Cologne | |
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State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
Country | Germany |
Capital | |
Population | 1069200 |
Cologne (English: kə-LOHN; German: Köln [kœln] (listen); Kölsch: Kölle [ˈkœlə] (listen); Latin: Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, usually shortened to Colonia Agrippina) is the largest city of Germany's most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city in Germany. With slightly over a million inhabitants (1.09 million) within its city boundaries, Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine and also the most populous city both of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region, which is Germany's largest and one of Europe's major metropolitan areas, and of the Rhineland. Centered on the left bank of the Rhine, Cologne is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southeast of North Rhine-Westphalia's capital of Düsseldorf and 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Bonn. It is the largest city in the Central Franconian and Ripuarian dialect areas.
The city's Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. There are many institutions of higher education in the city, most notably the University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln), one of Europe's oldest and largest universities; the Technical University of Cologne (Technische Hochschule Köln), Germany's largest university of applied sciences; and the German Sport University Cologne (Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln), Germany's only sport university. Cologne Bonn Airport (Flughafen Köln/Bonn) is Germany's seventh-largest airport and lies in the southeast of the city. The main airport for the Rhine-Ruhr region is Düsseldorf Airport.
Cologne was founded and established in Ubii territory in the 1st century AD as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, the first word of which is the origin of its name.
Belo Horizonte | |
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State | Minas Gerais |
Country | Brazil |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Belo Horizonte (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɛlu oɾiˈzõtʃi], locally [ˌbɛloɾiˈzõtʃi] (listen); "Beautiful Horizon") is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, ranked as the third-most populous metropolitan area in Brazil and the 17th-most populous in the Americas. Belo Horizonte is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil's second-most populous state. It is the first planned modern city in Brazil.
The region was first settled in the early 18th century, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais. The city features a mixture of contemporary and classical buildings, and is home to several modern Brazilian architectural icons, most notably the Pampulha Complex. In planning the city, Aarão Reis and Francisco Bicalho sought inspiration in the urban planning of Washington, D.