Amsterdam vs Sarajevo

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Amsterdam (, UK also; Dutch: [ɑmstɛrˈdɑm] (listen)) is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands with a population of 872,680 within the city proper, 1,558,755 from the metropolitan region and 2,480,394 from the metropolitan area. Located within the province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the"Venice of the North", attributed by the large number of canals that form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the town's origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, and became the leading centre for trade and finance. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19--20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Sloten, annexed in 1921 from the municipality of Amsterdam, is the oldest part of town, dating to the 9th century. Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, the Concertgebouw, the Anne Frank House, the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Amsterdam Museum, the Heineken Experience, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, NEMO, the red-light district and Several cannabis coffee shops. It drew over 5 million international visitors in 2014. The city is also well known for its nightlife and festival activity; with several of its clubs (Melkweg, Paradiso) among the world's most famous. Primarily known for its artistic heritage, elaborate canal system and narrow houses with gabled façades; well-preserved legacies of the town's 17th-century Golden Age.

These attributes are arguably responsible for bringing millions of Amsterdam's visitors yearly. Cycling is vital to the city's character, and there are a lot of bike paths. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is considered the earliest"modern" securities market stock exchange in the world. As the industrial capital of the Netherlands and among the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research group. The city is also the cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters in the city, such as: the Philips conglomerate, AkzoNobel, Booking.com, TomTom, and ING. Moreover, many of the world's biggest companies are located in Amsterdam or have established their European headquarters in the city, such as leading technology companies Uber, Netflix and Tesla. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and 12th globally on quality of living for infrastructure and environment by Mercer. The city was ranked 4th place globally as top tech hub in the Savills Tech Cities 2019 report (2nd in Europe), and 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Port of Amsterdam is the fifth largest in Europe. The KLM hub and Amsterdam's key airport: Schiphol, is the Netherlands' busiest airport in addition to the third largest in Europe and 11th busiest airport in the world. The Dutch capital is considered one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with at least 177 nationalities represented.A few of Amsterdam's notable residents throughout history include: painters Rembrandt and Van Gogh, the diarist Anne Frank, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza.

Source: Wikipedia

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Sarajevo ( SARR-ə-YAY-voh; Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Сарајево, Bosnian pronunciation: [sǎrajeʋo] (listen); see names in other languages) is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 343,000 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area, including Sarajevo Canton, East Sarajevo and nearby municipalities, is home to 555,210 inhabitants. Nestled within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans. Sarajevo is the political, financial, social and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent center of culture in the Balkans, with region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion and the arts.Due to its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of only a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Orthodox church and synagogue within the same neighborhood. A regional center in education, the city is home to the Balkans' first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic madrasa, today part of the University of Sarajevo.Although settlement in the area stretches back to prehistoric times, the modern city arose as an Ottoman stronghold in the 15th century. Sarajevo has attracted international attention several times throughout its history. In 1885, Sarajevo was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco. In 1914, it was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip that sparked World War I, which also ended Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and resulted in the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Later, after World War II, the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Second Yugoslavia led to a massive expansion of Sarajevo, then the constituent republic's capital, which culminated with the hosting of the 1984 Winter Olympics marking a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, for 1,425 days, from April 1992 to February 1996, the city suffered the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia.Sarajevo has been undergoing post-war reconstruction, and is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The travel guide series Lonely Planet has named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world, and in December 2009 listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010. In 2011, Sarajevo was nominated to be the 2014 European Capital of Culture and in 2019, it hosted the European Youth Olympic Festival. In October 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for placing culture at the center of its development strategies, and is one of the world's eighteen Cities of Film. Furthermore there is a UNESCO tentative monument, the Old Jewish Cemetery, almost 500 years old site that is the second-largest Jewish sepulchral complex in Europe. UNESCO says that "It represents the eternal proof of coexistence of two or more different confessions under different administrations and rules, and the proof of mutual respect and tolerance."

Source: Wikipedia