Nairobi, the capital of KENYA, is the largest city in eastern Africa south of CAIRO, Egypt. British colonists founded Nairobi in 1899 as a camp for laborers who were building the railroad from the coastal city of Mombasa to Lake Victoria. A railway yard and depot were established, and the camp grew rapidly into a town. In 1905 the […]

Mogadishu, the capital of SOMALIA, is the nation's largest city and major seaport. During the long civil war that ravaged Somalia in the 1980s and 1990s, large parts of the city were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants fled to other towns and to the countryside. Mogadishu was founded in the A.D. 900s as a Swahili and […]

Located on the Nile River about 120 miles north of present-day KHARTOUM, the royal city of Meroe was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kush. The kingdom arose in the region known as NUBIA (in what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan) about 750 B.C. and flourished until the A.D. 300s. Although strongly influenced by Egypt, the Kushites […]

Lusaka, the capital of ZAMBIA, is a sprawling city of about 1.5 million people located in an agricultural region. A financial and commercial center, the city lies at the junction of major rail lines heading to the Copper Belt, the city of Livingstone, and TANZANIA. Lusaka became the capital of the British colony of Northern Rhodesia in 1935. The […]

Lagos is the chief port and former capital city of NIGERIA. Founded by the YORUBA people in the 1400s, Lagos developed into a large regional trading post. By the 1790s it had become a major center of the Atlantic SLAVE TRADE. The British navy bombarded Lagos in 1851, and ten years later Britain gained control over the city through […]

Located on the CONGO RIVER, Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of CONGO. Stone tools found in the area indicate that the site has been inhabited since the 7000s B.C. When the explorer Henry Morton STANLEY arrived in the region in the 1880s, Kinshasa was a small fishing village. Stanley signed a treaty with […]

Khartoum is the capital and political and industrial center of SUDAN. Its strategic location at the meeting point of two rivers, the Blue Nile and White Nile, made it a much-contested prize. In 1821 northern Sudan was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. They established an outpost at nearby Omdurman, and set up a military camp at Khartoum. Three years later […]

Johannesburg is the largest city in SOUTH AFRICA. It was renamed Greater Johannesburg in 1994, when its boundaries were extended to include surrounding suburbs. With a population of more than 5 million people, Greater Johannesburg is growing faster than any other major city in Africa. Geography and Peoples Greater Johannesburg is located inland on the Highveld, South Africa's broad central […]

Ibadan, the second largest city in NIGERIA, is located on a group of seven hills in the southwestern part of the country. The city began as a military camp about 1829, and it grew into the most powerful town of the YORUBA people. Unlike other Yoruba settlements, Ibadan had an open society where advancement depended on talent rather than […]

Harare is the capital and largest city in ZIMBABWE. Founded in 1890 by British colonists, it was originally called Salisbury. After independence in 1980, the city was renamed Harare for Neharare, an important local chieftain who had lived in the area. Situated in a highland region at an elevation of 4,865 feet, Harare has a mild climate. It is […]

Founded in 1787 as a colony for freed slaves, Freetown is the capital of SIERRA LEONE. It is also the country's chief port and largest city, with a population of about 500,000. Freetown's founders were British abolitionists, merchants, and bankers. They believed that the SLAVE TRADE could be replaced by other types of commerce and that Christianity could help repair […]

Dar es Salaam (which means “haven of peace” in Arabic) is the capital and largest city in TANZANIA. In the late 1990s, its population was about 1.5 million. Arabs from Southern Arabia first established fishing villages in the area during the A.D. 1600s, but the city did not really grow until Sultan Sayyid Majid of ZANZIBAR built a palace […]

Dakar, the capital and largest city in SENEGAL, is one of the most important ports of West Africa. The Portuguese landed near the site of modern Dakar in 1444, and several European powers fought over the region until the French gained control in the mid-1600s. The area was originally valued as a source for slaves. After the banning of […]

