I recently had a discussion with friends about the longest flights they had taken, which led us to discuss the farthest cities apart.
Putting in mind that distance can be measured in unlimited ways through “straight” lines along (not through) the surface of earth because of earth’s spherical shape. But we were definitely measuring the distance in the shortest way.
The pair of cities we mentioned, before doing any research on the subject, were:
Moscow – Buenos Aires
Ottawa - Aukland
Reykjavík – Auckland
Then, further research was done. And we used this tool to measure the shortest distance between any two cities. And as no one can clearly define a city. We assumed a city is any settlement with a population of more than 100,000.
To evaluate our finding significance and the chance of finding better results we had to know that the maximum distance from any point on earth to another is about 20,020KM. (the circumference of the earth averages 40,041KM).
Our best attempt was these two cities
Punta Arenas (Chile) to Ulan Bator (Mongolia) 19,378KM
We thought that we will not find any higher distance, because we were already almost hitting the maximum! But after more trials, we found out the world’s furthest two cities apart:
Taipei (Taiwan) to Asuncion (Paraguay) with a distance of 19,916 KM
At that point we were almost sure there will be no better result. We don’t think there are other two farthest cities apart in the world, unless someone proves us wrong.
UPDATE: Someone proved us wrong! A contributor on Answers.com with the name of HopelessFlight found out two cities which are further apart than our finding:
Pakanbaru, Indonesia to Quito, Ecuador (12,428 Miles 19,998KM) Definitely these are The Furthest Cities Apart in the world!
Update: Unbelievable! Another “Answers.com” user with the name of Pklimowicz, proved that there are still two further cities!
The distance between Cordoba, Spain and Hamilton, New Zealand is 12,433 miles / 20,009 km
Thank you Philip for pointing this out!
Update (11 March 2012): A commenter names Chris found two further cities apart!
Chincha Alta, Peru – Siem Reap, Cambodia about 20,o10 km!!
Using the tool http://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-is-it-between.htm these two cities are 10 km further apart than the previously mentioned Cordoba, Spain and Hamilton, New Zealand. So let’s conclude this:
The Farthest Two Cities Apart are:
Chincha Alta, Peru - Siem Reap, Cambodia
ps: to avoid any confusion on measurements. I decided on this tool for measuring distance :
and here are the final results:
Chincha Alta, Peru - Siem Reap, Cambodia : 20,010 km (the world’s two furthest cities apart!)
Cordoba, Spain and Hamilton, New Zealand : 20,000 km
Pakanbaru, Indonesia to Quito, Ecuador : 19,530 km
