Short answers, pulled from the story.
The earliest geographical evidence of a human settlement dates back 300,000 years to Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. This site provides the oldest known physical proof that groups of people began clustering together long before the invention of agriculture or the construction of permanent dwellings.
Jarmo in Iraq stands as the oldest known village to emerge from the agricultural revolution. This settlement demonstrates how the invention of agriculture made human settlements permanent and expansive.
There were 33 megacities defined as populations over 10 million in 2025. Tokyo is the largest settlement in the world and houses 37 million people in its metropolitan area.
The United States Geological Survey defines three classes of human settlement as populated places, census areas, and civil divisions. A populated place is a geographic area with clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent human population, often lacking legal boundaries.
A town may become a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, due to government actions like building a dam, or because of natural or human-caused disasters. Kolmanskop in Namibia is an example of such a place where abandoned buildings stand as silent testaments to the rise and fall of human endeavor.