- published: 12 Dec 2012
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- author: Imran Khan Shaikh Rasheed
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Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan
i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East, it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km2 (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.
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Albania
Albania (i/ælˈbeɪniə/ al-BAY-nee-ə, Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.
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Algeria
Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2
Algeriai/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash-Shaʿbiyyah), also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a large country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.
When referring to its land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa, Maghreb and the Arab World. It is also the largest of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; it is also the tenth-largest country in the world. The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 2,400,000 square kilometres (926,645 sq mi) with an estimated population of 37.1 million as of 2012. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC and the United Nations. The country is also a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union.
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Anguilla
Anguilla (
/æŋˈɡwɪlə/ ang-GWIL-ə) is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately 26 km (16 mi) long by 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The island's capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 91 km2 (35 sq mi), with a population of approximately 13,500 (2006 estimate).
Anguilla has become a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations.
Anguilla was first settled by Amerindian tribes who migrated from South America. The earliest Amerindian artifacts found on Anguilla have been dated to around 1300 BC, and remains of settlements date from 600 AD. The date of European discovery is uncertain: some sources claim that Columbus sighted the island in 1493, while others state that the island was first discovered by the French in 1564 or 1565. The name Anguilla derives from the word for "eel" in any of various Romance languages (modern Spanish: anguila; French: anguille; Italian: anguilla; Portuguese: enguia), probably chosen because of the island's eel-like shape.
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Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (i/ænˈtiːɡə ænd bɑrˈbjuːdə/; Spanish for "ancient" and "bearded") is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands (including Great Bird, Green, Guinea, Long, Maiden and York Islands and further south, the island of Redonda). The permanent population number approximately 81,800 (at the 2011 Census) and the capital and largest port and city is St. John's, on Antigua.
Separated by a few nautical miles, Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles, roughly at 17 degrees north of the Equator. The country is nicknamed "Land of 365 Beaches" due to the many beaches surrounding the islands. Its governance, language, and culture have all been strongly influenced by the British Empire, of which the country was formerly a part.
Antigua was first settled by Archaic Age hunter-gatherer Amerindians, erroneously referred to as Siboney or Ciboney.Carbon-dating has established that the earliest settlements started around 3100 BC. They were succeeded by the Ceramic Age pre-Columbian Arawak-speaking Saladoid people who migrated from the lower Orinoco River.
wn.com/Antigua_and_Barbuda -
Arab League
The Arab League (Arabic: الجامعة العربية al-Jāmiʻa al-ʻArabiyya), officially called the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya), is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia (Middle East). It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. The Arab League currently has 22 members (including Syria, whose participation was suspended in November 2011). The main goal of the league is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries."
Through institutions such as the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League's Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU), the Arab League facilitates political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed to promote the interests of the Arab world. It has served as a forum for the member states to coordinate their policy positions, to deliberate on matters of common concern, to settle some Arab disputes, and to limit conflicts such as the 1958 Lebanon crisis. The League has served as a platform for the drafting and conclusion of many landmark documents promoting economic integration. One example is the Joint Arab Economic Action Charter which sets out the principles for economic activities in the region.
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Australia
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
wn.com/Australia -
Azad Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد جموں و کشمیر, Azaad Jammu o- Kashmir, literally Free Jammu and Kashmir ; AJK) or Azad Kashmir (literally Free Kashmir) for short, is the southernmost political entity within the Pakistani-administered part of the former princely state of Kashmir and Jammu. It borders the present-day Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east (separated from it by the Line of Control), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to the west, Gilgit–Baltistan to the north, and the Punjab province to the south. With its capital at Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir covers an area of 13,297 square kilometres (5,134 sq mi) and has an estimated population of about four million. Brad Adams the Asia director at Human Rights Watch has said in 2006
Although ‘azad’ means ‘free,’ the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but, The Pakistani authorities govern Azad Kashmir with strict controls on basic freedoms.
Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan together constitute the disputed region, referred to as Pakistan-administered Kashmir by the United Nations and other international organisations, and as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in India in contrast to the name Indian-occupied Kashmir which is given to the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan. The territories have been under control of the two countries since the first Kashmir war after which Azad Kashmir was successfully captured from the princely state by the rebelling militias with the help of Pakistan army.
wn.com/Azad_Kashmir -
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (
i/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
wn.com/Azerbaijan -
Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur (Urdu, Saraiki: بہاولپور), located in Punjab, is the twelfth largest city in Pakistan. The city was once the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The city was home to various Nawabs (rulers) and counted as part of the Rajputana states (now Rajasthan, India). The city is known for its famous palaces such as the Noor Mahal, Sadiq Ghar Palace, and Darbar Mahal, as well as the ancient fort of Derawar in the Cholistan Desert bordering India. The city is located near the historical and ancient cities of Uch and Harappa, which were once a stronghold of the Delhi Sultanate and Indus Valley Civilisation. The city is home to one of the few natural safari parks in Pakistan, Lal Suhanra National Park.
In 2007, the city's population was recorded to have risen to 798,509 from 403,408 in 1998.Punjabi and Saraiki are the major languages of local people, while Urdu is well understood and English is the official languages used in various educational and government institutions. Bahawalpur is located south of the Sutlej River and lies in the Cholistan region near the Thar Desert. It is situated 90 km from Multan, 420 km from Lahore, and 270 km from Faisalabad.
wn.com/Bahawalpur -
Bahrain
Bahrain ( pronunciation) (Arabic: البحرين, al-Baḥrayn) (Persian: بحرين, Baḥrain), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين, Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,234,571, including 666,172 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.
Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The peninsula of Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.
Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal'at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.
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Bangladesh
Coordinates: 23°N 90°E / 23°N 90°E / 23; 90
Bangladesh (i/ˈbɑːŋɡlədɛʃ/ or i/bæŋɡləˈdɛʃ/ (Anglicized pronunciation); Bengali: বাংলাদেশ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh) is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India and Burma and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The capital (and largest city) is Dhaka, located in central Bangladesh. The official state language is Bengali. The name Bangladesh means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal" the in the Bengali language, from Bangla "Bengal" and desh holding a dual meaning of "land" and "country" as English "country," German land, French pays, etc.
The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal during the reign and demise of the British India. Its map was chartered by Sir Cyril Radcliffe during the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, when the region became East Pakistan, part of the newly formed nation of Pakistan. Due to political exclusion and economic exploitation by the politically dominant West Pakistan, popular agitation grew against West Pakistan and led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence on 26 March 1971. With the intervention of the Indian Army, the war came to an end on 16 December 1971 with the surrender of the Pakistan Army at Ramna Race Course.
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Barbados
Coordinates: 13°10′N 59°33′W / 13.167°N 59.55°W / 13.167; -59.55
Barbados (i/bɑrˈbeɪdɒs/ or /bɑrˈbeɪdoʊs/) is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is 34 kilometres (21 mi) in length and up to 23 kilometres (14 mi) in width, covering an area of 431 square kilometres (166 sq mi). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about 168 kilometres (104 mi) east of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt.
Barbados was initially visited by the Spanish around the late 1400s to early 1500s and first appears on a Spanish map from 1511. The Spanish explorers may have plundered the island of whatever native peoples resided therein to become slaves. The Portuguese visited in 1536, but they too left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The first English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1624. They took possession of it in the name of the British king James I. Two years later in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England and it became an English and later British colony.
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Belize
Belizei/bəˈliːz/ (formerly British Honduras) is a country located on the north eastern coast of Central America and it is the only country in the area where English is the official language, although Kriol and Spanish are more commonly spoken. Belize is bordered to the north by Mexico, south and west by Guatemala, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea. Its mainland is about 290 kilometres (180 mi) long and 110 kilometres (68 mi) wide.
With 22,960 square kilometres (8,860 sq mi) of land and a population of only 333,200 inhabitants (2010 est.), Belize possesses the lowest population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 2.21% (2008 est.), however, is the highest in the region and one of the highest in the western hemisphere. Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species, and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place within the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.
Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages and it is the only nation in the region with a British colonial heritage but as a part of the Western Caribbean Zone, it also shares a common heritage with the Caribbean portions of other Central American countries. In general, Belize is considered to be a Central American nation with strong ties to both the Caribbean and Latin America. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA).
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Benin
Benini/bɨˈniːn/ (formerly, Dahomey), officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, by Nigeria to the east and by Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. A majority of the population live on its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city. Benin covers an area of approximately 110,000 square kilometers (42,000 sq mi), with a population of approximately 9.05 million. Benin is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming.
The official language of Benin is French, however, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun and Protestantism. Benin is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the African Petroleum Producers Association and the Niger Basin Authority.
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Bermuda
Bermuda ( /bɜrˈmjuːdə/), officially the Bermudas or Somers Islands, is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 kilometres (640 mi) to the west-northwest. It is about 1,373 kilometres (853 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida, USA. Its capital city is Hamilton.
Bermuda was discovered in 1505 by Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez, after whom the islands are named. Apparently uninhabited, he claimed them for the Spanish Empire. Although he paid two visits to the archipelago, Bermúdez was persuaded never to set foot on any of the islands by the dangerous reef surrounding them. Subsequent Spanish or other visitors are believed to have released the feral pigs that were abundant on the island when settlement began. In 1609, the Virginia Company, which had established Virginia and Jamestown on the American continent two years earlier, established a settlement on behalf of the English colonial empire. Initially, it was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614, before its successor, the Somers Isles Company, took over until 1684. Bermuda then became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the unified Kingdom of Great Britain. After Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, Bermuda became the oldest (and, since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the most populous) remaining British overseas territory. Its first capital, St George's, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously-inhabited English town in the Americas.
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Bhutan
Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E / 27.417; 90.435
Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, tr ʼbrug-yul, "Druk Yul"; Devanagari भूटान, Bhūṭān), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.
Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the area was unified by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who fled religious persecution in Tibet and cultivated a separate Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire, after which Bhutan continued strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, based on a global survey.
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Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are properly referred to as "Batswana" (singular: Motswana), but many English-language sources use "Botswanan". Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Botswana is flat, and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula, Zambia is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred meters long.
A mid-sized country of just over two million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70. Botswana has since transformed itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world to a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $14,000. The country also has a strong tradition as a representative democracy.
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Brunei
Bruneii/bruːˈnaɪ/, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: نڬارا بروني دارالسلام), is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and it is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 401,890 in July 2011.
The official national history claims that Brunei can trace its beginnings to the 7th century, when it was a subject state of the Srivijayan empire under the name P'o-li. It later became a vassal state of Majapahit empire before converting to Islam in the 15th century. At the peak of its empire, the sultanate had control that extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The thalassocracy was visited by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and fought the Castille War in 1578 against Spain. Its empire began to decline with the forced ceding of Sarawak to James Brooke and the ceding of Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. After the loss of Limbang, Brunei finally became a British protectorate in 1888, receiving a resident in 1906. In the years after the Japanese wartime occupation during World War II, it formalised a constitution and fought an armed rebellion. Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984. Economic growth during the 1970s and 1990s, averaging 56% from 1999 to 2008, has transformed Brunei Darussalam into a newly industrialised country.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (i/bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH-soh; French: [buʁkina faso]) – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest. The country's capital is Ouagadougou.
Its size is 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on 4 August 1984, by President Thomas Sankara, to mean "the land of upright people" in Mòoré and Dioula, the major native languages of the country. Figuratively, "Burkina" may be translated, "men of integrity", from the Mòoré language, and "Faso" means "fatherland" in Dioula. The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè (
/bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-KEE-nə-bay).
Burkina Faso was populated between 14,000 and 5000 BC by hunter-gatherers in the country's northwestern region. Farm settlements appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC. What is now central Burkina Faso was principally composed of Mossi kingdoms. These Mossi Kingdoms would become a French protectorate in 1896. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes until arriving at its current form, a semi-presidential republic. The president is Blaise Compaoré.
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Burma
Burmai/ˈbɜrmə/ BUR-mə, also known as Myanmar i/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ MYAHN--MAR, is a country in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km2 (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Burma is also the 24th most populous country in the world with over 60.28 million people.
Burma is home to some of the early civilizations of Southeast Asia including the Pyu and the Mon. In the 9th century, the Burmans of the Kingdom of Nanzhao, entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Empire in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture slowly became dominant in the country. During this period, Theravada Buddhism gradually became the predominant religion of the country. The Pagan Empire fell due to the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and several warring states emerged. In the second half of the 16th century, the country was reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty which for a brief period was the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Burma as well as Manipur and Assam. The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885).
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Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun), is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. French and English are the official languages.
Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.
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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
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Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands ( /ˈkeɪmən/ or /keɪˈmæn/) is a British Overseas Territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is a major world offshore financial centre.
The Cayman Islands were first logged as sighted by Christopher Columbus on 10 May 1503 during his fourth and final voyage to the New World. He named the islands Las Tortugas after the large number of sea turtles observed there. The first recorded English visitor to the islands was Sir Francis Drake in 1586. He subsequently named the islands "Cayman" after caiman, a Neo-Taino word for "alligator".
The Cayman Islands remained largely uninhabited until the 17th century. While there is no archaeological evidence for an indigenous people on the islands, a variety of settlers from various backgrounds made their home on the islands, including pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica.
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Chad
Chadi/ˈtʃæd/ (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد Tšād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
Chad is divided into multiple regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Christmas Island
Coordinates: 10°29′S 105°38′E / 10.483°S 105.633°E / -10.483; 105.633 The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 360 km (220 mi) south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 2,748 km (1,708 mi) west of the Territorian city of Darwin.
Christmas Island has a population of 1,403 residents who live in a number of "settlement areas" on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver City, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.
The island’s geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of significant interest to scientists and naturalists. 63% of its 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi) is an Australian national park. There exist large areas of primary monsoonal forest.
Phosphate, deposited originally as dead marine organisms (not guano as often thought), has been mined on the island for many years.
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Comoros
The Comorosi/ˈkɒməroʊz/ (Arabic: جزر القمر, Ǧuzur al-Qumur/Qamar), officially the Union of the Comoros (Comorian: Udzima wa Komori, French: Union des Comores, Arabic: الاتحاد القمري al-Ittiḥād al-Qumurī/Qamarī) is a sovereign, archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. Other countries near to the Comoros are Tanzania to the northwest and the Seychelles to the northeast. The capital is Moroni on Grande Comore.
