List of capital cities by elevation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

La Paz, Bolivia
Quito, Ecuador
Bogotá, Colombia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Thimphu, Bhutan
Asmara, Eritrea
Sana'a, Yemen
Mexico City, Mexico
Tehran, Iran
Kabul, Afghanistan
Nairobi, Kenya

This is a list of national capitals ordered by elevation. Higher elevations typically have social, economic, and architectural effects on cities, in particular colder temperatures in winter. Low elevation cities are often seaports or are close to the sea.

The first country on the main list, Bolivia, is a country with multiple capitals; La Paz is the seat of the government while Sucre is the constitutional capital. If La Paz is considered the national capital, then it is ranked number one on the list. However, if Sucre is specified, then Ecuador's capital, Quito, is the national capital at the highest elevation while Sucre would be second.

The second list below contains several states with limited recognition.

List[edit]

Member and observer states of the United Nations[edit]

Country Capital Elevation (m) Elevation (ft)
 Bolivia La Paz (Government seat)
(Capital: Sucre)
3,640 11,942
 Ecuador Quito 2,850 9,350
 Bolivia Sucre 2,790 9,220
 Colombia Bogotá 2,625 8,612
 Ethiopia Addis Ababa 2,355 7,726
 Bhutan Thimphu 2,334 7,657
 Eritrea Asmara 2,325 7,628
 Yemen Sanaʽa 2,250 7,382
 Mexico Mexico City 2,240 7,350
 Iran Tehran 1,830 6,003
 Kenya Nairobi 1,795 5,889
 Afghanistan Kabul 1,790 5,873
 Namibia Windhoek 1,721 5,646
 Lesotho Maseru 1,673 5,489
 Rwanda Kigali 1,567 5,141
 Guatemala Guatemala City 1,529 5,016
 Burundi Gitega 1,504 4,934
 Zimbabwe Harare 1,483 4,865
   Nepal Kathmandu 1,400 4,593
 Mongolia Ulaanbaatar 1,350 4,429
 Madagascar Antananarivo 1,288 4,226
 South Africa Pretoria 1,271 4,170
 Zambia Lusaka 1,270 4,167
 Eswatini Mbabane 1,243 4,078
 Uganda Kampala 1,190 3,904
 Costa Rica San José 1,146 3,760
 Tanzania Dodoma 1,120 3,675
 Brazil Brasília 1,079 3,540
 Malawi Lilongwe 1,024 3,360
 Andorra Andorra la Vella 1,023 3,356
 Honduras Tegucigalpa 990 3,250
 Armenia Yerevan 989 3,246
 Botswana Gaborone 983 3,225
 Turkey Ankara 938 3,077
 Venezuela Caracas 909 2,982
 Jordan Amman 900 2,953
 Tajikistan Dushanbe 789 2,589
 Palestine East Jerusalem and Ramallah[Note 1] 779 (and 880) 2,557 (and 2,890)
 Nigeria Abuja 777 2,549
 Kyrgyzstan Bishkek 771 2,530
 Israel Jerusalem 754 2,474
 Cameroon Yaoundé 726 2,382
 Syria Damascus 691 2,267
 Spain Madrid 667 2,188
 El Salvador San Salvador 658 2,159
 Saudi Arabia Riyadh 624 2,047
 Australia Canberra 605 1,985
 Bulgaria Sofia 580 1,900
 Pakistan Islamabad 560 1,830
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo 550 1,800
 South Sudan Juba 550 1,800
  Switzerland Bern 542 1,778
 Chile Santiago 521 1,709
 Uzbekistan Tashkent 459 1,506
 Liechtenstein Vaduz 455 1,493
 Georgia Tbilisi 451 1,480
 Sudan Khartoum 377 1,237
 Central African Republic Bangui 369 1,211
 Mali Bamako 349 1,145
 Kazakhstan Astana 338 1,109
 San Marino San Marino 328 1,076
 Burkina Faso Ouagadougou 305 1,001
 Chad N'Djamena 298 978
 Slovenia Ljubljana 281 922
 Luxembourg Luxembourg 273 896
 Czech Republic Prague 244 801
 North Macedonia Skopje 243 797
 Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa 240 787
 Ivory Coast Yamoussoukro 217 712
 Turkmenistan Ashgabat 215 705
 India New Delhi 210 689
 Niger Niamey 207 679
