Portal:Cleveland, Ohio/Intro

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The city of Cleveland is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the U.S. state of Ohio. The municipality is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, in the Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the river, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at the head of numerous canals and railroad lines. After the decline of heavy manufacturing, Cleveland's businesses are now more often in the financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors.

As of the 2000 Census, the city proper had a total population of 478,403, making it the 33rd largest city in the nation (recent estimates from the Census Bureau show it to currently be the 36th largest). It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio, which spans several counties and is defined in several different ways by the United States Census Bureau. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area has 2,250,871 people and is the 23rd largest in the country. Cleveland is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which is the 14th largest in the country with a population of 2,945,831 according to the 2000 Census.

Residents of Cleveland are usually referred to as Clevelanders. Nicknames used for the city include The Forest City, Metropolis of the Western Reserve, The New American City, America's North Coast, The Heart of New Connecticut, and C-Town. Its nineteen sister cities include Volgograd, Russia; Bratislava, Slovakia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Miskolc, Hungary; Bangalore, India; and Alexandria, Egypt.