Well, I learned something new today. I learned that Wellington, New Zealand, is the furthest south capital city in the world. I learned something else today. I learned that Canberra, Australia, is the second furthest south capital city. And I learned a third thing. I learned that the third furthest south capital city in the world is Montevideo, Uruguay.

When I learned this third thing, it raised a real question in my mind, so I went online and asked: isn’t Buenos Aires, Argentina, south of Montevideo? After all, virtually all of Argentina is south of all of Uruguay. But, no (was the answer). Montevideo is actually south of Buenos Aires. Go figure.

That raised more questions. What are the largest capital cities metropolitan areas in America? The largest metropolitan area itself is Sao Paolo, with over 23,000,000 people. But of course, it is not a capital, so doesn’t count in the answer to my question. But here goes –

1. Mexico City, Mexico 23,000,000
2. Buenos Aires, Argentina 16,000,000
3. Bogota, Colombia 12,000,000
4. Lima, Peru 12,000,000
5. Santiago, Chile 7,000,000
6. Washington, DC 6,500,000
7. Brasilia, Brazil 5,000,000
8. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 4,000,000
9. Asuncion, Paraguay 3,500,000
10. Guatemala City, Guatemala 3,200,000
11. Caracas, Venezuela 3,000,000
12. Port-au-Prince, Haiti 2,700,000
13. San Salvador, El Salvador 2,400,000
14. San Jose, Costa Rica 2,100,000
15. Havana, Cuba 2,100,000
16. Quito, Ecuador 2,000,000
17. La Paz, Bolivia 2,000,000
18. Montevideo, Uruguay, 1,800,000
19. Ottawa, Canada 1,500,000
20. Managua, Nicaragua 1,400,000
21. Tegucigalpa, Honduras 1,300,000
22. Panama City, Panama 1,000,000
23. Kingston, Jamaica 600,000
24. Nassau, Bahamas 300,000
25. Paramaribo, Suriname 260,000
26. Willemstad, Curacao 140,000
27. Georgetown, Guyana 125,000
28. Bridgetown, Barbados 110,000
29. Fort de France, Martinique 90,000
30. Port of Spain, Trinidad 85,000
31. Belize City, Belize 65,000
32. Cayenne, French Guiana 65,000

Maybe this type of list isn’t interesting to you, but it is to me. Most lists are. I could spend a lot of time just making lists. Often, I do. In fact, I just did.

But does anything here surprise you? A number of things did surprise me. For example, I would not have guessed that Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince are both larger than Havana, and that the Island of Hispaniola not only has the two largest cities in the Caribbean, but has a total population close to 25,000,000. Cuba only has about 11,000,000 on the whole island, although it is significantly larger.

It also surprises me that Brasilia, created out of the jungle only 65 years ago, now has a population of 5,000,000. I never would have guessed anything near that.

Other than that, I wouldn’t have put these cities in this order. I don’t think I would have guessed Guatemala City was the largest in Central America, would I?

By the way, I haven’t been to most of these places. You have probably been to more than I have. I have been to eight. You?