 Micronesia, Federated States of Palikir 90 300
 Belarus Minsk 198 650
 Austria Vienna 170 558
 Cyprus Nicosia 170 557
 Ukraine Kyiv 168 551
 Congo Brazzaville 155 509
 Peru Lima 154 506
 Greece Athens 153 502
 Laos Vientiane 174 570
 São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé 141 463
 Mauritius Port Louis 50 170
 Slovakia Bratislava 131 430
 Croatia Zagreb 130 427
 Lithuania Vilnius 124 407
 Russia Moscow 124 407
 Serbia Belgrade 116 381
 Comoros Moroni 110 361
 Equatorial Guinea Malabo 107 351
 Albania Tirana 104 341
 Hungary Budapest 102 335
 Haiti Port-au-Prince 98 322
 Ghana Accra 98 322
 Poland Warsaw 93 305
 Moldova Chișinău 80 263
 Myanmar Naypyidaw 77 253
 Belize Belmopan 76 250
 Belgium Brussels 76 249
 Sierra Leone Freetown 76 249
 Nicaragua Managua 83 272
 Canada Ottawa 74 243
 Palau Ngerulmud 72 236
 Romania Bucharest 70 230
 Oman Muscat 68 223
 Mozambique Maputo 63 207
 Togo Lomé 63 207
 Montenegro Podgorica 61 200
 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 60 197
 Lebanon Beirut 55 180
 Malta Valletta 54 186
 Paraguay Asunción 54 177
 Jamaica Kingston 53 174
 Morocco Rabat 53 174
 China Beijing 44 144
 Uruguay Montevideo 43 141
 Vatican City Vatican City 41 135
 Iraq Baghdad 40 131
 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby 39 128
 Benin Porto-Novo 38 125
 Estonia Tallinn 37 121
 Senegal Dakar 37 121
 France Paris 34 112
 Germany Berlin 34 112
 South Korea Seoul 33 108
 Solomon Islands Honiara 29 95
 Somalia Mogadishu 28 92
 Finland Helsinki 25 82
 Vietnam Hanoi 25 82
 Grenada Saint George's 25 82
 Egypt Cairo 22 72
 Japan Tokyo 17 56
 Iceland Reykjavík 15 49
 Portugal Lisbon 15 49
 Sweden Stockholm 15 49
 Cambodia Phnom Penh 15 49
 Italy Rome 14 46
 United Kingdom London 14 46
 Qatar Doha 13 43
 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 13 43
 Norway Oslo 12 40
 East Timor Dili 11 36
 Argentina Buenos Aires 10 33
 New Zealand Wellington 10 32
 Nauru Yaren 9 30
 Republic of Ireland Dublin 8 26
 Latvia Riga 8 26
 Philippines Manila 7 23
 Bahrain Manama 6 20
 North Korea Pyongyang 6 20
 Barbados Bridgetown 6 20
 Angola Luanda 6 20
 Libya Tripoli 6 20
 Mauritania Nouakchott 6 20
 Denmark Copenhagen 5 16
 Kuwait Kuwait 5 16
 Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte 4 13
 Cuba Havana 4 13
 Bangladesh Dhaka 3 10
 Indonesia Jakarta 3 10
 Marshall Islands Majuro 3 10
 Bahamas Nassau 2 7
 St. Lucia Castries 2 7
 United States Washington, D.C. 2 7
 Algeria Algiers 1 3
 Thailand Bangkok 1 3
 Suriname Paramaribo 1 3
 Monaco Monaco 0 0
 Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan 0 0
 Maldives Malé 0 0
 Singapore Singapore 0 0
 Antigua and Barbuda Saint John's 0 0
 Dominica Roseau 0 0
 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo 0 0
 Guyana Georgetown 0 0
 Panama Panama City 0 0
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre 0 0
 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown 0 0
 Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain 0 0
 Cape Verde Praia 0 0
 Djibouti Djibouti 0 0
 Gabon Libreville 0 0
 Gambia Banjul 0 0
 Guinea Conakry 0 0
 Guinea-Bissau Bissau 0 0
 Liberia Monrovia 0 0
 Seychelles Victoria 0 0
 Tunisia Tunis 0 0
 Fiji Suva 0 0
 Kiribati South Tarawa 0 0
 Samoa Apia 0 0
 Tonga Nuku'alofa 0 0
 Tuvalu Vaiaku 0 0
 Vanuatu Port Vila 0 0
 Netherlands Amsterdam −2 −7
 Azerbaijan Baku −28 −92
Kathmandu, Nepal

