World Cities, a Photographic Tour Quiz

Answer: Houston TX

We are visiting the U.S.A's fourth-largest city, with a population of just over 2.1 million. Founded in 1836, the city was named after Sam Houston, the 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas (1836-38 and 1841-44). General Houston's Texian Army won the decisive Texan Revolution encounter, the Battle of San Jacinto, which was fought earlier that same year just 25 miles east of the site of the new city.

Nicknamed "Space City USA", Houston is the home of the site that was originally called the "Manned Spacecraft Center" when it was opened in 1963, and was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center after the former Texas-born U.S. President. I hope you picked up the clue in the question -- I'm sure you remember the famous quote from Jim Lovell during the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission: "Houston, we've had a problem". (Note that this is now usually misquoted thanks to the 1995 Tom Hanks movie, where Hanks as Lovell says "Houston, we have a problem".)

Answer: Mexico City, Mexico

Officially named The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City, it is located on the north side of the Plaza de la Constitución in downtown Mexico City. Groundbreaking took place in 1573 and it was consecrated in 1656, making it the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in the Americas (although the building was not completed until 1813).

Situated at an elevation of more than one mile above sea level (7,350 feet), Mexico City is one of the world's highest capital cities. The city covers an area of 573 square miles - a little more than half the size of the country of Luxemburg. Just over 8.8 million (2010 Census) live within the city boundaries, making it the world's largest Spanish-speaking city -- Madrid has 3.3 million and Buenos Aires 2.8 million. Although Sao Paolo has a larger population (around 11.3 million), Brazilians speak Portuguese rather than Spanish. Mexico City does, however, have the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere, with almost 20.5 million residents (almost one million more than New York City). Only Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, South Korea are larger anywhere in the world.

Answer: Bangkok, Thailand

With a population of more than 8 million (12.5% of the country) and a metropolitan area than is home to almost one quarter of the entire population of Thailand, Bangkok is the world's premier "Primate City", being more than forty times larger than the country's second-largest.

Originally settled in the 15th century, Bangkok took over from Ayutthaya as the Siamese capital in 1782. Bangkok, though, is just a name for Westerners to use: the Tahi's know the city as 'Krung Thep Maha Nakhon'. That in itself is an abbreviation -- its full ceremonial name is listed in the 'Guinness Book of World Records' as the world's longest place name.

Answer: Johannesburg, South Africa

Nicknamed 'Jozi', 'Jo'burg', 'Egoli' (Place of Gold), 'Gauteng' (Place of Gold) and 'Maboneng' (City of Lights), Johannesburg is in the northeast of South Africa. Although not one of the country's three official capitals, with a population of just under one million, Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa. The city's major airport (O.R. Tambo International) is the busiest on the continent. The city covers an area of 334 square miles, which is only slightly less than twice the size of The Seychelles, Africa's smallest country.

Answer: Liverpool

The picture shows Liverpool from the River Mersey with the clocktower of the Royal Liver Building in the centre. There is a veritable Who's Who of famous Liverpudlians from The Beatles and Cilla Black through to comedians Ken Dodd and Arthur Askey, actors Derek Nimmo and Leonard Rossiter, dramatists Anthony and Sir Peter Shaffer and footballer Wayne Rooney, to the man who gave children everywhere toy train sets, Frank Hornby.

Founded in 1207, Liverpool acquired city status in 1880 and reached its population peak at around 850,000 at the time of the 1931 census. Eighty years later, though, the city's population was barely half of that figure. Guinness World Records dubbed Liverpool "World Capital City of Pop" as artists born in the city have produced more number one records than those from anywhere else.

Answer: Perth WA

With a population of 1.97 million (as of June 2013), more people live in Perth than inside the rest of a circle with a radius of 1,300 miles emanating from the city. For this reason, it has been suggested that Perth is the world's most isolated city. It can be argued, though, that both Honolulu (which is 2,837 miles from San Francisco) and Auckland (1,338 miles from Sydney) are further from the next nearest significant city. Not that Perth has particularly close neighbors -- Adelaide is 1,300 miles to the east, but both Sydney (2,045 miles) and Brisbane (2,239 miles) are further away than a couple of national capitals: Dili, East Timor is 1,731 miles away and Jakarta, Indonesia 1,865 miles.

Perth was dubbed the "City of Light" in 1962, when residents all lit up their houses as astronaut John Glenn passed overhead on his historic flight in "Friendship 7". They then repeated the exercise when the much older Senator Glenn flew over them in 1998 in the Space Shuttle.

Answer: Vancouver BC

The population of Vancouver passed the 600,000 mark for the first time at the 2011 Census, which represented an increase of almost 25% over the previous twenty years. Of those 600,000, almost 30% were Chinese, with Filipinos and other South Asian countries each contributing a further 6% -- the total of non-native English speakers was just over 52%.
With a land area of just 45 square miles (the same as the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands), Vancouver is by far the smallest of Canada's fifteen leading population centers. (Calgary AB, for example, has less than twice the population of Vancouver but covers about seven times as much ground.) With a population density of just under 14,000/square mile, only New York, San Francisco and Mexico City have higher densities in North America (amongst cities with populations above 250,000).
For those of you who chose Montreal -- the population at the time of the 2011 Census was 1.65 million of whom 86% had a first language other than English (66% had a first language of French).

Answer: Copenhagen, Denmark

The Kalmar Union between Sweden, Norway and Denmark was founded in 1397. When the first king, Eric of Pomerania, moved his seat to Copenhagen in 1416 he effectively cemented the city's place as the capital. Located on the east coast of the island of Zealand and also spreading across onto Amager, Copenhagen is in the extreme east of Denmark. Indeed, the nearest city to it is Malmo, Sweden, which is around 40 miles away across the Øresund. The city itself occupies an area of less than 30 square miles, which is about the size of Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

The photograph shows the 17th-century waterfront district of Nyhavn. Many of the colorful houses here are now home to bars and restaurants.

Answer: Panama City, Panama

Wherever you are going in Central America and whichever mode of transport you use, it is quite likely that your trip will pass through Panama City, the largest city and capital of the Republic of Panama. Located at the Pacific Ocean end of the Panama Canal, it is a regular stopping point for ocean liners, whilst its airport, Tocumen International, is the largest and busiest airport in Central America.

Founded by the Spanish in 1519, the city was destroyed when pirate Henry Morgan sacked it in 1671. It was re-established just two years later on a nearby site and the ruins of the original city, known as Panama Viejo, are now a popular tourist destination.

Answer: Boston MA

The capital and largest city in Massachusetts, Boston is also the largest city in New England. Founded by English Puritan colonists, it was the scene for many of the most significant events during the American Revolutionary War. America's first public school was opened here (in 1635) as was the country's first subway system (in 1897). Today, tourists flock to Quincy Market in Faneuil Hall (built in 1742) and to the bar made famous as the home of TV sitcom "Cheers".

Iconic rock group Aerosmith were founded in Boston, as were new wave band The Cars. Native Bostonians include Benjamin Franklin, artist John Singleton Copley, essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet Sylvia Plath, actor Leonard Nimoy and writer Edgar Allen Poe.