Palermo | |
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Population | 658071 |
Palermo ( pə-LAIR-moh, -LUR-, Italian: [paˈlɛrmo] (listen); Sicilian: Palermu, locally [paˈlɛmmʊ]; Latin: Panormus, from Greek: Πάνορμος, romanized: Pánormos) is a city of southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz. Palermo then became a possession of Carthage. Two Greek colonies were established, known collectively as Panormos or "All-Port"; the Carthaginians used this name on their coins after the 5th century BC. As Panormus, the town became part of the Roman Republic and Empire for over a thousand years. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarm (Arabic: بَلَرْم), the root for Palermo's present-day name. Following the Norman conquest, Palermo became the capital of a new kingdom (from 1130 to 1816), the Kingdom of Sicily and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Frederick II and King Conrad IV.
The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, while its metropolitan area is the fifth most populated in Italy with around 1.2 million people. In the central area, the city has a population of around 676,000 people.
Pune | |
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Pune, formerly known as Poona (Marathi: [puɳe] (listen) English: ;), is the second largest city in the Indian State of Maharashtra, after Mumbai, and the eighth most populous city in India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million as of 2020. It has been ranked as "the most livable city in India" several times.Along with the city of Pimpri Chinchwad and the three cantonment towns of Pune, Khadki and Dehu Road, Pune forms the urban core of the eponymous Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR). According to the 2011 census, the urban area has a combined population of 5.05 million while the population of the metropolitan region is estimated at 7.4 million. Situated 560 metres (1,837 feet) above sea level on the Deccan plateau on the right bank of the Mutha river, Pune is also the administrative headquarters of its namesake district. In the 18th century, the city was the seat of the Peshwas, the prime ministers of the Maratha Empire and was one of the most important political centres on the Indian subcontinent.