Other states (including de facto independent states, autonomous region and dependencies)[edit]

Country Capital Altitude (m) Altitude (ft)
 Tibet Autonomous Region Lhasa 3,656 11,995
 Somaliland[Note 2] Hargeisa 1,334 4,377
South Ossetia[Note 2] Tskhinvali 860 2,820
 Kosovo[Note 2] Pristina 603 1,977
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic[Note 2] Tifariti and Laayoune 490 (and 68) 1,610 (and 223)
 Northern Cyprus[Note 2] North Nicosia 130 428
 Transnistria[Note 2] Tiraspol 26 85
 Greenland Nuuk 5 16
 Abkhazia[Note 2] Sukhumi 5 16
 Sint Eustatius Oranjestad 4 13
 Aruba Oranjestad 4 13
 Cayman Islands George Town 3 10
 Taiwan[Note 3][Note 2] Taipei 0 0
Martinique Fort-de-France 0 0
 Hong Kong Admiralty 0 0
 Saint Helena Jamestown 0 0
Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint-Pierre 0 0
French Guiana Cayenne 0 0
 Montserrat Brades 0 0
 Tristan da Cunha Edinburgh of the Seven Seas 0 0
 Bermuda Hamilton 0 0
 Macau Nam Van 0 0
 Niue Alofi 0 0
 Faroe Islands Tórshavn 0 0
 British Virgin Islands Road Town 0 0
 Anguilla The Valley 0 0
 United States Virgin Islands Charlotte Amalie 0 0
 Turks and Caicos Islands Cockburn Town 0 0
Guadeloupe Basse-Terre 0 0
 Curaçao Willemstad 0 0
Saint Martin Marigot 0 0
 Bonaire Kralendijk 0 0
Sint Maarten Philipsburg 0 0

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The State of Palestine (according to the Basic Law of Palestine, Title One: Article 3) regards Jerusalem as its capital. But the documents of the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) often refer to East Jerusalem (rather than the whole of Jerusalem) as a future capital, and sometimes as the current capital. One of its 2010 documents, described as "for discussion purposes only", says that Palestine has a '"vision"' for a future in which "East Jerusalem ... shall be the capital of Palestine, and West Jerusalem shall be the capital of Israel",[1] and one of its 2013 documents refers to "Palestine's capital, East Jerusalem", and states that "Occupied East Jerusalem is the natural socio-economic and political center for the future Palestinian state", while also stating that "Jerusalem has always been and remains the political, administrative and spiritual heart of Palestine" and that "The Palestinian acceptance of the 1967 border, which includes East Jerusalem, is a painful compromise".[2]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h See: List of states with limited recognition.
  3. ^ In 1949, the Republic of China government led by the Kuomintang (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and set up a provisional capital in Taipei, which serves as the seat of government to this day. The CCP established the People's Republic. As such, the political status of the ROC and the legal status of Taiwan (alongside the territories under ROC jurisdiction) are in dispute. In 1971, the United Nations gave the China seat to the PRC instead of the ROC: most states recognize the PRC to be the sole legitimate representative of all China, and the UN classifies Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China". The ROC has de facto relations with most sovereign states. A significant political movement within Taiwan advocates Taiwan independence.

References[edit]

  1. ^ PLO-NAD, June 2010, Jerusalem Non-Paper Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine on Statements and Speeches Archived 24 June 2013 at archive.today, nad-plo.org; accessed 25 November 2014. Extracts from page 2:"This paper is for discussion purposes only. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

    Palestinian vision for Jerusalem
    ...
    Pursuant to our vision, East Jerusalem, as defined by its pre-1967 occupation municipal borders, shall be the capital of Palestine, and West Jerusalem shall be the capital of Israel, with each state enjoying full sovereignty over its respective part of the city."
  2. ^ PLO-Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD), August 2013, East Jerusalem today – Palestine's Capital: The 1967 border in Jerusalem and Israel's illegal policies on the ground Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, nad-plo.org; accessed 25 November 2014, Quotes:" ... Palestine's capital, East Jerusalem ... The Palestinian acceptance of the 1967 border, which includes East Jerusalem, is a painful compromise: ... Jerusalem has always been and remains the political, administrative and spiritual heart of Palestine. Occupied East Jerusalem is the natural socio-economic and political center for the future Palestinian state."