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Peru Arequipa, Peru
Urban population: 1 195 700
Coordinates: 16°23′S 71°32′W

Thanks to the positive feedback about my featured regions specifically of South America, I badly want to prepare something special related to the continent, but before anything, I'll keep my pace with regular posts, this time about Perú! The country was briefly covered in the news as just a couple days ago the president of Peru was removed from the office so the capital is recently in the turmoil and I hope once Dina Boluarte is gone, it's going to be a little bit better, given how much unpopular she was. But honestly I don't really want to talk about politics on this section so I decided to bring a little spotlight into the second largest city in Peru - Arequipa.
Even if I was't actively looking, I heard something about Lima, Cuzco, Maccu Picchu (of course) and Iquitos, but Arequipa was never mentioned. For me it was known as a large city in Peru that on a large scale maps looks like it's on the coast, but in reality it's almost 90 km away and lies 2 335 m (or 1.45 miles) above sea level. Now I know it's also a city where the Constitutional Court of Peru is located so it's both economically and politically second most important metro area.
In terms of actual cool stuff, Arequipa is a UNESCO certified place with its large historic urban core, full of colonial architecture made of volcanic rocks that have its own style greatly influenced by indigenous people like Quechua.

Malawi Blantyre, Malawi
Urban population: about 800 000
Coordinates: 15°47′S 35°0′E

Projections for the largest cities in the world up to year 2100 have some wild claims, like the exponential rise of cities in Southeastern Asia and Africa. The craziest one that's predicted is the unbelievable growth of two major cities in Malawi: the capital city of Lilongwe and the most important economic hub of Blantyre. According to this predictions each city would be populated by at least 40 million people, while today the entire Malawi has little more than 20 million citizens. I have no idea how's that possible, but I hope the environment around will be protected as it's a pristine African savannah.

Portugal Porto Santo Island, Madeira, Portugal
Island population: 5 158
Coordinates: 33°03′N 16°21′W

For my entire life I though Madeira is a single island, but my conviction was shattered by a casual conversation about convertibles made by Fiat. They don't make sense in cold continental Europe in October, but on a winterless volcanic island with little rain those are fun machines to move around the area 17 times smaller than Madeira's main island and two times smaller than Hong Kong island replica map in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. The island is much more arid than Madeira as it's average elevation is much lower so it doesn't capture much clouds which is handy when you want to lay down on a long sandy beach on the east side of Porto Santo.

Czechia Tábor, Czechia
Town population: 34 356
Coordinates: 49°25′N 14°39′E

Czech small cities with medieval history are always super cute and have badass medieval emblems. This one between Prague and České Budějovice is a great example, but it's not well known, I just happened to remember this town because I met some guy at work from there. The town although not swarmed by tourists, it's packed with history that starts when the Hussites found a christian commune in 1420. The name 'Tábor' comes from Mount Tabor in Palestine and the nearby lake is called Jordan. Given how funny Czech language is for us Poles, I thought it might have something to do with the word 'Taboret' - small backless chair. But unlike taboret, Tábor is very comfortable to spend a whole day, it's a compact city with plentiful trees scattered along the winding historic streets built up with houses straight from the fairytale that eventually leads to a nice central town square. I wish I could take a spin around Czechia to check out this type of small towns, there is more to see other then expensive Prague (being there a decade ago I was baffled why there are so many prices in euro).

Algeria Ouargla, Algeria
Urban population: 191 136
Coordinates: 31°57′N 5°19′E

Located in Sahara desert 750 km south from Algiers on the coast, Ouargla is the last large city on the route through the desert heading south to Sahel region. The city caught my attention thanks to this map of Africa on UrbanRail.net (it's sad that's so empty tho). I was intrigued by how many tram systems Algeria has developed (apparently in 2010's there was a whole tram craze in Algeria that no one talks about) and Ouargla's stands out not only by its sheer distance deep into Algeria's interior, but also how modern it is, opened in 2018. I hope the AC in those trams works fast, the climate is scorching hot during summers, but at least the citizens can enjoy almost constantly clear sky and mild winters. Culturally Ouargla is both Berber and Arab, with some people still speaking local Berber Ouargli language. The area is also one of the few places on Earth where sand roses can be found, a very peculiar natural rock formations that are made of delicate minerals eroded to the shape of a flower.

