Dusseldorf | |
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State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Düsseldorf (often Dusseldorf in English sources; UK: , US: , German: [ˈdʏsl̩dɔʁf] (listen); Low Franconian and Ripuarian: Düsseldörp ([ˈdʏsl̩dœɐ̯p]); archaic Dutch: Dusseldorp) is the capital and second-largest city of the most populous German state of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a population of 617,280. At the confluence of the Rhine and its tributary Düssel, the city lies in the centre of both the Rhine-Ruhr and the Rhineland Metropolitan Regions with the Cologne Bonn Region to its south and the Ruhr to its north. Most of the city lies on the right bank of the Rhine (as opposed to Cologne, whose city centre lies on the river's left bank). The city is the largest in the German Low Franconian dialect area (closely related to Dutch). "Dorf" meaning "village" in German, the "-dorf" suffix (English cognate: thorp) is unusual in the German-speaking area for a settlement of Düsseldorf's size.
Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the sixth most livable city in the world. Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's third-busiest airport after those of Frankfurt and Munich, serving as the most important international airport for the inhabitants of the densely populated Ruhr, Germany's largest urban area.
Cairns | |
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State | Queensland |
Country | Australia |
Capital | |
Population | 133893 |
Postcode | 4870 |
Cairns (, locally (listen)) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the east coast of Far North Queensland. The city is the 5th-most-populous in Queensland, and 14th in Australia.
Cairns was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Wellington Cairns, the Governor of Queensland from 1875 to 1877. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but declined when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. It later developed into a railhead and major port for exporting sugar cane, gold, minerals and agricultural products from surrounding coastal areas and the Atherton Tableland.