List of countries by population in 1500

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1000	1500	1600

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This is a list of countries by population in 1500. Estimate numbers are from the beginning of the year, and exact population figures are for countries that held a census on various dates in that year. The bulk of these numbers are sourced from Alexander V. Avakov's Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Volume 1, pages 12 to 14, which cover population figures from the year 1500 divided into modern borders. Avakov, in turn, cites a variety of sources, mostly Angus Maddison. ^[1]

List

1. Ming China (23.5%)
2. Delhi Sultanate (12.6%)
3. Holy Roman Empire (5.3%)
4. Vijayanagara Empire (4.1%)
5. Kingdom of France (3.7%)
6. Ottoman Empire (2.8%)
7. Inca Empire (4.6%)
8. Bengal Sultanate (2.4%)
9. Ashikaga Japan (2.2%)
10. Joseon (2.1%)
11. Spanish Empire (2%)

Rank	Country/Territory	Population c. 1500 estimate	Percentage of world population
–	World [2]	438,000,000	–
1	Ming China [3] [4] Subdivisions Liaodong Regional Military Commission – ? Dokham Regional Military Commission – ? Hami Prefecture – ? Sichuan Province Tusi – ? Guizhou Province Tusi – ? Guangxi Province Tusi – ? Yunnan Province Tusi – ? Chinese Shan States – ?	60,000,000–103,000,000	23.5%
2	Delhi Sultanate Lodi dynasty	~55,000,000	~12.6%
3	Holy Roman Empire [5] Subdivisions Habsburg Netherlands – 2,400,000+ [6] Bohemian Crown – 2,160,000 Archduchy of Austria and related territories – 2,000,000 Duchy of Milan – 1,250,000 Savoy – ? Republic of Florence – 750,000 Republic of the Swiss [7] – 745,000 Duchy of Bavaria – ~400,000 [8] Duchy of Württemberg – ~350,000 [9] Margraviate of Brandenburg – ~300,000 [10] Saxony – ? Margraviate of Baden – ? Thuringian states – ? Duchy of Carniola – 208,000 [11] Landgraviate of Hesse – ? Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – ? County of Nassau – ? Bishopric of Würzburg – ? County of Oldenburg – ? Duchy of Luxemburg – ? Vogtland – ? Principality of Lippe – ? Mecklenburg – ? Anhalt-Dessau – ? Prince-Bishopric of Münster – ? Anhalt-Dessau – ? Anhalt-Köthen – ? County of Schaumburg – ? Liechtenstein – ? Archbishopric of Salzburg- ? Principality of Calenberg – ? Electorate of Mainz – ? Electorate of Trier – ? Electorate of Cologne – ? Electoral Palatinate – ? Duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg – ? Saxe-Lauenburg – ? Archbishopric of Magdeburg – ? Hamburg – ? Lübeck – ? Schleswig – ? Holstein – ? Bishopric of Lübeck – ? Bishopric of Trent – ? East Frisia – ? Duchy of Pomerania – ? Episcopal principality of Utrecht – ? Principality of Ansbach – ? Mixed Imperial City of Augsburg – ? Duchy of Cleves – ? Guelders – ? Prince-Bishopric of Liège – ?	23,000,000+	5.3%
4	Vijayanagara Empire [12]	18,000,000 [13]	4.1%
5	France and possessions Subdivisions Kingdom of France [14] – 15,000,000 Duchy of Milan [14] – 1,250,000 Andorra – ?	16,250,000	3.7%