Mexico Durango State, Mexico
State population: 1 832 650
Coordinates: 24°01′N 104°40′W

To be honest learning all first level subdivisions of Mexico was much harder than those of the US or Canada. I rather not memorize places just for the sake of it, it's much easier and more enjoyable to learn places if you know some facts and fun trivias. For Mexico, this video by Geography Now about states of Mexico was very helpful with that. Durango caught my attention because of the nickname "Colorado of Mexico", one of my favourite states when it comes to the nature, that is high average altitude, mountains, endless forests, sparsely populated semi-deserts and only a handful of large cities. The only not fun thing about this stunning area is scorpios, not my type of animal. It's also worth link sharing as the first results always yield Ford Durango, not the state.

Poland Licheń, Poland
Village population: 1 556, Church capacity: up to 250 000
Coordinates: 52°19′N 18°21′E

Yesterday, while travelling through Konin county I saw for the first time the Basilica of Our Lady in Licheń (spelled Lee-kheñ, ń letter sounds like Spanish ñ). It's the largest and most pompous Catholic sanctuary in Poland. The construction was consecrated in 1999 by Pope John Paul II and completed in 2007. The church was created to commemorate the instances of the revelation of Maria in XIX century. I'm not going to bring up the history and details of this place, but from what I can tell, seeing that giant tower between empty fields from a road 3 km away, it is huge. The complex with its scale and opulence greatly reminds me of that mega church in Yamoussoukro completed earlier, in the 90's.

Thailand Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Urban population: 466 098
Coordinates: 14°58′N 102°6′E

Alias of the city: Korat. The third largest city in Thailand after Bangkok and Chiang Mai is not well known to say the least. It completely flies over the radar, when the whole attention goes to either extremely large Bangkok, cultured Chiang Mai or various tropical resorts with Phuket Island being the most famous. It is and always was however a very important economic hub for the region where Thai, Laotian and Khmer cultures meet. It's one of the two places in Thailand where disc drives are made, production of which is the second largest in the world only after China.
Nakhon Ratchasima is very modern city with huge shopping malls and high speed railway to Bangkok under construction, expected to open in 2027, but also a historic place that through the centuries gained many temples and archeology sites and also hosts the monument of a national hero Lady Mo.

Belgium Comblain-la-Tour, Wallonia, Belgium
Municipality population: 3 592
Coordinates: 50°27′N 5°34′E

I'm planning to feature places from various contintents evenly, but I spot so many Belgian license plates around Warsaw that I decided to commemorate a tiny village in Ardennes that hosts The Polonia House - lovely guesthouse for Polish tourists and pilgrims, that I happened to briefly stay during my trip to Brussels. The valley of the river L'Ourthe is very picturesque, the hills are steep and rocky, but not massive, and climbing up there gives a very scenic view of a cozy rural Wallonia. This brief trekking also gave me an idea what kind of terrain was a setting of the Ardennes Offensive. Previously I thought those are just barely noticable bumps (and the whole Benelux is flat), but now since then I'm convinced Ardennes are quite challenging for large human endevours like railway construction (or world wars).
The regions is also notoriously Francophone, that's why it's the only featured region so far with non-english wikipedia link 🥖.

Romania Oradea, Romania
Metro population: 245 537
Coordinates: 47°04′N 21°55′E

I didn't expect to feature this city in Romania, but this silly facebook commercial got me off guard :D. Oradea is the ninth largest city in Romania, on the edge of Hungarian plains and Transylvanian highlands, located very close to the border with Hungary that massively influenced this city, for centuries being the fortress that proctected the rest of the kingdom from invasions from the east. Today the city promotes itself as a welcoming tourist destination with a large medieval castle, Art Nouveau architecture, thermal springs and festivals.

Guatemala Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
Municipality population: 60 608
Coordinates: 14°33′N 90°44′W

Not gonna lie, until now, I barely knew any city in Guatemala other than well... Guatemala City. I neglected that country, even though it's full of precolumbian monuments and history. I'm also a Spanish language noob and just recently realized that 'Antigua' means 'Ancient' and Antigua Guatemala is a former capital, founded by Spanish in between three volcanos on an area prone to earthquakes that eventually destroyed the city in 1773 and then the capital was moved to present day Guatemala City. Ruined palaces and churches with volcanos in the background looks absolutely epic, but also reminds us that people may decide where to build their cities, but the nature might reject those ideas.

