COLOGNE

The German Köln (until 1919 also Cöln, in ancient times Colonia, under the Romans originally Oppidum Ubiorum, then CCAA, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium and in the Rhineland dialect, 'Kölle') is Germany's fourth largest city and the biggest city in Northrhine-Westphalia.

The city is known worldwide due to its 2000 year old history, its cultural and architectural heritage and its significant international events. Cologne is the oldest of Germany's large cities. The city's name, in Roman times Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA), derives from the Roman empress, Agrippina, wife of the Roman emperor, Claudius. She was born here and gave the Ubier settlement, Oppidum Ubiorum, the status of a city in 50 AD. In Roman times it became the governor's seat for the province, Germania Inferior.

Around 80 AD Cologne received its water supply from the Eifel region through an aquaduct, one of the longest aquaducts the Romans ever built. Since its inception as a metropolis by the Romans, Cologne became ever more important because of the powerful role it played in church and state affairs. Cologne's importance was enhanced further by its location at the crossroads of trade routes from the east and west, as well as its position between the lower and upper Rhine river, where all goods had to be transshipped. Cologne thus became a major trading centre and today is the biggest railway transport junction in all of Germany ( in the main station, the railroad shunting yard of Gremberg and the biggest container and reloading station of the interior, Köln-Eifeltor ).

The port on the Rhine is one of the most important inland ports in all of Europe. This once highly industrialized city has changed from a manufacturing to a service-oriented industry in the last quarter of the 20th century. Today Cologne is known as a media, technology and science centre.

Cologne is considered to be one of the biggest university cities whose 85,183 registered students account for about 8,5 % of the population. With a 17,2 % proportion of foreigners (175,515 people, statistics: 2004) Cologne is also considered as a multicultural stronghold, which is home to the largest Turkish community in Germany. The diversity of cultural, religious and ethnic groups is accompanied by a high level of tolerance and liberal attitude by the population at large. Because of this the city is also a centre for lesbian and gay culture.

Text from www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koeln

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