Baghdad | |
---|---|
State | Baghdad Governorate |
Country | Iraq |
Capital | |
Population | 7216040 |
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.
Mykolaiv | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Mykolaiv (Ukrainian: Микола́їв [mɪkoˈlɑjiu̯] (listen)), also known as Nikolaev or Nikolayev (Russian: Никола́ев [nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪf]) is a city in southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is arguably the main shipbuilding center of the Black Sea. Aside from three shipyards within the city, there are a number of research centers specializing in shipbuilding such as the State Research and Design Shipbuilding Center, Zoria-Mashproekt and others. The city has a population of 480,080 (2020 est.