China Chongqing, China
Municipality population: 32 054 159
Coordinates: 29°33′N 106°33′E

Initially I was planning to feature less known Chinese cities, but I just can't help it. I heard nothing but praises about its insanely complex infrastructure, both horizontal and vertical. From the deepest metro station to sky high bridges and steep hills, Chongqing is probably the hardest Cyberpunk map to recreate. I think it's a bit too much to say that it's the largest city on Earth, as much of its administrative area is rural, you can't take away multiple world records in engineering that easy.
Also, the surronding mountain ranges that look like green scars cutting throught the metro area seems just unreal, just check out the 3D version of that region.

Yemen Shibam, Yemen
Town population: about 7 000
Coordinates: 15°55′N 48°37′E

I heard about Kowloon Walled City many times, just recently watching the recreation of that city in Minecraft, but I've never heard about medieval skyscrapers in Yemen. Shibam looks stunning, the desert setting, the palms, clay color, the sun and the river, that's kind of authentic Arabian cities worth visiting, sadly it's very difficult because of the civil war.

Greenland Tasiilaq, Greenland, Denmark
Town population: 1 830
Coordinates: 65°36′N 37°37′W

The largest settlement on the east coast of Greenland was introduced to me 8 years ago by famous Polish youtuber Krzysztof Gonciarz. In his epic vlog series in Greenland he showed a little bit of way of life in that very remote town as well as travelling by a dog sled to even more extreme mountains and cut-off places. Absolutely stunning place, even when the entire point of view is just blinding white glacier.
I'm dedicating this featured region to Gonciarz, as he's the youtube guy that I followed for 15 years and now he's finally got back his reputation after false accusations (spolier, the lady in this vlog next to him turned out to be evil).

Bulgaria Tamrash, Bulgaria
Village population: abandoned
Coordinates: 41°56′N 24°33′E

Tamrash is an abandoned village in the middle of the mountainous forest between Bulgaria and Greece that for a brief moment was the capital of an independent Republic of Tamrash, the rebel state of Muslim Pomaks that didn't want to be either Ottomans, Greeks or Bulgarians. The place was relatively difficult to find on a map (searching it on Google Maps does not work) but I needed to make sure where it is as I'm working on an article that will be centered around this kind of microstates, and this one in modern-day Bulgaria is one of the most secluded.

Great Britain Loughborough, England, United Kingdom
City population: 64 884
Coordinates: 52°46′N 01°12′W

Smashed the brand new Map Men video about twin towns as soon as it showed up on my YouTube recommendations and got imidiately inspired to feature one of my hometown twin town: Loughborough in Leichestershire. The connnection is not apparent, but it's there: both have almost the same population number and the citizens of both cities can struggle to pronounce the names of their peers - Zamość have palatalized 's' and 'c' letters which English doesn't have and Loughborough have 'ugh' two times and both spelled differently.
Also in Zamość we have cycle paths along the river named after each twin city. I used to ride them a lot and Loughborough's section used to have cool bike park.

India Malarikkal, Kochi, India
Boats with tourists during the season: ~hundreds
Coordinates: 9°33′N 76°29′E

Malarikkal is a rice field that for a couple of weeks becomes a lake covered in beautiful blooming water lilies. That's another natural wonder that I didn't know exists just because the geopolitics draws more of my attention. I only got to know this place because of this news segment from France24. It actually summarised the current state of the world: riots of young people, beligerent politics of the orange mussolini and small spots of natural wonder flocked by tourists.

Australia Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
City population: 254 930
Coordinates: 42°52′S 147°19′E

I was casually researched the capital cities of each Australian state and I realized how little attention I paid to the smallest and least centralized state of Tasmania - the Australia of Australia, due to its remoteness from the rest of already remote country. Only recently for the first time I examined up close the map of the city of Hobart with surrounding areas and I absolutely love the abunance of long and deep harbours, tons of bays and the heavily forested mountains around it.