Conakry, capital of GUINEA, lies at the tip of the Kaloum Peninsula on the western coast of Africa. The surrounding land is swampy, and its climate is tropical. During the rainy season, about 144 inches of rain fall in five months. About 1 million people live in the city. In the 1200s and 1300s, Conakry was part of the […]

he image of Africa as a continent of traditional villages and small towns has never been correct. Africa has always included both highly urban and rural settlements. However, its cities have grown dramatically in recent years, and some researchers who study population trends have predicted that by the early 2000s about half of all Africans will live in urban areas. […]

Located about 30 miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town is the oldest city in SOUTH AFRICA. With its many gardens, parks, beaches, historical buildings, and mountains, it is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Cape Town (known as Kaapstad in Afrikaans) was founded in 1652 as a supply station for Dutch […]

Cairo is the capital of EGYPT and the largest city in Africa. The city's strategic location on the NILE RIVER has made it a defensive stronghold for Egypt for nearly 1,500 years. In medieval times, Cairo was one of the busiest centers of trade and education in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Today the city remains a vibrant hub […]

The city of Brazzaville is the capital of the Republic of Congo and one of the country's main industrial centers. It sits on the west bank of the Malebo Pool at the beginning of the navigable portion of the Upper CONGO RIVER, a place known as “the gateway to the heart of Africa.” Founded by the French in 1883, […]

Located in the Bendel State of southern NIGERIA, Benin City is famous for the work of its numerous artisans. Despite its name, the city is not related to the nation of BENIN, which lies west of Nigeria. Around A.D. 1000 a center of regional importance arose on the site of the present Benin City. This early town, also known […]

Located on hills overlooking the Ikopa and Betsiboka Rivers, Antananarivo is the capital and largest city of MADAGASCAR. A king of the Merina people called Andrianjaka conquered the site in the early 1600s. Antananarivo, which means “city of a thousand,” was named for the guard of 1,000 men who defended it after Andrianjaka's conquest. By 1800 the Merina kingdoms established […]

Algiers, the capital of ALGERIA, is situated on a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Home to 3.7 million people, it is one of the major cities of North Africa. The various sections of the old city show the different cultures that have influenced Algiers: French-style districts of wide boulevards alternate with Arab sections such as the Casbah, a neighborhood of […]

Located on a spit of land near the NILE RIVER delta, Alexandria is the second largest city in EGYPT and the country's main port. It was founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great and quickly emerged as the leading city of the Mediterranean region. Renowned in the ancient world as a center of learning, Alexandria possessed the greatest […]

Addis Ababa, the capital and largest city in ETHIOPIA, is located on a high plateau in the center of the country. As home to the ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY, an organization devoted to the interests of African states, Addis Ababa is also the diplomatic capital of Africa. Addis Ababa was founded in 1886 by Empress Taitu, the wife of Ethiopian […]

Accra, the capital of GHANA, lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Gold Coast in West Africa. It is the commercial, educational, governmental, and cultural center of Ghana, the hub of the country's road and rail system, and the site of the Kotoka International Airport. The population is over 1.6 million. The Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit […]

With a population of about 2.8 million, Abidjan is the capital of IVORY COAST and one of the most important ports in French-speaking Africa. Situated along the edge of the Ebrie Lagoon on the Gulf of Guinea, its ocean port handles cargo for Ivory Coast, BURKINA FASO, MALI, and NIGER. Principal exports are cocoa, coffee, timber, and petroleum. Abidjan is […]

ZAGREB IS THE capital of CROATIA, and it is emerging as one of the leading cities of the regeneration of the Balkan Peninsula. Although it is one of Europe's oldest cities, it also is one of Europe's newest capital cities, since Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. With a population of nearly 900,000 people, Zagreb is much larger than any […]

