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The Federal City of Cologne, often referred to as simply Cologne, is the largest city in the municipality of Rhine-Westphalia as well as the capital of Prussia and second largest city in the entire nation after Berlin. It holds a population of 1.5 million.
Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River and is less than 80 kilometers from Belgium.
It was founded in the first century AD as a Roman Colonial city near the empire's farthest north border with the rest of mainland Europe, and was initially called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, from which the name "Cologne" derives. It acted as the capital of the province of Germania Inferior until 462, when it became part of the Western Frankish kingdom. Cologne became the capital of Prussia in 1872, with the defeat of Germany at the hands Prussia and France.