# Closest International Capitals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687 "2007-06-04T13:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/1 "2007-06-04T13:44:04Z")
The thread about state capitals gives rise to this question. During the American Civil War, the capital of the Confederate States of America was located in Richmond, VA. The capital of the United States was located in Washington, DC. The distance between the two is only about 100 miles. Unfortunately, Fredericksburg, VA (my home town) was about equal distance between the two and so got the living hell kicked out of it, but that’s another story. Now to the question: What two existing international captials are closest to each other? ---
**Author:** ![db4530](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@db4530](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/db4530)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/2 "2007-06-04T13:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] Now to the question: What two existing international captials are closest to each other? [/QUOTE] Rome is the capital city of Italy. Within Rome is to sovereign Vatican City (of which Vatican City is the capital). I do not think it gets much closer than that. db ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/3 "2007-06-04T13:47:41Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] Now to the question: What two existing international captials are closest to each other? [/QUOTE] Do you want to count Vatican City, which is surrounded by Rome? (Darn you, **db4530**! If only I hadn’t needed to log in.) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/4 "2007-06-04T13:52:45Z")
OK What two capitals are second closest? (Damn Vatican City - always throwing a wrench in the works) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/5 "2007-06-04T13:56:05Z")
I think after the Vatican and Rome, the next closest are Brazzaville and Kinshasa (capitals of Congo and Zaire, respectively), on opposite banks of the Congo River. ---
**Author:** ![citybadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@citybadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citybadger)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/6 "2007-06-04T13:59:41Z")
Jerusalem and East Jerusalem don’t count - but perhaps will someday. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/7 "2007-06-04T14:04:24Z")
[QUOTE=citybadger] Jerusalem and East Jerusalem don’t count - but perhaps will someday. [/QUOTE] Hey! That was mine! :mad: Seoul is darn close to the S.K. - N.K. border – how far away is PyongYang? Also, even today, Jerusalem is not all that far from Amman – about 70 km. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/8 "2007-06-04T14:09:49Z")
Vienna and Bratislava are quite close to each other. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/9 "2007-06-04T14:16:00Z")
So, what is the maximal distance to nearest neighbour i.e the most isolated capital city? Si ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/10 "2007-06-04T14:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] (Damn Vatican City - always throwing a wrench in the works) [/QUOTE] More like a Papal bull in a china shop. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/11 "2007-06-04T14:22:09Z")
Accra, Ghana; Lome, Togo; Porto Novo, Benin; and Lagos, Nigeria are all within about 200 miles of each other on the same stretch of coastline. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/12 "2007-06-04T14:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] So, what is the maximal distance to nearest neighbour i.e the most isolated capital city? Si [/QUOTE] No hard data here, but I’d bet on one of Moscow, Canberra or Brazilia. Actually, the DC - Ottawa pair might be in the running, too. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/13 "2007-06-04T14:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Noone Special] No hard data here, but I’d bet on one of Moscow, Canberra or Brazilia. Actually, the DC - Ottawa pair might be in the running, too. [/QUOTE] If you’re looking at North America then Washington, D.C. and Mexico City are much, much further apart than Ottawa and D.C. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/14 "2007-06-04T14:35:08Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] If you’re looking at North America then Washington, D.C. and Mexico City are much, much further apart than Ottawa and D.C. [/QUOTE] … Which is exactly why we want to look at DC - Ottawa if were looking for DC to be the “most isolated” – we’re not looking for the two capitals most distant from one another, we’re looking for the one capital farthest away from **any** other capital. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/15 "2007-06-04T14:38:31Z")
[QUOTE=Noone Special] No hard data here, but I’d bet on one of Moscow, Canberra or Brazilia. Actually, the DC - Ottawa pair might be in the running, too. [/QUOTE] Moscow is about 700 km from Minsk (capital of Belarus). Canberra is about 2,300 km from Wellington. Brasilia is about 1,400 km from Asuncion (capital of Paraguay). Ottawa is about 700 km from Washington DC. I think Canberra and Wellington might be the joint winners here. (And one odd thing about Canberra is that it’s a national capital with regular air services, but no international connections – that may be unique). ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/16 "2007-06-04T15:02:05Z")
[Jamestown](http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/st_helena/st_helena_jamestown.html), the capital of St. Helena is a long way from anywhere. [2211km / 1374 miles](http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=727) from the nearest capital (Luanda in Angola), but bonus points as it doesn’t have an airport :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/17 "2007-06-04T15:19:58Z")
Canberra may be out – what’s its distance from Port Moresby, PNG? I make it 1800 statute miles, almost on the nose, but using a rather poor map projection and scale of miles for accuracy. It says here that Auckland is 1099 _nautical_ miles from Tongatapu, which works out to 1,265 statute miles if my calculation is accurate. Vienna and Bratislava look to be about 58 miles apart, city center to city center. Prior to German reunification, a contender pair would have been Luxembourg City and Bonn, about 95 miles apart. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/18 "2007-06-04T15:26:40Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] It says here that Auckland is 1099 _nautical_ miles from Tongatapu, which works out to 1,265 statute miles if my calculation is accurate. [/QUOTE] Regardless of what the JAFAs think, Wellington is still the capital of NZ (Wellington needs to have one redeeming feature). Si ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/19 "2007-06-04T15:33:06Z")
Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687/20 "2007-06-04T15:35:58Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Vienna and Bratislava look to be about 58 miles apart, city center to city center. [/QUOTE] Bratislava plays this up, big time. They call themselves a “twin city” to Vienna, and advertise their lower cost of living and production, and their proximity and good transportation connections with Vienna, to try to attract business. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-international-capitals/406687.md?page=2)