
Жыл бұрын
Funny to see Amsterdam here, since I would not see it as extremely well located. For most of Dutch (and Belgian) history, the main cities were in the south and east. Amsterdam is build on bogland, which is very swampy. It could only grow once the technology was there to drain the land enough to build massively on it. But draining a bog makes the underground very unstable and Amsterdam has to put a lot of resources to maintain and repair its buildings and canals. Until the growth of Amsterdam, the cities of Utrecht and Antwerp were more important. Both located on the (old flow of the) Rhine and Schelde respectively. This also explains why the centre of Amsterdam is all relatively new compared to other cities in the region.
@Luboman411
Жыл бұрын
Other well-placed cities in Europe: Venice--at the head of the Adriatic Sea with great access to the ports of the Eastern Mediterranean. Milan--located south of the major western Alpine passes that allowed overland trade to go from the Mediterranean to Central Europe and the Rhine River. Vienna--located north of the major eastern Alpine passes that allowed overland trade from the Mediterranean (especially Venice) to Eastern Europe via the use of the Danube River. Rotterdam--modern Europe's largest and greatest port, located at the mouth of the Rhine River.
@lzbscalle7943
Жыл бұрын
Stockholm has a very epic history as well. It was and still is very well defended with every isle before it armed
@Helperbot-2000
Жыл бұрын
Oslo is boring as fuck but also very easily defenceable from sea attack while beeing a costal city, well demonstrated in WW2 of course
@MrGunnar69
Жыл бұрын
I have never heard of this Copenhagen, but there is a suburb of the Swedish city of Malmö called Köpenhamn which is located approximately where the map indicated.
@abrvalg321
Жыл бұрын
8:09 you forgot to include Ionic islands.
@sosenmeister4645
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the Video :)
@sAYwaTT1000
Жыл бұрын
While you are right on the baseline of the topic you chose a pretty bad example in St. Petersburg, which is probably one of the worst located cities in the world. St. Petersburg was a whim of Peter the Great after he had been to Amsterdam. He loved the city so much he wanted a similar russian city. Problem : St. Petersburg is built on a swamp. The construction of the city caused the death of an estimated 30.000 to a 100.000 workers and gained the nickname of city of Bones. The place was inhopitable at best, other than being a swamp it had no access to drinking water, was infested with mosquitoes, incredibly warm in summer and very cold in winter, prone to flooding, etc.. The city was poorly designed as well, it was made the capital because of Russia's desire to come closer to europe which can also be seen in the architecture. Yet the city didnt cope socially or economically which is why it was a city prone to revolution (for example the bolsheviks), and why the capital was moved back to Moscow. So all in all, terrible place to settle, terrible design of a city, terrible place for a capital. And the only objective which was to open up to the rest of europe failed. Yeah i maybe wouldnt have put it in the best located cities.
@notyourdaddy2148
Жыл бұрын
you should do a video on most developed cities in the americas around the 19th, 18th, and 17th century
@Prometosermejor
Жыл бұрын
Toledo, Kiev and Belgrad can be located in a physical map with 2km error.
@SirZanZa
Жыл бұрын
Gibraltar is small but it is extremely prosperous it's the region of my Birth and it is considerably more wealthy than the surrounding Spanish territory and defended like hell. my parents were 2 of the 99% who voted NO to the handover of sovereignty to Spain. its always going to be an integral part of the UK (it is seen as though it is an autonomous part of South western England ) unless Spain can start and win a war against the far superior economic and military power of the United Kingdom they wont ever get our land.. its belongs to the people not Spain. self determination and democracy over conquest and occupation.
@xangarabana
Жыл бұрын
"Siempre va a ser inglesa" es una frase que no tiene por qué ser cierta, y la autodeterminación de los pueblos es un mito creado por los países coloniales para justificar sus colonias. Gibraltar es un reducto de ello. Y no entiendo cómo todos los ingleses usáis la palabra "democracia" como un comodín inconestable. Lo democrático sería que Algeciras entera entrase a Gibraltar a vivir y que se hicieran unas votaciones, a ver si seguirían ganando.
@MCArt25
Жыл бұрын
Amsterdam grew because its rival trade cities, Antwerp and Brugge, were sacked and/or went into a major decline during the same period. Brugge's port was sanded over, while Antwerp was sacked and nearly burned down by Habsburg mercenaries
@amosbatto3051
Жыл бұрын
The Thames River is pronounced as "Tims" (with a short i like in the name Tim).
@milanbalinda6732
Жыл бұрын
How about Belgrade in Serbia!?
@rasmotololopunjave
Жыл бұрын
Tejo river? Don´t you mean Tagus river? What a strange and national way of pronunciation. My best to you mate just bumped into your channel and it's awesome.
@christophernicolson5086
Жыл бұрын
Most cities grew up where people NEEDED to be. A strategic river crossing; port, or some other trade and military nexus. Once people are there you have people who come to sell stuff to them. Witness how vici grew up around Roman camps. So Cities are well located because that location was effectively picked because of those features. QED.
@christoffer235
Жыл бұрын
I mean great video by Denmark placer their capital there because it was in the middle of Denmark at the time
@BrancovdBoomen
Жыл бұрын
I would have expected one of the top 10 largest ports in Europe and their respective city to have made this list
@joostprins3381
Жыл бұрын
Yeah, Rotterdam, largest of Europe and decades of the world.
@beefjerkythesecond
Жыл бұрын
Why would you say Gibraltar is part of the UK at least for now! You could say that for any of these cities. Istanbul is part of Turkey...at least for now. Don't just be pejorative.
@kerstin3267
Жыл бұрын
Because it is disputed by Spain.
@benismann
Жыл бұрын
because gibraltar was taken from spain and is still disputed by spain istanbul isnt disputed by byzantium, on the other hand
@florianlasser2779
Жыл бұрын
Didn’t circle in Vienna😢
@HARSHA7049
7 ай бұрын
Vienna is the most underrated city
@0ptera
Жыл бұрын
Odd no one mentioned Venice. It's the prime example of coincidentally creating the perfect harbor town for a merchant navy controlling half the Mediterranean.
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