At 1,862 km2 (719 sq mi) (excluding Mayotte), the Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area. The population (excluding Mayotte) is estimated at 798,000. Its name derives from the Arabic word قمر qamar ("moon"). The archipelago is notable for its diverse culture and history, as a nation formed at the crossroads of many civilizations. It is the southernmost member state of the Arab League. Though in the contested island of Mayotte the sole official language is French, the "Union of the Comoros" has three official languages: Comorian, Arabic, and French.
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Cook Islands
The Cook Islands (i/ˈkʊk ˈaɪləndz/; Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. The 15 small islands have a total land area of 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi), but the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) of ocean.
The main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 in 2006), where there is an international airport. There is a much larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, particularly the North Island. In the 2006 census, 58,008 self-identified as being of ethnic Cook Island Māori descent.
With about 100,000 visitors travelling to the islands in the 2010-11 financial year,tourism is the country's main industry, and the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.
Defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent times, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy. Although Cook Islanders are citizens of New Zealand, they have the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens.
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Coral Sea Islands
The Coral Sea Islands Territory includes a group of small and mostly uninhabited tropical islands and reefs in the Coral Sea, northeast of Queensland, Australia. The only inhabited island is Willis Island. The territory covers 780,000 km2, extending east and south from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, and including Heralds Beacon Island, Osprey Reef, the Willis Group, and fifteen other reef/island groups.
The Coral Sea Islands were first charted in 1803; in the 1870 and 1880s the islands were mined for guano but the absence of a permanent supply of fresh water prevented long-term habitation. The territory was created in 1969 by the Coral Sea Islands Act (before, the area was considered part of Queensland) and extended in 1997 to include Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs nearly 800 km further South, already in the Tasman Sea.
The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord Howe Island, New South Wales (about 150 km) than to the southernmost island of the rest of the territory, Cato Island. The islands, cays and reefs of the Great Barrier Reef are not part of the territory, belonging to Queensland instead. The outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is the boundary between Queensland and the Coral Sea Islands Territory.
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Cyprus
Cyprusi/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
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Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoirei/ˌkoʊt dɨˈvwɑr/ (French: [kot d‿ivwaʁ]) or Ivory Coast i/ˌaɪvəri ˈkoʊst/ is a country in West Africa. It has an area of 322,462 square kilometres (124,503 sq mi), and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be 20,617,068 in 2009. Côte d'Ivoire's first national census in 1975 counted 6.7 million inhabitants.
Prior to its colonization by Europeans, Côte d'Ivoire was home to several states, including Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, and Baoulé. There were two Anyi kingdoms, Indénié and Sanwi, which attempted to retain their separate identity through the French colonial period and after Côte d'Ivoire's independence. An 1843–1844 treaty made Côte d'Ivoire a protectorate of France and in 1893, it became a French colony as part of the European scramble for Africa.
Côte d'Ivoire became independent on 7 August 1960. From 1960 to 1993, the country was led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny. It maintained close political and economic association with its West African neighbours, while at the same time maintaining close ties to the West, especially to France. Since the end of Houphouët-Boigny's rule, Côte d'Ivoire has experienced one coup d’état, in 1999, and a civil war, which broke out in 2002. A political agreement between the government and the rebels brought a return to peace. Côte d'Ivoire is a republic with a strong executive power invested in the President. Its de jure capital is Yamoussoukro and the biggest city is the port city of Abidjan. The country is divided into 19 regions and 81 departments. It is a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, African Union, La Francophonie, Latin Union, Economic Community of West African States and South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone.
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Djibouti
Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, French: Djibouti, Somali: Jabuuti, Afar: Gabuuti), officially the Republic of Djibouti (Arabic: جمهورية جيبوتي Jumhūriyyat Jībūtī, French: République de Djibouti, Afar: Gabuutih Ummuuno, Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti), is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti, which had a population of 818,159 at the 2009 census, is one of the least populous countries in Africa.Islam is the largest religion in the country, practiced by 94% of the population. The land was known as Obock and French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) in the 19th century; in 1967, it changed its name to Afars and Issas after new treaties with France. The territory was declared an independent nation in 1977 and changed its name to the "Republic of Djibouti" after its principal city. Djibouti joined the United Nations on September 20, 1977. While Djibouti is an independent sovereign state, it maintains deep French relations, and through various military and economic agreements with France, it receives continued security and economic assistance.
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Dominica
Dominica ( /ˌdɒmɪˈniːkə/ DOM-i-NEE-kə;French: Dominique; Kali‘na (Carib): Wai‘tu kubuli), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,747 ft). The Commonwealth of Dominica had a population of 71,293 at the 2011 Census. The capital is Roseau.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake. The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many rare plant, animal, and bird species. There are xeric areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected inland. The Sisserou Parrot (also known as the Imperial Amazon), the island's national bird, is featured on the national flag. Dominica's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, agriculture and heavy taxation.
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Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
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Faisalabad
Faisalabad, (Urdu: فیصل آباد) formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan.
Nicknamed the Manchester of Asia, Faisalabad remains an important industrial city west of Lahore. The city-district of Faisalabad is bound on the north by the districts of Hafizabad and Chiniot, on the east by Nankana Sahib, on the south by Sahiwal, and Toba Tek Singh and on the west by Jhang.
The city is at a road and railway junction, which has played an influential role in the development of Faisalabad's trade and economy. The surrounding countryside, irrigated by the Lower Chenab River, has seen expanded production of cotton, wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, and fruits, which form 55% of Pakistan's exports. The city is an industrial centre with major railway repair yards, engineering works, and mills that process sugar, flour, and oil seed. Produce includes superphosphates, cotton and silk textiles, hosiery, dyes, industrial chemicals, beverages, apparels, pulp and paper, printing, agricultural equipment, and ghee (clarified butter). Faisalabad is the site of the prestigious University of Agriculture, founded in 1909.
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Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (English pronunciation: /ˈfɒlklənd/ or English pronunciation: /ˈfɔːlklənd/; Spanish: Islas Malvinas) are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located more than 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) east of the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 lesser islands. Stanley, the capital and only city, is on East Falkland. The islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territory, with the United Kingdom responsible for their defence and foreign affairs.
Controversy exists over the Falklands' original discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans. At various times there have been French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain re-established its rule in 1833, yet the islands continue to be claimed by Argentina. In 1982, following Argentina's invasion of the islands, the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between both countries resulted in the withdrawal of all Argentine forces. Despite its defeat, Argentina still pursues its claim; however, UK policy supports the islanders' self-determination to remain British citizens.
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Fiji
Fijii/ˈfiːdʒiː/ (Fijian: Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी), officially the Republic of Fiji (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी गणराज्यFijī Gaṇarājya), is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, France's New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas, France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast and Tuvalu to the north.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity started around 150 million years ago. Today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. The country comprises an archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of circa 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 850,000. The former contains Suva, the capital and largest city. Most of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres. Viti Levu's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.
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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finlandi/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
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Gabon
Gabon ( /ɡəˈbɒn/; French pronunciation: [ɡabɔ̃]), officially the Gabonese Republic (French: République Gabonaise) is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west. It covers a land area of nearly 270,000 km² and has an estimated population of 1,500,000. Its capital and largest city is Libreville.
Since its independence from France on August 17, 1960, Gabon has been ruled by three presidents. In the early 1990s, Gabon introduced a multi-party system and a new democratic constitution that allowed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed many governmental institutions. Gabon is also a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2010-2011 term.
Low population density together with abundant natural resources and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the highest HDI and the third highest GDP per capita (PPP) (after Equatorial Guinea and Botswana) in the region.
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Georgia (country)
Georgiai/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] (
listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Ghana
Ghanai/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.
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Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( /dʒɨˈbrɒltər/) is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has an area of 6.8 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi) and a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region. At its foot is the densely populated city area, home to almost 30,000 Gibraltarians and other nationalities.
An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the Royal Navy; today its economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, and shipping.
The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. Under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.
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Gilgit
Gilgit (Urdu, Shina: گلگت) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. Gilgit City forms a tehsil of Gilgit, within Gilgit District. Its ancient name was Sargin, later to be known as Gilit, and it is still called Gilit or Sargin-Gilit by local people. In the Burushaski language, it is named Geelt and in Wakhi and Khowar it is called Gilt. Ghallata is considered its name in ancient Sanskrit literature. Gilgit City is one of the two major hubs in Gilgit Baltistan for mountaineering expeditions to the Karakoram and other the peaks in the Himalayas, the other hub being Skardu.[citation needed]
Gilgit was an important city on the Silk Road, along which Buddhism was spread from South Asia to the rest of Asia.[citation needed]
The Dards and Chinas appear in many of the old Pauranic lists of peoples who lived in the region, with the former also mentioned in Ptolemy's accounts of the region. Two famous travellers, Faxian and Xuanzang, traversed Gilgit according to their accounts.[citation needed]
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Grenada
Grenada (i/ɡrɨˈneɪdə/) is an island country and Commonwealth realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Grenada is also known as the "Island of Spice" because of the production of nutmeg and mace crops of which Grenada is one of the world's largest exporters. Its size is 344 square kilometres (133 sq mi), with an estimated population of 110,000. Its capital is St. George's. The national bird of Grenada is the critically endangered Grenada Dove.
Grenada was first sighted by Europeans in 1498 during the third voyage of Christopher Columbus to the new world. At the time the indigenous Island Caribs (Kalinago) who lived there called it Camahogne. The Spaniards did not permanently settle on Camahogne. The English failed in their attempt at settlement in 1609.
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Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey ( /ˈɡɜrnzi/ GURN-zee; French: Bailliage de Guernesey, IPA: [bajaʒ də ɡɛʁnəzɛ]), is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, and Lihou. Furthermore, the Bailiwick includes Alderney and Sark, which each has its own parliament.
Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the UK; and while it participates in the Common Travel Area, it is not part of the European Union.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is included (along with the Bailiwick of Jersey) in the grouping known as the Channel Islands.
The name of Guernsey, as well as that of neighbouring Jersey, is of Old Norse origin. The second element of Guernsey (-ey) is the Old Norse for "island". Guern similar to Spanish "Cuerno", French "Coi(r)n", Dutch "Hoorn", Frisian "Hoarn", Swedish "Hörn", Swiss "Gorn" means "Corner". - Corner Island.
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Guinea
Guineai/ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea (French: République de Guinée), is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (Guinée française), it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has almost 246,000 square kilometres (94,981 sq mi) and a population of 10,057,975. It forms a crescent by curving from its western border on the Atlantic Ocean toward the east and the south. Its northern border is shared with Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, the southern one with Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The Niger River's source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea.
Guinea is geographically divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures. Conakry is the capital, largest city and economic centre. The other major cities in the country include Kankan, Nzérékoré, Kindia, Labe, Guéckédou, Mamou and Boke.
Guinea's 10 million people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. The largest and most prominent groups are the Fula 40%, Mandingo 30%, and Susu 20%.
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Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissaui/ˈɡɪni bɪˈsaʊ/ (Portuguese: República da Guiné-Bissau, pronounced: [ʁeˈpublikɐ dɐ ɡiˈnɛ biˈsaw]), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west. It covers 36,125 km² (nearly 14,000 sq mi) with an estimated population of 1,600,000.
Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of Gabu, as well as part of the Mali Empire. Parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century, while a few others were part of the Portuguese Empire since the 16th century. It then became the Portuguese colony of Portuguese Guinea in the 19th century. Upon independence, declared in 1973 and recognised in 1974, the name of its capital, Bissau, was added to the country's name to prevent confusion with the bordering Republic of Guinea. Guinea-Bissau has a history of political instability since gaining independence and no elected president has successfully served a full five-year term. On the evening of 12 April 2012, members of the country's military staged a coup and arrested the interim president and a leading presidential candidate. The military has yet to declare a current leader for the country. However, former vice chief of staff, General Mamadu Ture Kuruma took the care of the country in the transitional period and started negotiations with opposition parties.
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Gujranwala
Gujranwala (Punjabi, Urdu: گوجرانوالہ ) is an industrial city in the north-east of the Punjab province. It is the 7th largest city in Pakistan with a population of approximately 2,661,360 as on 24 June 2011 (Extrapolated from a population of 1,415,711 in 2006 and a population of 2,569,090 on February 4, 2011). Gujranwala is located at 32.16° North, 74.18° East and is 226 metres (744 ft) above sea level. It shares borders with Ghakhar Mandi, Alipur Chatha, kamonke and some small towns and villages. Punjabi is the local language, but English and Urdu are also common, particularly in schools and offices. Due to extensive road and rail links the city has flourished within the manufacturing and agricultural markets. The city is on the Grand Trunk Road, which allows logistical connections to the provincial capitals such as Peshawar and Lahore and also to the capital of Pakistan Islamabad.It is in between Lahore and [Gujrat,Wazirabad]. its small and medium industries. Gujranwala is known for its extensive production of sugarcane, melons and grains for international export.Gujranwala exports one of the world's finest quality Rice. The city has set up several commercial and industrial centres allowing the manufacturing of ceramics,Fans,electrical switch gears,engineering tools,Agricultural/earth moving machinery, steel, cutlery, crockery, iron safes, metal tool, utensils, textiles,Wollen Sweaters, sanitary Fittings and tannery production. The city has produced some of the finest wrestlers and bodybuilders of the subcontinent, which has resulted in the nickname 'City of wrestlers' or Phelwana da shehar in Punjabi. The city is also the birthplace of the legendary Sikh warrior-king, Ranjit Singh.
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Gujrat
Gujrat (Punjabi, Urdu: گجرات) is a city in Pakistan. It is the capital of Gujrat District and the Gujrat Tehsil subdivision in the Punjab Province. The major sources of livelihood among the Gujrat populace are agriculture and small industries. Gujrat is also known as the city of King Porus.
Gujrat is situated on the bank of Chenab River, situated about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Lahore, the capital city of Punjab province, and 150 kilometres (93 mi) from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Prominent nearby locations include Jalalpur Jattan, Jhelum, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, Lalamusa and Bhimber-Azad Kashmir. The city is surrounded by many villages and towns, which supply significant labour to the local market.
Gujrat was founded by Raja Bachhan Pal Gurjar in 460 BC, according to General Cunningham, the British historian. Historical consensus is that it existed in the time of Alexander the Great, and that the city's Raja Porus put up a fierce challenge to Alexander's invasion at the bank of the Jehlum River. The establishment of Gujrat City was realised early in the 19th century after the British Empire and in support of regional landlords (e.g., Daswandi Khan of Daswandi Pura).
