Qom vs Tetovo

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Qom (Persian: قم‎ [ɢom] (listen)) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located 140 km (87 mi) to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its population was 1,201,158. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River. Qom is considered holy in Shi'a Islam, as it is the site of the shrine of Fatimah bint Musa, sister of Imam Ali ibn Musa Rida (Persian: Imam Reza; 789–816). The city is the largest center for Shi'a scholarship in the world, and is a significant destination of pilgrimage, with around twenty million pilgrims visiting the city every year, the majority being Iranians but also other Shi'a Muslims from all around the world.

Qom is also famous for a Persian brittle toffee known as sohan (Persian: سوهان), considered a souvenir of the city and sold by 2,000 to 2,500 "sohan" shops. Qom has developed into a lively industrial centre owing in part to its proximity to Tehran. It is a regional centre for the distribution of petroleum and petroleum products, and a natural gas pipeline from Bandar Anzali and Tehran and a crude oil pipeline from Tehran run through Qom to the Abadan refinery on the Persian Gulf. Qom gained additional prosperity when oil was discovered at Sarajeh near the city in 1956 and a large refinery was built between Qom and Tehran.

Source: Wikipedia

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Tetovo (Macedonian: Тетово, [ˈtɛtɔvɔ] (listen); Albanian: Tetovë/Tetova; Turkish: Kalkandelen) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of 1,080 km2 (417 sq mi) at 468 meters (1,535 ft) above sea level, with a population of 52,915. The city of Tetovo is the seat of Tetovo Municipality. In antiquity, Tetovo was a Penestae (Illyrian) fortress-town in eastern Illyria, called Oaeneon (Οαίνεον), in Latin Oaeneum, located on the pass between mount Scardos (now Šar) and river Artatos (later called Oracha, now Pena), a tributary to the Vardar river. This was a territory where the Illyrian tribe Penestae lived, and it included the fortress-towns Draudacum, Uskana, Divra and Styberra in northern Pelagonia. Based on archaeological findings in the area, the city was first inhabited thousands of years ago. Archaeological findings include a Mycenaean sword and a bronze statuette of the 6th c. BCE. Subsequently, Oaeneon was ruled by many ethnic groups; the Illyrian King Genti of the Labeatae, by King Perseus of Macedonia, by the Romans, by the Byzantines, by the Slavs, by the Bulgarians, and by the Albanians led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. In the 15th c. AD, Oaeneum came under Ottoman rule for about five centuries.

For a short period of time during the 15th century, Tetovo came under the control of the Albanian state, League of Lezhë led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg and the Albanians achieved a victory over the Ottomans in the Battle of Polog. After it's conquest by the Ottomans, most of city's population converted to Islam and many Ottoman-style structures were built, such as the Šarena Džamija and the Arabati Baba Teḱe, which still stand as two of Macedonia's most significant landmarks of its Ottoman period. During this period, the town belonged to the Vilayet of Kosovo, became a firearm and cannon foundry, and was renamed Kalkandelen (meaning Shield Penetrator); as a result, the town attracted many workers and grew to a city. Following the World Wars, Tetovo became a part of Yugoslavia and, later, the Republic of Macedonia. Tetovo has become the unofficial capital and centre of a predominantly ethnic Albanian region which extends in an arc from Tetovo to Struga. Over one-third of the city is inhabited by ethnic Macedonians. Tetovo historically had a large Turkish population, forming nearly one-quarter as recently as 1961, though it now makes up under 4% of the city. South East European University, North Macedonia's third largest university after Skopje and Bitola, is located in Tetovo. Tetovo is also home to the State University of Tetovo.

Source: Wikipedia