Manaus vs Cúcuta

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Manaus (; Portuguese: [mɐˈnaws, mɐˈnawʃ, maˈnaws]) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about 11,401 km2 (4,402 sq mi). Located at the east center of the state, the city is the center of the Manaus metropolitan area and the largest metropolitan area in the North Region of Brazil by urban landmass. It is situated near the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers. The city was founded in 1669 as the Fort of São José do Rio Negro. It was elevated to a town in 1832 with the name of "Manaus", an altered spelling of the indigenous Manaós peoples, and legally transformed into a city on October 24, 1848, with the name of Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro, Portuguese for "The City of the Margins of the Black River". On September 4, 1856 it returned to its original name.Manaus is located in the center of the world's largest rainforest, and home to the National Institute of Amazonian Research, being the most important center for scientific studies in the Amazon region and for international sustainability issues. It was known at the beginning of the century, as "Heart of the Amazon" and "City of the Forest".

Currently its main economic engine is the Industrial Park of Manaus, a Free Economic Zone. The city has a free port and an international airport. Its manufactures include electronics, chemical products, and soap; there are distilling and ship construction industries. Manaus also exports Brazil nuts, rubber, jute and rosewood oil. It has a cathedral, opera house, zoological and botanical gardens, an ecopark and regional and native peoples museums.The Solimões and Negro rivers meet just east of Manaus and join to form the Amazon River (using the Brazilian definition of the river; elsewhere, Solimões is considered the upper part of the Amazon). Rubber made it the richest city in South America during the late 1800s. Rubber also helped Manaus earn its nickname, the "Paris of the Tropics". Many wealthy European families settled in Manaus and brought their love for sophisticated European art, architecture, and culture with them. Manaus was one of the twelve Brazilian host cities of the 2014 World Cup, as well as one of the five subsections of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Source: Wikipedia

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Cúcuta (Spanish: [ˈkukuta] (listen)), officially San José de Cúcuta, is a Colombian city, capital of Norte de Santander department. It is located in the northeast of the country, in the eastern branch of the Colombian Andes, on the border with Venezuela. Cúcuta has a population of 711,715 people according to the 2018 census, making it the 6th largest city in the country. Due to its proximity with Venezuela, Cúcuta is an important commercial center, hosting many billion dollar companies. The international border in Cúcuta is said to be the most dynamic of South America. The city has a length of 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from north to south and 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from east to west. It is divided into 10 communes and it is the political, economic, administrative, industrial, cultural and tourism hub of the Norte de Santander department. Cúcuta has experienced a great urban development, as a result other cities have been formed around it, like Los Patios in the east, and Villa del Rosario in the south.

They are part of the Metropolitan Area of Cúcuta which has a population of about 850,000 people. It is connected by roads across the country to major cities like Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Ocaña, Valledupar, Pamplona, Tunja and Cartagena de Indias and because of its location, to many cities of Venezuela. Its airport, Camilo Daza International Airport, offers flights to several Colombian cities. The city was the place of some of the most important events in Colombian history, like the redaction of the first constitution by the Congress of Cúcuta which led to the foundation of the Republic of Colombia, also known as Gran Colombia, and the Battle of Cúcuta, where troops led by Simón Bolívar defeated the Spanish Royal Rorce, thereby liberating the city from Spanish rule and allowing Bolívar troops to continue their campaign toward Venezuela.

Source: Wikipedia