In the United States, I’d probably name Oregon City, the famous end of the Oregon Trail and the first city founded west of the Rocky Mountains during the pioneer era. Its population is only 37,000.
Hell, Michigan
I had to scroll way too far down for this one, but it was the first one I thought of.
Another one would be Gary Indiana
We don’t talk about Gary
I don’t know about the smallest, but I’ve always thought that Santa Fe, New Mexico has an outsized influence on everything from food to art to architecture and culture. I visited last year and it was much smaller than I envisioned, partly because there are local regulations on building height to keep from ruining the charm of the city.
For NM I’d say Roswell; 5th largest city (48k population) but well known b/c aliens
In Slovenia I believe Sevnica (4.5k population) - home town of Melania Trump - would be the smallest most recognizable place by the world.
But Slovenia is small enough even Kostanjevica na Krki with 802 or Vače with 421 population is easily recognizable by Slovenians.
Nokia, Finland, population 36,000. Cellphones, tyres, rubber boots, …
Does it count if you know the thing it’s known for but not that it’s a place?
I’d try Bodom, population 0, if other than cities are allowed.
Or possibly Santa’s village, population 2 (if you exclude the elves)
I guess the one that pretty much everyone knows in Germany is Buxtehude. It is being used as the poster child for a backwards town, far away from cities. Which is funny because neither is it backwards, remote or even very small. With a population of 40k it’s relatively large, compared to many other places in Germany, even just right next to Buxtehude. It is not far from Hamburg and its historic core is worth a visit. I think the name itself is the reason why it is being made fun of so much. Though there are so many other, much quirkier named towns in Germany but it somehow became Buxtehude.
we have a town called “Fucking” with only a few hundred people living there. the town sign gets stolen once a month
I thought they changed their name? Isn’t it called “Fugging” now?
yeah it looks like it, I’ve searched for “bad fucking” on Google maps and it returned Fugging
Chornobyl, Ukraine. “50 thousand people used to live here, now it’s a ghost town”
There are many more ghost towns now, due to the war. Adviivka, Bakhmut and many others, some small, some relatively big. Everyone has heard of those small cities.
Pretty sure that quote refers to Prypiat. Chornobyl had around 14k people living at the moment of the evacuation, according to wikipedia
I was under the impression that Pripyat was the town?
Yeah, the town mentioned in the quote is, in fact, Pripyat, my bad. Still, Chornobyl is another Ghost town and the exclusion Zone is named after it, so it’s the town people recognise more.
Wales has St. Davids - population c.1,750
Byron bay. Bundaberg. Coon.
Snowtown, Port Arthur
In the UK it’s got to be the City of London. Famous for being an ancient city established by the Romans and awash with history, now one of the world’s biggest financial centers with a modern skyline of famously distinctive skyscrapers. It’s home to some world-famous landmarks like Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge, and has a population of about 10,000.
The City of London is not to be confused with London, London, London or London.
For France it’s probably Vichy, infamously well known internationally for being the capital of the French pro-Nazi government during the Occupation. Only 25’000 inhabitants.
Even without considering cheese villages (somebody mentioned Roquefort, I was thinking of Gruyere, France clocking in at about 100 inhabitants), I believe Verdun would be just as known and is smaller at a population of around 17000.
Admittedly my WW2 history knowledge is quite lacking, but I don’t recognise Vichy because of the war stuff.
But I do recognise Vichy! Because we have a sub-type of mineral water in Sweden that is named after Vichy, “Vichyvatten”. Wikipedia tells me the original was from a spring near Vichy, hence the name.
The two facts are linked: Vichy was chosen as the new capital after the occupation of Paris because of the springs. There were a lot of hotels and means of communication because of the luxurious spas.
Also consider that Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, of cheese fame, has 528 inhabitants.
I didn’t thought of that, you’re right!
Mont Saint-Michel, pop. 25
Gruyères, Switzerland. 2000 inhabitants. Famous for the famous Swiss cheese of the same name.
Corleone, Sicily, for obvious reasons. Poulation around 10k.
Roswell, NM comes to mind. Tiny and yet most people will think of UFOs when they hear the name.
I can’t think of a smaller city in the US that fits “so many have heard of it”
Tombstone comes to mind as well
Waco, TX for anyone around in the 90s
I was gonna say Albuquerque, because of the name itself, the weird Al song and Breaking Bad, but Roswell is way tinier.
don’t forget being famous for wrong turns
Hallstatt - Austria
The city so beautiful that the Chinese copied it.
