Des Moines vs Graz

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Des Moines ( (listen)) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857. It is located on, and named after, the Des Moines River, which likely was adapted from the early French name, Rivière des Moines, meaning "River of the Monks". The city's population was 214,237 as of the 2019 population estimate. The six-county metropolitan area is ranked 83rd in terms of population in the United States with 699,292 residents according to the 2019 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, and is the largest metropolitan area fully located within the state. A portion of the larger Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area extends into three counties of southwest Iowa.Des Moines is a major center of the US insurance industry and has a sizable financial services and publishing business base. The city was credited as the "number one spot for U.S. insurance companies" in a Business Wire article and named the third-largest "insurance capital" of the world.

The city is the headquarters for the Principal Financial Group, the Meredith Corporation, Ruan Transportation, TMC Transportation, EMC Insurance Companies, and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Other major corporations such as Wells Fargo, Voya Financial, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, ACE Limited, Marsh, Monsanto, and Corteva have large operations in or near the metropolitan area. In recent years, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Facebook have built data-processing and logistical facilities in the Des Moines area. Forbes ranked Des Moines as the "Best Place for Business" in both 2010 and 2013. In 2014, NBC ranked Des Moines as the "Wealthiest City in America" according to its criteria.Des Moines is an important city in U.S. presidential politics; as the state's capital, it is the site of the first caucuses of the presidential primary cycle. Many presidential candidates set up campaign headquarters in Des Moines. A 2007 article in The New York Times said, "If you have any desire to witness presidential candidates in the most close-up and intimate of settings, there is arguably no better place to go than Des Moines."

Source: Wikipedia

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Graz ( GRAHTS, German: [ɡʁaːts] (listen); Slovene: Gradec) is the capital city of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2019, it had a population of 328,276 (292,269 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2015, the population of the Graz larger urban zone (LUZ) stood at 633,168, based on principal-residence status. Graz has a long tradition as a seat of higher education. It has four colleges and four universities with more than 60,000 students. Its historic centre (Altstadt) is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.

For centuries, Graz was more important to Slovenes and Croats, both politically and culturally, than the capitals of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia; it remains influential to this day. In 1999, the city's historic centre was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and in 2010 the designation was expanded to include Eggenberg Palace (German: Schloss Eggenberg) on the western edge of the city. Graz was designated the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003 and became a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.

Source: Wikipedia