World Cities Flashcards
Located on island of Luzon
Previous Philippines capital (1949-1976)
Named for early president
QUEZON CITY
Capital of the Philippines
Located on island of Luzon
MANILA
Ruins
Seat of King Minos’ rule & the Minoan civilization
Located on Crete’s northern coast
Site of a 1700 B.C. earthquake
KNOSSOS
Capital & largest city of Crete
HERAKLION
Adriatic city, now Italian but previously Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslavian, & independent
One end of Churchill’s “Iron Curtain”
Also called Tergeste
TRIESTE
Main city of Israel’s Negev region
Home of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Means “7 wells” or “well of the oath”
BEERSHEBA
Sicilian capital & largest city
Also called “Panormus”
Tyrrhenian port
Founded 8th C. by Phoenicians
PALERMO
Sicilian city facing mainland across same named strait
Setting of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”
1908 earthquake
MESSINA
Greek city on Peloponnese
Capital of Messenia
Birthplace of Yanni & a type of olive
KALAMATA
Sicilian town for which a fortified wine is named
MARSALA
Southwest German city with the country’s oldest university
In 1907, an early “Homo” specimen was discovered nearby
HEIDELBERG
2nd largest city in Yemen
Name shared with a gulf
In 2000, the USS Cole was attacked while docked there
ADEN
Yemen port city famed for its coffee
Now a term for coffee with chocolate
MOCHA/MOKHA
Briefly Pakistan’s capital
Very close to current capital Islamabad
RAWALPINDI
In the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods)
Site of 1889 “incident” in which Austria-Hungary’s crown prince Rudolf died mysteriously
MAYERLING
Austria’s 2nd largest city
Birthplace of Archduke Franz Ferdinand & Arnold Schwarzenegger
GRAZ
On the Inn river
Winter Olympics site of 1964 & 1976
Austrian city
INNSBRUCK
German city on the Elbe
Home of fine china/porcelain along with nearby Meissen
Firebombed by the Americans/British in Feb. 1945
Experienced by American POW Kurt Vonnegut
DRESDEN
Japan’s 2nd or 3rd largest city
Canals
Host of 1970 World’s Fair
Located on Honshu
OSAKA
Town in western Sicily
Makes a fortified wine named for it
MARSALA
West Bengal town in Himalayas
Home of a black tea
DARJEELING
Portugal’s 2nd largest city
“Cidade Invicta” (invincible city)
Located on the Douro river estuary
PORTO
Austria’s 4th largest city (& a state)
Mozart’s 1756 birthplace
Home to Mirabell Palace & Gardens (used in the filming of “The Sound of Music”)
Name means “salt mountain”
SALZBURG
Japanese town
Changed name from KOROMO in 1959 due to local industry
TOYOTA
Town of County Meath, Ireland
Home to an Abbey that was home to a famous illuminated manuscript
KELLS
Phoenician for “New City”
In modern Tunisia
Founded ~800 BCE under queen Dido
CARTHAGE
Fought Rome in Punic Wars
Cato said it “must be destroyed”, which it was in 146 BCE
Taken by Vandals ~500 CE
CARTHAGE
Colombian seaport on Caribbean
Inquisition center of Americas
Where Bolivar wrote 1812 manifesto
Named for Phoenician city
Also a Spanish port on Mediterranean
CARTAGENA (DE INDIAS)
Japanese city
On Osaka Bay, Honshu
Capital of Hyogo prefecture
Sister of Seattle
1995 earthquake
Famed for its Wagyu beef
KOBE
Scottish town
In 1988, a Libyan terrorist blew up Pan Am flight 103 overhead, scattering the town with wreckage
LOCKERBIE
Italian city in Tuscany
Near the mouth of the Arno
Historic home to Fibonacci (c. 1170) & Galileo (1564)
Served by Galileo Galilei airport
PISA
Italian city in Tuscany
On the Arno
Historic home of Brunelleschi, Dante, da Vinci, the Medici, Michelangelo’s “David”
“Birthplace of the Renaissance”
Setting of “The Decameron” and “A Room With a View”
FLORENCE
(FIRENZE)
Italian city where you’ll find the Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio (town hall), Brunelleschi’s “Duomo”, Pitti Palace, & the Uffizi
FLORENCE
Ruins of a former Egyptian capital south of Cairo
Namesake of a city in Tennessee
MEMPHIS
Phoenician city in Lebanon
Biblical home of Hiram & Shakespearean home of “Prince” Pericles
Created a purple dye from Murex snails
TYRE
Swiss resort town with alpine skiing
Twice hosted winter Olympics (1928 & 1948)
ST. MORITZ
French city on the Rhine
Seat of European Parliament
Located in the region of Alsace
STRASBOURG
Ancient trading post in Mali near the Niger River & the Sahara
Includes a mosque funded by Mansa Musa
Fabled & mysterious to Europeans until 1800s when they were allowed to visit
Nowadays used as a metaphor meaning somewhere remote
TIMBUKTU
Sacred city in Sri Lanka
Includes a Temple of the Tooth (of Buddha)
Sounds sweet
KANDY
City on Honshu
Site of 1998 Winter Olympics, which had owl mascots and the first snowboarding events
NAGANO
Afghanistan’s 2nd largest city after Kabul
Founded by Alexander ~330 BCE as “Iskandar”
Previous capital until 1776 when it was moved to Kabul
Capital of the same-named province
Home to Ahmad Shah’s tomb
KANDAHAR
German city near Hamburg & Seltzer
“Meadow baths”
Site of American military bases, including one where John McEnroe was born
WIESBADEN
Belgian port on the river Scheldt in Flanders
Hub of the international diamond trade
Home to Van Dyck and a museum dedicated to Rubens
ANTWERP
Europe’s biggest seaport with a shipping & shipbuilding tradition
Located at the mouth of Meuse, Rhine, & Nieuwe Waterweg (“New Waterway”, opened 1872)
Bombed by Germany in WWII
Home of Erasmus and birthplace of Willem de Kooning
Home to an international film festival represented by a tiger
ROTTERDAM
Sicily’s 2nd largest city (after Palermo)
Seaport
CATANIA
Japan’s highest mountain
Volcano located on Honshu
Visible in Lake Kawaguchi
Subject of Hokusai’s “36 views”
MOUNT FUJI
City in Sinaloa on the Gulf of California
Mexico’s largest Pacific port
Part of the Mexican “Riviera”
MAZATLAN
Largest city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua
Named for 1860s president
Previously called “El Paso del Norte”
Across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas
(CIUDAD) JUAREZ
Port city
Ecuador’s largest
On the Guayas River
1822 meeting place of San Martin & Bolivar
GUAYAQUIL
Germany’s 2nd largest city after Berlin
On the Elbe River
Home of Brahms & Merkel
Site of many early Beatles shows
HAMBURG
Dutch city
Namesake of NYC neighbourhood
Tulip city
Home of Frans Hals
HAARLEM
