HOUSTON, TX — Welcome to part three of the Houston Sister Cities. If you missed the first one, you might want to read that first.
A sister city or twin city is a long-term partnership between two towns, cities, provinces, or countries all across the globe. We'll explore each one of them in this miniseries.
1. Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig in Germany has been the sister city of Houston since 1992. Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony and the eighth-most populous city in Germany.
Leipzig has been a trade city since the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and the Via Imperii, two important medieval trade routes. Today, it is an economic powerhouse and rated as the most livable city in Germany by the GfK marketing research institution.
Leipzig has long been a center for music, both classical and modern "dark alternative music". The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, established in 1743, might be the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Johann Sebastian Bach is one of many notable composers who lived and worked in Leipzig.
2. Luanda, Angola
Luanda is the capital and largest city in Angola and the center for industrial, cultural, and urban centers, also Angola's primary port. Luanda is Houston's sister city since 2003.
Luanda also home to these industries, such as the processing of agricultural products, beverage production, textile, cement, newly car assembly plants, construction materials, plastics, metallurgy, cigarettes, and shoes. The city is notable for its oil and its refineries.
The inhabitants of Luanda are primarily members of the ethnic group of the Ambundu, though there has been an increase in the number of the Bakongo and the Ovimbundu recently.
3. Nice, France
Nice has been Houston's sister city since the year 1973. It is the seventh most populous urban area in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes department.
The city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which means Nice the Beautiful. The natural environment of the Nice area and its mild Mediterranean climate came to the attention of the English upper classes in the second half of the 18th century, when an increasing number of aristocratic families spend their winter there. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and one of its most visited cities, receiving 4 million tourists every year.
4. Perth, Australia
A sister city of Houston since 1984, Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. The city is located on land on which the Whadjuk Nyoongar, the Indigenous people of the southwest of Western Australia, have lived for at least 38,000 years.
The city has been ranked among the world's most liveable cities and was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2020 as a Beta global city. Perth is on the Swan River, named for the native black swans by Willem de Vlamingh, captain of a Dutch expedition and namer of WA's Rottnest Island, who discovered the birds while exploring the area in 1697.