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Gulf of Oman
The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman (Arabic: خليج عُمان—Ḫalīdj ʾUmān; alternatively known as خليج مکران—, Ḫalīdj Makrān; in Persian: دریای عمان Daryā-ye Ommān, or دریای پارس Daryā-ye Pārs) is a strait (and not an actual gulf) that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It is generally included as a branch of the Persian Gulf, not as an arm of the Arabian Sea. The gulf borders Pakistan and Iran on the north, Oman on the south, and the United Arab Emirates on the west.
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Oman as follows:
On the Northwest. A line joining Ràs Limah (25°57'N) on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh (25°48'N) on the coast of Iran (Persia)
On the Southeast. The Northern limit of the Arabian Sea [A line joining Ràs al Hadd, East point of Arabia (22°32'N) and Ràs Jiyùni (61°43'E) on the coast of Pakistan].
Coordinates: 25°N 58°E / 25°N 58°E / 25; 58
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Guyana
Coordinates: 5°00′N 58°45′W / 5°N 58.75°W / 5; -58.75
Guyana (i/ɡaɪˈænə/ gy-AN-ə), officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and (for over 200 years) the British. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America, and the only one on that continent where English is an official language.It is one of the few Caribbean countries that is not an island. It is also a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which has its secretariat headquarters in Guyana's capital, Georgetown. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966, and became a republic on 23 February 1970. In 2008 the country joined the Union of South American Nations as a founding member.
Historically, the region known as "Guiana" or "Guyana" comprised the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and east of the Orinoco River known as the "Land of many waters". Historical Guyana is made up of three Dutch colonies: Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. Modern Guyana is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
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Gwadar port
Gwadar Port is a developing warm-water, deep-sea port situated at Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan at the apex of the Arabian Sea and at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, about 460 km west of Karachi and approximately 75 km (47 mi) east of Pakistan's border with Iran. The port is located on the eastern bay of a natural hammerhead-shaped peninsula jutting out into the Arabian Sea from the coastline.
The Gwadar port is situated right next to the strategic Strait of Hormuz and its busy oil shipping lanes. The surrounding region is home to around two-thirds of the world's oil reserves. It is also on the shortest route to the oil rich Central Asian states through land-locked Afghanistan.
Gwadar Port is managed by the Gwadar Port Authority.
The development work started on March 22, 2002 and its first phase was completed on March 2005. Phase I covered building of three multipurpose berths and related port infrastructure and port handling equipment. In 2007, the government of Pakistan handed over port operations to PSA International for 25 years, and gave it the status of a Tax Free Port for the following 40 years. During the same year it was inaugurated by then Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.
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Harappa
Harappa (Urdu/Punjabi: ہڑپہ, pronounced [ɦəɽəppaː]) is an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about 35 km (22 mi) west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is 6 km (4 mi) from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train station left from the British times, it is today just a small (pop. 15,000) crossroads town.
The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization, centered in Sindh and the Punjab. The city is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents—considered large for its time.
The ancient city of Harappa was greatly destroyed under the British Raj, when bricks from the ruins were used as track ballast in the making of the Lahore-Multan Railroad.
In 2005, a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaeological artifacts during the early stages of construction work. A plea from the prominent Pakistani archaeologist Ahmed Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a restoration of the site.
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Hindu Kush
Coordinates: 35°N 71°E / 35°N 71°E / 35; 71
The Hindu Kush (Pashto/Persian: ھندوکُش, Urdu: سلسلہ کوہ ہندوکش) is an 800 km (500 mi) long mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir (7,708 m or 25,289 ft) in Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a sub-range of the Himalayas.
The names Hindu Kush (Persian: ھندوکُش), Hindu Kūh (ھندوکوه) and Kūh-e Hind (کوهِ ھند) are usually applied to the entire range separating the basins of the Kabul and Helmand rivers from that of the Amu River (ancient Oxus) or more specifically to that part of the range, northwest of the Afghan capital Kabul. Sanskrit documents refer to the Hindu Kush as Pāriyātra Parvata (पारियात्र पर्वत). Greek geographers adapted the Sanskrit to "Paropanisadae" by Greeks in the late first millennium BC.
The Persian-English dictionary indicates that the word 'Kush' is derived from the verb Kushtar - to slaughter or carnage. Kush is probably also related to the verb Koshtan, meaning to kill.
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Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
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Hyderabad, Sindh
Hyderabad (help·info) (Sindhi: حيدرآباد, Urdu: حیدرآباد Haidarābād) is the 2nd largest city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the 6th largest city in the country. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot (Sindhi: نيرُون ڪوٽ). Formerly the capital of Sindh, it serves as the HQ of the district of Hyderabad. The last Battle of Amir Talpor and British took place in this city in 1843. Before the creation of Pakistan, it was known as the Paris of India, for its roads used to be washed with river water.
The political boundaries stage the city as a district and the region has seen major political turmoil. From the battles fought against the British occupation to the civilian unrest in the 1980s, the city has lost its glory of past and much of its cultural and architectural heritage lies in tattered ruins.
Hyderabad is a hot and humid city in the south of the nation and has been a staging point for literary campaigns particularly oriented towards the Sindhi language and a birthplace of a few influential poets and Sufi dervishes. Rich with culture and tradition, the city is the largest bangle producer in the world and serves as a transit between the rural and the urban Sindh.
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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Indonesia
Indonesia (i/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.
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Indus River
The Indus River (Sanskrit: सिन्धु Sindhu; Urdu: دریائے سندھ Daryā-e Sindh; Hindi: सिन्धु नदी Sindhu; Sindhi: سنڌو Sindhu; Punjabi: سندھ Sindh; Gujarati: સિંધુ નદી Sindhu; Pashto: اباسين Abāsin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: رود سند Rūd-e Sind; Arabic: السند Al-Sind; Tibetan: སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ Sênggê Zangbo "Lion River"; Greek: Ινδός Indós; Turki: Nilab) is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It has courses through western Tibet (in China) and Northern India.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar, the river runs a course through the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit, Baltistan and flows through Pakistan in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 km (1,980 mi). It is Pakistan's longest river.
The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km2 (450,000 sq mi). Its estimated annual flow stands at around 207 km3 (50 cu mi), making it the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. Zanskar is its left bank tributary in Ladakh. In the plains, its left bank tributary is Chenab which itself has four major tributaries, namely, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Satluj. Its principal right bank tributaries are Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal and Kurram. Beginning at the heights of the world in a spring and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayas, the river supports ecosystems of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ ori/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: ههرێمی کوردستان, Herêmî Kurdistan; Arabic: إقليم كردستان العراق Iqlīm Kurdistān al-‘Irāq) is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr. The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq dates back to the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government after years of heavy fighting. The Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and the Anfal genocide campaign of the Iraqi army devastated the population and nature of Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein, many Kurds were forced to flee the country to become refugees in bordering regions of Iran and Turkey. A northern no-fly zone was established following the First Gulf War in 1991 to facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. As Kurds continued to fight government troops, Iraqi forces finally left Kurdistan in October 1991, leaving the region to function de facto independently; however, neither of the two major Kurdish parties had at any time declared independence and Iraqi Kurdistan continues to view itself as an integral part of a united Iraq but one in which it administers its own affairs. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent political changes led to the ratification of a new Constitution of Iraq in 2005. The new Iraqi constitution defines Iraqi Kurdistan as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Arabic and Kurdish as Iraq's joint official languages.
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Islamabad
Islamabad (Urdu: اسلام آباد Islām ābād, lit. Abode of Islam) is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.152 million in 2011. The greater Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metropolitan Area is the third largest conurbation in Pakistan with a population of over 4.5 million inhabitants.
Islamabad is located in the Pothohar Plateau in the northern part of the country, within the Islamabad Capital Territory. The region has historically been a part of the crossroads of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Margalla pass acting as the gateway between the two regions. The city was built during the 1960s to replace Karachi as Pakistan's capital. Islamabad is a well-organized city divided into different sectors and zones. It is regarded as the most developed city in Pakistan. Islamabad is ranked as a Gamma world city. The city is home to Faisal Mosque, the largest mosque in South Asia and the sixth largest mosque in the world.
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Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( /ˈmæn/; Manx: Ellan Vannin, pronounced [ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn]), otherwise known simply as Mann (Manx: Mannin, IPA: [ˈmanɪn]), is a self-governing Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The island is not part of the United Kingdom, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the UK Government. Although the United Kingdom does not usually interfere in the island's domestic matters, its "good government" is ultimately the responsibility of the Crown (that is, in practice, the Government of the United Kingdom).
The island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century AD, and the Manx language, a branch of the Gaelic languages, gradually emerged. In the 9th century, the Norse began to settle there. A Norse-Gaelic culture arose and the island came under Norse control. In 1266, the island became part of Scotland as formalised by the Treaty of Perth. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the island came under the feudal overlordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested into the British Crown in 1764 but the island never became part of Great Britain or its successor the United Kingdom and retained its status as an internally self-governing Crown dependency.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Jamaica
Coordinates: 18°10′57″N 77°19′18″W / 18.1823878°N 77.3217773°W / 18.1823878; -77.3217773
Jamaica (i/dʒəˈmeɪkə/), officially the Commonwealth of Jamaica, is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length, up to 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, and 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno name for the island was Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs".
Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it became an English colony in 1655 under the name "Jamaica". It achieved full independence from Britain on August 6, 1962. With 2.8 million people, it is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm in concert with the Monarchy of Jamaica holding ultimate executive power, where Queen Elizabeth II is the current head of state and Queen of Jamaica.Kingston is the country's largest city and the capital.
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Japan
Japani/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
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Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, French: Bailliage de Jersey ( /ˈdʒɜrzi/, French: [ʒɛʁzɛ]; Jèrriais: Jèrri), is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs.
Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems.
The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands. Although the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as 'the Channel Islands', they are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the British Crown from the other Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK but the United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey. Jersey is not a part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.
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Jhang
Jhang (Punjabi, Urdu: جھنگ) is the capital city of Jhang District, in the state of Punjab, Pakistan. It is situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, about 210 kilometres from Lahore and 35 kilometres from Gojra. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan it had a population of 387,418
Jhang is situated at place where two rivers Jhelum and Chenab join together to make a great looking sight. It is situated on the left banks of both rivers. Jhang is the capital city of Jhang District located at the coordinates 31.30677 N, 72.32814 E.
Climate of Jhang has extreme summer and extreme winter like most areas of Pakistan, it has four seasons.
According to 1981 census of Pakistan population of Jhang was 1,970,944 with the 434,495 housing units in Jhang. In 1998 census, population of Jhang was 2,834,545, whose annually growth rate was 2.16%. Male population was 1,474,099 (52.00%) and female population was 1,360,446 (48.00%). Languages mostly spoken in Jhang are Punjabi and Urdu.
The area was inhabited at the time of Alexander but the present city of Jhang is said to have been founded in the twelwth century by Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari. Its first inhabitants were sials who were his followers or murids. It was then destroyed by the river and re-founded during the reign of Aurangzeb by Mehboob Alam - called Shah Jewna - who asked his followers to settle again in that area in 1402. Under Mughal rule, the city flourished and was notable for commerce and trade.
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Jhelum
Coordinates: 32°55′43″N 73°43′53″E / 32.92861°N 73.73139°E / 32.92861; 73.73139
Jhelum ( /ˈdʒeɪləm/) (Urdu, Punjabi: جہلم) (Greek: Alexandria Bucephalous) is a city on the right bank of the Jhelum River, in the district of the same name in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. Jhelum is known for providing a large number of soldiers to the British and later to the Pakistan armed forces due to which it is also known as city of soldiers or land of martyrs and warriors. Jhelum is a few miles upstream from the site of the Battle of the Hydaspes between the armies of Alexander the Great and Raja Porus. A city called Bucephala was founded nearby to commemorate the death of Alexander's horse, Sarosh. Other notable sites nearby include the 16th century Rohtas Fort, the Tilla Jogian complex of ancient temples, and the 16th-century Grand Trunk Road which passes through the city. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, the population of Jhelum was 145,647 and in 2010 its population is 174,679. The name of the city is derived from the words Jal (pure water) and Ham (snow), as the river that flows through the river originates in the Himalayas. There are a number of industries in and around Jhelum city, including a tobacco factory, wood, marble, glass and flour mills.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Kabul Shahi
The Shahi (Devanagari: शाही),Sahi, also called Shahiya dynasties ruled one of the Middle kingdoms of India which included portions of the Kabulistan and the old province of Gandhara (now in northern Pakistan), from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century. The kingdom was known as "Kabul Shahi" (Kabul-shāhān or Ratbél-shāhān in Persian کابلشاهان یا رتبیل شاهان) between 565 and 879CE when they had Kapisa and Kabul as their capitals, and later as Hindu Shahi when they moved their capital to Hund.
The Shahis of Kabul/Gandhara are generally divided into the two eras of the so-called Buddhist-Shahis and the so-called Hindu-Shahis, with the change-over thought to have occurred sometime around AD 870.
The confused accounts of 11th century Persian Muslim scholar Alberuni, ("which bear the impress of folklore for the early history of the Kabul Shahi rulers") state that:
Thus the folklore accounts recorded by Alberuni connect the earlier Shahis of Kabul/Kapisa to Turkish extraction and also claim their descent from Kanik (or Kanishaka of Kushana lineage). At the same time it is also claimed that 'their first king Barahatigin (Vrahitigin?) had originally come from Tibet and concealed in a narrow cave in Kabul area (and here is given a strange legend which we omit).' One can easily see the above account of Shahi origin as totally fanciful and fairy tale-like. These statements taken together are very confusing, inconsistent and bear the express marks of a folklore and vulgar tradition, hence unworthy of inspiring any confidence in the early history of Shahis. The allegation that the first dynasty of Kabul was Turki is plainly based on the vulgar tradition, which Alberuni himself remarked was clearly absurd.
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Karachi
Karachi ( Karācī (help·info), Urdu: کراچی; Sindhi: ڪراچي) is the largest city, main seaport and financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 13 million. Results in April 2012 of Pakistan's latest census initial tabulations show that the district is home to over 21 million people, at a density of nearly 6,000 people per square kilometer (15,500 per square mile). Karachi is the most populous city in the country, one of the world's largest cities in terms of population and also the 10th largest urban agglomeration in the world. It is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, economic activity and trade and is home to Pakistan's largest corporations, including those involved in textiles, shipping, automotive industry, entertainment, the arts, fashion, advertising, publishing, software development and medical research. The city is a major hub of higher education in South Asia and the wider Muslim world.