Map Page 1131 Area .273 square mi (.44 square km) Population 911 (2003) Highest Point Vatican Gardens 252.6 ft (77 m) Lowest Point Saint Peter's Square 62.4 ft (19 m) GDP per capita not available Primary Natural Resources none. THE STATE OF VATICAN City is the world's smallest independent state. This tiny city situated on a […]

THE CAPITAL OF JAPAN, Tokyo is one of the world's largest, most densely populated, and most influential cities, with a population of more than 12 million (2003). The Tokyo Metropolis (Tokyo-to) has an area of 828 square mi (2,145 square km) and for administration purposes consists of 23 wards, 26 cities, 1 county, 4 island administrative units, and 15 towns and villages. […]

THE CAPITAL of modern IRAN, Tehran is one of the largest cities of the world with a metropolitan population of 15 million people. Located on the northernmost limit of the central Iranian plateau, the city is appropriately 3,750 ft (1,143 m) above sea level. To the northeast are the Iranian uplands and the snowcapped Mt. Demovend, legendary home to Zoroaster. The city's […]

TASHKENT (ALSO TOSHKENT) is the capital of the Central Asian republic of UZBEKISTAN, which gained its independence when the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. Located on the banks of the Chirchik River in the Kyzlkum desert and the foothills of the TIAN SHAN/Pamir mountains, Tashkent is an oasis with a population of about 2.3 million. It enjoys a continental desert climate […]

Area 430.4 square mi (692.7 square km) Population 5.470 million 2014 Capital Singapore Highest Point 545 ft (166 m) Lowest Point 0 m GDP $307.9 billion 2014 Primary Natural Resources rubber, copra, fruit, vegetables, orchids, poultry. THE REPUBLIC OF Singapore consists of a main island and a group of 58 islets. It is situated in Southeast Asia, […]

SHANGHAI IS CHINA's “second city,” and is a leader in the economic transformation of 21st-century China. Developed in the 19th century as imperial China's main outlet to the West, the city became one of the world's greatest marketplaces, as well as a sophisticated cultural center known as the Paris of the east. But it has also been labeled the New York […]

AS THE MODERN capital of South KOREA, Seoul has a varied and vibrant character that reflects an ancient heritage as well as rebuilding and urban development in the post-World War II period. It ranks as the fifthlargest city in the world and has a population of some 10.8 million. It is situated in the Han River basin near the coast in […]

SAO PAULO IS THE largest city in BRAZIL and serves as the capital of the state of Sao Paulo. With a metropolitan area population nearing 20 million at the start of the 21st century, Sao Paulo is the biggest city in South America and one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the world. The city is the industrial center of Brazil, […]

SAMARQAND (SAMARKAND), the second-largest city in UZBEKISTAN, is known as the mirror of the world, the garden of the soul, the jewel of ISLAM, the pearl of the East, the center of the universe, and the city of famous shadows. In the Zerafshan Valley, with high snowcapped mountains of the Pamir–Altai mountain spurs on the northeast, it is an oasis on […]

THE CITY OF SAINT Petersburg in RUSSIA is known throughout the world as one of the marvels of urban planning and magnificent architecture. As the capital of the Russian Empire from 1712 to 1918, the city was the staging ground for the dramatic events of Russian history, from Peter the Great's forced introduction of Western (modern) customs in the early 18th […]

PARIS IS NOT ONLY the capital city of FRANCE, it is also the largest city in the country. The census of 1999 showed that although the city itself, which covers 40.5 square mi (105 square km), is relatively demographically small by world standards, having a population of about 2.15 million, the greater Paris metropolitan (aire […]

“THE BIG APPLE,” covering 303 square mi (785 square km), is located at the southernmost point of New York State. It is bounded to the north by Westchester County, to the east by Nassau County, and to the west by the state of NEW JERSEY, across the HUDSON RIVER. The city is comprised of five […]