6	Ottoman Empire [15] [16] Subdivisions Anatolia and East Thrace – 6,300,000 Serbia – 990,000 Bulgaria – 800,000 Bosnia Eyalet – 367,000 Albania – 200,000 Vassal states Principality of Wallachia – 350,000 [17] Crimean Khanate - 2,740,000	12,640,000	2.8%
7	Inca Empire [18] [19]	12-32,000,000	−4.6%
8	Bengal Sultanate [20]	10,526,000	2.4%
9	Ashikaga Japan [21]	9,800,000	2.2%
10	Joseon [22]	9,100,000-9,700,000 9,412,000	2.1%
11	Spain and possessions Subdivisions Crown of Castile [23] – 7,000,000 Crown of Aragon [14] - 950,000 Kingdom of Sicily [7] – 600,000 Andorra – ? Santo Domingo – 139,000 [24]	8,900,000	2.0%
12	Polish–Lithuanian Union [25] Subdivisions Kingdom of Poland [26] – 3,900,000 Grand Duchy of Lithuania – ? State of the Teutonic Order – ?	7,500,000	1.7%
13	Grand Duchy of Moscow [27]	6,000,000	1.4%
14	Aztec Empire [19]	6,000,000	1.4%
15	Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt [28] [20] Subdivisions Mamluk Egypt – 4,000,000 Syria – 1,206,000 Palestine – 366,000 Lebanon – 299,000 Jordan – 196,000 Hejaz – ? Libya – ?	5,867,000	1.3%
16	Lê dynasty (Đại Việt) [29]	5,625,400	1.3%
17	Aq Qoyunlu Iran [30]	~4,000,000	0.9%
18	Majapahit Empire [31] [a]	Less than 4,000,000	0.9%
19	Union of Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia [32] [33] | Kingdom of Hungary | Kingdom of Croatia, without medieval Slavonia	3,000,000 [34] [ failed verification ] 500,000 [35]	0.9%*
20	Morocco Wattasid dynasty	3,500,000	0.8%
21	Portugal and possessions Subdivisions Kingdom of Portugal – 3,000,000 Ceuta – ? Ksar es-Seghir – ? Asilah – ? El Jadida – ? Portuguese Tangier – ? Ouadane – ? Safi – ? Graciosa fortress – ? Arguin – ? Portuguese Cape Verde – ? São Tomé Island – ? Príncipe – ? Annobón – ? Bioko – ? Elmina – ? Portuguese Gold Coast – ? Lakshadweep – ? Madeira – ? Azores – ?	3,000,000+	0.7%+
22	Northern Yuan [36]	~2,760,000	0.6%
23	England and possessions Subdivisions Kingdom of England [7] – 2,100,000 Lordship of Ireland [37] [38] – 250,000 [b] Wales [7] – 400,000 Pale of Calais – ?	2,750,000	0.6%
24	Champa [39]	2,500,000 [c]	0.6%
25	Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam) [20]	2,000,000	0.5%
26	Muisca Confederation [40]	2,000,000	0.5%
27	Papal States [14]	2,000,000	0.5%
28	Ethiopian Empire [20]	1,870,000	0.4%
29	Kalmar Union [22] Subdivisions Kingdom of Denmark – 600,000 Kingdom of Sweden – 550,000 Kingdom of Norway [7] – 240,000 Finland – 300,000 Iceland- ? Greenland – ?	1,690,000	0.4%
30	Republic of Venice [14] Subdivisions Venetian Italy – ? Venetian Dalmatia – ? Istria – ? Venetian Albania – ? Tinos – ? Kingdom of Candia – ? Duchy of the Archipelago Ionian Islands under Venetian rule – ? Venetian Cyprus – ?	1,500,000	0.3%
31	Kingdom of Tlemcen	1,500,000	0.3%
32	Cambodia [20]	1,224,000	0.3%
33	Hafsid dynasty	800,000	0.2%
34	Republic of Florence [14]	750,000	0.2%
35	Kingdom of Scotland [41]	500,000	0.1%
36	Lan Xang [42]	400,000	0.1%
37	Principality of Moldavia [17]	400,000	0.1%
38	Malacca Sultanate [12] [d]	135,000	0.03%
39	Nan Madol (Saudeleur dynasty)	25,000 [43]	0.004%

