Geographic oddities

[Camelback]

Is Santiago, Chile the most isolated big city in the world? It's closer to NYC than it is to LA by about 400 miles. It is 6,800 miles away from Honolulu. 7,000 miles from Sydney. 7,200 miles to London. 8,700 miles to Moscow. 10,700 miles to Tokyo. 11,600 miles to Hong Kong. 12,400 miles to parts of China.

[MolsonExport]

I read somewhere that Perth is the most isolated big city in the world.

[MolsonExport]

Some research uncovered this:

If you use 1 million population as the criterion, the most remote city in the world is actually Auckland, New Zealand. Auckland is 2,153km from Sydney, and with no other million cities in New Zealand, Sydney is the closest to Auckland. This is 49km further than Adelaide to Perth.

If you use 500,000 people as the criterion, which the original statement apparently did, then Honolulu, population 953,000 in the 2010 Census wins hands-down, having about three-quarters of the population of Hawaii and being 3,841km from San Francisco the closest large city. Not only that, Honolulu’s population is rapidly growing towards the 1 million mark, and then there can be no argument.

Maybe it’s all about a feeling of remoteness? Certainly Perth feels more remote than Auckland, which has many other significant sized centres in New Zealand within a few hundred km, while most of the other centres in WA require a flight to reach from Perth, or a very very long drive.

https://blog.id.com.au/2012/population/p...perth-the-most-remote-city-in-the-world/

[MolsonExport]

If we consider cities >100,000 as the criterion:

cityextremes

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I read somewhere that Perth is the most isolated big city in the world.

I considered Perth and Melbourne, but they're much closer to Singapore, Hong Kong and other huge cities in Asia than Santiago is to New York City.

[MolsonExport]

Top 10 Most Isolated Cities
cities defined as having population over 100k

City Closest Neighbour Distance (km)
Honolulu, United States Daly City, United States 3,850
Anchorage, United States Vancouver, Canada 2,136
Perth, Australia Adelaide, Australia 2,136
Reykjavik, Iceland Aberdeen, United Kingdom 1,325
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia 1,321
Yakutsk, Russia Blagoveshchensk, Russia 1,317
Jayapura, Indonesia Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 1,050
Windhoek, Namibia Gabarone, Botswana 930
St. John’s, Canada Halifax, Canada 899
Mogadishu, Somalia Harar, Ethiopia 847

http://cityextremes.com/isolated

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Camelback

Is Santiago, Chile the most isolated big city in the world? It's closer to NYC than it is to LA by about 400 miles. It is 6,800 miles away from Honolulu. 7,000 miles from Sydney. 7,200 miles to London. 8,700 miles to Moscow. 10,700 miles to Tokyo. 11,600 miles to Hong Kong. 12,400 miles to parts of China.

Santiago is not isolated. Córdoba, Argentina (pop. 1.5 million) is only 400 miles away.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Top 10 Most Isolated Cities
cities defined as having population over 100k

City Closest Neighbour Distance (km)
Honolulu, United States Daly City, United States 3,850
Anchorage, United States Vancouver, Canada 2,136
Perth, Australia Adelaide, Australia 2,136
Reykjavik, Iceland Aberdeen, United Kingdom 1,325
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia 1,321
Yakutsk, Russia Blagoveshchensk, Russia 1,317
Jayapura, Indonesia Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 1,050
Windhoek, Namibia Gabarone, Botswana 930
St. John’s, Canada Halifax, Canada 899
Mogadishu, Somalia Harar, Ethiopia 847

http://cityextremes.com/isolated

Eh, but Maui and the Big Island both have 100,000+ people, even if not all in one city.

Fairbanks metro area is also just under 100,000.

[BillM]

Originally Posted by Camelback

Is Santiago, Chile the most isolated big city in the world? It's closer to NYC than it is to LA by about 400 miles. It is 6,800 miles away from Honolulu. 7,000 miles from Sydney. 7,200 miles to London. 8,700 miles to Moscow. 10,700 miles to Tokyo. 11,600 miles to Hong Kong. 12,400 miles to parts of China.

Santiago is closer to Montreal than it is to Tijuana, Mexico.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

El Paso, TX is closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to Corpus Christie, TX

Yep. The distance between El Paso and Corpus Christi is 608 miles, and the shortest route to achieve that puts you through Mexico. El Paso to San Diego is 630 miles, but the nearest point from El Paso to the Pacific Ocean is around 365 miles in the Gulf of California at Guasimas, Mexico. What's more, is that location is actually about 100 miles farther south than Corpus Christi is.

