City

City is a place of commercial, political, historical, and cultural significance. Individuals from adjoining as well as distant places travel to the cities for convenience, better opportunities and exposure. Most ancient cities developed on fertile river banks or coasts for convenience of trade and commerce. In the absence of air crafts all overseas trade took place along sea routes. Cairo, Rome, Alexandria, Istanbul, Athens and Shanghai are excellent examples of such historic cities. Building settlements along river banks were only natural because of as assured supply of water. Gradually these cities developed into industrial centers and became centers of economic power.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution in Europe, European explorers discovered new trade routes between Europe and Asia, and Europe and the Americas. With the discovery of these trade routes many land routes especially those across Sahara became useless. Timbuktu, one such flourishing city totally lost its importance with the discovery of the sea routes.

With passage of time industrial activities gradually replaced agricultural or primary sector activities as the main source of revenue in developed countries.

With the emergence of industries and formation of new settlements around them, there began a steady but gradual movement of people from rural to these industrial centers. Opportunities increased with the setting up of vertical as well as horizontal economies of scale. With new production processes aided by the discovery of new trade routes the Europeans not only set up new economic centers within their countries but also in far off Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Quito in Ecuador, Salvador in Brazil, Lima in Peru, Bogota in Colombia, Santa Domingo in Dominican Republic, and Guadalajara in Mexico are South American cities having a colonial past. Similarly Mumbai in India, Guangzhou in China, Lahore in Pakistan, Colombo in Sri Lanka, and Sumatra in Indonesia were colonial cities.

Renaissance in Europe led to the emergence of Florence and Naples in Italy, Calais and Versailles in France, and Vienna in Austria. With the growth of imperialism the cities of London, Paris, Lisbon, Rotterdam, and Madrid grew in importance. The Russian Tsar was instrumental in setting up St. Petersburg as the capital of Russia.

After the Second World War and the emergence of USA as a super power the cities of New York, Los Angeles, and Houston in US, Paris in France, Berlin in Germany, Geneva in Switzerland, Tokyo in Japan, Melbourne in Australia, and Singapore have become important centers of politics, commerce, and culture.