Cologne is the largest city in the German federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-largest city in Germany (after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich). It is located within the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the major European metropolitan areas, and with more than ten million inhabitants, the largest in Germany. Cologne is about 45km southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia's capital of Dusseldorf and 25km northwest of Bonn.

Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine, near Germany's borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. The city's famous Cologne Cathedral ("Kolner Dom") is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The University of Cologne ("Universitat zu Koln") is one of Europe's oldest and largest universities.

Cologne was founded and established in Ubii territory in the 1st century AD as the Roman "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", from which it gets its name. "Cologne", the French version of the city's name, has become standard in English as well. The city functioned as the capital of the Roman province of "Germania Inferior" and as the headquarters of the Roman military in the region until occupied by the Franks in 462. During the Middle Ages it flourished on one of the most important major trade routes between east and west in Europe. Cologne was one of the leading members of the Hanseatic League and one of the largest cities north of the Alps in medieval and Renaissance times. Prior to World War II the city had undergone several occupations by the French and also by the British (19181926). Cologne was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany during World War II, with the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropping of bombs on the city. The bombing reduced the population by 95%, mainly due to evacuation, and destroyed almost the entire city. With the intention of restoring as many historic buildings as possible, the successful postwar rebuilding has resulted in a very mixed and unique cityscape.

1. What does RAF stand for?
2. In WW II, what was one of the most heavily bombed places in Germany?
3. Which region is it located in?
4. How many people does it have?
5. When was it founded?
6. In which territory?
7. What was the Roman name for it?
8. What is the French name for it?
9. What province was it the capital of?
10. And who was headquartered there?
11. What happened in 462?
12. What is the fourth-largest city in Germany?
13. What river is it located on both sides of?
14. What does it have that's the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne?
15. Was the University of Cologne built recently?
16. What is the German name for The University of Cologne?
17. What was Cologne one of the leading members of?
18. Before World War II, who was it occupied by?
19. And who else?

Numbered answers:
1. Royal Air Force
2. Cologne
3. North Rhine-Westphalia
4. more than ten million
5. in the 1st century AD
6. Ubii
7. Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium
8. Cologne
9. Germania Inferior
10. the Roman military
11. it was occupied by the Franks
12. Cologne
13. the Rhine
14. the Cologne Cathedral
15. no
16. Universitat zu Koln
17. the Hanseatic League
18. the French
19. the British