NEW DELHI, by current estimates, has a population of about 300,000 persons, although Greater Delhi's population is estimated to be between 12 and 14 million, making it the third-largest urban settlement in INDIA. Located at the western side of the Gangetic Plain in India, New Delhi is also located next to the city of Delhi, […]

BOMBAY, RENAMED Mumbai in 1995, is a city in western INDIA and the capital of the Indian state of Maharashta. With its three totally computerized stock exchanges that handle 70 percent of the country's stock transactions and manufacturing (particularly in textiles, which employs 11 percent of India's factory workers), Mumbai is the most important economic center […]

MOSCOW IS THE capital city of the Russian Federation, and although superseded as the official capital during the 18th and 19th centuries, it has dominated Russian politics, culture, and economics since the 14th century. Today, it is RUSSIA's largest city and one of the largest urban centers in Europe. Geographically, Moscow lies at the center […]

MEXICO CITY IS THE capital of the country of MEXICO. The city is located in the Valley of Mexico on the central Mexican plateau. The core of the city is comprised of the Federal District. However, the Mexico City metropolitan area goes well beyond the boundaries of the Federal District into the surrounding states. With […]

CONSIDERED TO BE the best harbor in the Far East, known as the “Pearl of the Orient,” Manila has been a commercial and cultural hub of the PHILIPPINES, and of Southeast Asia, for over four centuries. Ferdinand MAGELLAN claimed the island of LUZON for SPAIN in 1521, as a strategic point of access to the […]

WITH A POPULATION of 3,092,759 and crossed by the Manzanares River, Madrid is the capital and largest city in SPAIN. Located approximately at the center of the Iberian Peninsula, at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid has a dry continental climate, with hot summers and cool winters. After enduring conquest by the Moors […]

LUXOR IS LOCATED on the banks of the middle reaches of the NILE RIVER, in Qena governorate, eastcentral EGYPT. Approximately, 440 mi (700 km) south of Cairo, it is a bustling city with a population of about 150,000. As a modern city, it caters to tourists who are attracted to the famous archaeological sites that […]

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, is the second most populous city in the UNITED STATES with an estimated 2002 population of approximately 3.8 million. Los Angeles (also known as L.A.) is the principal city of a metropolitan region with a population of over 12 million. Located in the Los Angeles basin, the city is 470 square mi […]

LOCATED ON THE Thames River in southwestern England in the British Isles, London is the capital of England and the UNITED KINGDOM. The history of London can be traced back nearly 2,000 years to its founding as Londinium in 50 C.E. by the Romans. Much debate has occurred as to the exact type of Roman […]

WITH A metropolitan-area population of 2,682,687, Lisbon is the capital and largest city in PORTUGAL. It is located on the right bank of the Tagus River, where it forms a large estuary providing a natural safe harbor close to the ATLANTIC OCEAN. The city evolves over a series of hills and enjoys a Mediterranean climate, […]

CALCUTTA, RECENTLY renamed Kolkata after its original village site of Kolikata and an on-site temple of goddess Kali, was founded by Job Charnock in 1690 on behalf of the British East India Company. The same location in northwestern INDIA was also a Portuguese and Dutch encampment site during the mid-17th century. It is, however the […]

KHARTOUM IS THE capital city and administrative region of the Republic of the SUDAN, located at the confluence of the Blue and White NILE rivers. Khartoum is the second-largest city in North Africa, with an estimated population of 2.5 million in the city proper, and up to 7 million in the Greater Khartoum district, which […]

AFTER PAKISTAN'S independence, Karachi was the national capital for 13 years (1947–60). In 2004, it was the capital of the Province of Sind. With a population of a little over 11 million, Karachi is the 16th largest metropolis of the world. Karachi has a semidesert climate with a summer mean temperature of 80 degrees F […]

THE CAPITAL CITY of the state of ISRAEL, Jerusalem is located in the center of the country. Jerusalem is Israel's largest city, with an area of 48 square mi (126 square km) and a population of 657,500 (2000), of which 68 percent are Jewish and 32 percent mostly Arab. The city is divided into two […]