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Karakoram
The Karakoram, or Karakorum (simplified Chinese: 喀喇昆仑山脉; traditional Chinese: 喀喇崑崙山脈; pinyin: Kālǎkūnlún Shānmài; Hindi: काराकोरम, Kārākōrama; Urdu: سلسلہ کوہ قراقرم), is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit–Baltistan (Pakistan), Ladakh (India), and Xinjiang region, (China). It is one of the Greater Ranges of Asia, a part of the greater Himalaya while north of the actual Himalaya Range.
The Karakoram is home to the highest concentration of peaks over eight kilometres (five miles) in height to be found anywhere on earth, including K2, the second highest peak of the world (8,611 m/28,251 ft). K2 is just 237 m (778 ft) lower than the 8,848 m (29,029 ft) tall Mount Everest.
The range is about 500 km (311 mi) in length, and is the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier at 70 km and the Biafo Glacier at 63 km rank as the world's second and third longest glaciers outside the polar regions.
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Kargil district
Kargil is a district of Ladakh region in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Kargil lies near the Line of Control facing Gilgit–Baltistan to the west, and Kashmir valley to the south. Zanskar is part of Kargil district along with Suru, Wakha and Dras valleys. Kargil was at the center of a conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999.
As of 2011 it is the least populous district of Jammu and Kashmir (out of 22).
Kargil district is nestled in the Himalayas, giving it a cool, temperate climate. Summers are warm with cool nights, while winters are long and cold with temperatures often dropping to −40 °C (−40 °F) with recorded temperatures of −60 °C (−76 °F) in the tiny town of Dras, situated some 56 km (35 mi) from the Kargil town. The Zanskar plateau is even colder, making it thus a near-uninhabitable place for humans, except for the hardy Khampas. The entire Kargil district is spread over 14,086 km2 (5,439 sq mi). The Suru River flows through the district.
National Highway 1D, connecting Srinagar to Leh, cuts through Kargil. This highway is typically open for traffic only from June to mid-November due to heavy snowfall at the Zoji La, but in recent years it has been opened before June. Kargil is located 204 km (127 mi) from the capital city of Srinagar. There is a partially paved road—the first 40 kilometres (25 mi) or so—leading from Kargil south to Zanskar. Total distance to Zanskar is nearly 220 km (140 mi), which is again open only from June to September. The region has recently been opening to tourists, with steps a travel hub by the Indian Government. Recently, both India and Pakistan have considered linking the Pakistan town of Skardu with Kargil via a bus route to facilitate free movement of Kashmiris in the area.
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Kashmir
Kashmir (Balti, Gojri, Poonchi/Chibhali, Dogri: कश्मीर; Kashmiri: कॅशीर, کٔشِیر; Ladakhi: ཀཤམིར; Uyghur: كەشمىر; Shina: کشمیر) is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. Today Kashmir denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh), the Pakistani-administered Gilgit–Baltistan and the Azad Kashmir provinces, and the Chinese-administered regions of Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract.
In the first half of the first millennium, the Kashmir region became an important center of Hinduism and later of Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century, Kashmir Shaivism arose. In 1349, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir and inaugurated the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Swati dynasty. For the next five centuries, Muslim monarchs ruled Kashmir, including the Mughals, who ruled from 1526 until 1751, then the Afghan Durrani Empire that ruled from 1747 until 1820. That year, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir. In 1846, upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, the Dogras—under Gulab Singh—became the new rulers. Dogra Rule, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until 1947, when the former princely state became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.
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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (i/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.
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Kenya
Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.
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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pashto: خیبر پښتونخوا [xaiˈbər pəxtunˈxwɑ]; Urdu: خیبر پختونخوا [ˈxɛːbər pəxˈtuːnxwaː]), locally called Pukhtunkhwa, and formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country. It borders Afghanistan to the north-west, Gilgit–Baltistan to the north-east, Azad Kashmir to the east, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to the west and south, Balochistan to the south and Punjab and the Islamabad Capital Territory to the south-east. The main ethnic group in the province is the Pashtuns; other smaller ethnic groups include most notably the Hindkowanss, Gujjar's and Chitralis. The principal languages are Pashto (locally referred to as Pukhto) The provincial capital is Peshawar.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sits primarily on the Iranian plateau and comprises the junction where the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains on the Eurasian plate give way to the Indus-watered hills approaching South Asia. This situation has led to seismic activity in the past. The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, while the Kohalla Bridge in Circle Bakote Abbottabad is a major crossing point over the Jhelum River in the east.
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Kiribati
Kiribati ([kɪribas] KIRR-i-bas or ˌkɪrəˈbɑdi;Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000 (2011), and the island nation is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line at its easternmost point.
The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. The capital of South Tarawa consists of a number of islets connected through a series of causeways, located in the Tarawa archipelago. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.
Kiribati was named in French by captains Krusenstern and Louis Isidore Duperrey "îles Gilbert", Gilbert Islands, after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788. The current name, Kiribati, is an adaptation of "Gilberts", from the former European name the "Gilbert Islands". Although the indigenous Gilbertese language name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru, the new state chose the name "Kiribati", the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts", as an equivalent of the former colony to acknowledge the inclusion of islands which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.
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Kot Diji
The ancient site at Kot Diji (Urdu: کوٹ ڈیجی) was the forerunner of the Indus Civilization. The people of this site lived about 3000 BCE. The remains consist of two parts; the citadel area on high ground (about 12 m), and outer area. The Pakistan Department of Archaeology excavated at Kot Diji in 1955 and 1957.
Located about 22 kilometers south of Khairpur in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The site is situated at the foot of the Rohri Hills where a fort (Kot Diji Fort) was built around 1790 by Talpur dynasty ruler of Upper Sindh, Mir Suhrab who reigned from 1783 to 1830 AD. This fort built on the ridge of a steep narrow hill is well preserved.
The development of these farming communities in different parts of Baluchistan and Lower Sind, ultimately led to urbanization. The earliest fortified town to date is found at Rehman Dheri, dated 4000 BCE in NWFP close to River Zhob Valley. Other fortified towns found to date are at Amri (3600-3300 BCE) and Kot Diji in Sind and at Kalibangan (3000 BCE), India at the Hakra River. No writing were found at these sites.
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Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwaiti/kuːˈweɪt/ (Arabic: دولة الكويت, Dawlat al-Kuwayt) is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The country covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.5 million.
Historically, the region was the site of Characene, a major Parthian port for trade between Mesopotamia and India. The Bani Utbah tribe were the first permanent Arab settlers in the region, and laid the foundation of the modern emirate. By the 19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, it emerged as an independent sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields were discovered in the late 1930s.
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Ladakh
Ladakh (Wylie: la-dwags, Ladakhi [lad̪ɑks], Hindi: लद्दाख़, Urdu: لدّاخ [ləd̪ˈd̪aːx]; "land of high passes") is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in the control of the Republic of India. It is however disputed territory between Pakistan and India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir.
Historically, the region included the Baltistan (Baltiyul) valleys, the Indus Valley, the remote Zangskar, Lahaul and Spiti to the south, Aksai Chin and Ngari, including the Rudok region and Guge, in the east, and the Nubra valleys to the north.
Contemporary Ladakh borders Tibet to the east, the Lahaul and Spiti to the south, the Vale of Kashmir, Jammu and Baltiyul regions to the west, and the trans–Kunlun territory of Xinjiang to the far north. Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture. It is sometimes called "Little Tibet" as it has been strongly influenced by Tibetan culture.
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Lahore
Lahore (Punjabi: لہور, Urdu: لاہور) is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich history dating back over a millennium, Lahore is a main cultural centre of Pakistan. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains an economic, political, transportation, entertainment, and educational hub.
Lahore successively served as regional capital of the empires of the Shahi kingdoms in the 11th century, the Ghaznavids in the 12th century, the Ghurid State in the 12th and 13th centuries the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, the Sikh expansion in the early 19th century, and it was the capital of the Punjab region under the British Raj in the mid 19th and early 20th century. The traditional capital of Punjab for a thousand years, Lahore was the cultural center of the northern Indian subcontinent which extends from the eastern banks of the Indus River to New Delhi. Mughal structures such as the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens, and the mausolea of Jehangir and Nur Jehan are tourist attractions. Lahore is also home to many British colonial structures built in the Indo-Saracenic style, such as the Lahore High Court, the General Post Office, Lahore Museum and many older universities including the University of the Punjab. The Lahore Zoo, thought to be the fourth oldest in the world, is also situated here.
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Lahore Fort
Coordinates: 31°35′25″N 74°18′35″E / 31.59028°N 74.30972°E / 31.59028; 74.30972
The Lahore Fort, locally referred to as Shahi Qila (Punjabi, Urdu: شاہی قلعہ) is citadel of the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern corner of the Walled City of Lahore. The trapezoidal composition is spread over 20 hectares.
Origins of the fort go as far back as antiquity, however, the existing base structure was built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar between 1556–1605 and was regularly upgraded by subsequent Mughal, Sikh and British rulers.It has two gates one is known as Alamgiri Gate build by Emperor Aurangzeb which opens towards Badshahi Mosque and other older one known as Maseeti (Punjabi language word means of Masjid) or Masjidi Gate which open towards Masti Gate Area of Walled City and was built by Emperor Akbar. Currently Alamgiri Gate is used as the principal entrance while Masti Gate is permanently closed .The fort manifests the rich traditions of Mughal architecture. Some of the famous sites inside the fort include: Sheesh Mahal, Alamgiri Gate, Naulakha pavilion, and Moti Masjid. In 1981, the fort was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the Shalimar Gardens (Lahore).
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Larkana
Coordinates: 27°33′36″N 68°13′35″E / 27.56°N 68.22639°E / 27.56; 68.22639
Larkana or Larkano (Urdu:لاڑکانہ [laːɽkaːnaː], Sindhi: لاڙڪاڻو [laːɽkaːnoː]1901) is the fourth largest city in the north-western part of Sindh Province, Pakistan, and is located within Larkana District.The old name of larkano is chandka which was changed in 1901. In August 2000 Larkana celebrated its hundred years of existence. It is located on the south bank of the Ghar canal, 40 miles south of Shikarpur town, and 36 miles north-east of Mehar.
During British rule Larkana became the headquarters of Larkana District and Larkana Taluka, and for a time was part of the Bombay Presidency of British India. The city lay on the route of the North-Western Railway, and the population according to the 1901 census of India was 14,543. The name was taken from the Larik (caste) as Larkana, at that time the chief of the caste was Sardar Saeed Nawaz Larik.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India describes the town as follows:
Chandka Medical College (CMC), a gift from former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for the people of Sindh, was inaugurated on 20th April, 1973 as 4th medical college of the Sindh. First Batch of 150 students was admitted in 1973. It was necessary to provide accommodation (hostels) to the students for which Polytechnic Institute Elementary Teachers Training College and Nursing hostel were utilized for boys & girls respectively. Second Batch of 250 students was admitted in 1974. due to shortage of accommodation as a result of increasing number of admissions, one, four story, girls hostel & two boys hostels were constructed,. Now it has six boys hostels and two girls which can accommodates about 1100 students.
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Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
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Lesotho
Lesotho (i/lɨˈsuːtuː/ li-SOO-too), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by its only neighboring country, the Republic of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. About 40% of the population live below the international poverty line of US $1.25 a day.
The earliest known inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Wasja-speaking tribes during Bantu migrations. The Sotho-Tswana people colonized the general region of South Africa between the 3rd and 11th centuries.
The present Lesotho (then called Basutoland) emerged as a single polity under king Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1821 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828.[citation needed]
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Libya
Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībyā), Berber: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.
With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the third largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The largest city, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica.
In 2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production.
As a result of the Libyan civil war, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which had at that time been in existence for 34 years, collapsed and Libya entered a period of governance by a transitional administration called the National Transitional Council. The NTC has stated its intention to oversee the first phase of a transition to constitutional democracy, after which it claims it will dissolve in favor of a representative legislature.
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Malawi
Malawi ( /məˈlɑːwi/; Chichewa [malaβi][need tone]), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Malawi is over 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 13,900,000. Its capital is Lilongwe, which is also Malawi's largest city; the second largest is Blantyre and the third is Mzuzu. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area. The country is also nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa".
The area of Africa now known as Malawi was colonized by migrating tribes of Bantu around the 10th century. In 1891 the area was colonized again, this time by the British. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, became part of the semi-independent Central African Federation (CAF). The Federation was dissolved in 1963 and in 1964, Nyasaland gained full independence and was renamed Malawi. Upon gaining independence it became a single-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he was ousted from power. Joyce Banda (no relation) is the current president, raised to that position after president Bingu Mutharika died in 2012. She is the first female leader in Malawi. Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government. Malawi has a small military force that includes an army, a navy and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is pro-Western and includes positive diplomatic relations with most countries and participation in several international organizations.
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Malaysia
Malaysia (i/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or i/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.
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Maldives
Maldives (i/ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, Dhivehi Raa'je), officially Republic of Maldives (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, Dhivehi Raa'jeyge Jumhooriyya), also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep Islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India. During the colonial era, the Dutch referred to the country as "Maldivische Eilanden" in their documentation, while "Maldive Islands" is the anglicised version of the local name used by the British, which later came to be written "Maldives".
The archipelago is located on top of the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. Maldives also form a terrestrial ecoregion together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. The atolls of Maldives encompass a territory spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), making it one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. Its population of 328,536 (2012) inhabits 200 of its 1,192 islands. Maldives' capital and largest city Malé had a population of 103,693 in 2006. It is located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll, in the Kaafu Atoll. It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King's Island where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties were enthroned.
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Mali
Malii/ˈmɑːli/, officially the Republic of Mali (French: République du Mali, French pronunciation: [maˈli]), is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with a population of 14.5 million. Its capital is Bamako. Mali consists of eight regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara, while the country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Sénégal rivers. The country's economic structure centers around agriculture and fishing. Some of Mali's natural resources are gold, uranium, livestock, and salt. About half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
Present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali is named), and the Songhai Empire. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali making it a part of French Sudan. French Sudan (then known as the Sudanese Republic) joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegal's withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a 1991 coup led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. On 22 March, 2012, a group of junior soldiers seized control of the country's presidential palace and declared the government dissolved and its constitution suspended. On 6 April, 2012, rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared the secession of a new state, Azawad, from Mali.
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Malta
Maltai/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.
