Darlington vs Ashgabat

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Darlington is a large market town and the main administrative centre of the Borough of Darlington, in County Durham, North East England. In 2011 the town had a population of 92,363 and the district 105,564. The town lies on the River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees. The town is administered as part of the Darlington Borough Council, a unitary authority which is administrated independently of Durham County Council.

The creation of the world's first steam locomotive powered, permanent passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, lead to substantial development of Darlington in the 19th century. Much of the finance and vision behind the creation of the railway was provided by local Quaker families in the Georgian and Victorian eras.

Source: Wikipedia

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Ashgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat; Ашгабат, pronounced [ɑʃʁɑˈbɑt], Persian: عشق آباد‎; Russian: Ашхабад), formerly named Poltoratsk (Russian: Полтора́цк, IPA: [pəltɐˈratsk]) between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It is situated between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range in Central Asia. It is also near the Iran-Turkmenistan border. The city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village, and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924.

Much of the city was destroyed by the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake but has since been extensively rebuilt under the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov’s "White City" urban renewal project, resulting in monumental projects sheathed in costly white marble. The Soviet-era Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west. Since 2019, the city has been recognized as having one of the highest costs of living in the world largely due to Turkmenistan's inflation and import issues.

Source: Wikipedia