Bochum | |
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State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
Country | Germany |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Postcode | 44793 |
Bochum ( BOH-khuum, also US: BOH-kəm, German: [ˈboːxʊm] (listen); Westphalian: Baukem) is the sixth largest city of the most populous German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg, and its 364,920 (2016) inhabitants make it the 16th largest city of Germany. On the Ruhr Heights (Ruhrhöhen) hill chain, between the rivers Ruhr to the south and Emscher to the north (tributaries of the Rhine), it is the second largest city of Westphalia after Dortmund, and the fourth largest city of the Ruhr after Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg. It lies at the centre of the Ruhr, Germany's largest urban area, in the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region, and belongs to the region of Arnsberg.
Clermont-Ferrand | |
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State | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes |
Country | France |
Capital | |
Population | 139860 |
Clermont-Ferrand (UK: , US: ; French: [klɛʁmɔ̃ fɛʁɑ̃] (listen); Auvergnat: Clharmou; Latin: Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 143,886 (2017). Its metropolitan area (aire urbaine) had 485,315 inhabitants at the 2017 census. It is the prefecture (capital) of the Puy-de-Dôme department. Olivier Bianchi is its current mayor.
Clermont-Ferrand sits on the plain of Limagne in the Massif Central and is surrounded by a major industrial area. The city known for the chain of volcanoes, the Chaîne des Puys surrounding it, including the dormant volcano Puy de Dôme (10 kilometres (6 miles), one of the highest, topped by communications towers, and visible from the city, which is inscribed since July 2018 as a "tectonic hotspot" on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
One of the oldest French cities, it has been known by Greeks as the capital of the Arvernie Tribe before developping under the Gallo-Roman era under the name of Augustonemetum in the 1st century BC. The forum of the Roman city was located on the top of the Clermont mound, on the site of the present cathedral. The High Middle Ages were marked by the looting it was subjected to by the peoples who invaded Gaul and would not have been spared by the Vikings during the weakening of the Carolingian Empire.