Ivory Coast Abidjan, Ivory Coast
City population: 6 321 017
Coordinates: 05°19′N 04°02′W

While I was looking at skycrapers under construction chart, among Chinese and Arabian crowd a 421m high Tour F in Abidjan stands out. My original plan was not to feature major cities, but I just want to gently remind us that African countries are the future. Not that skyscrapers are any indicator of increasing wealth of regular citizens, but the new metro system under construction actually is. The rapid economic growth of Ivory Coast is very apparent and I like it a lot, I wish to witness an African country that emerges as rich and globally influencial on its own terms, just like South Korea is now in Asia, and Ivory Coast is one of the most promising place!

Papua New Guinea Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (yet?)
Estimated population: 300 000
Coordinates: 6°13′S 155°34′E

The history is not over and some places are emerging as a new states. Bougainville might soon (between 2026 and 2028) become the most recetnly independent country, seceding from Papua New Guinea. The island is rich in copper and gold so there is some large geopolitcal competition going on between major players like China that we have no idea about.
The main island is covered in rainforest with abandoned copper mine in the middle, the only two large towns are Arawa, the largest city and former capital of the region, and Buka, the current capital, located on Buka Island, separated from the main island by half kilometer wide Buka Strait. The whole area is rarely visited by tourists so maybe as soon as it appear on the political maps, a new wave of visitors might want to be first to check out. Or maybe better not, the future should depend of its citizens.

Equatorial Guinea Bata, Equatorial Guinea
Urban population: 512 750
Coordinates: 01°51′N 09°46′E

Once upon a time I was watching some random satellite channels on TV and landed on a broadcast of African football cup, was held in Equatorial Guinea. That's when I heard about any city in Equatorial Guinea other than Malabo and learnt a bit about how the economy is running there. The numbers show the decent level of Bulgaria, the quality of life not so much, maybe that's something to do with the leadership busy with prestige project such as the new capital in the middle of jungle instead of using the potential of already robust coastal city of Bata.

India Guwahati, Assam, India
Agglomeration population: 1 240 000
Coordinates: 26°10′N 91°44′E

Inspired by the Geography Now video about Seven Sisters region today I'm highlighting the largest city of of that peculiar region in northeastern India with culture and demographics vastly different from the rest of India. Located on a Brahmaputra river the city acts as an important bridge between north and south bank of that massive river (just check it out on the map, it's kilometers wide with thousands of islands) and the starting point to visit all the other 'Sisters'.

Paraguay Ciuded del Este, Paraguay
Urban population: 546 643
Coordinates: 25°31′S 54°37′W

The second largest city in Paraguay, "East City" is meant to be the gateway to Atlantic Ocean of Paraguay as it lies on the upper part of navigable Parana river and right next to a tripoint border between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Ciudad del Este is connected with Brazilian city on the other side of Parana river Foz do Iguaçu by the Friendship Bridge, but not directly connected to Argentinian city Puerto Iguazú. Up the river on the north of this peculiar trpoint urban area there is a third largest hydrolelectric power plant - Itaipu Dam There is also a new bridge coming out between Paraguay and Brazil - Integration Bridge.

Finland Tampere, Finland
Urban population: 334 112
Coordinates: 61°29′N 23°45′E

Tampere have a special place in the worldwide gaming culture as it's the city where the Cities Skylines was developed. Tampere is the second largest metro area in Finland and the largest city in Nordic countries without access to the sea. The city have a nickname "Sauna Capital of the World" as it's got the most public saunas in the world, and "Manchester of the North" as if OG Manchester isn't north enough. Also it used to be a huge industrial center so it's kinda like the Finnish Inland Empire.

Chile Biobío Region, Chile
Regional population: 1 557 414
Coordinates: 35°50′S 73°03′W

At first I was going to write the entry only about the city of Concepción, but as soon as I realized this city is the capital of region called Biobío, I knew that the whole area deserve recognition. Come on, it's got everything, the ocean, the cities, the wilderness, mountains, forests, glaciers, lakes, rivers, islands, volcanos, earthquakes (a lot of those) and even its own little Los Angeles!
For the first time I saw Concepción on the atlas as a small kid and since then it's one of the few Chilean that I remember, but now with unlimited internet and online maps I can see it up close, and its geography is even cooler!

