Baghdad | |
---|---|
State | Baghdad |
Country | Iraq |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Baghdad (; Arabic: بَغْدَاد [baɣˈdaːd] (listen)) is the capital of Iraq and one of the largest cities in the Arab world, and compared to its large population it has a small area at just 673 square kilometers. 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.
Porto Alegre | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Porto Alegre (UK: , US: , local Portuguese: [ˈpoɾtu aˈlɛɡɾi] (listen); lit. '"Joyful Harbor"') is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,481,019 inhabitants (2016) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the centre of Brazil's fifth largest metropolitan area, with 4,405,760 inhabitants (2010). The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian state.Porto Alegre was founded in 1769 by Manuel Jorge Gomes de Sepúlveda, who used the pseudonym José Marcelino de Figueiredo to hide his identity; but the official date is 1772 with the act signed by immigrants from the Azores, Portugal. The vast majority of the population is of European descent.
The city lies on the eastern bank of the Guaíba Lake (usually referred by the city population as Guaíba River), where five rivers converge to form the Lagoa dos Patos (Lagoon of the Ducks), a giant freshwater lagoon navigable by even the largest of ships.
Zoetermeer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌzutərˈmeːr] (listen)) is a city in the Western Netherlands, in...
Hamden is the name of several places in the United States of America. It also is a surname.
Valletta (, Maltese: il-Belt Valletta, Maltese pronunciation: [vɐˈlːɛtːɐ]) is the capital city of...