Ankara vs Cairo

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Ankara ( ANK-ə-rə, also US: AHNK-ə-rə, Turkish: [ˈaŋkaɾa] (listen)), historically known as Ancyra ( an-SY-rə) and Angora ( ang-GOR-ə, also US: ANG-gə-rə), is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 4.5 million in its urban center and over 5.6 million in Ankara Province, making it Turkey's second-largest city after Istanbul. Serving as the capital of the early Celtic country of Galatia (280--64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the identical name (25 BC--7th century), the city is very old with various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archaeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393--late 15th century), and the Angora Vilayet (1867--1922). The historic center of Ankara is a rocky mountain climbing 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Although few of its outworks have survived, there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture across the city, the most remarkable being the 20 BC Temple of Augustus and Rome that boasts the Monumentum Ancyranum, the inscription recording the Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the organization of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role the former Turkish capital Istanbul (Constantinople) following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city, located at the centre of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the origin of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also famous for its pears, honey and muscat grapes. Although located in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded largely by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square metres (775 square feet) per head.

Source: Wikipedia

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Cairo ( KY-roh; Arabic: القاهرة‎, romanized: al-Qāhirah, pronounced [ælˈqɑːhɪɾɑ] (listen), Coptic: ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲏ) is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world. Its metropolitan area, with a population of over 20 million, is the biggest in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East, and the 6th-largest in the world. Cairo is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are situated in its geographical location. Located near the Nile Delta, Cairo was founded in 969 AD by the Fatimid dynasty, but the property composing the present-day city was the site of early national capitals whose descendants stay visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo has long been a centre of the region's cultural and political life, and is titled"the city of a thousand minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture. Cairo is considered a World City with a"Beta +" classification based on GaWC.Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University.

Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city; the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for the majority of its existence. With a population of over 9 million spread over 3,085 square kilometers (1,191 sq mi), Cairo is definitely the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million individuals reside in close proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other megacities, suffers from high levels of traffic and pollution. The Cairo Metro is one of the only two subway systems in Africa (the other being in Algiers, Algeria), and ranks amongst the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The market of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, and 43rd internationally on Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index.

Source: Wikipedia