A settlement which reached a population of 8,000 or more was likely to dominate a large hinterland, precluding the growth of similar-size settlements nearby. It thus had no competition in attracting immigrants and visitors, and temporal limitations to knowing could play their part. London, in the twelfth century, for example, had an estimated population of between 20,000 and 35,000 (Comhaire and Cahnman, 1962), by today's jaundiced standards a mere village-hardly worth going out of one's way to see. But to a visitor of the period, it appeared quite a metropolis indeed and well worth the time and trouble it took to get there (Holmes, 1966).

XREF: Relates to central place theory and urban hierarchy geography concepts.

XREF: Connects to historical urban geography and central place theory; the 8,000-threshold idea parallels settlement hierarchy research.

Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order a…, loc. 81