The concept that concerns us in this review is used in our language with three senses, to designate that main, most important city of a country, relevance that will be given by its extension or by the importance that per se represents in political, economic matters , for instance. And the concept is also used to name a state with respect to the colonies that depend on it, and the last sense of the word is used on the religious plane to name that archiepiscopal church on which certain dioceses will depend.
Main city of a country due to its size or due to its political and economic importance
Meanwhile, undoubtedly the most widespread use that we give to this word is that which refers to the largest city in a given country, in which its culture and economy will be concentrated as well as the center of its international connectionsIn other words, through it and thanks to its ports and airports one can go abroad or there receive any shipment from any other part of the world. And because it is not also usually the seat of political power and in which those most relevant decisions related to the political and economic life of the country to which it belongs are made.
All the most important issues of the country pass through them: politics, economics, culture, art, sport.
In Latin America there are many metropolises that stand out, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Santiago in Chile, Asunción in Paraguay and São Paulo in Brazil, among others and if we travel to Europe we find London in England, Madrid in Spain, Paris in France , among other. The common feature of all these very important cities is that all the most important political, economic, cultural, artistic, and sporting issues pass through them. That is, political power always acts from the metropolis, the economic activity of the metropolis is usually the most relevant in the nation and almost all artistic and cultural events of interest usually pass through the metropolis first and then appear in the rest of the country. .
A reference for both locals and foreigners
In all countries, there will always be a city that stands out as the most important and outstanding with respect to the rest and as a consequence acts as a benchmark both for people living in the country and for foreigners. For the inhabitants of the same nation, the metropolis is that city to which they have to travel, if they live in the interior or in neighboring towns, to do some special procedure, or study at the national faculty, because in the metropolises they are usually the headquarters of this.
Rivalries between the metropolis and the rest of the cities
Many times this differentiation that is observed and is made in effect, between metropolises with respect to smaller cities of the same nation, inevitably generates resentments and rivalries. Thus, those who live in the metropolis tend to despise those who come from the interior of the country, and meanwhile, the latter tend to show resentment for that treatment and then also "fight" in their own way the native of the metropolis.
Other uses
While, In ancient Greece, if a city had colonies within its political organization, this city was called a colonial metropolis and by extension it is that this word is also applied to define and refer to the European colonial powers.
Likewise, the term metropolis is often used to refer to the metropolitan area of a Nation, made up of all those adjacent and interconnected localities that work together.
