On the 25th anniversary of tearing down the Berlin Wall, it is worth putting the reunification of a country capital into perspective.
There are over 1 million cities and towns around the world. Fewer than one in ten thousand are divided cities.
Among that very small number of divided cities, almost every one is a minor city with fewer than 50,000 people. Further, almost every city was divided by a natural border such as a river.
There are four notable exceptions to this, where important capital cities were split due to war: Berlin, Germany; Beirut, Lebanon; Jerusalem, Israel; and Nicosia, Cyprus. The first three cities have been reunified. Nicosia is in negotiations to be reunified currently.
The video below provides a review of divided cities around the world, and the efforts to bring these four important cities back to single, stable country capitals.
