Colombo

Sri Lanka

Colombo is Sri Lanka's executive and judicial capital, as well as the country's most populous city. It is also the financial centre of the island and a tourist destination. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is located on the west coast of the island. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the district capital of Colombo District.

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Country: Sri Lanka
Population: 217,000
Latitude: 6.93° N
Longitude: 79.86° E

Which way is Colombo from…

From Paris, Colombo lies at 95° to the east, 8,515 km as the crow flies.

Paris	95° east	8,515 km
London	94° east	8,712 km
New York	33° north-east	14,082 km
Madrid	89° east	8,964 km
Rome	100° east	7,627 km
Montreal	32° north-east	13,613 km
Saint-Denis, Réunion	43° north-east	4,083 km

Bearings as the crow flies (great circle), measured from north. From somewhere else, the bearing changes: that’s the whole game.

Oùcécap’s take

Colombo, in Sri Lanka, looks south-east of London on a flat map, at 124°. Yet the compass says 94°, due east: the 8,712 km shortest route runs over the Black Sea, Turkey and Iran, then across the Arabian Sea. From New York the gap is even wider: the map would point east, at 104°, while the compass says 33°, north-east, by way of Iceland.