NYPL
Before Tokyo matured into the gleaming, dense city it is today, it was a small fishing village called Edo.
Now home to over 13 million people, the Japanese capital has changed dramatically since its beginnings in the 12th century.
These maps, woodcuts, and old-time photographs show the journey of Tokyo from small village to today.
Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means “estuary.” In the late 12th century, Edo was fortified by the Edo clan, which built a castle and military capital (pictured below). Some of the estate’s moats and walls still survive to this day.
Wikipedia Commons
Source: National Geographic and Open Buildings
By the 1630s, Edo had a population of 150,000.
Wikipedia Commons
Source: Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology
And over the next century, the small fishing village grew into the largest metropolis in the world, with a million residents by 1721.
NYPL
Source: Urban Networks in Ch’ing China and Tokugawa Japan
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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SEE ALSO: Amazing images of New York City before it was a city
