Vancouver | |
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Population | 631486 |
Vancouver ( (listen) van-KOO-vər) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada, with over 5,400 people per square kilometre, which makes it the fifth-most densely populated city with over 250,000 residents in North America, behind New York City, Guadalajara, San Francisco, and Mexico City. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada: 52% of its residents are not native English speakers, 48.9% are native speakers of neither English nor French, and 50.6% of residents belong to visible minority groups.Vancouver is consistently named as one of the top five worldwide cities for livability and quality of life, and the Economist Intelligence Unit acknowledged it as the first city ranked among the top ten of the world's most well-living cities for ten consecutive years. However, Vancouver also ranks as the most expensive city to live in Canada and as the fourth-most expensive housing market globally. In 2011, the city planned to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. Vancouverism is the city's urban planning design philosophy.
Vancouver was originally named Gastown and began as a settlement which grew around the site of a makeshift tavern on the western edges of Hastings Mill that was built on July 1, 1867 and owned by proprietor Gassy Jack.
Isfahan | |
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Population | 1808968 |
Isfahan (Persian: اصفهان, romanized: Esfahān, [esfæˈhɒːn] (listen)), historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Spahan, Sepahan, Esfahan or Hispahan, is a major city in Iran, Greater Isfahan Region. It is located 406 kilometres (252 miles) south of Tehran and is the capital of Isfahan Province.
Isfahan has a population of approximately 2.0 million, making it the third-largest city in Iran after Tehran and Mashhad, but was once one of the largest cities in the world.
Isfahan is an important city as it is located at the intersection of the two principal north–south and east–west routes that traverse Iran. Isfahan flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries under the Safavid dynasty when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history under Shah Abbas the Great.