Caracas | |
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State | Distrito Capital |
Country | Venezuela |
Capital | |
Population | 3274000 |
Caracas (, Spanish: [kaˈɾakas]), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the centre of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located across the Guaire River at the northern portion of the country, within the Caracas Valley of the Venezuelan coastal mountain range (Cordillera de la Costa). The valley is near the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2,200-metre-high (7,200 ft) mountain range, Cerro El Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains. The Metropolitan Region of Caracas has an estimated population of almost 5 million inhabitants.
The middle of the city remains Catedral, situated near Bolívar Square, although some consider the center to become Plaza Venezuela, located at the Los Caobos region.
Le Havre | |
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State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 175497 |
Le Havre (, French: [lə ɑvʁ(ə)] (listen); Norman: Lé Hâvre) is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northwestern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. After Reims, it is also the second largest subprefecture in France. The name Le Havre means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises.The city and port were founded by King Francis I in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by religious wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics, and storms. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing and the port took off first with the slave trade then other international trade. After the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete. The oil, chemical, and automotive industries were dynamic during the Trente Glorieuses (postwar boom) but the 1970s marked the end of the golden age of ocean liners and the beginning of the economic crisis: the population declined, unemployment increased and remains at a high level today.