# What's the largest city you've never heard of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397 "2001-09-08T14:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slackergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@slackergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slackergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/21 "2001-09-08T19:19:41Z")
It’s hard to tell with all the junk characters, but Belo Horizonte Brazil (58) was the first one that didn’t ring any bells. A few of the ones higher on the list I’ve only heard of as they were mentioned in passing in novels or newscasts, I know nothing of them other than the name sounds familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/22 "2001-09-08T19:28:08Z")
if Chongqing = Chunking, then I’ve heard of that. If Essen = Ruhr, then I’ve heard of that as well. The next one would be Tianjin. I’m pleased to say that I’ve heard of almost all of these places, except for some of the Chinese and Brazilian cities. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarinth \* > \*\*So are some of the other inclusions equally as iffy? \*\* As others have noted, Essen stands in for the entire Ruhr. The figure for New York includes Newark, which isn’t in the same state; Detroit includes Windsor, which isn’t even in the same country. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/23 "2001-09-08T19:54:17Z")
31 Al-Khartūm [Khartoum] Sudan 7200000 Can’t say as I’m familiar with this one. Back to school. ---
**Author:** ![JadedNaive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@JadedNaive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JadedNaive)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/24 "2001-09-08T19:54:28Z")
I’m out at #12: Jakarta, Indonesia. I’m quite geographically illiterate, as my former high school history teacher would say. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/25 "2001-09-08T20:00:06Z")
numbah tres (Sŏul) ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/26 "2001-09-08T20:37:48Z")
> [@](#): > > 26 Washington USA 7750000 incl. Baltimore BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT!!! We’re bigger than D.C., they should be included with US, not vice versa! The whole list is a crock! ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/27 "2001-09-08T20:45:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danimal \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > > \*\*I’ve never heard of #38, Chongqing. > > \*\* > > You might know it as “Chunking,” which is how it is spelled in the Wade-Giles system. \*\* Ohhh! Well, in that case, I can get all the way to # 49, Tianjin. Unless _it_ has another spelling. Obviously, I am very ignorant about China… ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/28 "2001-09-08T21:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tony Montana \* > \*\* numbah tres (Sŏul) \*\* You shock me **Tony**. You did realise that was one of the ones with the bad characters in? Seoul. Capital of South Korea? They had the Olympics there in '88? Anyway, I checked your profile to see where you lived and I don’t know where _AK_ is or what a _const_ does for a living, so don’t feel too bad. What would interest me further is _why_ some people know some of the more obscure ones. Some posters have already said they know them through work, or due to classes they happen to have taken recently. Any other reasons? I’d bet that people in the UK know about places in Africa or Burma 'cos we used to own them, or places in the Indian sub-continent because we still play cricket matches there. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/29 "2001-09-08T22:14:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*…'cos we used to own them,… \*\* That’s an ugly phrase. Can I take that back or insert a smiley or something? No offence intended. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/30 "2001-09-08T22:36:42Z")
Originally, the first city on the list that I’ve never heard of is #38 Chongqing, China (6,450,000), but then I read how the Western world might also know it as Chunking, which I have heard of. So the next one after that is Essen, but I’ve seen the objections to that here. After that is #49, Tianjin. Guess I’m like the **Fretful Porpentine** in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/31 "2001-09-08T22:39:44Z")
Dhaka, #22. Damn, and here I thought I was going to get into at least the 60s. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/32 "2001-09-08T22:51:55Z")
By the way, [this site](http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/chinlng3.html) has translations from Pinyin to Wade-Giles, and it seems that “Tianjin” is “Tientsin” in the Wade-Giles system, if that changes anyone’s score. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/33 "2001-09-08T22:53:32Z")
Unknown from the full list: 58 Belo Horizonte Brazil 4400000 73 Guadalajara Mexico 3900000 incl. Zapopan 74 Abidjan Côte d Ivoire 3800000 75 Medellín Colombia 3800000 77 Porto Alegre Brazil 3650000 86 Pune (Poona) India 3450000 87 Recife Brazil 3450000 96 Cali Colombia 3100000 97 Chittagong Bangladesh 3050000 100 Fortaleza Brazil 3000000 Hey, guess who needs to do some work on his South American geography and general knowledge? ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/34 "2001-09-08T23:17:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \* > \*\*it seems that “Tianjin” is “Tientsin” in the Wade-Giles system, if that changes anyone’s score. \*\* Doesn’t change mine. For some reason when I read that I thought of Tinactin. Just what I need, my brain to associate a large Chinese city with athlete’s foot. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/35 "2001-09-08T23:43:28Z")
I stop at #57 Wuhan, China. I studied for several geography bees as a kid (county champion in '93 and '94 :)), which is where I learned most of the international places. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/36 "2001-09-08T23:54:17Z")
I got stopped early, at #2 ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/37 "2001-09-08T23:56:01Z")
Let’s try that again. I got stopped early, at # **22**. Not #2, I meant # **22**. I _have_ heard of New York. I had not heard of #22 Dhaka (Dacca) Bangladesh 9800000. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/38 "2001-09-09T00:23:12Z")
Another vote for #49: Tianjin/Tientsin After that, 60, 61, 77, 81, 86, 87, 95, and 100 stumped me. ---
**Author:** ![Protesilaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/39 "2001-09-09T00:26:46Z")
Another for Lahore, Pakistan, #43. ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397/40 "2001-09-09T00:32:03Z")
#38 Chongqing. I thought I would get much further down the list than I did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-youve-never-heard-of/80397.md?page=3)