Tehran | |
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State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 8000000 |
Tehran (; Persian: تهران Ťehrân [tehˈɾɒːn] (listen)) is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With a population of around 8.7 million in the city and 15 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most populous city in Iran and Western Asia, and has the second-largest metropolitan area in the Middle East (after Cairo). It is ranked 24th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area.In the Classical era, part of the territory of present-day Tehran was occupied by Rhages, a prominent Median city. It was subject to destruction through the medieval Arab, Turkic, and Mongol invasions. Its modern-day inheritor remains as an urban area absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran.
Tehran was first chosen as the capital of Iran by Agha Mohammad Khan of the Qajar dynasty in 1786, in order to remain within close reach of Iran's territories in the Caucasus, before being separated from Iran as a result of the Russo-Iranian Wars, and to avoid the vying factions of the previously ruling Iranian dynasties. The capital has been moved several times throughout history, and Tehran is the 32nd national capital of Persia. Large-scale demolition and rebuilding began in the 1920s, and Tehran has been a destination for mass migrations from all over Iran since the 20th century.Tehran is home to many historical collections, including the royal complexes of Golestan, Sa'dabad, and Niavaran, where the two last dynasties of the former Imperial State of Iran were seated.
Chelyabinsk | |
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State | Chelyabinsk Oblast |
Country | Russia |
Capital | |
Population | 1200719 |
Chelyabinsk (Russian: Челя́бинск, IPA: [tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk] (listen)) is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia by population, with 1,130,132 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census, and the second largest city in the Ural Federal District, after Yekaterinburg. Located in the northeast of the oblast, 210 kilometers (130 mi) south of Yekaterinburg, the city is just to the east of the Ural Mountains. It sits on the Miass River, part of the border between Europe and Asia.The area of Chelyabinsk contained the ancient settlement of Arkaim, which belonged to the Sintashta culture. In 1736, a fortress by the name of Chelyaba was founded on the site of a Bashkir village. Chelyabinsk was granted town status by 1787. Chelyabinsk began to grow rapidly by the late 20th century as a result of the construction of railway links to European Russia and Siberia, including the Trans-Siberian Railway.