Bogota | |
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State | |
Country | Colombia |
Capital | |
Population | 8181047 |
Postcode | 110321 |
Bogotá (, also UK:, US:, Spanish: [boɣoˈta] (listen)), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and previously known as Santa Fe de Bogotá during the time of this colony and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital and largest city of Colombia, administered as the Capital District, and the capital of the department of Cundinamarca. Bogotá is a territorial entity of the first order, with the same administrative status as the departments of Colombia. It is the political, economical, industrial and administrative center of the nation.
Bogotá was founded as the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada on 6 August 1538, by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada following a harsh expedition into the Andes conquering the Muisca. The Muisca were the indigenous inhabitants of the region, and they called the place of the foundation"Thybzaca" or"Old Town". The title of Bogotá corresponds to the Spanish pronunciation of the Chibcha Bacatá (or Mueketá) that was the title of a neighboring settlement located between the modern towns of Funza and Cota. There are different opinions about the meaning of the word Bacatá, the most accepted being that it signifies"walling of the farmland" in the Chibcha language. Another popular translation argues that it signifies"The Lady of the Andes". Moreover, the word'Andes' in the Aymara language means"shining mountain", thus rendering the full lexical signification of Bogotá as"The Lady of the shining mountain" (notice, however, that the language of the Muisca people wasn't Aymara however Chibcha). Others indicate that Bacatá was the title of the Muisca cacique who governed the land before the Spaniards arrived. Jiménez de Quesada gave the settlement the name of"Our Lady of Hope" but the Spanish crown gave it the title of Santafé (Holy Faith) in 1540 when it was appointed as a city.Santafé became the seat of the government of the Spanish Royal Audiencia of the New Kingdom of Granada (made in 1550), and then after 1717 it was the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Following the Battle of Boyacá on 7 August 1819, Bogotá became the capital of the independent nation of Gran Colombia. It was Simón Bolívar who rebaptized the city with the title of Bogotá, as a means of honoring the Muisca people and as an emancipation act towards the Spanish crown.
Sofia | |
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State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 1286383 |
Sofia ( SOH-fee-ə, SOF-; Bulgarian: София, romanized: Sofiya, IPA: [ˈsɔfijɐ] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the eponymous valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and has many mineral springs, such as the Sofia Central Mineral Baths. It has a humid continental climate. Being in the centre of the Balkans, it is midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, and closest to the Aegean Sea.Known as Serdica in Antiquity and Sredets in the Middle Ages, Sofia has been an area of human habitation since at least 7000 BC. The recorded history of the city begins with the attestation of the conquest of Serdica by the Roman Republic in 29 BC from the Celtic tribe Serdi. During the decline of the Roman Empire, the city was raided by Huns, Visigoths, Avars and Slavs. In 809 Serdica was incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire by Khan Krum and became known as Sredets. In 1018, the Byzantines ended Bulgarian rule until 1194, when it was reincorporated by the reborn Bulgarian Empire. Sredets became a major administrative, economic, cultural and literary hub until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1382. From 1530 to 1826, Sofia was the regional capital of Rumelia Eyalet, the Ottoman Empire's key province in Europe. Bulgarian rule was restored in 1878. Sofia was selected as the capital of the Third Bulgarian State in the next year, ushering a period of intense demographic and economic growth.
Sofia is the 13th largest city in the European Union. It is surrounded by mountainsides, such as Vitosha by the southern side, Lyulin by the western side, and the Balkan Mountains by the north, which makes it the third highest European capital after Andorra la Vella and Madrid. Being Bulgaria's primate city, Sofia is home of many of the major local universities, cultural institutions and commercial companies. The city has been described as the "triangle of religious tolerance".