What is the smallest city in your country that everyone can still instantly recognise the name of? What is it famous for?
What is the smallest city in your country that everyone can still instantly recognise the name of? What is it famous for?
In the United States, I'd probably name Oregon City, the famous end of the Oregon Trail and the first city founded west of the Rocky Mountains during the pioneer era. Its population is only 37,000.
Ramstein, population ~5600
Famous for the Ramstein Air base, the bombing of the air base, the Ramstein air show disaster and the band named after all of that.
Well, Brazil is such a huge country and there are lots of smallest cities with still huge population.
Unfornately i would have to say that the smallest one and most famous would probably be because of some recent disaster and one I can remember is Brumadinho. Less than 40k people, a city destroyed after a dam collapsed and a lot of mud flooded everywhere, 5 years ago
Edit: I just realised the question was recognising the name of the city, not recognising city based on a picture...
Probably Svolvær/Lofoten with a population of ~4700. It doesn't have the official status of "City" in Norway though.
By population, and not land area, certain more remote geographic places are well known but have quite a low population. 'Everyone' is a high bar, but most adults in Australia would know the following places (ordered from smaller population but slightly less known to higher population):
- Wittenoom, WA - population 0 - well known in Australia for being heavily contaminated with dangerous blue asbestos (which used to be mined there until the 60s), and having been de-gazetted and removed from maps to discourage tourism to it.
- Coober Pedy, SA - population 1437 - well known in Australia for its underground homes and opal production.
- Alice Springs, NT - population 25,912 - well known for being near the centre of Australia in the rangelands (outback) - most larger population centres in Australia are coastal.
Not my country, but maybe Tipperary? It only has a population of 5k.
All I know about it is that it's a long way there.
iThe City of London might be one, it has a very small resident population, but I dont know how many people know that it is a separate city from London. It's famos for being chock full of c*nts most of the day.
Not my country, but what immediately came to mind was one that has global name recognition, and minimal population: Chernobyl.
It used to have around 12,000 population, but now it's technically illegal to live nearby, and up to 150 people are estimated to live there today. It's famous for being toxically irradiated as a result of the worst nuclear disaster in human history
Wacken, Germany.
Population: 2110
Home to one of the biggest metal festivals in the world with something between 70k and 120k people. I think Tickets are limited to 70k currently but the whole area is bascially transformed for a week
The village "Wacken" is well known in Germany because they hold one of the worlds largest anual Heavy-Metal festivals. They have a population of around 2000, the festival regularly attracts around 80,000 people.
In Slovenia I believe Sevnica (4.5k population) - home town of Melania Trump - would be the smallest most recognizable place by the world.
But Slovenia is small enough even Kostanjevica na Krki with 802 or Vače with 421 population is easily recognizable by Slovenians.
Hallstatt - Austria
The city so beautiful that the Chinese copied it.
I’m in the US and I can’t say I’d heard of Oregon City before this post…
I thought the Oregon Trail was a pretty standard part of US history curriculum.
I too have never heard of Oregon City. I can only assume it's in Oregon. The only thing I remember about the Oregon Trail is that I died from dysentery every time I followed the trail.
It was popular, but I think most folks who played it remember dying of dysentery, not the cities 😆
We were taught about it, but most Americans don't view westward expansion with the same... Reverence? Notoriety?
Like, I remember learning about it across multiple grades, but... Oregon City being the final destination, that's not something I would probably remember a year or two later, nevermind a decade or more.
Not really, not in our school district anyways. They did allow us to play the game based on that on their ancient computers, but never really gave us historical context, nor were we required to play the game.
I didn't learn shit about it back then, and barely get it today. I'm 42 years old for reference.
Oregon City would be my answer to 'what's the capital of Oregon?'
Just a standard, since I never heard of the capital I'll try the state name plus city guess.
Nokia, Finland, population 36,000. Cellphones, tyres, rubber boots, ...
I'd try Bodom, population 0, if other than cities are allowed.
Or possibly Santa's village, population 2 (if you exclude the elves)
Unfortunately, I would guess that school shooter locations are probably the most easily recognised in the US. Uvalde has a population of ~15,000, for instance.
Sandy Hook is ~9,000. You may not remember, but Alex Jones does.
Yeah Alex Jones can rot in hell
OP said famous, not infamous.
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Ah yeah, I was going for instantly recognizable
For France it's probably Vichy, infamously well known internationally for being the capital of the French pro-Nazi government during the Occupation. Only 25'000 inhabitants.
Also consider that Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, of cheese fame, has 528 inhabitants.
I didn't thought of that, you're right!