JAKARTA, LOCATED on the island of JAVA, is the capital of INDONESIA and serves as a gateway to the country. Java is located in a chain of islands, with SUMATRA to the northwest, Bali to the east, BORNEO to the northeast, and CHRISTMAS ISLAND to the south. It is the world's 13th-largest island. The huge […]

THE CITY OF ISTANBUL in TURKEY has one of the most interesting and important physical locations of any sity in the world, the crossroads of TRADE ROUTES by both water and land. It is the only city to straddle two continents, Europe and Asia, and has been at the center of regional commerce for nearly […]

FOR THE LAST 900 years, Isphahan (Isfahan, Esfahan) has been the capital of the province of the same name in the center of the empire that was known as Persia, now IRAN. The city lies in a basin at an altitude of 5,150 ft (1,570 m) above sea level in the foothills of the ZAGROS […]

HONG KONG IS A FORMER British colony that returned to the People's Republic of CHINA on June 30, 1997, and is now officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong consists of the island of Hong Kong and about 200 islands and the New Territories that are on Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland. Hong […]

DHAKA BECAME the capital of the newly formed sovereign state of BANGLADESH in 1971. The city has a tropical monsoon climate with heavy summer rainfall (June through September), about 80 in (203 cm) annually. Summer is hot and humid and winter is dry and mild. It is located on a tributary of the Meghna-GANGES river […]

DAMASCUS (in Arabic, “Dimashq”) is the capital and chief city of SYRIA, with a population of 1.7 million people (2002). The ancient city is also known in Arabic as “as-Sham” meaning “the Northern,” indicating its geographical position north of the traditional Arab homelands. Damascus is situated in the Ghutah Oasis on a plateau 2,263 ft […]

A CITY-STATE IS AN independent political entity composed of a large and important town and surrounding countryside. In ancient times, city-states, such as the Greek city-states and Rome, sometimes became great economic and military powers that secured far-flung empires, thereby imposing their will and culture on other civilizations. In late medieval and Renaissance ITALY, powerful […]

CITIES ARE INFLUENCED by a broad variety of contexts and factors, including particular groups of people. As a consequence of numerous influences, the city may, to some extent, specialize in and be characterized as being of a particular type. To refer to people and government regimes, for example, a number of particular city types can […]

BUENOS AIRES IS the largest city in ARGENTINA, and as part of a federal district, it serves as the country's capital. The city's name means “good airs” and derives from the name of a patron saint of navigators known as Nuestra Senora Santa Maria del Buen Aire. Measuring 77 square mi (199 square km), the […]

BORDEAUX IS THE eighth-largest city in FRANCE, and the capital of the historic southwestern province of Aquitaine. Bordeaux is also considered the wine capital of the world, and has been famous for its viticulture since the days of the Roman Empire. Unlike other major French cities, Bordeaux is not known for its energetic lifestyle or […]

BOKKARA (ALSO BUKHARA) is a city that lies on the SILK ROAD of Central Asia in the Asian republic of UZBEKISTAN. Its name, bestowed by its Sogdian occupiers in the 3rd century B.C.E., derives from the Sanskrit word vikhara, meaning “monastery.” Bokkara lies in the ARAL SEA basin and was founded some 3,000 years ago […]

BEIJING IS LOCATED in the northern part of the North China Plain, about 100 mi (160 km) northwest of the Bohai Sea. As capital of the People’s Republic of CHINA, Beijing is the core of a special municipal district, giving the region political status equivalent to that of an entire province. For this reason, the […]

BARCELONA IS THE second-largest city in SPAIN after MADRID and is the capital of the autonomous region of Catalunya/Cataluna (Catalonia), which is situated in the northeast of Spain. The region is bordered to the north by the PYRENEES mountain range, which acts as a natural border between Spain, ANDORRA, and FRANCE; to the east the […]