Germany Haren, Lower Saxony, Germany
City population: 24 245
Coordinates: 52°46′N 07°13′E

Did you know that for a brief moment Poland had border with The Netherlands?
Right after the end of World War II Polish troops alongside British Army occupied an enclave in western Germany where many Polish refugees were living. Here's the map of that area made by University of Warsaw. A small town of Haren was renamed Maczków and between 1945-1948 became a place to stay for Polish forces and people liberated from labour and prisoners of war camps.

Brazil Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Metro population: 390 990
Coordinates: 26°59′S 48°38′W

The "Dubai of Brazil" that you may never heard about. I heard about it just this year and I still struggle to fully remember that name. It's a large city resort with hundreds of skyscrapers (mostly hotels), just like Benidorm in Spain which is also not that hyped. I really like the layout of Balneario Camboriu, it's got that cool peninsula created by Rio Camboriu. This entry is also kinda shoutout to a bunch of cool websites made by Brazilians, especially Kuroi OS and The Nitpicky Cat!

Poland Starachowice, Poland
City population: 43 883
Coordinates: 51°03′N 21°08′E

Did you know that back in the communism era in Poland there was a truck manufacturing company called Star and its name comes from a town in Świętorzyskie (Saint Cross) Voivodeship called Starachowice! Even though few trucks under this brand left on the roads as the company was eventually bought by Man, if you every visit the city, you may find tiny models of original trucks planted on popular spots of the city. Counting Stars in Starachowice means something else :D

United States Astoria, Oregon, United States
Municipal population: 10 181
Coordinates: 46°11′N 123°48′W

Thanks to Geography by Geoff video Astoria: The Major West Coast City That Never Was I found out that this small town, the oldest one in the state of Oregon, have the topography stunningly similar to San Francisco, yet didn't have a chance to become major metropolitan area on the coast of Cascadia.

Iceland Monemvasia, Greece
Municipal population: 21 816
Coordinates: 36°41′N 23°03′E

Noticed in JetPunk quiz 100 Biggest Cities in Europe before the Black Death. I've never heard of this town before, but it used to be one of the most important city on the eastern side of Mediterrean Sea! It's located on the coast of Laconia, the region where the ancient city of Sparta. Oh, and I got new fun word for my dictionary: tombolo.

Iceland Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
Municipal population: 4 639
Coordinates: 63°25′N 20°17′W

Nordic towns on the map have very distinctive look, the road network is very organic, but organized and gently fits into whatever mountains, glaciers or volcanos are nearby. I am obsessed with small islands that hosts comparably large settlements and Vestmannaeyjar Municipality is the perfect example of a unique little town located on an separate islet, 12 km away from the "mainland" Iceland. The municipality also covers entire epic archipelago of small volcanic islands including Surtsey - the island that literally rised from the ocean in 1963!

Spain Tarifa, Andalusia, Spain
City population: 18 169
Coordinates: 36.014°N 5.350°W

Even though Gibraltar is order of magnitude more famous, it's actually this small Andalusian town is the southernmost tip of continental Spain. Located on Costa de la Luz (the coast of light) is one of the most popular destination for windsports and I guess it's thanks to its outstanding location on the narrow strait between two massive bodies of water. I'm also wondering where that name comes from, is it have something to do with the tariffs?

Uzbekistan Jizzax, Uzbekistan
City population: 202 200
Coordinates: 40°06′57″N 67°50′32″E

I just stumbled upon this peculiar name on the list of cities in Central Asia, apparently it's very old and used to be an important Silk Road city. Also I like the map in the article of the Jizzax Fortress from 1866. Oh and it's spelled "Gee-Zack" and is sometimes written 'Jizzakh'.

Sri Lanka Kandy, Sri Lanka
City population: 111 701
Coordinates: 7°17′35″N 80°38′6″E

I though that Jaffna is the second largest city in Sri Lanka until I learned that it Jaffna was damaged during Sri Lanka Civil War, it was quite long time ago (up to 2009) and I didn't figure out. Kandy is the largest inland city in Sri Lanka and the last capital of Sinhalese monarchy.