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Mauritania
Mauritaniai/mɔrɪˈteɪniə/ (Arabic: موريتانيا Mūrītānyā; Berber: Muritanya / Agawej; Wolof: Gànnaar; Soninke: Murutaane; Pulaar: Moritani; French: Mauritanie), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in West Africa and in the Maghreb. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber kingdom that had no relation with it. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.
The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.
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Mauritius
Coordinates: 20°12′S 57°30′E / 20.2°S 57.5°E / -20.2; 57.5
Mauritiusi/məˈrɪʃəs/ (Mauritian Creole: Moris; French: Maurice, pronounced: [mɔˈʁis]), officially the Republic of Mauritius (Mauritian Creole: Republik Moris; French: République de Maurice) is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 870 kilometres (540 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues, Tromelin and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius Island is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 170 km (110 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km (350 mi) to the east. The area of Mauritius is 2040 km2; its capital city is Port Louis.
The United Kingdom took control of the islands in 1810, from France during the Napoleonic Wars, and Mauritius became independent from the UK in 1968. It is a parliamentary republic and is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the African Union, La Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Nations.
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Mecca
Mecca ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
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Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh (Brahui: Mehrgaŕh, Urdu: مہرگڑھ), one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to c. 2500 BCE) sites in archaeology, lies on the "Kachi plain" of now Balochistan, Pakistan. It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia."
Mehrgarh is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the now Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh—in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.00 km2) site—was a small farming village dated between 7000 BCE to 5500 BCE and the whole area covers a number of successive settlements. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected.
Early Mehrgarh residents lived in mud brick houses, stored their grain in granaries, fashioned tools with local copper ore, and lined their large basket containers with bitumen. They cultivated six-row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. Residents of the later period (5500 BCE to 2600 BCE) put much effort into crafts, including flint knapping, tanning, bead production, and metal working. The site was occupied continuously until about 2600 BCE. Mehrgarh is probably the earliest known center of agriculture in South Asia.
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Minar-e-Pakistan
Minar-e-Pakistan (Urdu، مینارِ پاکستان) is a tall monumental minaret in Iqbal Park Lahore, built in commemoration of the Lahore Resolution. The minaret reflects a blend of Mughal and modern architecture, and is constructed on the site where on March 23, 1940, seven years before the formation of Pakistan, the Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan), demanding the creation of Pakistan. This was the first official declaration to establish a separate homeland for the Muslims living in the Indian Subcontinent. Interestingly, the site is also where Nehru and the Indian National Congress declared Indian independence from Britain in 1929.[citation needed])
The monument attracts visitors from all over Pakistan, as well as the inhabitants of the Walled City of Lahore. The large public space around the monument is commonly used for political and public meetings, whereas Iqbal Park area is popular among kite-flyers.
The tower was designed and supervised free of cost by Nasreddin Murat-Khan,an architect/engineer hailing from Daghestan. Structural design was given by a civil engineer Abdur Rahman Khan Niazi from Lahore, who was working with Murat khan.The design approved by the President was built by Mian Abdul Khaliq and Company.[citation needed] The foundation stone was laid on March 23, 1960. The construction took eight years of time, and was completed in 1968. The Minar was completed on 31 October 1968 at an estimated cost of Rs. 500,000. The money was collected by imposing additional tax on the cinema and horse racing tickets on the demand of governor of west Pakistan Akhtar Hussain. Today, the minaret provides a panoramic view to visitors who can climb up the stairs or through an elevator. The parks around the monument include marble fountains and an artificial lake.
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Mogadishu
Mogadishu ( /ˌmɒɡəˈdɪʃuː/; Somali: Muqdisho; Arabic: مقديشو Maqadīshū; Italian: Mogadiscio, literally "The Seat of the Shah"), popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries.
Tradition and old records assert that southern Somalia, including the Mogadishu area, was historically inhabited by hunter-gatherers of Bushman physical stock. These were later joined by Cushitic agro-pastoralists, who would go on to establish local aristocracies. Starting in the late 9th or 10th centuries, Arab and Persian traders also began to settle in the region.
During its medieval Golden Age, Mogadishu was ruled by the Somali-Arab Muzaffar dynasty, a vassal of the Ajuuraan State. It subsequently fell under the control of an assortment of local Sultanates and polities, most notably the Gobroon Dynasty. The city later became the capital of Italian Somaliland in the colonial period.
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Montserrat
Coordinates: 16°45′N 62°12′W / 16.75°N 62.2°W / 16.75; -62.2
Montserrat ( /mɒntsəˈræt/) is an island that is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) long and 11 km (6.8 mi) wide, giving 40 kilometres (25 mi) of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of some of its inhabitants.
Montserrat's Georgian era historic capital city of Plymouth was destroyed and two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee because of an eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano that began on July 18, 1995. The eruption continues today on a much reduced scale, the damage being confined to the area around Plymouth, including its docking facilities, and also the area around the former W. H. Bramble Airport on the eastern side of the island, the remnants of which were buried by flows from volcanic activity on February 11, 2010.
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique or República de Moçambique, pronounced: [ʁɛˈpublikɐ di musɐ̃ˈbiki]), is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. The capital city is Maputo, formerly known as Lourenço Marques.
Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili, and later also Arab, commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans. The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. It was the scene of an intense civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992.
Mozambique is endowed with rich and extensive natural resources. The country's economy is based largely on agriculture, but with industry, mainly food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production, is growing fast. The country's tourism sector is also growing. South Africa is Mozambique's main trading partner and source of foreign direct investment. Portugal, Spain, and Belgium are also among the country's most important partners. Since 2001 Mozambique is one of the world's top ten for annual average GDP growth. However, Mozambique still has one of the lowest GDP per capita, one of the worst human development index and one of the highest inequality in the world, as well as having the world's lowest life expectancy.
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Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire, Shahan-e-Gurkhani, Shahan-e-Mughal, Sultanate-e-Mughliya, Daulat-e-Mughliya (Persian: شاهان گورکانی Shāhān-e Gūrkānī; Urdu: مغلیہ سلطنت; self-designation: گوركانى Gūrkānī ), or Mogul (also Moghul) Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were direct descendants of Genghis Khan through Chagatai Khan and Timur. The Mughal Empire began in 1526; at the height of their power in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent—extending from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south. According to "Babur-Nama", Kazakh tribal aristocracy along with number of other Turkic soldiers participated actively in the campaign of Babur, which made great influence over the development of Mughal Empire. Its population at that time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million, over a territory of more than 3.2 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles).
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Multan
Multan (Saraiki, Punjabi, Urdu: : مُلتان pronunciation (help·info)), is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan.According to area its 3rd largest city of Pakistan,but according to population its on 5th number. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about 562 km (349 mi) from Islamabad, 356 km (221 mi) from Lahore and 966 km (600 mi) from Karachi. Multan District has a population of 3.1 million (1998).
Multan is known as the City of Sufis or City of Saints and Madinah-Tul-Awleyah due to the large number of shrines and Sufi saints from the city. According to area its 3rd largest city of Pakistan,but according to population its on 3rd number. The city is full of bazaars, mosques, shrines and ornate tombs. Multan is also the birthplace of Fariduddin Ganjshakar popularly known as Baba Farid who is considered a father of Punjabi language and one of the pioneers in developing Shahmukhī script of Punjabi language which was later adopted by almost all Muslim saints and intellectuals in Punjab region and even in whole of India. Celebrated sufi saint of Punjab and North India Khwaja Ghulam Farid also adopted Shahmukhī script of Punjabi language to convey his teachings.Multan is located in a bend created by five rivers of central Pakistan. The Sutlej River separates it from Bahawalpur and the Chenab River from Muzaffar Garh. The city has grown to become an influential political and economical center for the country, with a dry port and excellent transport links. Multan is famous for its crops: wheat, cotton and sugar cane as well as mangoes, citrus, guavas and pomegranates.
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Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia (Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië, German: Republik Namibia (help·info)), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.
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Nauru
Coordinates: 0°31′38″S 166°56′12″E / 0.527288°S 166.936724°E / -0.527288; 166.936724
Nauru (Englishi/nɑːˈuːruː/ nah-OO-roo), officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi). With just over 9,322 residents, it is the second least-populated country after Vatican City.
Settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people, Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops, who were bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, it entered into trusteeship again. Nauru gained its independence in 1968.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with rich deposits close to the surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations; moreover, it has some phosphate reserves which are presently (as of 2011) not economically viable for extraction. Nevertheless, this island was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after independence. This returned to Nauru full control of its minerals under the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the 1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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New Zealand
New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒ as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.
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Niger
Niger (French pronunciation: [niʒɛʁ], but occasionally pronounced as /niːˈʒɛər/ ori/ˈnaɪdʒər/), officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest nation in West Africa, with over 80 percent of its land area covered by the Sahara desert. The country's predominantly Islamic population of just above 15,000,000 is mostly clustered in the far south and west of the nation. The capital city is Niamey, located in the far southwest corner of Niger.
Niger is a developing country, and consistently ranks as one of the lowest ranks of the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI), 186th of 187 countries in 2011. Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials, especially uranium ore. Niger remains handicapped by its landlocked position, desert terrain, poor education and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor health care, and environmental degradation.
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Nigeria
Nigeriai/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.
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Niue
Niue ( /ˈnjuːeɪ/ NEW-ay; Niuean: Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to the southeast. The land area is 260 square kilometres (100 sq mi) with about 1,400 people who are predominantly Polynesian.
Though self-governing, Niue is in free association with New Zealand, and lacks full sovereignty. All Niueans are New Zealand citizens and Queen Elizabeth II is Niue's head of state in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand. Most diplomatic relations are conducted by New Zealand on Niue's behalf. 90-95% of Niuean people live in New Zealand, along with about 70% of the speakers of the Niuean language.[citation needed]
In 2003, Niue became the world's first "WiFi nation", in which free wireless Internet access is provided throughout the country by The Internet Users Society-Niue.
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Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (i/ˈnɔrfək ˈaɪlənd/; Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres (877 mi) directly east of mainland Evans Head, and about 600 kilometres (370 mi) from Lord Howe Island. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance. Together with two neighbouring islands, it forms one of Australia's external territories.
Originally colonised by East Polynesians, Norfolk Island was colonised by Britain as part of its settlement in Australia in 1788. It then served as a convict penal settlement until 1794, when it was abandoned until 1856, when permanent residence on the island for civilians began. In 1901, the island became a part of the Commonwealth of Australia which it has remained until this day.
The evergreen Norfolk Island pine is a symbol of the island and thus pictured on its flag (see illustration). Native to the island, the pine is a key export industry for Norfolk Island, being a popular ornamental tree on mainland Australia, where two related species grow, and also in Europe.
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Northern Cyprus
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Turkish: Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti), commonly called Northern Cyprus, is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus. Recognised only by Turkey, Northern Cyprus is considered by the international community to be occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the north east, westward to Morphou Bay and Cape Kormakitis (the Kokkina/Erenköy exclave marks the westernmost extent of the area), and southward to the village of Louroujina/Akıncılar. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both states.
Tensions between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot populations in Cyprus culminated in 1974 with a coup d'état, an attempt to annex the island to Greece, and an invasion by Turkey in response. This resulted in the partitioning of the island, the resettlement of many of its inhabitants, and a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
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Norway
Norwayi/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
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Oman
Oman (i/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.
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Pakistan
Pakistan (i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Palas, Kohistan
Palas is a valley in Kohistan District, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan.
Among the birds found here are Western Tragopans and Himalayan Monals. Several surveys on other wildlife, including one on Musk Deer by Naeem Ashraf Raja, have also been compiled by different experts.
Coordinates: 35°06′N 73°00′E / 35.1°N 73°E / 35.1; 73
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Pamir Mountains
Coordinates: 39°N 72°E / 39°N 72°E / 39; 72
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable translation from the Persian.
In other languages they are called: Kyrgyz Памир тоолору; Persian: رشته کوه های پامیر Reshte Kūh-hāye Pāmīr; Tajik: Кӯҳҳои Помир; Pashto: د پامير غرونه; Uyghur: پامىر ئېگىزلىكى; Urdu: پامیر کوهستان; Hindi: पामीर पर्वतमाला; Chinese: 帕米尔高原; pinyin: Pàmǐ'ěr Gāoyuán. Another Chinese name is Congling (cōnglǐng 葱嶺) (Wade-Giles: Ts'ung-ling) or "Onion Range" (after the wild onions growing in the region).
The precise extent of the Pamir Mountains is debatable. They lie mostly in Gorno-Badakhshan province, Tajikistan and Badakshan Province, Afghanistan. To the north they join the Tian Shan mountains along the Alay Valley of Kyrgyzstan. To the south they join the Hindu Kush mountains along the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan/Pakistan, and also Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan. To the east they may end on the Chinese border or extend to the range that includes Kongur Tagh which is sometimes included in the Kunlun Mountains.
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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers. . (A detailed series of language maps of Papua New Guinea may be found at Ethnologue) There may be at least as many traditional societies,out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.
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Peshawar
Peshawar (Pashto: پېښور Pēx̌awar; Hindko: پيشور Pishōr; Urdu: پشاور Pishāwar; Persian: پیشاور P īshāwar; pronunciation (help·info)) is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as NWFP), and the administrative centre and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated in a large valley near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass. Known as "City on the Frontier", Peshawar's strategic location on the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia has made it one of the most culturally vibrant and lively cities in the greater region. Peshawar is irrigated by various canals of the Kabul River and by its right tributary, the Bara River.
Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities. In the last three decades, there has been a significant increase in urban population, in part due to internal migration of people in search of better employment opportunities, education, and services, and in part because of the influx of Afghan refugees and other people displaced by military operations and civil unrest in neighboring regions. Peshawar is the major educational, political and business center of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands ( /ˈpɪtkɛərn/;Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory. The four islands—named Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno—are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total land area of about 18 square miles (47 km2). Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles (3.2 km) across, is inhabited.
The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. With only about 48 inhabitants (currently from four main families: Christian, Warren, Young, and Brown), Pitcairn is the least populous jurisdiction in the world. The United Nations Committee on Decolonisation includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
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Pokhran-II
Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states.
On 18 May 1974, India exploded its first nuclear device code named Operation Smiling Buddha. After about a quarter century, on 11 May 1998, Operation Shakti was carried out. Shakti was the codename of a thermonuclear device that was exploded in Pokhran as part of Pokhran-II.
The Indian nuclear programme dated back to 1944 when Homi Bhabha established the Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945. Under the long premiership of Nehru, the nuclear programme's infrastructure was carefully established, and much of the weapon related facilities given commissioned in 1950s, most notably Bhabha Atomic Research Centre that operates the CIRUS which was commissioned in 1960.
