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Moscow

Capital of RussiaMoscow stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, in the European part of a huge country that stretches all the way across North Asia to the Pacific.

Why it's the capital

Moscow became the capital of the Grand Principality of Moscow, which led the unification of Russian lands in the 15th century. After two centuries with the capital elsewhere, Lenin moved it back to Moscow on 12 March 1918.

Fun facts

  1. Moscow is first mentioned in a chronicle in 1147, as a meeting place for Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy.
  2. In 1547 Ivan the Terrible was crowned in Moscow as the first tsar of all Russia.
  3. The city is thought to be named after the Moskva River.

Finding it on the globe

Start at Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and go almost straight east, slightly north, into Russia. Moscow is there, nowhere near Russia's Asian side.

Easy to mix up

Saint Petersburg, on the Baltic Sea far to the northwest, was the capital from 1712 to 1918. Some players still tap it, but the capital is Moscow.

Sources: Wikipedia: Moscow, Wikipedia: Russia, Wikipedia: Saint Petersburg