Burgos vs Gelsenkirchen

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Burgos (UK: BOOR-goss, US: BOOR-gohss, Spanish: [ˈbuɾɣos]) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. It is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries, at the edge of the central plateau. The municipality has a population of about 180,000 inhabitants. It forms part of the Camino de Santiago. Founded in 884 by Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, Burgos soon became the leading city of the embryonic County of Castile. 11th century chieftain Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) is connected to the city, as he was born near Burgos and was raised and educated there. In a long-lasting decline since the 17th century, following the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist proto-government.

Declared in 1964 as Pole of Industrial Promotion and in 1969 as Pole of Industrial Development, the city has grown since then in terms of economic activity. At the regional level, Burgos forms part of an economic axis together with the cities of Valladolid and Palencia. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to offer commercial flights. The Museum of Human Evolution opened here in 2010. The museum features remains of the first hominins in Europe, which lived in this area 750,000-800,000 years ago. The Cathedral of Burgos is a World Heritage Site. Burgos was selected as the "Spanish Gastronomy Capital" of 2013. In 2015 it was named "City of Gastronomy" by UNESCO and has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.

Source: Wikipedia

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Gelsenkirchen (UK: , US: , German: [ˌɡɛlzn̩ˈkɪʁçn̩] (listen); Westphalian: Gelsenkiärken) is the 11th largest city of Germany's most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and its 262,528 (2016) inhabitants make it the 25th largest city of Germany. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies at the centre of the Ruhr, the largest urban area of Germany, of which it is the fifth largest city after Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Bochum. The Ruhr is located in the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region, one of Europe's largest urban areas. Gelsenkirchen is the fifth largest city of Westphalia after Dortmund, Bochum, Bielefeld and Münster, and it is one of the southernmost cities in the Low German dialect area. The city is home to the football club Schalke 04, which is named after Gelsenkirchen-Schalke. The club's current stadium Veltins-Arena, however, is located in Gelsenkirchen-Erle. Gelsenkirchen was first documented in 1150, but it remained a tiny village until the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution led to the growth of the entire area.

In 1840, when the mining of coal began, 6,000 inhabitants lived in Gelsenkirchen; in 1900 the population had increased to 138,000. In the early 20th century, Gelsenkirchen was the most important coal mining town in Europe. It was called the "city of a thousand fires" for the flames of mine gases flaring at night. In 1928, Gelsenkirchen was merged with the adjoining cities of Buer and Gelsenkirchen-Horst. The city bore the name Gelsenkirchen-Buer, until it was renamed Gelsenkirchen in 1930. During the Nazi era Gelsenkirchen remained a centre of coal production and oil refining, and for this reason it was bombed in Allied air raids during World War II. There are no longer colliers in Gelsenkirchen with the city searching for a new image, having been hit for decades with one of the highest unemployment rates in Germany. Today Germany's largest solar power plant is located in the city. In Gelsenkirchen-Scholven there is a coal-fired power station with the tallest chimneys in Germany (302 m).

Source: Wikipedia