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793 – Famed Nordic looters and plunderers the Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England. 1783 – Iceland volcano Laki begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and causes a seven-year famine. 1887 – American businessman Herman Hollerith applies for US…

The defining historical change of the last two centuries has been urbanisation. In 2000, 47% of the world’s population lived in an urban settlement of 5,000 or more. What percentage did so in the year 1800?