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Raleigh

Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees. It is the second most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte. The estimated population on July 1, 2008 was 380,173. Since 2006, Raleigh's municipal population has surpassed those of Minneapolis, Tampa, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Its population has grown by more than 100,000 since 2000, an increase of nearly 40%. Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up the three historically primary cities of the Research Triangle metropolitan region. The regional nickname of "The Triangle" originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located between the cities of Raleigh and Durham. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) of Raleigh-Durham-Cary in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. The estimated population of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA was 1,635,974 as of July 1, 2007, with the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) portion estimated at 1,047,629 residents.

Sacramento

Sacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive Central Valley, it is the seventh-largest city in California, with a 2007 estimated population of 475,743. Sacramento is the core cultural and economic center of its four-county metropolitan area (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties) with a combined population of 2,136,604. The Sacramento Metropolitan Area is the largest in the Central Valley, and is the fourth-largest in California, behind the Greater Los Angeles Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the San Diego area. Greater Sacramento has been cited as one of the five "most livable" regions in America in 2004, and the city was cited by Time magazine as America's most integrated in 2002. Sacramento became a city due to the efforts of John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant, and James W. Marshall. Sacramento grew faster due to the protection of Sutter's Fort, which was established by Sutter in 1839. During the California Gold Rush, Sacramento was a major distribution point, a commercial and agricultural center, and a terminus for wagon trains, stagecoaches, riverboats, the telegraph, the Pony Express, and the First Transcontinental Railroad. California State University, Sacramento, more commonly known as Sacramento State or Sac State, is the major local university. It is one of the twenty-three campuses of the California State University system. In addition, the University of California, Davis is located in nearby Davis, just west of the capital.