List of largest gatherings in history

This is a list of the largest historic gatherings of people for a single event.

Greater than fifty million people

* In January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims from around the world gathered at Allahabad (also known as Hindu holy city of Prayaga) in India for the Ardh Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious festival and also the world's largest gathering. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/15/AR2007011500041.html]

Greater than twenty-five million people

* On April 5th 2004, Around 30 million Hindu pilgrims from all over the world travelled to Hindu holy city of Ujjain in India for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela. [http://www.sandipani.org/news/newsdetail.asp?newsid=169]

Greater than ten million people

* In 1969 the funeral of C. N. Annadurai, a former Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was attended by an estimated crowd of 15 million people. [Guinness Book Records, 1986 UK edition, "Religions, accidents and disasters", p.219. Largest funeral : The funeral of the charismatic CN Annadurai (died 3 February 1969), Madras chief minister, was, according to a police estimate, attended by 15 million people.]
* On August 18, 1966, there was a mass gathering of Red Guards at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The Gathering was estimated to be about 1 million people. [Elizabeth J. Perry & Xun Li. 1997. Proletarian Power: Shanghai in the Cultural Revolution. Westview Press. Page 9.] From August to the end of November there were an additional seven such rallies, totaling 11 million people. [D. Ray Heisey. 2000. Chinese Perspectives in Rhetoric and Communication. Greenwood Publishing Group. Page 211.]

Greater than two million people

* In 2008, 9 million Shia pilgrims visited the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq, in the anniversary of Arba'een. 80 thousand of which were non-Iraqi ; mostly Iranians. [http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/02/28/46253.html]
* On 14 January 2007, 5 million Hindu pilgrims paid homage at Sabarimala shrine in Kerala, India. [http://www.ibnlive.com/news/sabarimala-50-lakh-pay-homage/top/31139-3.html]
* 4 million people attended the closing Mass of Catholic World Youth Day 1995 in Manila, Philippines. [Guinness Book of World Records - Largest Papal Crowd]
* From two to nine million Iranians gathered at the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran on June 3, 1989. [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Germany-to-Jamaica/Iranians.html] [http://www.transnational.org/Resources_Treasures/2007/Jahanpour_Yeltsin.html] [http://januarymagazine.com/artcult/waytogo.html] [http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Ruhollah_Khomeini_-_Death_and_funeral/id/4821752] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2637256/khomeinibiography]
* Two to four million people are reported to have attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome on 7 April 2005. [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/08/pope.funeral/index.html] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4428149.stm]
* The 5 February, 1975 funeral of Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum in Cairo drew a crowd in excess of 4 million. Fact|date=February 2007
* The crowd at the funeral of Egyptian President Nasser in Cairo on 1 October, 1970 was estimated at 4 million.
* The Bishwa Ijtema, an annual Tablighi Jamaat Islamic movement congregation held at Tongi, Bangladesh in 2007 had attendees of about 3 million. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/04/asia/AS-REL-Bangladesh-Islamic-Assembly.php Three million Muslims join mass prayer in Bangladesh seeking peace] ; The Associated Press Published: February 3, 2007]
* The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey, London on 6 September, 1997, drew an estimated 3 million mourners.Fact|date=February 2007
* An estimated 3 million people attended the New Life Korea conference hosted by Campus Crusade for Christ International in 1980, with Billy Graham as final day speaker.
* Almost 3 million people attended the annual Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila on January 2008. [ [http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=104924 Abs-Cbn Interactive, Crowd swells to 80,000 n Quiapo - police] ] [ [http://www.gmanews.tv/video/16524/QTV-Thousands-flock-to-Quiapo-for-Black-Nazarene-feast Gma News, QTV: Thousands flock to Quiapo for Black Nazarene feast - 01/09/2008] ] [ [http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080110-111438/26M-devotees-at-Nazarene-feast-2-die-50-injured Inquirer.net, 2.6M devotees at Nazarene feast; 2 die, 50 injured] ]
* 2,7 million people attended the closing Mass of Catholic World Youth Day 2000 in Rome. ["Avvenire", Tuesday August 22nd, 2000, pag. 3.]
* An estimated 2.56 million pilgrims made the annual Hajj to Mecca in January, 2005. [ [http://www.saudiembassy.net/2005News/News/HajDetail.asp?cIndex=4981 Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia - Washington DC] ]
* An estimated 2.5 million people from 144 countries are claimed to have participated in Silver jubilee celebrations of the Art of Living founded by Hindu spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bangalore, India on 17 February 2006 – 19 February 2006. [http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=132&page=30]
* Benny Hinn [http://www.bennyhinn.org/default.cfm] has had several crusades where more than 2 million gathered.Fact|date=November 2007
* On June 1, 1885, between 2 and 3 million people gathered to attend the funeral of Victor Hugo in Paris.
*An estimated 3.5 million people gather in the largest gay pride celebration in the world in São Paulo, Brazil. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/05/29/brazil.gaypride.ap/index.html]
* On January 1948, over 2 million people gathered to attend the funeral of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
* On March 23, 2002, an estimated 2 million people gathered in Rome, Italy to rally in defense of workers rights. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/24/witaly24.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/03/24/ixworld.html 2 m workers march through Rome in anti-terror protest] ] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/mar/27/philipwillan Italian unions call first general strike for 20 years] ] The organizers announced that 3 million people took part in the rally. [ [http://www.manipulite.it/speciale_23marzo.htm Dal corteo il servizio d'ordine annuncia: "Siamo tre milioni" (Italian)] ] [http://www.liguria.cgil.it/Fotografie/23marzo2002/corteo.jpg]