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Port of Karachi
The Port of Karachi (Urdu: بندر گاہ كراچى Bandar gāh Karācī) is Pakistan's largest and busiest seaport, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum). It is located between the Karachi towns of Kiamari and Saddar, close to the main business district and several industrial areas. The geographic position of the port places it in close proximity to major shipping routes such as the Strait of Hormuz. The administration of the port is carried out by the Karachi Port Trust, which was established in the nineteenth century.
The history of the port is intertwined with that of the city of Karachi. Several ancient ports have been attributed in the area including "Krokola", "Morontobara" (Woman's Harbour) (mentioned by Nearchus),Barbarikon (the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, and Debal (a city captured by the Muslim general Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 CE). There is a reference to the early existence of the port of Karachi in the "Umdah", by the Arab navigator Sulaiman al Mahri (AD 1511), who mentions "Ras al Karazi" and "Ras Karashi" while describing a route along the coast from Pasni to Ras Karashi. Karachi is also mentioned in the sixteenth century Turkish treatise Mir'ât ül Memâlik (Mirror of Countries, 1557) by the Ottoman captain Seydi Ali Reis, which is a compilation of sailing directions from the Portuguese island of Diu to Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. It warns sailors about whirlpools and advises them to seek safety in "Kaurashi" harbour if they found themselves drifting dangerously. There is a legend of a prosperous coastal town called Kharak in the estuary of the Hub River (west of modern Karachi) in the late 17th and early eighteenth century.
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Punjab, Pakistan
Punjab (Shahmukhī: پنجاب, Persian: پنجاب, panj-āb, "five waters": Punjab.ogg (help·info)), also spelled Panjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 62% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir (Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, India) to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the south, the province of Balochistan to the southwest, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, and the Islamabad Capital Territory to the north. The Punjab is home to the Punjabis and various other groups. The main languages are Punjabi and Saraiki and the dialects of Mewati and Potowari. The name Punjab derives from the Persian words Panj (پنج) (Five), and Āb (آب) (Water), i.e. (the) Five Waters - referring to five tributaries of the Indus River from which is also the origin of the name of "India" - these being Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, that flow through the larger Punjab.
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Qatar
Qatar (i/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or i/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.
Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.
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Quetta
Quetta (Pashto: کوټه, Urdu: کوئٹہ pronunciation (help·info)) is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the Fruit Garden of Balochistan due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains rare wildlife.
The city is situated at an average elevation of 1,680 meters (5,500 ft) above sea level, making it Pakistan's only high-altitude major city. Located in a river valley, Quetta derives its name from the Pashto word "Kuwatta", which means "a fort".
Sitting near the Durand Line border with Afghanistan and close to Kandahar province, Quetta is a trade and communications center between the two countries as well as an important military location which occupies a strategic position for the Pakistani Armed Forces. The city lies on the Bolan Pass route which was once the only gateway to and from South Asia. Due to its proximity to Afghanistan and Central Asia, the city is a major stronghold along the western frontier of the country.
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Rahim Yar Khan
Rahim Yar Khan ( رحیم یار خان) is a city in South Punjab, Pakistan. Rahim Yar Khan is the capital city of Rahim Yar Khan District as well as the tehsil of the same name. The city itself is administratively subdivided into 9 Union councils. According to the 1998 census, the city population was 233,537 with an annual growth rate of 3.50%. As of in 2009, it is around 340,810. The area of Rahim Yar Khan City is about 22 Square Kilometre.
Alexander was the warrior and conqueror when he entered Multan the City which is known by its Saints. He Appointed One of his Famous General Phillipos to Rule the Area. Rahim Yar Khan and Neighboring Cities Came under Alexander Successors Rule. His Rule was Spread from the City of Multan Till Sukkur (then known as Poros) He was Challenged by Raja Poros in the Battle of Poros and got defeated. With this the Alexander Era Came to an End.
The Buddhist Empire was headed by Asoka. During his quest of power he invade almost whole of the subcontinent. His influence in this area is still unknown to many but it is believed that Rahim Yar Khan was the Part of His Empire before 493 A.D.
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Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi (Urdu: راولپنڈی,Rāwalpindī), locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. In the 1950s, Rawalpindi was smaller than Hyderabad and Multan, but the city's economy received a boost during the building of Islamabad (1959–1969), during which time Rawalpindi served as the national capital and its population increased from 180,000 at the time of independence to over 4.5 million in 2007.[citation needed] Rawalpindi is located in the northernmost part of the Punjab province, 275 km (171 mi) to the north-west of Lahore. It is the administrative seat of the Rawalpindi District. The total area of the city is approximately 154 square kilometres (59 sq mi). Rawalpindi is the military headquarters of the Pakistani Armed Forces.
Rawalpindi, named after Raja Pindi, is a bustling city on the northernmost part of the Punjab province, strategically located between the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Many tourists use the city as a stop before traveling towards the northern areas. Rawalpindi is also a prime destination for the expatriate community of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Numerous shopping bazaars, parks and a cosmopolitan population attract shoppers from all over Pakistan and abroad. The city is home to several industries and factories. Islamabad International Airport is actually located in Rawalpindi and serves both cities.
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Republic of Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan ( /dɑːɡɨˈstɑːn/ or /dæɡɨˈstæn/; Russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respublika Dagestan; also spelled Daghestan) is a federal subject (a republic) of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea. Population: 2,910,249 (2010 Census).
Dagestan is ethnically very diverse, with several dozen ethnic groups and subgroups inhabiting the republic, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Azeri, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russians form only a small proportion (3.6%) of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca among the ethnic groups.
Dagestan has been a scene of low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism since the 1990s. According to International Crisis Group, the militant Islamist organization Shariat Jamaat is responsible for much of the violence. Much of the tension is rooted in an internal Islamic conflict between traditional Sufi groups advocating secular government and more recently introduced Salafist teachers preaching the implementation of Sharia law in Dagestan.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Rwanda
Rwanda /ruːˈɑːndə/ or /ruːˈændə/, officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda), is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.7 million (2012). Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All of Rwanda is at high elevation, with a geography dominated by mountains in the west, savanna in the east, and numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons every year.
The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans form three groups: the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. The Twa are a pygmy people who descend from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants, but scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe that they are derived from former social castes, while others view them as being races or tribes. Christianity is the largest religion in the country, and the principal language is Kinyarwanda, which is spoken by most Rwandans. Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The President is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rwanda has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, but human rights organisations allege suppression of opposition groups, intimidation, and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are currently five provinces, which are delineated by borders drawn in 2006.
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Saint Lucia
Saint Luciai/seɪnt ˈluːʃə/ (French: Sainte-Lucie) is a sovereign island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km2 (238.23 sq mi) and has a population of 174,000 (2010). Its capital is Castries. Two Nobel laureates, Arthur Lewis, an economist, and Derek Walcott, a poet and playwright, have come from the island. It is the nation with the second most such honorees per capita after the Faroe Islands.
One of the Windward Islands, it was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, the first European colonizers. They signed a treaty with the native Carib people in 1660. England took control of the island from 1663 to 1667; in ensuing years, it was at war with France 14 times and rule of the island changed frequently (it was seven times each ruled by the French and British). In 1814, the British took definitive control of the island. Because it switched so often between British and French control, Saint Lucia was also known as the "Helen of the West Indies".
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Salt Range
The Salt Range is a hill system in the Punjab province of Pakistan, deriving its name from its extensive deposits of rock salt. The range extends from the Jhelum River to the Indus, across the northern portion of the Punjab province. The Salt Range contains the great mines of Mayo, Khewra, Warcha and Kalabagh, which yield vast supplies of salt. Coal of a medium quality is also found.
Two interesting sites are close to Kathwai, Kutte Mar and Tulaja fort. At Kuttee Mar to the Northeast of Kathwai are Muslim graves made of Kangar and the purported grave of a dog that is said to have died defending the wedding procession of its owner from an attack by bandits. Kutte Mar may have been the place where the Khura inscription of Toramana was found (Buhler 1891-92, 238-41; Sircar 1965: 422-4). If this assessment is correct, a Buddhist monastery was established here around 500. A.D. This inscription and another fragmentary inscription found at Sakaser (Pakistan Archaeology 5, 1968: 284-70) confirm that this area was a flourishing, centre for Buddhism, which is borne out by the extensive archaeological remains.
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Samoa
Samoa (i/səˈmoʊ.ə/; Samoan: Sāmoa, IPA: [ˌsaːˈmoa]), officially the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Sāmoa), formerly known as Western Samoa, is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in Polynesia, Savai'i. The capital city, Apia, and Faleolo International Airport are situated on the island of Upolu.
Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was called Navigators Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.
The oldest date so far from pre-historic remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a likely true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s.
The origins of the Samoans is closely linked to modern research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics and anthropology. Scientific research is ongoing although a number of different theories exist; including one proposing that the Samoans originated from Austronesian predecessors during the terminal eastward Lapita expansion period from Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE. The Samoan origins are currently being reassessed due to new scientific evidence and carbon dating findings from 2003 and onwards.
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Sargodha
Sargodha (Urdu: سرگودھا) is a major city in the Sargodha District of Punjab province, Pakistan sargodha is the 9th largest city of pakistan and 5th largest of punjab.
Sargodha is located in the northwest of Pakistan. It is the twelfth largest city of Pakistan and also known as Pakistan's best citrus-producing area. It is an agricultural trade centre with various industries. Sargodha is one of the few planned cities in Pakistan, the other being Gwadar, Jauharabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad and Islamabad.
Pakistan's largest airbase, PAF Base Mushaf (formerly PAF Base Sargodha), is situated in Sarghoda and hosts the headquarters of the Pakistan Air Force's Central Air Command. The airbase is also home to the Combat Commanders School (CCS), formerly the Fighter Leader's School, an elite training facility for training Pakistan Air Force pilots in fighter tactics and weapons. The city is also home to Sargodha Medical College.
The term Sargodha has its origins in the words Sar, meaning pond (Talab), and Godha, meaning sadhu(Baba).
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Senegal
Senegali/ˌsɛnɨˈɡɔːl/ (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal (République du Sénégal, IPA: [ʁepyblik dy seneɡal]), is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north. Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia, namely on the north, east and south, exempting Gambia's short Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi), and has an estimated population of about 13 million. The climate is tropical with two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.
Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is located at the westernmost tip of the country on the Cap-Vert peninsula. About 500 kilometres (300 mi) off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, lie the Cape Verde Islands. During the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous trading posts, belonging to various colonial empires, were established along the coast. The town of St. Louis became the capital of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) before it was moved to Dakar in 1902. Dakar later became its capital in 1960 at the time of independence from France.
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Serbia
Serbiai/ˈsɜrbiə/, officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија / Republika Srbija, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sř̩bija]), is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans. Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; additionally, it borders Albania through Kosovo, whose status as part of Serbia is disputed. Serbia covers an area of 88,361 km2 and has a population of just over 7.1 million, while the capital and largest city is Belgrade.
The arrival of the Serbs to the Balkans in the 7th century, established several states, eventually forming the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. By the 16th century, Serbia was conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century the Serbian revolution re-established the country as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory and pioneered the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans. The former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina united with Serbia in 1918. Following World War I, Serbia formed Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples which existed in several forms up until 2006, when the National Assembly of Serbia declared independence and the legal succession to the former State Union. In February 2008 the parliament of UNMIK-governed Kosovo, Serbia's southern province, declared independence, with mixed responses from international governments.
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Seychelles
Seychelles (i/seɪˈʃɛlz/ say-SHELZ; French: [sɛʃɛl]), officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles; Creole: Repiblik Sesel), is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar.
Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agalega and Réunion to the south, Comoros and Mayotte to the southwest. Seychelles, with an estimated population of 86,525, has the smallest population of any African state. It also has the highest Human Development Index in Africa.
Scholars assume that Austronesian seafarers, and later Maldivian and Arab traders were the first to visit the uninhabited Seychelles. Remains of Maldivian mariner presence from the 12th century were found in Silhouette Island. The earliest recorded sighting by Europeans took place in 1502 by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral).
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Sheikhupura
Sheikhupura or Shekhupur (Urdu: شيخوپورہ), formerly Kot Dayal Das (کوٹ دیال داس) or Singhpuria (سنگھپوریہ) or Virkgarh (ورک گڑھ), is an industrial city in the province of Punjab slightly northwest to Lahore in Pakistan. It is known for its historical places, and is commonly known locally as Qila Shaikhupura, because of the fort in the city, constructed by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. The name Sheikhupura is derived from a nickname of Jahangir, who was known as Sheikhu by his father Akbar the Great. The city is the headquarters of Sheikhupura District and is approximately 35 km from Lahore. The original name of Virkgarh was renamed by Jahangir.
The city was renamed Singhpuria in Sikh rule, and had a large Sikh population prior to Partition in 1947, Gurudwaras are seen throughout the city.
The history of Virkgarh/Sheikhupura goes back to 100 BC. Historical research has established the fact that Sangla or Sakala was the capital of Punjab once, and it was here that Alexander the Great of Macedonia (known locally as Sikandar e Azam) fought one of his most serious battles of his career. Its name is spoken of, firstly in the pages of Tuzk-e-Jahangiri as Jahangirpura, after the name of Prince Salim Nur u Din Muhammad Jahangir. The fourth Mughal emperor of India named Jahangir changed the name of the city from Virkgarh to Sheikhupura after converting the majority of the population to Islam. This area belongs to the virk Jats. Virk jats created a fort in the vicinity of current day Sheikhupura and called it VirkGarh., i.e. "citadel of the Virks"
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Sialkot
Sialkot (Punjabi, Urdu: سیالکوٹ) is located in Pakistan in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about 125 km (78 mi) north-west of Lahore The recorded history of Sialkot covers thousands of years. Sialkot has, since its foundation, changed hands from Hindu, Buddhist, Persian, Greek, Afghan, Turk, Sikh, Mughal and British rule to that of present-day Pakistan.
There are various sources tracing the origins of the city of Sialkot but the authenticity of many of these sources varies. Excavations throughout the area have revealed large amounts of Greek coins, ancient Zoroastrian temples and several Buddhist stupas. The antiquities of Sialkot have also been discussed by Sir Alexander Cunningham in his Archaeological Survey Reports, II, 21, 22, and XIV, 44 to 47.
