
Privacy
Berlin | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | Germany |
Capital | |
Population | 3440441 |
Postcode | 10117 |
Berlin (; German: [bɛʁˈliːn] (listen)) is the capital and biggest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,769,495 inhabitants as of 31 December 2019 make it the most populous city of the European Union, according to population within city limits. The city is also one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. The two cities are at the middle of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of over 30,000 km2, Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main areas.
Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows to the River Havel (a tributary of the River Elbe) from the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the numerous lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel, and Dahme rivers (the biggest of which is Lake Müggelsee). Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of woods, parks, gardens, rivers, canals and lakes. The city lies in the Central German dialect region, the Berlin dialect being a version of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.
First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417--1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701--1918), the German Empire (1871--1918), the Weimar Republic (1919--1933), and the Third Reich (1933--1945). Berlin in the 1920s was the third-largest municipality in the world. Following World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious nations, the city was divided; West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961--1989) and East German territory. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science.
Chandigarh | |
---|---|
State | Chandigarh |
Country | India |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Postcode | 160020 |
Chandigarh (local pronunciation: [tʃə̃ɳˈɖiːɡəɽʱ] (listen)) is a city, district and union territory in India that serves as the capital of the two neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the north, the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It is considered to be a part of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which includes Chandigarh, and the city of Panchkula (in Haryana) and cities of Kharar, Kurali, Mohali, Zirakpur (in Punjab). It is located 260 km (162 miles) north of New Delhi and 229 km (143 miles) southeast of Amritsar.
It was one of the early planned cities in post-independence India and is internationally known for its architecture and urban design. The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, which transformed from earlier plans created by the Polish architect Maciej Nowicki and the American planner Albert Mayer. Most of the government buildings and housing in the city were designed by the Chandigarh Capital Project Team headed by Le Corbusier, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. In 2015, an article published by BBC named Chandigarh as one of the few master-planned cities in the world to have succeeded in terms of combining monumental architecture, cultural growth, and modernisation.