Gdynia vs Plymouth

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Gdynia ( gə-DIN-ee-ə; Polish: [ˈɡdɨɲa] (listen); German: Gdingen; Kashubian: Gdiniô, 1939-1945 Gotenhafen) is a city in northern Poland. Located on Gdańsk Bay on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, it is a major seaport and the second-largest city in Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk. Gdynia has a population of 246,348, which makes it the twelfth-largest city in Poland. It is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over 1,000,000 people. Historically and culturally part of Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia for centuries remained a small farming and fishing village. At the beginning of the 20th-century, Gdynia attracted visitors as a seaside resort town, and began to build tourism. The local population increased in response to the change in the economy. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the government decided to construct a Polish seaport in Gdynia, between the Free City of Danzig (a semi-autonomous city-state) and German Pomerania, making Gdynia a primary economic hub. In 1926 Gdynia was granted city rights, after which it enjoyed a rapid demographic and architectural development. This was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, during which the newly built port and shipyard were completely destroyed.

The population of the city suffered heavy losses, as most of the inhabitants were evicted and expelled by the German occupiers. The locals were either displaced to other regions of occupied Poland or sent to German Nazi concentration camps throughout Europe. After the war, Gdynia was settled with the former inhabitants of Warsaw, which also suffered major destruction, and lost cities, such as Lviv and Vilnius in the Eastern Borderlands. The city was gradually regenerating, with its shipyard being rebuilt and expanded. In December 1970 the shipyard workers' protest against an increase in government-established prices was violently repressed by government forces. This greatly contributed to the rise of the Solidarity movement in nearby Gdańsk. Today the port of Gdynia is a regular stopover on the cruising itinerary of large, luxury passenger ships. A new ferry terminal with a civil airport are under development. The city has won numerous awards for its safety, infrastructure, quality of life, and a rich variety of tourist attractions. In 2013 Gdynia was ranked by readers of The News as Poland's best city to live in, and topped the national rankings in the category of "general quality of life".

Source: Wikipedia

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Plymouth ( (listen)) is a port city in England on the south coast of Devon, approximately 37 miles (60 km) south-west of Exeter and 190 miles (310 km) west-south-west of London. Enclosing the city are the mouths of the river Plym and river Tamar, which are naturally incorporated into Plymouth Sound to form a boundary with Cornwall. Plymouth's early history extends to the Bronze Age when a first settlement emerged at Mount Batten. This settlement continued as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until it was surpassed by the more prosperous village of Sutton founded in the ninth century, now called Plymouth. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers departed Plymouth for the New World and established Plymouth Colony, the second English settlement in what is now the United States of America. During the English Civil War, the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. Throughout the Industrial Revolution, Plymouth grew as a commercial shipping port, handling imports and passengers from the Americas, and exporting local minerals (tin, copper, lime, china clay and arsenic). The neighbouring town of Devonport became strategically important to the Royal Navy for its shipyards and dockyards.

In 1914, three neighbouring independent towns, viz. the county borough of Plymouth, the County Borough of Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse were merged, becoming the County Borough of Plymouth. In 1928, it achieved city status. During World War II, due to the city's naval importance, the German military targeted and partially destroyed the city by bombing, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war, the city centre was completely rebuilt. Subsequent expansion led to the incorporation of Plympton, Plymstock, and other outlying suburbs, in 1967. The city is home to 262,100 (mid-2019 est.) people, making it the 30th-most populous built-up area in the United Kingdom and the second-largest city in the South West, after Bristol. It is governed locally by Plymouth City Council and is represented nationally by three MPs. Plymouth's economy remains strongly influenced by shipbuilding and seafaring but has tended toward a service economy since the 1990s. It has ferry links to Brittany (Roscoff and St Malo) and to Spain (Santander). It has the largest operational naval base in Western Europe, HMNB Devonport, and is home to the University of Plymouth.

Source: Wikipedia