[MolsonExport]

List of country subdivisions by population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_subdivisions_by_population

Rank Subdivision Country Capital Largest Metro Area Population Area (km2) Density per km2 Comparable Country[1] Date
1 Uttar Pradesh India Lucknow 230,907,000 243,290 949.102 Pakistan 1 Mar 2021 [2]
2 Maharashtra India Mumbai 124,437,000 307,713 404.393 Japan 1 Mar 2021 [2]
3 Bihar India Patna 123,083,000 94,163 1,307.1 Japan 1 Mar 2021 [2]
4 Guangdong China Guangzhou 115,210,000 179,800 640.768 Ethiopia 31 Dec 2019 [3]
5 Punjab Pakistan Lahore 110,012,442 205,344 535.747 Philippines 15 Apr 2017 [4]
6 Shandong China Jinan 100,700,000 157,100 640.993 Vietnam 31 Dec 2019 [3]
7 West Bengal India Kolkata 98,125,000 88,752 1,105.6 Vietnam 1 Mar 2021 [2]
8 Henan China Zhengzhou 96,400,000 167,000 577.246 Vietnam 31 Dec 2019 [3]
9 Madhya Pradesh India Bhopal 84,516,000 308,252 274.178 Turkey 1 Mar 2021 [2]
10 Sichuan China Chengdu 83,750,000 485,000 172.680 Germany 31 Dec 2019 [3]

[edale]

Originally Posted by BillM

Santiago is closer to Montreal than it is to Tijuana, Mexico.

This one really seems counterintuitive to me!

[jbermingham123]

-Brazil is closer to Europe than Florida is

-London, England is closer to Pakistan than it is to London, Ontario

-Orleans, France is closer to French Guyana in South America and Mozambique (former French colony) in Southeast Africa than it is to New Orleans, Louisiana


Also, Hudson Bay is — massive:

-the state of Montana is closer to the Atlantic ocean than it is to the state of Illinois

-Both of the Dakotas are closer to the Atlantic ocean than they are to the Pacific

-Edmonton, AB is closer to the Atlantic ocean than Denver, CO is

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

-Brazil is closer to Europe than Florida is

-London, England is closer to Pakistan than it is to London, Ontario

-Orleans, France is closer to French Guyana in South America and Mozambique (former French colony) in Southeast Africa than it is to New Orleans, Louisiana


Also, Hudson Bay is — massive:

-the state of Montana is closer to the Atlantic ocean than it is to the state of Illinois

-Both of the Dakotas are closer to the Atlantic ocean than they are to the Pacific

-Edmonton, AB is closer to the Atlantic ocean than Denver, CO is

Are you counting Hudson Bay as part of the Atlantic Ocean?

[iheartthed]

The distance from the coast of Spain to Tangier, Morocco is roughly the same distance as going from Manhattan to JFK airport.

The distance from Santiago de Chile to the Chilean territory of Easter Island is about the same as the distance between New York and Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

-Brazil is closer to Europe than Florida is

The distance from Natal, Brazil to Monrovia, Liberia, is just slightly more than the distance from NYC to Denver.

[BillM]

Originally Posted by edale

This one really seems counterintuitive to me!

What I find counterintuitive is
Natal, Brazil being closer to Munich, Germany than it is to Mexico City, Mexico.

Recife, Brazil is closer to any part of Madagascar (in the Indian Ocean) than it is to Tijuana, Mexico.

[ChiSoxRox]

There is an area of the Pacific Ocean by the Chile/Peru border, where the antipode (exact opposite point on Earth) is another area of the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines.

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Yep. The distance between El Paso and Corpus Christi is 608 miles, and the shortest route to achieve that puts you through Mexico. El Paso to San Diego is 630 miles, but the nearest point from El Paso to the Pacific Ocean is around 365 miles in the Gulf of California at Guasimas, Mexico. What's more, is that location is actually about 100 miles farther south than Corpus Christi is.

Santa Rosalita 28 39' N is the closest Pacific Ocean coastline to El Paso and it's about 510 miles from El Paso.
Corpus Cristi 27 40' N, which is farther south than Santa Rosalita.

The capital of Arizona and the capital of Texas are nearly equal distance to the coast. 162 v 153 miles.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by Camelback

Is Santiago, Chile the most isolated big city in the world? It's closer to NYC than it is to LA by about 400 miles. It is 6,800 miles away from Honolulu. 7,000 miles from Sydney. 7,200 miles to London. 8,700 miles to Moscow. 10,700 miles to Tokyo. 11,600 miles to Hong Kong. 12,400 miles to parts of China.

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Santiago is not isolated. Córdoba, Argentina (pop. 1.5 million) is only 400 miles away.

And it's relatively close to 4 megacities (São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Lima) and over a dozen +1 million people metropolises. South America is a 420 million people region, that's more than US+Canada combined and now slightly less than the European Union as the UK departed.

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Tietê River, that crosses São Paulo (both capital and state) has its sources just 20 km away as the crows fly from São Paulo coast. However, they goes down upstate for 700 km, flows to Paraná River, which flows to La Plata River (where Buenos Aires and Montevideo are).

It was called by the first European colonists as "the river that flees the sea".

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

And it's relatively close to 4 megacities (São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Lima) and over a dozen +1 million people metropolises.

Those cities are not really close by North America or Europe standards. Santiago is nearly the same distance from São Paulo as New York is from Mexico City. But there are plenty of mid-size cities around Santiago that Americans generally aren't aware of, hence the misconception that Santiago is isolated.