According to the Greek historical texts, which bring mention of the city of Sialkot dating back to before 327 BC when the city was known as Sagala, it represented the eastern-most outpost and expansion of the Hellenic Empire created by Alexander the Great which has been cross-correlated to ancient Greek maps of the era and several monuments found in the Sialkot District. The Greek historians state that the city was one of the most productive Silk regions of the Achaemenid Empire. Sákala or Sagala was the capital, or one of the capitals, of the Indo-Greek Kingdom which broke-away from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom during the Euthydemid Dynasty
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Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone (i/siːˌɛrə liːˈoʊn/), officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the northeast, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Sierra Leone is a constitutional representative democratic republic and covers a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. As of 2011, Sierra Leone has an estimated population of 6 million[1] (2011 United Nations estimte). Freetown is the capital, largest city as well as its economic, commercial, educational, cultural and political centre. Bo is the country's second largest city and the second major economic and commercial centre.
Sierra Leone is divided into four geographical regions: the Northern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area; which are subdivided into fourteen districts. The districts have their own directly elected local government known as district council, headed by a council chairman. The country's six municipalities of Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni, Koidu Town and the coastal town of Bonthe have their own directly elected city councils headed by mayors.
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Sindh
Sindh (pronounced [sɪnd̪ʱ]; Sindhi: سنڌ; Urdu: سندھ Indica in Latin, Indus in Greek) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran" and has been given the title of Bab-ul-Islam (The gateway of Islam). The name of Sindh is derived from the Indus River that separates it from Balochistan and the greater Iranian Plateau. This river was known to the ancient Iranians in Avestan as Indus, in Sanskrit as Sindhu, to Assyrians (as early as the seventh century BC) as Sinda, to the Greeks as Indos, to the Romans as Indus, to the Persians as Ab-e-sind, to the Pashtuns as "Abasind", to the Arabs as Al-Sind, to the Chinese as Sintow, and to the Javanese as the Santri.
Sindh is bounded to the west by the Indus River and Balochistan, to the north by Punjab, the east by the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and to the south by the Arabian Sea. The capital of the province is Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and financial hub. Most of the population in the province is Muslim, with sizeable Christian, Zoroastrian and Hindu minorities. The main language spoken is Sindhi by about 40 million people, while there exists a significant Urdu-speaking minority.
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Singapore
Singapore (i/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.
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Slovenia
Slovenia (i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
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Soan Valley
The Soan (Urdu: سون) (preferred), Sawaan (Urdu: سواں), Sawan or Sohan River is a river in Punjab, Pakistan.
The Soan River is an important stream of the Pothohar region of Pakistan. It drains much of the water of Pothohar. It starts near a small village Bun in the foothills of Patriata and Murree. It provides water to Simly Dam, which is the water reservoir for Islamabad. Near Pharwala Fort it cuts through a high mountain range, a wonderful natural phenomenon called Soan Cut. No stream can cut such a high mountain, which proves that the Soan was there before the formation of this range. And as the mountain rose through millions of years, the stream continued its path by cutting the rising mountain. Ling stream, following a relatively long course through Lehtrar and Kahuta falls in the Soan near Sihala on southern side of Village Gagri/Bhandar.
Islamabad Highway crosses this stream near Sihala where the famous Kak Pul bridge is constructed over it. The Ling Stream joins the Soan river just before the Kak Pul. Another famous stream, the Lai stream, joins this stream near Soan Camp. After following a tortuous path along a big curve, the stream reaches Kalabagh where it falls into the Indus river. This relatively small stream is more than 250 kilometers long. Due to its mountainous course and shallow bed, it is hardly used for irrigation purposes. Rohu is the main species of fish in this stream and Kingfisher birds hunt here too.
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Solomon Islands
Solomon Islandsi/ˈsɒləmən ˈaɪləndz/ is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The nation of the Solomon Islands is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Solomon Islands are believed to have been inhabited by Melanesian people for many thousands of years. Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to arrive in Solomon Islands in 1568 and named them Islas Salomón. The United Kingdom established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in 1893. In the Second World War there was fierce fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the Solomon Islands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. The Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of the Solomon Islands, at present Elizabeth II, as the head of state. Gordon Lilo Darcy is the eleventh and current Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands.
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Somalia
Somalia ( /soʊˈmɑːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory. The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country. Somalia has been characterized as a failed state and is one of the poorest and most violent states in the world.
Somalia lies in the easternmost part of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. It has the longest coastline on the continent, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
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South Africa
Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
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South Korea
South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.
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South Ossetia
South Ossetia ( /əˈsɛtiə/ə-SET-ee-ə or /ɒˈsiːʃə/o-SEE-shə; Ossetic: Хуссар Ирыстон, Xussar Iryston; Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთი, Samxret Oseti; Russian: Южная Осетия, Yuzhnaya Osetiya) or Tskhinvali Region (Georgian: ცხინვალის რეგიონი, Tsxinvalis regioni; Russian: Цхинвальский регион, Tskhinvalskiy region) is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
South Ossetians declared independence from Georgia in 1990, calling themselves the Republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and trying to retake the region by force. This led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War. Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The last conflict led to the 2008 South Ossetia war, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full, de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast.
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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (i/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country. Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.
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State of Palestine
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn/Falasṭīn/Filisṭīn), officially declared as the State of Palestine (Arabic: دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭin), is a state that was proclaimed in exile in Algiers on 15 November 1988, when the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) National Council (PNC) adopted the unilateral Palestinian Declaration of Independence. At the time of the 1988 declaration, the PLO did not exercise control over any territory, and its claimed territory remains under Israeli occupation. It claims the Palestinian territories (defined according to the 1967 borders), and has designated Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, despite Israeli control.
The 1974 Arab League summit designated the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state of urgency." The PLO has had observer status at the United Nations as a "non-state entity" since 22 November 1974, which entitles it to speak in the UN General Assembly but not to vote. After the Declaration of Independence, the UN General Assembly officially "acknowledged" the proclamation and voted to use the designation "Palestine" instead of "Palestine Liberation Organization" when referring to the Palestinian permanent observer. In spite of this decision, the PLO does not participate at the UN in its capacity of the State of Palestine's government. Since 1998, the PLO is arranged for seating in the UN General Assembly immediately after non-member states, and before all other observers.
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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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Sukkur
Sukkur, or Sakharu (Urdu: سکھر [səkʰəru], Sindhi: سکر), formerly Aror (Urdu: اروڑ [əroːɽ]) and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the name. Sukkur is nicknamed Darya Dino (درياءَ ڏنو, meaning the gift of river), as without the Indus the city would be a desert. People of Sukkur speak Sindhi (72%), Urdu (15.5%), Punjabi (4%), Pashto (1.5%), Balochi (1%), and others 1%.[citation needed]
The city of Sukkur, as well as being district headquarters, is the capital of Sukkur Talukas and contains many Union council.
The district of Sukkur (whose name is derived from its head quarter Sukkur city) covers an area of 5,165 square kilometres. Geographically it is spanned from 27°05' to 28°02' north latitudes and from 68°47' to 69°43' east longitudes. The city of Sukkur is located at an altitude of 220 feet (67 m) from sea level, having terrestrial coordinates 68°52' east and 27°42' north. It is also the narrowest point of the lower Indus course.[citation needed]
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Sulaiman Mountains
Coordinates: 30°30′N 70°10′E / 30.5°N 70.167°E / 30.5; 70.167
The Sulaiman Mountains (Pashto: د سليمان غر; Balochi/Urdu/Persian: کوه سليمان Koh-e Sulaimān), or the Kesai Mountains (Pashto: د كسي غرونه), are a major geological feature of southeastern Afghanistan (Zabul, most of Loya Paktia and northeastern Kandahar province), South Waziristan, and most of northern Balochistan province of Pakistan. The Sulaiman Mountains form the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau where the Indus River separates it from the Indian Subcontinent. Bordering the Sulaiman Range to the north are the arid highlands of the Hindu Kush, where more than 50 percent of the lands lie above 2,000 meters.
In Balochistan, the most famous peaks of the Sulaiman Mountains are Takht-e-Sulaiman (3,487 meters), Taunsa Sharif, the Khilafat Hills (3,475 meters) in Ziarat, Kesai Ghar (3,444 meters) near Zhob and Zarghun Ghar (3,578 meters) near Quetta.
Rivers that flow from the Sulaiman mountain system include the Dori River and the Gomal River. Takht-e-Sulaiman at 3,483 metres (11,427 ft), Koh-i-Takatu at 3,472 metres (11,391 ft), the Kesai Ghar at 3,444 metres (11,299 ft) and Giandari are some of the mountain peaks in the Sulaiman range. The mountain range runs north in Loya Paktia and meets the Spin Ghar range northeast of Gardez in Paktia province. To the east, the mountain range enters Punjab in Dera Ghazi Khan district and Dera Ismail Khan(Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa), and approaches the Indus River near Mithankot in Rajanpur district of Punjab. The eastern slopes drop very quickly to the Indus River, but towards west, the mountain range drops more gradually to the Sistan Basin.
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SUPARCO
The Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Urdu: خلائ و بالائ فضائ تحقیقاتی ماموریہ; better known as SUPARCO) is an executive agency of the Government of Pakistan, responsible for the nation's public and civil space programme and aeronautics and aerospace research. It was established in its modern form in 1961 by an executive order of President Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan on the advice of its founding director, Abdus Salam. The agency is part of Pakistan Defence Forces's Strategic Plans Division (SPD) under the current control of Pakistan Army. The SPD is headed by the Army's retired three star general Lieutenant-General Khalid Kadwai. SPD headquarters are located at the Pakistan Air Force controlled Chaklala Cantonment.
The executive figure of the agency is Major-General Ahmed Bilal who is heading the agency as the current chairman of SUPARCO, while he is also serving his tenure as Colonel Commandant of Pakistan Army Corps of Signals Engineering.
The research in space sciences and aeronautical development was insued by the physicists at the Punjab University's Physics Department in 1957, following the successful launch of Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 However, due to the political instability, the programme was not undertaken seriously by the Government of Pakistan. Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam had played a major and influential role in the development of Pakistan's science policy. It was Salam's advice to the President, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, to establish a National Space Agency of Pakistan, Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) on September 16, 1961. It was decided to set up a ےommittee dealing with space sciences, consequently, a Space Sciences Research Wing of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). It was established through an Executive Order of then President of Pakistan Field Marshal Ayub Khan which was addressed to I. H. Usmani, the Chairman of PAEC. The program of rocket test firings was entrusted to the Chairman of PAEC.
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Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname, Dutch pronunciation: [ˌrepyˈblik ˌsyriˈnaːmə]), is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Suriname was first colonized by the British, and captured by the Dutch in 1667, who governed it as the colony of Suriname until 1954. The country of Suriname achieved independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, and the Netherlands itself cooperated on a basis of equality since 1954, on 25 November 1975.
At just under 165,000 km2 (64,000 sq mi) Suriname is the smallest sovereign state in South America (French Guiana comprises less territory, but is French territory). It has an estimated population of approximately 560,000, most of whom live on the country's north coast, where the capital Paramaribo is located.
The name Suriname may derive from a Taino (Arawak-speaking) group called "Surinen" who first inhabited the region prior to European arrival.
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Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland (Umbuso weSwatini), and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th century king Mswati II.
Swaziland is a small country, no more than 200 kilometres (120 mi) north to south and 130 kilometres (81 mi) east to west. The western half is mountainous, descending to a lowveld region to the east. The eastern border with Mozambique and South Africa is dominated by the escarpment of the Lebombo Mountains. The climate is temperate in the west, but may reach 40 °C (104 °F) in summer in the lowveld. Rainfall occurs mainly in the summer and may reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in the west.
The area that Swaziland now covers has been continuously inhabited since prehistory. Today, the population is primarily ethnic Swazis whose language is siSwati, though English is spoken as a second language. The Swazi people descend from the southern Bantu who migrated from Central Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Anglo-Boer War saw the United Kingdom make Swaziland a protectorate under its direct control. Swaziland gained independence in 1968. Swaziland is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The head of state is the king, who appoints the prime minister and a small number of representatives for both chambers of parliament. Elections are held every five years to determine the majority of the representatives. A new constitution was adopted in 2005.
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Sweden
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Tajikistan
Tajikistan (i/tɑːˈdʒiːkɨstɑːn/, /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/, or /tæˈdʒiːkiːstæn/; Тоҷикистон [ˈtɔjikɪsˈtɔn]), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Cumhuriyi Tocikiston; Persian: جمهوری تاجیکستان Jomhuri-ye Tajikestan; Russian: Республика Таджикистан, Respublika Tadzhikistan), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. It borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. Gilgit Baltistan as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan are separated from Tajikistan by the narrow Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan in the south.
Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90% of this Central Asian republic.
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.
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Tanzania
Coordinates: 6°18′25″S 34°51′14″E / 6.307°S 34.854°E / -6.307; 34.854 Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/ Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is a state composed of 26 regions (mikoa), including those of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where Parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
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Taxila
Taxila (Urdu: ٹیکسلا) is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site. Taxila is situated about 32 km (20 mi) northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road. Taxila lies 549 metres (1,801 ft) above sea level.
The city dates back to the Gandhara period and contains the ruins of the Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā which was an important Hindu and Buddhist centre, and is still considered a place of religious and historical sanctity in those traditions. In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site with multiple locations. In 2006 it was ranked as the top tourist destination in Pakistan by The Guardian newspaper.
Scattered references in later works indicate that Takshashila may have dated back to at least the 5th century BCE. Takṣaśilā is reputed to derive its name from Takṣa, who was the son of Bharata, the brother of Rama, and Mandavi. Legend has it that Takṣa ruled a kingdom called Takṣa Khanda, and founded the city of Takṣaśilā. According to another theory propounded by Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Takṣaśilā is related to Takṣaka, Sanskrit for "carpenter", and is an alternative name for the Nāgas of ancient India.
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Thailand
Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.
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Thatta
Coordinates: 24°44′46.02″N 67°55′27.61″E / 24.7461167°N 67.9243361°E / 24.7461167; 67.9243361
Thatta (Sindhi: ٺٽو, Urdu: ٹھٹہ) is a historic town of 220,000 inhabitants in the Sindh province of Pakistan, near Lake Keenjhar, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Thatta's major monument, the necropolis at Makli is listed among the World Heritage Sites. The Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta is also mentioned separately on the tentative list since 1993. Located 62 miles (98 kilometeres) east of the provincial capital of Sindh; Karachi, it makes for a practical escape for people from the city seeking to visit the picturesque old town.