In Denmark it's probably Snave (No English Wikipedia page for it). Population is a whopping 211 people. It was popularized in a series of commercials for a Danish cellular carrier. The concept was so popular that there even was a movie. I haven't seen it, but the reviews seems to suggest it could be fun to watch... If you are drunk enough.
The word "snave" in Danish can somewhat be translated to snogging in English. Heavy kissing. Which has led to the city having massive problems with theft of their signs.
Gibraltar has a population of 32,000, which by some definitions is too small to be considered a city.
Gibraltar is a city?
I am American, so low bar, but there are dozens of us.
I guess the one that pretty much everyone knows in Germany is Buxtehude. It is being used as the poster child for a backwards town, far away from cities. Which is funny because neither is it backwards, remote or even very small. With a population of 40k it’s relatively large, compared to many other places in Germany, even just right next to Buxtehude. It is not far from Hamburg and its historic core is worth a visit. I think the name itself is the reason why it is being made fun of so much. Though there are so many other, much quirkier named towns in Germany but it somehow became Buxtehude.
I think people really overestimate how much everybody knows about the US.
I'd say there's a large population that only know NYC, LA, and Chicago.
It might not count as a city but Nome Alaska has the Iditarod with only, 3700 people. Or maybe some famous battlefield, Gettysburg has 7100 people. A ski resort like Aspen could count with 7000. We all had to memorize state capitals so maybe somewhere like Montpelier, Vermont has more recognition but has 7800 people.
Sturgis also has a population of around 7,000, and has a pretty significant cultural awareness because of its annual motorbiking event
Jeez, I had no idea Aspen and Montpelier were so small.
Paris. It's also a city in Texas.
I see you and raise, Las Vegas, NM.
Hmmm
https://blog.txfb-ins.com/texas-travel/european-cities-in-texas/ someone has mapped out the "European" Texas road trip.
We also have a Paris in Ontario in Canada .... nice place next to the water and it even has the Eiffel Tower (painted as a mural on a storefront)
What do you consider small? A lot of people know Cupertino California because Apple are based there, but it's only got a population of 57k. It's arguably more recognizable than the closest major city (San Jose), which has a population of nearly 1 million.
I'm not from there, but who doesn't know the name of Scunthorpe?
It's a problem.
How about: name a country and name the smallest city you recognize from there. Like New Zealand you could say Rotarua
Hell, Michigan
Dildo, Newfoundland.
Not really though.
Off the top of my head I’d say places like Gander, Churchill, Iqaluit - places known maybe for their location as much as their people and unique situations?
Edit: another comment (Aspen) made me want to mention Banff but Alberta isn’t acting Canadian anymore so it no longer counts.
Omg...i spent 4 hours in Gander one evening, so it took about 20 hours to go Dallas -> Chicago -> Gander-> Chicago.
Nope
Yellowknife has a population of 20,000. Is that considered small enough?
I’d say no in the context of the OP. That’s one of our major cities in our own way. And a territorial capital.
If you mean people from my country.... All of them.
New Zealand only has like 10 actual cities. It is not some great feat of memory to know them all.
Pueblo, CO from tv commercials or maybe Wala Wala, WA from Bugs Bunny.
Walla Walla, it was also a lyric in an Offspring song.
Also in this song
Witch Doctor - Ooh Eeh Ooh Ah Aah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang
Pueblo, CO
Mostly because it is (or was) a publication distribution hub.
Lajitas, Texas, which once elected as their mayor a goat that drank beer, has a population of 75.
Terlingua, Texas, as made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker and home of the Terlingua International Chili Cook-off, has a population of 78.
Luckenbach, Texas, as made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, has a population of 3.
Not a city as much as part of a city, but Coney Island is pretty well known. I was recently speaking to someone in Colombia and even they knew of it!
(I'm part of the sideshow cast there ☺️)
Username checks out?
I'm often introduced as a real life tiefling so yeah
Selma
The New Orleans French Quarter is easy to spot.
Regina, the city that rhymes with fun!
Vulcan, Alberta.
Famous because of a spaceship that landed there once, I think.
Some people with pointed ears may have also been involved, but I would replicate that with a grain of salt. I haven't really looked into it.
Winnipeg, Canada (pop. 850k) has a famous namesake in Winnie the Pooh (who was named after Winnipeg) and has been in the Simpsons.
Aramoana here in New Zealand. It has a population in the low hundreds and it is famous for a horrible massacre in 1990. The cops here don't usually have guns and in a little place like that there are often only a handful of police that are anywhere in the general region.
Bobcaygeon, population 3,500.
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