Clermont-Ferrand vs Valencia

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Clermont-Ferrand (UK: , US: ; French: [klɛʁmɔ̃ fɛʁɑ̃] (listen); Auvergnat: Clharmou; Latin: Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 143,886 (2017). Its metropolitan area (aire urbaine) had 485,315 inhabitants at the 2017 census. It is the prefecture (capital) of the Puy-de-Dôme department. Olivier Bianchi is its current mayor. Clermont-Ferrand sits on the plain of Limagne in the Massif Central and is surrounded by a major industrial area. The city known for the chain of volcanoes, the Chaîne des Puys surrounding it, including the dormant volcano Puy de Dôme (10 kilometres (6 miles), one of the highest, topped by communications towers, and visible from the city, which is inscribed since July 2018 as a "tectonic hotspot" on the UNESCO World Heritage List. One of the oldest French cities, it has been known by Greeks as the capital of the Arvernie Tribe before developping under the Gallo-Roman era under the name of Augustonemetum in the 1st century BC. The forum of the Roman city was located on the top of the Clermont mound, on the site of the present cathedral. The High Middle Ages were marked by the looting it was subjected to by the peoples who invaded Gaul and would not have been spared by the Vikings during the weakening of the Carolingian Empire.

Growing in importance under the Capetian dynasty, it hosted in 1095 the Council of Clermont that included the call to arms that would result in the First Crusade, and eventually the capture of Jerusalem. In 1551, Clermont became a royal town, and further made in 1610, inseparable property of the Crown. Today Clermont-Ferrand hosts the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand), one of the world's leading international festivals for short films. It is also home to the corporate headquarters of Michelin, the global tyre company founded there more than 100 years ago. With a quarter of the municipal population being students, and 6,000 researchers, Clermont-Ferrand is the first city in France to join the UNESCO Learning City Network. Along with its highly distinctive black lava stone Gothic Cathedral, Clermont-Ferrand's most famous site includes the public square Place de Jaude, on which stands a grand statue of Vercingetorix astride a warhorse and brandishing a sword. The inscription reads: J'ai pris les armes pour la liberté de tous (I took up arms for the liberty of all). This statue was sculpted by Frédéric Bartholdi, who also created the Statue of Liberty.

Source: Wikipedia

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Valencia (Spanish: [baˈlenθja]), officially València (Valencian: [vaˈlensia]), is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, surpassing 800,000 inhabitants in the municipality. The wider urban area also comprising the neighbouring municipalities has a population of around 1.6 million. Valencia is Spain's third-largest metropolitan area, with a population ranging from 1.7 to 2.5 million depending on how the metropolitan area is defined. The Port of Valencia is the 5th-busiest container port in Europe and the busiest container port on the Mediterranean Sea. The city is ranked as a Gamma-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.Valencia was founded as a Roman colony by the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 BC and called Valentia Edetanorum. In 714, Moroccan and Arab Moors occupied the city, introducing their language, religion and customs; they implemented improved irrigation systems and the cultivation of new crops as well. Valencia was the capital of the Taifa of Valencia. In 1238 the Christian king James I of Aragon conquered the city and divided the land among the nobles who helped him conquer it, as witnessed in the Llibre del Repartiment.

He also created the new Kingdom of Valencia, which had its own laws (Furs), with Valencia as its main city and capital. In the 18th century Philip V of Spain abolished the privileges as punishment to the kingdom of Valencia for aligning with the Habsburg side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Valencia was the capital of Spain when Joseph Bonaparte moved the Court there in the summer of 1812. It also served as the capital between 1936 and 1937, during the Second Spanish Republic. The city is situated on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. Its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain, with approximately 169 ha (420 acres). Due to its long history, Valencia has numerous celebrations and traditions, such as the Fallas, which were declared Fiestas of National Tourist Interest of Spain in 1965 and an Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in November 2016. Joan Ribó from Compromís has been the mayor of the city since 2015.

Source: Wikipedia