Kyiv vs Bristol

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Kyiv or Kiev (Ukrainian: Київ) is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. Its population in July 2015 has been 2,887,974 (though greater estimated numbers have been cited in the media ), making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural center of Eastern Europe. It is home to many high-tech businesses, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The town has an extensive system of public transport and infrastructure, including the Kyiv Metro. The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, one of its four legendary creators. During its history, Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several phases of prominence and obscurity. The city probably existed as a commercial centre as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the wonderful trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, Kyiv was a tributary of the Khazars, until its capture by the Varangians (Vikings) in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the town became a capital of the Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the Mongol invasions in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a provincial capital of marginal value in the outskirts of the lands controlled by its powerful neighbours, first Lithuania, then Poland and Russia.

The city prospered again during the Russian Empire's Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century. In 1918, following the Ukrainian People's Republic declared independence from Soviet Russia, Kyiv became its capital. From 1921 onwards Kyiv was a town of Soviet Ukraine, which was proclaimed by the Red Army, and, from 1934, Kyiv was its capital. The town was almost completely ruined during World War II but quickly recovered from the postwar years, remaining Soviet Union's third-largest city. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991, Kyiv remained Ukraine's capital and experienced a steady influx of cultural migrants from different regions of the country. During the country's transformation into a market economy and electoral democracy, Kyiv has continued to be Ukraine's biggest and wealthiest city. Its armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science and technology, but new sectors of the economy such as services and finance facilitated Kyiv's increase in salaries and investment, as well as providing continuous funding for the development of housing and urban infrastructure. Kyiv emerged as the most pro-Western area of Ukraine; parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections.

Source: Wikipedia

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Bristol ( (listen)) is a city and county in South West England, with a population of 463,400. It also has status as a ceremonial county (it has a Lord-Lieutenant) although it lost its title as a full administrative county in 1974. The wider district has the 10th-largest population in England. The urban area population of 670,000 is the 11th-largest in the UK. The city lies between Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. South Wales lies across the Severn estuary. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon, and around the beginning of the 11th century, the settlement was known as Brycgstow (Old English "the place at the bridge"). Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373 when it became a county of itself. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities, after London, in tax receipts; however, it was surpassed by the rapid rise of Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool in the Industrial Revolution. Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, became the first European to land on mainland North America. In 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried an estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.

The Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock. Bristol's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the UK; the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. The city has two universities, the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, and a variety of artistic and sporting organisations and venues including the Royal West of England Academy, the Arnolfini, Spike Island, Ashton Gate and the Memorial Stadium. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road and rail, and to the world by sea and air: road, by the M5 and M4 (which connect to the city centre by the Portway and M32); rail, via Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations; and Bristol Airport. One of the UK's most popular tourist destinations, Bristol was selected in 2009 as one of the world's top ten cities by international travel publishers Dorling Kindersley in their Eyewitness series of travel guides. The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, and Bristol also won the EU's European Green Capital Award in 2015.

Source: Wikipedia