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Warsaw

Capital of PolandWarsaw stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, about 260 km from the Baltic Sea and about 300 km from the Carpathian Mountains.

Why it's the capital

In 1596 King Sigismund III Vasa moved his royal court to Warsaw, and the city became the capital of the Polish Crown and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Fun facts

  1. The Mermaid of Warsaw is the city's symbol: she appears on its coat of arms, and a statue of her stands in the Old Town Market Place.
  2. About 85% of Warsaw was destroyed in the Second World War, but the Old Town was rebuilt and added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1980.
  3. Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, was born in Warsaw in 1867.

Finding it on the globe

Tap a little east of the middle of Poland, on the Vistula River. Vilnius is about 390 km to the north-east.

Easy to mix up

Kraków, in southern Poland, was the official capital until 1596, so players sometimes tap it instead of Warsaw.

Sources: Wikipedia: Warsaw, Wikipedia: Mermaid of Warsaw, Wikipedia: Marie Curie, Wikipedia: Kraków