One million people or greater

* On 4 February 2008, between 1 million [El Tiempo, "Millones marcharon contra las FARC" [http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/2008-02-03/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3943495.html] ] and 2 million [Houston Chronicle, "Multitudinarias marchas anti FARC en Colombia" [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/spanish/5511856.html] ] Colombians gathered in Bogotá to protest against FARC.
* On August 25 2007, over 1 million revellers attended Love Parade in Essen, Germany. [cite news|publisher=The Associated Press|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/25/AR2007082501474.html|date=August 25, 2007|accessdate=2008-04-24|title=Love Parade Debuts in Germany's Ruhr]
* On February 23, 1997, 1.5 million Hindu women gathered at the Attukal Temple for what was until then, the largest gathering of women in history, [India Today, March, 19, 2007. "Holy Cooking" [http://archives.digitaltoday.in/indiatoday/20070319/offtrack.html] ] and earned the temple a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records ( [http://www.attukal.org/certificate.htm certificate pictured here] ). They brought cooking pots with which they prepared food as an offering to please a goddess.

* In February, 2006, 1.5 million Hindu pilgrims in Malaysia gathered for the Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves.Fact|date=April 2008
* On 14 April 2007, 300 thousand to 1.5 million Turkish people gathered in Ankara to protect Secularism and to protest the government for their Islamic roots. [citeweb|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/6335051.asp?gid=180|title=%65’in yüzbinleri|publisher=Hürriyet|language=Turkish|accessdate=2007-04-15] [Turkish Daily News, April, 16 2007. "April 14, a landmark" [http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70768] ]
* On 29 April 2007, Over 1 million Turkish people gathered in Istanbul to protect Secularism and to protest the government for their Islamic roots. [Al JaZeera, April, 29, 2007. "Secularists demonstrate in Turkey" [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/066C4C0F-27BB-47D7-B2C3-EBDA7617FA6D.htm] ] [Reuters, April 29, 2007. "One million Turks rally against government" [http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2910950920070429?sp=true] ]
* On 13 May 2007, Over 1 million Turkish people gathered in Izmir to protect Secularism and to protest the government for their Islamic roots. [BBC News, May, 17, 2007. "Turkish secularists in new rally" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6651461.stm] ]
* On 13 March 2006, an estimated 1 million Hindu women pilgrims in world's biggest all-woman religious congregations, turned up to Attukal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state in India.Fact|date=April 2008
* On 22 April 1990, 750 thousand to 1.5 million people gathered in Central Park in New York City to celebrate Earth Day. [NY Times, April 23, 1990. "EARTH DAY 1990; Music and, Oh Yes, Earth Day in Park" [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DD1330F930A15757C0A966958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink] ] [NY Times, April 29, 1990. " Central Park, Bent but Not Broken, Comes Through Earth Day" [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD61F38F93AA15757C0A966958260] ]
* On 8 October 1970 an estimated 1 million people participated in what is considered the largest procession in the history of New Delhi, India, in commemoration of Hans Ji Maharaj, lead by his son Maharaji (now Prem Rawat), who was 12 years old at the time. [ Navbharat Times, 10 November 1970 (from Hindi original) "A three-day event in commemoration of Sri Hans Ji Maharaj, the largest procession in Delhi history of 18 miles of procession; it culminated in a public event at India Gate, where Sant Ji Maharaj addressed the large gathering"] [Hindustan Times, 9 November 1970 (English) "Roads in the Capital spilled over with a 1,000,000 processionists, men, women and children marched from Indra Prasha Estate to the India Gate lawn."]
* The Reverend Billy Graham preached to a live audience of an estimated 1,000,000 people in South Korea during his Korea Crusade in 1973.

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