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Cities and towns

6,162 articles

Porthleven

Porthleven, Cornwall's most southerly port, is a town on Mount's Bay built around a refuge harbour authorized by the 1811 Act of Parliament, opened 16 August 1825, later run by Harvey & Co, with a pilchard fishing and boatbuilding past and a storm-famous clock tower.

Portland metropolitan area, Oregon

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metropolitan statistical area, centered on Portland, Oregon; 2.54 million residents (2025), 26th-largest US metro, governed regionally by Metro and its urban growth boundary since 1979.

Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine, the largest city in Maine on Casco Bay, distinct from Portland, Oregon. Population 68,408 (2020), 69,911 estimated 2025; first capital of Maine; deepwater port and Canada's winter port.

Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon: largest city in Oregon, seat of Multnomah County, at the Willamette-Columbia confluence. Founded 1845 by coin toss, incorporated 1851; 2025 population about 635,000; new council-mayor government since 2025.

Porto

Porto (Oporto), Portugal's second-largest city on the Douro River, with a UNESCO-listed historic centre (1996), 273,476 residents in 2025, a growing tourism and business economy, and housing costs below Lisbon's.

Porto-Novo

Porto-Novo (Hogbonu/Hɔgbonu) is the official capital of Benin, on the Porto-Novo lagoon 35 km from Cotonou. Former Goun kingdom, named by the Portuguese in 1752, French protectorate from 1882; UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art.

Portobelo

Portobelo (San Felipe de Portobelo), a Caribbean port town in Colón, Panama, founded 1597; terminus of the Camino Real and site of Spanish colonial trade fairs, 17th-18th century fortifications inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1980, in danger since 2012, home of the Black Christ pilgrimage and Congo culture.

Portoferraio

Portoferraio, main town and ferry port of Elba in the Province of Livorno, Tuscany; founded 1548 by Cosimo I de' Medici as Cosmopoli, Napoleon's 1814–15 exile capital, with about 11,750 residents and 3.2 million annual ferry passengers.

Portofino

Portofino (ancient Portus Delphini) is a Ligurian fishing village turned luxury resort in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy, on the Portofino promontory, with a marine protected area since 1999 and heavy tourism pressure.

Portorož

Portorož (Portorose) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort in the Municipality of Piran, founded as a thermal spa in 1885, declared a spa town in 1897, known for salt-pan wellness, the 1910 Palace Hotel, and 140 years of tourism in 2025.

Portoviejo

Portoviejo (Villa Nueva de San Gregorio de Portoviejo), Ecuadorian city founded 12 March 1535 by Francisco Pacheco under Diego de Almagro; capital of Manabí province, 322,925 canton residents (2022), UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy since 2019.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth: port city and unitary authority on Portsea Island, Hampshire, England; home of the Royal Navy's main base with about 211,500 residents, chartered in 1194, a city since 1926, facing local government reorganisation.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, settled in 1630 and incorporated in 1653, is a coastal city on the Piscataqua River known for shipbuilding, historic houses, and its deep-water port.

Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth, Virginia: independent city in Hampton Roads on the Elizabeth River, founded 1752, home of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Gosport, 1767); 2020 population 97,915, declining slightly.

Posadas, Misiones

Posadas, capital of Misiones Province, Argentina, on the Paraná River facing Encarnación, Paraguay. Founded as a 1615 Jesuit reduction, renamed in 1879; 318,861 residents (2010 census).

Positano

Positano, comune in Salerno province on the Amalfi Coast, Italy; cliffside resort town of about 4,000 people, UNESCO-listed landscape, Steinbeck's 1953 essay, and severe landslide risk.

Potchefstroom

Potchefstroom, a city in South Africa's North West Province on the Mooi River, founded by Voortrekker leader Andries Potgieter, proclaimed 22 December 1838, first Transvaal capital, now a North-West University town.

Potosí

Potosí, Bolivia: colonial silver city founded 1545 at Cerro Rico, world's largest silver deposit; UNESCO site 1987, in danger since 2014; mita labor, Casa de la Moneda, ongoing mine closures above 4,400 m.

Potsdam

Potsdam, capital of Brandenburg, Germany, southwest of Berlin; first documented 993 as Poztupimi. Prussian residence city with UNESCO-listed Sanssouci palaces and parks, site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference, about 188,000 residents on the Havel lakes.

Poughkeepsie, New York

Poughkeepsie, New York: a Hudson River city in Dutchess County, about 75 miles north of New York City, population about 32,500. Distinct from the surrounding Town of Poughkeepsie; site of New York's 1788 Constitution ratification and America's first slow sand filtration plant.

Pound Ridge, New York

Pound Ridge is a town in northern Westchester County, New York, incorporated 1788, population about 5,082 (2020). Known for 3-acre zoning, the 1779 Tarleton raid, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, and median household income of $250,001.

Pouzauges

Pouzauges, a hilltop commune in Vendée, France (INSEE 85182), Petite Cité de Caractère with an 11th-century donjon, 355 m castle curtain wall, Romanesque churches, and about 5,700 inhabitants.

Poway, California

Poway, California: "City in the Country," a city in northeast San Diego County incorporated December 1980, population about 49,000, over half its 39.4 square miles preserved open space, served by Poway Unified School District.

Poza Rica de Hidalgo

Poza Rica de Hidalgo, a city and municipality in northern Veracruz, Mexico; former "Oil Capital of Mexico" (70% of national crude, 1946–1956); municipality created 1951; refinery closed 1991; hit by the 2025 Cazones River flood.

Poznań

Poznań, a major city in western Poland and historical capital of Wielkopolska, founded 1253 under Magdeburg Law; about 534,000 registered residents, fifth largest Polish city, home of Adam Mickiewicz University and the Poznań Fast Tram.

Pozuelo de Alarcón

Pozuelo de Alarcón, a municipality west of Madrid, Spain; formerly Pozuelo de Aravaca, renamed after its 1632 sale to the Alarcón family. Spain's richest municipality by income per inhabitant, with business parks La Finca and Ciudad de la Imagen.

Pozzuoli

Pozzuoli (Puteoli) is a Campanian port town on the Gulf of Pozzuoli inside the Campi Flegrei caldera, a former major Roman harbor now known for bradyseism, recurring evacuations, and the 2026 magnitude 4.7 quake.

Prague

Prague (Praha), capital and largest city of Czechia on the Vltava, 1.4 million residents, GDP per capita 192% of EU average, record 8.08 million tourists in 2024, 65 km metro, UNESCO historic core.

Praia

Praia is the capital and largest city of Cabo Verde, on Santiago island's southern coast. Settled from 1615 on the Plateau, colonial capital from 1770, city from 1858, national capital since 1975, with rapid post-independence urban growth.

Prato, Tuscany

Prato, Tuscany: second-largest Tuscan city (198,327 residents, 2026) on the Bisenzio River near Florence, capital of the province of Prato, home to Europe's largest textile district, a large Chinese community, and a pioneering circular textile recycling economy.