Oslo | |
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Population | 1036059 |
Oslo ( OZ-loh, also US: OSS-loh, Norwegian: [ˈʊ̂ʂlʊ] (listen), rarely [ˈʊ̂slʊ, ˈʊ̀ʂlʊ]) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. As of 23 November 2020, the municipality of Oslo had a population of 697,549, while the population of the city's greater urban area was 1,019,513, as of 4 November 2019. The metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1.71 million.During the Viking Age the area was part of Viken. Oslo was founded as a city at the end of the Viking Age in the year 1040 under the name Ánslo, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada. The city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814 reduced its influence. After being destroyed by a fire in 1624, during the reign of King Christian IV, a new city was built closer to Akershus Fortress and named Christiania in honour of the king. It became a municipality (formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. The city functioned as the capital of Norway during the 1814–1905 union between Sweden and Norway. From 1877, the city's name was spelled Kristiania in government usage, a spelling that was adopted by the municipal authorities only in 1897. In 1925, the city, after incorporating the village retaining its former name, was renamed Oslo. In 1948 Oslo merged with Aker, a municipality which surrounded the capital and which was 27 times larger, thus creating the modern, much larger Oslo municipality.
Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway.
Ostrava | |
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Population | 304880 |
Ostrava (Czech pronunciation: [ˈostrava], locally: [oˈstrava] (listen); Polish: Ostrawa, German: Ostrau) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 288,000 inhabitants. It lies 15 km (9 mi) from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava, Ostravice and Lučina. Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic in terms of both population and area, the second largest city in the region of Moravia, and the largest city in the historical land of Czech Silesia. It straddles the border of the two historic provinces of Moravia and Silesia. The wider conurbation – which also includes the towns of Bohumín, Havířov, Karviná, Orlová, Petřvald and Rychvald – is home to about 500,000 people, making it the largest urban area in the Czech Republic apart from the capital, Prague.
Ostrava grew in importance due to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial engine of the Austrian empire. During the 20th century it was known as the "steel heart" of Czechoslovakia thanks to its status as a coal-mining and metallurgical centre, but since the Velvet Revolution (the fall of communism in 1989) it has undergone radical and far-reaching changes to its economic base.