Riga vs Yekaterinburg

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Riga (; Latvian: Rīga [ˈriːɡa] (listen), Livonian: Rīgõ) is the capital of Latvia and is home to 627,487 inhabitants (2020), which is a third of Latvia's population. Being significantly larger than other cities of Latvia, Riga is the country's primate city. It is also the largest city in the three Baltic states and is home to one tenth of the three Baltic states' combined population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies 1–10 m (3 ft 3 in–32 ft 10 in) above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture.

Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2017, it was named the European Region of Gastronomy. In 2016, Riga received over 1.4 million visitors. The city is served by Riga International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in the Baltic states. Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) and Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU).

Source: Wikipedia

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Yekaterinburg (; Russian: Екатеринбу́рг, IPA: [jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk]), alternatively romanized Ekaterinburg, formerly known as Sverdlovsk (Свердло́вск) (1924–1991), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District. The city is located on the Iset River in Western Siberia, with a population of roughly 1.5 million residents, up to 2.2 million residents in the urban agglomeration. Yekaterinburg is the fourth-largest city in Russia, the second-largest city in Siberia, and the largest city in the Ural Federal District, as well as one of the main cultural and industrial centres of Russia. Yekaterinburg has been dubbed the "Third capital of Russia", as it is ranked third by the size of economy, culture, transportation and tourism.The region was settled and developed by Novgorodians by the 11th century. Yekaterinburg was founded on 18 November 1723 and named after the Russian emperor Peter the Great's wife, who after his death became Catherine I, Yekaterina being the Russian form of her name. The city served as the mining capital of the Russian Empire as well as a strategic connection between Europe and Asia at the time. In 1781, Catherine the Great gave Yekaterinburg the status of a district town of Perm Province, and built the historical Siberian Route through the city.

Yekaterinburg became a key city to Siberia, which had rich resources, and was known as the "Window to Asia". In the late 19th century, Yekaterinburg became one of the centres of revolutionary movements in the Urals. In 1924, after the Russian SFSR became a part of the Soviet Union, and a socialist state, the city was named Sverdlovsk after the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov. During the Soviet era, Sverdlovsk was turned into an industrial and administrative powerhouse. In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city returned to its historical name. Yekaterinburg is one of the most important economic centres in Russia, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The city is currently experiencing an economic and population boom, which resulted with some of the tallest skyscrapers of Russia being located in the city. Yekaterinburg is home to the headquarters of the Central Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as the presidium of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and will be the host city of the 2023 Summer Universiade.

Source: Wikipedia