See also

• List of countries by population
• List of sovereign states in 1500
• List of countries by population in 1600
• List of countries by population in 1700

Notes

1. Combined 17th-century population of Bali (600,000), half of Java (2,000,000), half of Borneo (200,000), one-third of Sumatra (223,000), and half of the Lesser Sunda Islands (300,000), plus several other minor islands and exclaves.
2. Only about 1/3 of Ireland was under the English Crown in 1500 (through direct control by the crown, such as The Pale, or through the Anglo-Irish Lords).
3. At its height
4. Population was estimated to be between 65,000 – 200,000.

References

1. "The World Economy: Historical Statistics". www.oecd-ilibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
2. Angus Maddison, 2003, The World Economy: Historical Statistics, Vol. 2, OECD, Paris. (2008, ggdc.net)
3. Edwin Oldfather Reischauer, John King Fairbank, Albert M. Craig (1960) A history of East Asian civilization, Volume 1. East Asia: The Great Tradition, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Gives a differing figure of 125 million, compared to Avakov's 103 million.
4. Yi, Zhongtian (November 2007). The End of the Empire. Fudan University Press. p. 254.
5. The combined population of Germany (12m), Austria (2m), Czechia (2.16m), Belgium (1.4m), the Netherlands (0.95m), Switzerland (0.65m), Slovenia (0.208m), and a third of Italy (3.5m); does not include the Empire's various now-French territories such as Franche-Comté (6,300 square miles, ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy), the départements of Nord and Pas-de-Calais (4,800 square miles together, part of the Habsburg Netherlands), Alsace (3,200 square miles), the County of Nice (1,500 square miles, ruled by the Savoyards), or core Savoy itself (4,000 square miles, ruled by the Savoyards). Avakov, p. 12-13.
6. Belgium (1,400,000) plus the Netherlands (950,000) plus Luxembourg, not counting the bits of modern France and Germany that were then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. Avakov, p. 12-13.
7. Grigg, D. B. (1980). Population Growth and Agrarian Change: An Historical Perspective . CUP Archive. p.  55 . Retrieved 19 July 2016. population sicily 1500.
8. Smith, p. 17: population is given as 434,000 in the mid-16th century and 468,000 in the late 16th century.
9. Marcus, Kenneth H. (2000). Politics of Power: Elites of an Early Modern State in Germany. Page 8.
10. Preserved Smith. The Social Background of the Reformation. 1920. Page 17. Population is given as 300–400,000 in 1535.
11. Roughly the modern borders of Slovenia.
12. Globalising Migration History: The Eurasian Experience (16th–21st Centuries). BRILL. 27 March 2014. p. 101. ISBN   9789004271364 . Retrieved 28 July 2016.
13. Morrison and Sinopoli, Kathleen and Carla (February 1992). "Economic Diversity and Integration in a Pre-Colonial Indian Empire" . World Archaeology. 23 (3): 335–352. doi:10.1080/00438243.1992.9980184. JSTOR   124767 . Retrieved 17 June 2023.
14. Jones, J. A. P. (1997). Europe, 1500–1600. Nelson Thornes. ISBN   9780174350644 . Retrieved 19 July 2016.
15. Behar, Cem, ed. 1996. Osmanlı Đmparatorluğu'nun ve Türkiye'nin nüfusu, 1500–1927. Ankara: T.C. Basbakanlık Devlet Đstatistik Enstitüsü = State Institute of Statistics Prime Ministry Republic of Turkey.
16. "religiya-karaimov" (PDF).
17. Murgescu, Bogdan (14 June 2016). Romania si Europa. Polirom. pp. 75–76. ISBN   9789734620418.
18. "Inca Population Estimates". 29 November 2012.
19. ""La catastrophe démographique" (The Demographical Catastrophe"), L'Histoire n°322, July–August 2007, p. 17".
20. Avakov, Alexander V. (April 2015). Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Volume 1. Algora. ISBN   9781628941012 . Retrieved 4 May 2016.
21. (a) Jean-Noël Biraben, "The History of the Human Population From the First Beginnings to the Present" in "Demography: Analysis and Synthesis: A Treatise in Population" (Eds: Graziella Caselli, Jacques Vallin, Guillaume J. Wunsch) Vol 3, Chapter 66, pp 5–18, Academic Press, San Diego (2005). (b) Jean-Noël Biraben, "An Essay Concerning Mankind's Evolution", Population, Selected Papers, Vol. 4, pp. 1–13 (1980). (c) Jean-Noël Biraben, "Essai sur l'évolution du nombre des hommes", Population Vol. 34 (no. 1), pp. 13–25 (1979).
22. "Appendix B Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820" (PDF). 27 July 2016.
23. "Castile, Aragon, Granada, and Portugal 1400–1517" . Retrieved 19 July 2016.
24. Haiti (124,000) and the Dominican Republic (15,000). ALmost all of these were Taino natives who died off en masse in the following decades.
25. Norman John Greville Pounds (1979). An Historical Geography of Europe, 1500–1840 . Cambridge University Press. p.  104. ISBN   9780521223799 . Retrieved 10 August 2016. population austria 1500.
26. Samsonowicz, Henryk (1997). "Probe einer demograpischen Einschätzung Polen um das Jahr 1500". Studia Historiae Oeconomicae (in German). 22: 16–24.
27. Avakov, p.12; the figure is 8.183 million for all of modern European Russia, including the steppe and Caucasian polities that were not under the Grand Duchy of Moscow's control. Natalia Gorskaya (1994) in "Историческая демография России эпохи феодализма: итоги и проблемы изучения" (in Russian), p. 93-96, gives the Grand Duchy a population of 5.8 million in 1500.
28. Borsch, Stuart J. (15 September 2009). The Black Death in Egypt and England: A Comparative Study. University of Texas Press. ISBN   9780292783171.
29. Li 1998, p. 171.
30. Maddison, Angus. "Population 1500" (PDF).
31. Reid, Anthony (1988). SEA in the Age of Commerce vol. 1. Yale University Press. p. 14.
32. "Tacitus: Historical Atlas" . Retrieved 25 July 2016.
33. Miller, Jaroslav (11 February 2016). Urban Societies in East-Central Europe, 1500–1700. Routledge. ISBN   9781317003403 . Retrieved 25 July 2016.
34. "És ha mégis tudtak számolni? Avagy: hány katona kell az ország védelmére?".
35. "Prof. Akrap: Stanovništvo RH - prošlost, sadašnjost, budućnost". 20 September 2011.
36. Chuluun, S. (2014). Mongols: XYII-early XX centuries.
37. Connolly, S. J. (30 July 2009). Contested Island: Ireland 1460–1630. Oxford University Press. p. 404. ISBN   9780199563715.
38. "Map of Control of Ireland in 1500".
39. Proctor, Ann R. (2018), Buddhist Art of 9th Century Campa: Đồng Dương, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 140
40. Juan Friede (1966). Invasión del país de los chibchas. Santa Fe de Bogotá: Ediciones Tercer Mundo, pp. 19, in Spanish
41. Houston, R.A. & White, I. D. (Cambridge University Press) (1989). "Scottish Society: 1500–1800". Library of Congress .
42. "Data on Laos | Reconstructing Global Inequality". clio-infra.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
43. "Nan Madol (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.

Sources

• Li, Tana (1998). Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Cornell University Press. ISBN   9781501732577.
• Kurt Witthauer. Bevölkerung der Erde (1958)
• Calendario Atlante de Agostini, anno 99 (2003)
• The Columbia Gazetteer of the World (1998)
• Britannica Book of the Year: World Data (1997)