Mashhad | |
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Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Mashhad (Persian: مشهد, romanized: Mašhad [mæʃˈhæd] (listen)), also spelled Mashad or Meshad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran and the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country. It has a population of 3,001,184 (2016 census), which includes the areas of Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road connecting with Merv to the east.
The city is named after the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam. The Imam was buried in a village in Khorasan, which afterward gained the name Mashhad, meaning the place of martyrdom. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid is also buried within the same shrine.
Mashhad has been governed by different ethnic groups over the course of its history.
Chișinau | |
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State | |
Country | Moldova |
Capital | |
Population | 750000 |
Chișinău ( KISH-ih-NOW, also US: KEE-shee-NOW, Romanian: [kiʃiˈnəw] (listen)), also known as Kishinev (Russian: Кишинёв, tr. Kishinjóv [kʲɪʂɨˈnʲɵf]), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and business center, and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bâc, a tributary of the Dniester. In accordance with the results of the 2014 census, the city proper had a population of 532,513, while the population of the Municipality of Chișinău (which includes the city itself and other neighboring communities) was 700,000.