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A metropolis is a large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. The term is Greek and means the "mother city" of a colony (in the ancient sense), that is, the city which sent out settlers. This was later generalized to a city regarded as a center of a specified activity, or any large, important city in a nation. A big city belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which is not the core of that agglomeration, is not generally considered a metropolis but a part of it. The plural of the word is most commonly ''metropolises''. For urban centers outside metropolitan areas that generate a similar attraction at smaller scale for their region, the concept of the regiopolis, short ''regio'', was introduced by German professors in 2006.〔Prof. Dr. Iris Reuther (FG Stadt- und Regionalplanung, Universität Kassel): Presentation "Regiopole Rostock". 11 December 2008, retrieved 13 June 2009 (pdf).〕 ==History== In the past, ''metropolis'' was the designation for a city or state of origin of a colony. Many large cities founded by ancient civilizations have been considered important world metropolises of their times due to their large populations and importance. Some of these ancient metropolises survived until the modern days and are among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Using modern criteria, Rome is considered the first ever metropolis, containing one million people around year 1 and an urban culture that included architectural achievements unsurpassed for centuries.〔(Old Age in Ancient Rome )〕 == Etymology and modern usage == This is a Greek word, coming from μήτηρ, ''mḗtēr'' meaning "mother" and πόλις, ''pólis'' meaning "city" or "town", which is how the Greek colonies of antiquity referred to their original cities, with whom they retained cultic and political-cultural connections. The word was used in post-classical Latin for the chief city of a province, the seat of the government and, in particular, ecclesiastically for the seat or see of a metropolitan bishop to whom suffragan bishops were responsible. This usage equates the province with the diocese or episcopal see. In modern usage the word has come to refer to a metropolitan area, a set of adjacent and interconnected cities clustered around a major urban center. In this sense, ''metropolitan'' usually means "spanning the whole metropolis" (as in "metropolitan administration") or "proper of a metropolis" (as in "metropolitan life", and opposed to "provincial" or "rural"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「metropolis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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