List of cities spanning more than one continent
Encyclopedia
A transcontinental city is a city occupying portions of more than one continent. It is commonly believed that Istanbul
in Turkey
is the only transcontinental city, however many more are actually transcontinental too. Such a city may be transcontinental by virtue of crossing a continental boundary on land or of including islands associated with a continent other than that where the city is based. The following are examples of transcontinental cities listed alphabetically:
Cities which, although not transcontinental cities, lie very close to continental boundaries and are also hubs of transcontinental metropolitan areas
:
1 If the boundary between the continents is regarded as the Panama Canal.
Cape Town, Caracas and Tokyo may be technically considered transcontinental, if the inclusion of distant uninhabited outlying island possessions is accepted as sufficient. They may be considered geographically but not demographically transcontinental. Almería is transcontinental by virtue of inclusion of an African island about 90 kilometres away with a naval base. The other four examples are clearly contiguous transcontinental cities and are hubs of transcontinental metropolitan areas.
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
is the only transcontinental city, however many more are actually transcontinental too. Such a city may be transcontinental by virtue of crossing a continental boundary on land or of including islands associated with a continent other than that where the city is based. The following are examples of transcontinental cities listed alphabetically:
- AtyrauAtyrauAtyrau , known as Guryev until 1991, is a city in Kazakhstan, and the capital of Atyrau Province. It is located at the mouth of the Ural River, 2700 kilometers west of Almaty and 350 kilometers east of the Russian city of Astrakhan. Other transliterations include Aterau, Atirau, Atyraw, Atyraou,...
, a city in western KazakhstanKazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
divided by the mouth of the Ural RiverUral RiverThe Ural or Jayıq/Zhayyq , known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi making it the third longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube...
. Almost all of it lies in AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, but a small portion extends into EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. http://www.brif.kz/eng/maps/pdf/ATY_map_e.pdf - IstanbulIstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, the largest city of TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and best-known example. The BosporusBosporusThe Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
Strait separates its European and Asian portions. It is coterminous with Istanbul ProvinceIstanbul ProvinceIstanbul Province is a province located in north-west Turkey. It has an area of 5,196 km² and a population of 13,255,685. The population was 10,018,735 in 2000. It is surrounded by the provinces of Tekirdağ to the west, Kocaeli to the east, the Black Sea to the northern part and the Sea of...
, with 65% of its residents in the 19 districts of the European portion and 35% in the 12 districts of the Asian portion. - OrenburgOrenburgOrenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
, a RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n city on the Ural RiverUral RiverThe Ural or Jayıq/Zhayyq , known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi making it the third longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube...
. Most of it is considered in Europe, but part of its south side crosses the Ural into Asia. - SuezSuezSuez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
, an Egyptian city on the Suez CanalSuez CanalThe Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
and coterminous with the Suez Governorate. Almost all of it is considered in AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, but a small portion extends eastward into Asia.
Cities which, although not transcontinental cities, lie very close to continental boundaries and are also hubs of transcontinental metropolitan areas
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
:
- ÇanakkaleÇanakkaleÇanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116 . The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan ....
, an Asian city in Turkey with the DardanellesDardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
Strait separating it from its European suburbs. It is part of the transcontinental megalopolisMegalopolis (city type)A megalopolis is typically defined as a chain of roughly adjacent metropolitan areas. The term was used by Oswald Spengler in his 1918 book, The Decline of the West, and Lewis Mumford in his 1938 book, The Culture of Cities, which described it as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and...
of Istanbul-Bursa-Çanakkale, which includes all of metropolitan NW Turkey. - Colón, PanamaColón, PanamaColón is a sea port on the Caribbean Sea coast of Panama. The city lies near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city....
, a South American city with the Panama CanalPanama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
separating it from its North American suburbs.1 - IsmaïliaIsmaïlia-Notable natives:*Osman Ahmed Osman, a famous and influential Egyptian engineer, contractor, entrepreneur, and politician, was born in this town on 6 April 1917....
, an African city in EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
with the Suez Canal separating it from its Asian suburbs. - Oral, KazakhstanOral, KazakhstanOral , Uralsk in Russian, formerly known as Yaitsk , is a city in northwestern Kazakhstan, at the confluence of the Ural and Chogan Rivers close to the Russian border. As it is located on the western side of the Ural river, it is considered geographically in Europe. It has a population of 350,000...
, a European city with the Ural River separating it from its Asian suburbs. - Panama CityPanama CityPanama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
, a South American city with the Panama Canal separating it from its North American suburbs.1 - Port SaidPort SaidPort Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
, an African city in Egypt with the Suez Canal separating it from its Asian suburbs.
1 If the boundary between the continents is regarded as the Panama Canal.
Cities with outlying islands
- AlmeríaAlmeríaAlmería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...
, a city on the southern Mediterranean SeaMediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coast of SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. While most of it is on the European mainland, it includes Isla de AlboránIsla de AlboránThe Isla de Alborán is a small islet in the Alborán Sea, part of the western Mediterranean, about 50 km north of the Moroccan coast and 90 km south of the province of Almería, Spain. A Spanish possession since 1540, it was taken from the Tunisian pirate Al Borani in the Battle of Alborán. It is...
, which is closer to Africa than to the Spanish mainland. 19.4% of the city's area is African. - Cape TownCape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, the legislative capital of South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It includes the Prince Edward IslandsPrince Edward IslandsThe Prince Edward Islands are two small islands in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands, named Marion Island and Prince Edward Island, are located at ....
and whether it is considered a transcontinental city is contingent on whether the islands are considered Antarctic or African. 25.8% of the city's total area consists of this island group. - CaracasCaracasCaracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, the capital and largest city of the South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n nation of VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. It administers the Caribbean island Federal dependencies of VenezuelaFederal dependencies of VenezuelaThe Federal Dependencies of Venezuela encompass all of Venezuela's off shore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela...
, including Isla AvesIsla AvesIsla de Aves , or Aves Island, is a Caribbean dependency of Venezuela. It has been the subject of numerous territorial disputes between the neighboring independent islands, such as Dominica, and European mother countries of surrounding dependent islands, such as the Netherlands. It lies to the west...
, sometimes associated with North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. - TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, the capital and largest city of the Asian island nation of JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The Japanese Pacific islands to its south and southeast, including the Oceanian island of Minami TorishimaMinami Torishimaor Marcus Island is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some SE of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line between Tokyo and Wake Island, which is east southeast...
, are part of it. Whether it is considered a transcontinental city is contingent on whether OceaniaOceaniaOceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
is considered a continent. These outlying islands form the Ogasawara Village, which consists of Asian and Oceanian islands.
Cape Town, Caracas and Tokyo may be technically considered transcontinental, if the inclusion of distant uninhabited outlying island possessions is accepted as sufficient. They may be considered geographically but not demographically transcontinental. Almería is transcontinental by virtue of inclusion of an African island about 90 kilometres away with a naval base. The other four examples are clearly contiguous transcontinental cities and are hubs of transcontinental metropolitan areas.