Palermo | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 658071 |
Palermo ( pə-LAIR-moh, -LUR-, Italian: [paˈlɛrmo] (listen); Sicilian: Palermu, locally [paˈlɛmmʊ]; Latin: Panormus, from Greek: Πάνορμος, romanized: Pánormos) is a city of southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz. Palermo then became a possession of Carthage. Two Greek colonies were established, known collectively as Panormos or "All-Port"; the Carthaginians used this name on their coins after the 5th century BC. As Panormus, the town became part of the Roman Republic and Empire for over a thousand years. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarm (Arabic: بَلَرْم), the root for Palermo's present-day name. Following the Norman conquest, Palermo became the capital of a new kingdom (from 1130 to 1816), the Kingdom of Sicily and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Frederick II and King Conrad IV.
The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, while its metropolitan area is the fifth most populated in Italy with around 1.2 million people. In the central area, the city has a population of around 676,000 people.
Taiyuan | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Taiyuan (Chinese: 太原; pinyin: Tàiyuán [tʰâi.ɥɛ̌n], also known as Bīng (并), Jìnyáng (晋阳)) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China. It is one of the main manufacturing bases of China. Throughout its long history, Taiyuan was the capital or provisional capital of many dynasties in China, hence the name Lóngchéng (龙城; Dragon City).
Sixaola is a district of the Talamanca canton, in the Limón province of Costa Rica. It is a...
Kouvola (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈkou̯ʋolɑ]) is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland....
Novi Pazar (Serbian Cyrillic: Нови Пазар, lit. "New Bazaar" pronounced [nôʋiː pǎzaːr])...
Moosonee () is a town in northern Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately 19 kilometres...