Huambo

Designed in 1912 to become Angola's new capital — a role it held on paper until 1950 under the name Nova Lisboa — Huambo is a large city in the central highlands whose early-20th-century architecture still shapes its streetscape despite heavy damage during the civil war. A major stop on the Benguela Railway, which links the Atlantic port of Lobito to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the city has seen significant reconstruction since peace came in 2002, with a recovering economy and mountains close by.

• Population595,304
• Nearest water from center5.6 km
• Nearest mountain from center7.1 km