Asuncion vs Mashhad

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Asunción (UK:, US:, Spanish: [asunˈsjon]) is the capital and the biggest city of Paraguay in South America. The town stands on the left bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the River Pilcomayo. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción from the northwest separate the city from the Occidental Region of Paraguay and from Argentina in the south part of the city. The remainder of the town is surrounded by the Central Department. Administratively, the city creates an autonomous capital district, not a part of any department. The metropolitan area, known as Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San Antonio, Limpio, Capiatá and Villa Elisa, which are part of the Central Department. The Asunción metropolitan region has around two million inhabitants. The Asunción Stock Exchange lists the Municipality of Asunción as BVPASA: MUA.

Asunción is one of the oldest cities in South America and the longest continually inhabited place from the Río de la Plata Basin; for this reason it's called"the Mother of Cities". By Asunción colonial expeditions departed to found other towns, including the second base of Buenos Aires and other major cities such as Villarrica, Corrientes, Santa Fe and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network classifies Asunción as a "Gamma City". It's the house of the national authorities, principal port, and the chief industrial and cultural center of Paraguay. Near Asunción are the headquarters of the CONMEBOL, the continental governing body of association football in South America. Asunción ranks among the cheapest cities in the world for foreign people.

Source: Wikipedia

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Mashhad (Persian: مشهد‎, romanized: Mašhad [mæʃˈhæd] (listen)), also spelled Mashad or Meshad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran and the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country. It has a population of 3,001,184 (2016 census), which includes the areas of Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road connecting with Merv to the east. The city is named after the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam. The Imam was buried in a village in Khorasan, which afterward gained the name Mashhad, meaning the place of martyrdom. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid is also buried within the same shrine. Mashhad has been governed by different ethnic groups over the course of its history.

The city enjoyed relative prosperity in the Mongol period. Mashhad is also known colloquially as the city of Ferdowsi, after the Iranian poet who composed the Shahnameh. The city is the hometown of some of the most significant Iranian literary figures and artists, such as the poet Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, and Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, the traditional Iranian singer and composer. Ferdowsi and Akhavan-Sales are both buried in Tus, an ancient city that is considered to be the main origin of the current city of Mashhad. On 30 October 2009 (the anniversary of Imam Reza's martyrdom), Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad to be "Iran's spiritual capital".

Source: Wikipedia