# Largest City Founded in the 20th Century **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646 "2008-08-20T06:08:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KRSOradio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/0ea827/32.png) [@KRSOradio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRSOradio)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/1 "2008-08-20T06:08:32Z")
I see online where it says Las Vegas is the largest city founded in the 20th Century, but is this the largest city for the WORLD or for America only? I will assume they mean metro area as opposed to city limits population ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/2 "2008-08-20T06:19:19Z")
Brasilia has a larger population than Las Vegas. I wouldn’t know if it’s the largest city founded during the 20th century, though. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/3 "2008-08-20T06:23:19Z")
Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to April 21, 1960, when it was officially inaugurated.It has a population of about 2,455,903 as of the 2007 IBGE census, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil. [Brasília - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasilia) ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/4 "2008-08-20T06:29:59Z")
According to Wiki, [Tel-Aviv, Israel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv) (est. 1909) has a metro population of over 3 million, surpassing Brazilia and Las Vegas. Some (although not much) of the TA metro area (basically, Jaffa and a few other old neighborhoods) existed before 1909, however. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/5 "2008-08-20T06:39:30Z")
There has got to be a city in China that beats them all. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/6 "2008-08-20T09:52:20Z")
Riyadh had existed prior to the 20th century but it was only a small town until it was named as the capital of Saudi Arabia in 1932. It now has a population of about 4.5 million. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/7 "2008-08-20T10:51:05Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Riyadh had existed prior to the 20th century but it was only a small town until it was named as the capital of Saudi Arabia in 1932. [/QUOTE] Why? Was Mecca too sacred to be fouled with mere politics? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/8 "2008-08-20T11:02:13Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] Why? Was Mecca too sacred to be fouled with mere politics? [/QUOTE] What does that mean? Jerusalem has been fouled by politics FOREVER or were you trying to draw attention to Mormonland/State? AHHHHHHHH edit point. My question is WHY should Mecca be a capital when Jerusalem isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/9 "2008-08-20T11:05:17Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] Why? Was Mecca too sacred to be fouled with mere politics? [/QUOTE] Home of the House of Saud. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/10 "2008-08-20T11:22:04Z")
[QUOTE=calm kiwi] AHHHHHHHH edit point. My question is WHY should Mecca be a capital when Jerusalem isn’t? [/QUOTE] I suspect your question is the opposite? “WHY should Mecca **not** be a capital when Jerusalem **is** [del]n’t[/del]?” ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/11 "2008-08-20T12:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] There has got to be a city in China that beats them all. [/QUOTE] That would be [Shenzhen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen), population 12 million — although according to Wikipedia a small fishing town, population 70-80k, existed on the site before it was declared a “special economic zone” in the late '70s. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/12 "2008-08-20T13:57:18Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] Why? Was Mecca too sacred to be fouled with mere politics? [/QUOTE] It could be quite difficult to receive international visitors and delegations, and host embassies and consulates, when infidels aren’t allowed in the city limits. Jerusalem allows people of any religion to visit. The same isn’t true of Mecca. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/13 "2008-08-20T14:31:23Z")
[QUOTE=MikeS] That would be [Shenzhen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen), population 12 million — although according to Wikipedia a small fishing town, population 70-80k, existed on the site before it was declared a “special economic zone” in the late '70s. [/QUOTE] Only in China would a city of 80,000 people be refered to as “a small fishing town.” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/14 "2008-08-20T14:52:35Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Home of the House of Saud. [/QUOTE] Right. Riyadh had been the capital of the Sauds since 1823 (although it had been owned by the al Rashads from 1865-1902. The Saudis didn’t control Mecca until 1924. (It had been controlled by the Hashemites before that) ---
**Author:** ![KRSOradio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/0ea827/32.png) [@KRSOradio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRSOradio)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/15 "2008-08-20T16:07:21Z")
I guess Shenzhen would technically win though it appears from quick Googling that the population was there long before they organized into a city. It’s really a suburb of Hong Kong I also wouldn’t count Tel Aviv because a large portion of it is Jaffa, established well before 1900 It’s like Thunder Bay in Canada was founded in the 1970 but it is made up of Port Arthur and Fort William both which were founded in the 1800s. So technically Thunder Bay was founded in 1970 but you can see it’s not really correct. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/16 "2008-08-20T16:56:38Z")
What about Dubai? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/17 "2008-08-20T19:00:10Z")
> [@](#): > > What about Dubai? I thought of the same possibility and checked. Dubai City has been a trading port between the Gulf Region and India for a few hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/18 "2008-08-20T22:27:34Z")
[QUOTE=calm kiwi] What does that mean? Jerusalem has been fouled by politics FOREVER or were you trying to draw attention to Mormonland/State? [/QUOTE] Mormonland? What? ---
**Author:** ![ntcrawler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/34f0e0/32.png) [@ntcrawler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ntcrawler)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/19 "2008-08-21T02:58:50Z")
what about Palo Alto, California or one of the other towns in Silicon Valley? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-founded-in-the-20th-century/460646/20 "2008-08-21T03:25:51Z")
[QUOTE=ntcrawler] what about Palo Alto, California or one of the other towns in Silicon Valley? [/QUOTE] The largest community in the area, [San Jose](http://www.city-data.com/city/San-Jose-California.html), still is under a million residents in population, and was in existence prior to the 20th century. Likewise for Palo Alto (which [isn’t particularly large, for that matter](http://www.city-data.com/city/Palo-Alto-California.html)