Baghdad vs Hanoi

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Baghdad (; Arabic: بَغْدَاد‎ [baɣˈdaːd] (listen)) is the capital of Iraq and one of the largest cities in the Arab world. Located along the Tigris, near the ruins of the Akkadian city of Babylon and the ancient Iranian capital of Ctesiphon, Baghdad was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as hosting a multiethnic and multireligious environment, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Centre of Learning". Baghdad was the largest city in the world for much of the Abbasid era during the Islamic Golden Age, peaking at a population of more than a million. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires.

With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1932, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture, with a population variously estimated at 6 or over 7 million.In contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been frequently subjected to insurgent attacks, resulting in a substantial loss of cultural heritage and historical artifacts as well. As of 2018, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places to live, ranked by Mercer as the world's worst major city for quality of life.

Source: Wikipedia

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Hanoi (UK: ha-, hə-NOY or US: hah-NOY; Vietnamese: Hà Nội [hàː nôjˀ] (listen)) is the capital city of Vietnam. It covers an area of 3,358.6 km2 (1,296.8 sq mi). It is the second largest city in Vietnam, with over eight million residents within the city proper and an estimated population of 20 million within the metropolitan area. Located in part of the Red River Delta, Hanoi is the commercial, cultural, and educational centre of Northern Vietnam. Having an estimated nominal GDP of US$32.8 billion as of 2018, it is the second most productive economic area of Vietnam, after Ho Chi Minh City. The city is a settlement along the banks of the Red River. In 257 B.C, under the rule of king An Dương Vương, the citadel of Cổ Loa, nowaday Đông Anh district of Hanoi, was constructed and served as the capital of Âu Lạc. After the fall of Âu Lạc, the city was renamed to Tống Bình and ultimately Đại La. In 1010, emperor Lý Thái Tổ moved the capital to Đại La, renaming it Thăng Long (literally "Ascending Dragon"). Thăng Long would remain the political and cultural centre of the state of Đại Việt until 1802, when the Nguyễn dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, moved the capital to Huế.

The city renamed to Hanoi in 1831, and was the capital of French Indochina from 1883 to 1945. On 6 January 1946, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam designated Hanoi as the capital of the newly-independent country, which would last during the First Indochina War (1946–1954) and the Vietnam War (1955–1975). Hanoi has been the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam since 1976. Historically it had Chinese, French and Russian influences. It hosts various venerable educational institutions and cultural venues of significance, including the Vietnam National University, the Mỹ Đình National Stadium, and the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts. On 16 July 1999, the UNESCO presented the title "City for Peace" to Hanoi. Hanoi joined UNESCO's Network of Creative Cities as a Design City on 31 October 2019 on the occasion of World Cities' Day.

Source: Wikipedia