The city, formerly commanding the delta of the Indus, was the capital of Lower Sindh from the 14th century onwards. During the ruling period of the Soomro Tribe Thatta was the capital of Sindh for 95 years. Between 1592-1739, it was governed in the name of the Mughal emperors of Delhi. In 1739 however, following the Battle of Karnal, the province was ceded to Nadir Shah of Persia, after which Thatta fell into neglect as the Indus river started to silt up. In the 17th Century, the Dutch East India Company had a small tradingpost (comptoir) in Thatta.
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The Bahamas
The Bahamasi/bəˈhɑːməz/, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country consisting of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States (nearest to the state of Florida). Its land area is 13,939 km2 (5,382 sq mi), with a population of 353,658. Its capital is Nassau. Geographically, the Bahamas lie in the same island chain as Cuba, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands; the designation of Bahamas refers normally to the Commonwealth and not the geographic chain.
Originally inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people, the Bahamas were the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492. Although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 to 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.
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The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambiai/ˈɡæmbiə/, is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
The country is situated around the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the country's centre and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its area is 11,295 km² with an estimated population of 1.7 million.
On 18 February 1965, Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom and joined the Commonwealth of Nations. Banjul is Gambia's capital, but the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.
Gambia shares historical roots with many other West African nations in the slave trade, which was the key factor in the placing and keeping of a colony on the Gambia River, first by the Portuguese and later by the British. Since gaining independence in 1965, Gambia has enjoyed relative political stability, with the exception of a brief period of military rule in 1994.
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Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republici/ˈtoʊɡoʊ/, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) with a population of approximately 6.7 million.
Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons. The official language is French, with many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family. The largest religious group in Togo are those with indigenous beliefs, and there are significant Christian and Muslim minorities. Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.
From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, Germany declared Togoland a protectorate. After World War I, rule over Togo was transferred to France. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960.
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Tokelau
Tokelau ( /ˈtoʊkəlaʊ/) is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400. The atolls lie north of the Samoan Islands, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands (both island groups belonging to Kiribati) and northwest of the Cook Islands.
The United Nations General Assembly designated Tokelau a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Until 1976 the official name was Tokelau Islands. Tokelau is sometimes referred to by the older, colonial name of The Union Islands.
The name Tokelau is a Polynesian word meaning "North Wind". The islands were named the Union Islands and Union Group by European explorers at an unknown time. Tokelau Islands was adopted as the name in 1946, and was contracted to Tokelau on 9 December 1976.
The change from Tokelau Islands to Tokelau marked a slight shift in emphasis, with consequences in regional diplomacy, in that the term Tokelau Islands clearly and substantially referred to a geographical expression, that is, a range of islands, whatever else it may connote. It is not necessarily controversial to refer by name to a range of islands, even though they may come under two or more political jurisdictions. Tokelau, on the other hand, can be taken to refer more immediately to some concept of nationhood, arguably infusing increased meaning to the draft 2006 independence constitution of Tokelau (which somewhat controversially claims Tokelauan inhabited Olohega (or Swains Island), currently part of American Samoa, as part of its national territory).[citation needed]
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Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan: Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a sovereign state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of ocean in the South Pacific. Fifty-two of the islands are inhabited.
The Kingdom stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north-south line located at about a third of the distance from New Zealand to Hawaii.
Tonga also became known as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit there in 1773. He happened to arrive at the time of the ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga, the islands' paramount chief, and received an invitation to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but could not agree on a plan.
Tonga is also the only island nation in the region to have avoided formal colonisation. In 2010, Tonga took a decisive step towards becoming a fully functioning constitutional monarchy after legislative reforms paved the way for its first ever fully representative elections which resulted in the election of Noble Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō as its first democratically elected Prime Minister.
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Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (i/ˌtrɪnɨdæd/ & /tɵˈbeɪɡoʊ/) officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.
The country covers an area 5,128 square kilometres (1,980 sq mi) and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous smaller landforms. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands, comprising about 94% of the total area and 96% of the total population of the country. The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.
The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the capitulation of the Spanish Governor, Don José Maria Chacón, on the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on 18 February 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands between Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers. Trinidad and Tobago was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. The country obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.
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Tunisia
Tunisia (USi/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan (i/tɜrkˈmɛnɨstæn/ or i/tɜrkmɛnɨˈstɑːn/; Turkmen: Türkmenistan), formerly also known as Turkmenia (Russian: Туркмения), is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
Turkmenistan's GDP growth rate of 11% in 2010[update] ranks 4th in the world, but these figures are subject to wide margins of error. It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Although it is wealthy in natural resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert.
The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens") until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.
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Tuvalu
Tuvalu (i/tuːˈvɑːluː/ too-VAH-loo or /ˈtuːvəluː/ TOO-və-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls spread out from 6° to 10° south. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. Its population of 10,544 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City at 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi) and Nauru at 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi).
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. In 1568 Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña sailed through the islands and is understood to have sighted Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.
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Uganda
Coordinates: 1°17′N 32°23′E / 1.28°N 32.39°E / 1.28; 32.39
Uganda ( /juːˈɡændə/ yew-GAN-də or /juːˈɡɑːndə/ yew-GAHN-də), officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also shared by Kenya and Tanzania.
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.
The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.
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United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emiratesi/juːˌnaɪtɨd ˌærəb ˈɛmɪrɨts/ (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al Imārāt al ‘Arabīyah al Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
Prior to independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the local sheikhs, hereditary rulers of the territories, and the United Kingdom. The term Pirate Coast was also used by some to refer to the emirates from the 18th to the early 20th century, owing to the preponderance of pirates operating from Emirati ports.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistani/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).
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Vanuatu
Vanuatu (Englishi/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the members of a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós who arrived in Espiritu Santo in 1605. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.
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Wakhan Corridor
Wakhan Corridor is commonly used as a synonym for Wakhan, an area of far north-eastern Afghanistan which forms a land link or "corridor" between Afghanistan and China. The Corridor is a long and slender panhandle or salient, roughly 140 miles (220 km) long and between 10 and 40 miles (16 and 64 km) wide. It separates Tajikistan in the north from Pakistan in the south.
The corridor was a political creation of the Great Game. On the corridor's north side, agreements between Britain and Russia in 1873 and between Britain and Afghanistan in 1893 effectively split the historic area of Wakhan by making the Panj and Pamir Rivers the border between Afghanistan and the Russian Empire. On its south side, the Durand Line agreement of 1893 marked the boundary between British India and Afghanistan. This left a narrow strip of land as a buffer between the two empires, which became known as the Wakhan Corridor in the 20th century. The corridor has 12,000 inhabitants.
The term Wakhan Corridor is also used in a narrower sense to refer to the route along the Panj River and the Wakhan River to China, and the northern part of the Wakhan is then referred to as the Afghan Pamir.
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Wazir Khan Mosque
The Wazir Khan Mosque (Punjabi/Urdu: مسجد وزیر خان Masjid Wazīr Khān) in Lahore, Pakistan, is famous for its extensive faience tile work. It has been described as 'a mole on the cheek of Lahore'. It was built in seven years, starting around 1634–1635 AD, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan. It was built by Hakim Shaikh Ilm-ud-din Ansari, a native of Chiniot, who rose to be the court physician to Shah Jahan and a governor of Lahore. He was commonly known as Wazir Khan, a popular title bestowed upon him (the word Wazir means 'minister' in Urdu). The mosque is inside the Inner City and is easiest accessed from Delhi Gate.
Within the inner courtyard of the mosque lies the subterranean tomb of Syed Muhammad Ishaq, known as Miran Badshah, a divine from Iran who settled in Lahore during the time of the Tughluq dynasty. The tomb, therefore, predates the mosque.
Wazir Khan Mosque, 1866 water colour by William Carpenter
tWazir Khan Mosque, February 1895 by William Henry Jackson
thumb|Pigeons flying over the mosque]]
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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemeni/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.
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Zambia
Zambia ( /ˈzæmbiə/), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest.
Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region which comprises modern Zambia was colonised during the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.
On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and then-prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from the 1964 until 1991. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a single-party state with the UNIP as the sole-legal political party, with the goal of uniting the nation under the banner of 'One Zambia, One Nation'. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, during which the country saw a rise in social-economic growth and increased decentralisation of government.
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Abdul Qayyum Khan
Abdul Qayyum Khan (16 July 1901 – 22 October 1981) was a major figure in Pakistan politics, in particular in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province where he served as deputy speaker, Chief Minister and Minister in the Central Government and as Federal Interior Minister.
His father Khan Abdul Hakim was a Tehsildar in the North-West Frontier Province of British Indianow Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Qayyum Khan, a barrister by profession, was of Kashmiri origin.One of his brothers Abdul Hamid Khan was a prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.Abdul Qayum Khan was one of the eminent lawyers of N.W.F.P.During his professional career he conducted some very important cases. He used to practice in criminal law. Mirza Shams ul Haq was his most trustworthy colleague, who remained always close to him during profession and politics.Abdul Qayum was also assisted in his chambers by Muhammad Nazirullah Khan advocate, who later served as a provincial Secretary General and senior vice president of Pakistan Muslim League.
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Abdur Rab Nishtar
Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar (Pashto: سردار عبد الرب نښتر) (June 13, 1899 in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India – February 14, 1958 in Karachi) was a Muslim League stalwart, Pakistan movement activist and later Pakistani politician.
Nishtar's ancestors belonged to a prominent Kakar Pashtun family of Zhob and settled in Peshawar. He completed his early education in mission school and later Sanatan Dharram High School in Mumbai. He graduated from Edwardes College but later on completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Punjab University. He later went to Aligarh and received an LL.B with honours from Aligarh Muslim University (now in India) in 1925.
A man of deep religious convictions he also had a deep interest in Islamic mysticism, a fact which probably reflects the influence of his associate Maulana Ali. Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar remained member of Indian National Congress 1927-31, was elected Municipal Commissioner, Peshawar Municipal committee, successively from 1929–38, joined All-India Muslim League became a confidante of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In 1932, remained a member AIML Council, 1936, member NWFP legislative Assembly 1937-45, Finance Minister NWFP 1943-45, member AIML Working Committee, 1944–47, represented the AIML at Simla Tripartite Conference 1946.
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Abdus Salam
Mohammad Abdus Salam,NI, SPk (Urdu: محمد عبد السلام, pronounced English pronunciation: /əbd̪ʊs səlɑm/, (29 January 1926 – 21 November 1996) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces. Salam, Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg shared the 1979 Nobel prize for this discovery. Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani and the first Muslim Nobel Laureate to receive the prize in the sciences.
Salam was a science advisor to the Government of Pakistan from 1960 till 1974, a position from which he played a major and influential role in Pakistan's science infrastructure. Salam was responsible for not only major development and contribution in theoretical and particle physics, but as well as promoting scientific research at maximum level in his country. Salam was the founding director of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), and responsible for the establishment of the Theoretical Physics Group (TPG) in Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). As Science Advisor, Salam played an integral role in Pakistan's development of peaceful use of nuclear energy, and directed the research on development of atomic bomb project of Pakistan in 1972; for this, he is viewed as the "scientific father" of this programme in the views of the scientists who researched under his scientific umbrella. In 1974, Salam left Pakistan in protest when Pakistan Parliament controversially passed a parliamentary bill declaring Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as Non-Muslims. Even after his death, Salam remained one of the most influential scientists in his country. In 1998, following the country's nuclear tests, the Government of Pakistan issued a commemorative stamp, as a part of "Scientists of Pakistan", to honour the services of Salam.
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Abul Kalam Azad
Maulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed Azad (Urdu: مولانا ابوالکلام محی الدین احمد آزاد, Bengali: আবুল কালাম মুহিয়ুদ্দিন আহমেদ আজাদ) (11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian Muslim scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement. He was one of the most prominent Muslim leaders to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on communal lines. Following India's independence, he became the first Minister of Education in the Indian government. He is also known for having predicted the future military rule and partition of Pakistan before its independence. He was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1992. He is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad; he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name. His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as "National Education Day" across India.
As a young man, Azad composed poetry in Urdu as well as treatises on religion and philosophy. He rose to prominence through his work as a journalist, publishing works critical of the British Raj and espousing the causes of Indian nationalism. Azad became the leader of the Khilafat Movement during which he came into close contact with Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Azad became an enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi's ideas of non-violent civil disobedience, and worked actively to organise the Non-cooperation movement in protest at the 1919 Rowlatt Acts. Azad committed himself to Gandhi's ideals, including promoting Swadeshi (Indigenous) products and the cause of Swaraj (Self-rule) for India. He became the youngest person to serve as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1923.
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Alam Lohar
Muhammad Alam Lohar (Urdu: محمد عالم لوہار), (Punjabi: ਆਲਮ ਲੋਹਾਰ was a prominent Punjabi folk music singer of Pakistan. He died in 1979 in an accident. He is also credited with popularizing the term and song Jugni.
Lohar was born in the small village Achh in Gujrat District, in Punjab, British India into a family of blacksmiths.[citation needed] He was gifted with a melodious voice and began singing as a child.
Alam Lohar developed a new style of singing the Punjabi Vaar, an epic or folk tale. He is famous for his rendition of Waris Shah’s Heer, which he has memorized in 36 styles and forms. He recorded his first album at the age of 13 and has outsold all other singers in Pakistan (Verified in records kept with HMV Pakistan 1979)
In his childhood he used to read sufiana kalaams, Punjabi stories and participate as a young child in local elderly gatherings expressing a vocal only art form in reading passages of great poets. From many of the gatherings out of the rural background rose a great singer that could influence his audience with elements of joy peace, happiness and sadness. Further on: he started going to festivals and gatherings on a regular basis and within these performances he rose to become one of the most listened to singers in South Asia. In the 1970s it was the Queen's Jubilee event in the UK and there was a singing competition between all Commonwealth Countries and after all performances: Alam Lohar won the award as the best performance and was handed a gold medal for his unique and God given voice.
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Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas from the Greek αλέξω alexo "to defend, help" + ανήρ aner "man"), was a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders.
Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip was assassinated. Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
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Altaf Husain
Altaf Husain (Urdu: الطاف حسین) (January 26, 1900 - May 25, 1968) was an eminent journalist of the South Asia. He was born on January 26, 1900 in Bangladesh. He received his early education in Calcutta and then attended Dhaka University where he graduated with an M.A. (English).
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah appointed Altaf Husain the Editor of Dawn and in this capacity he played a critically important part in the Pakistan movement which lead to the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the South Asia.
In 1942, his services were lent to the Government of India as Press Advisor. He was the member of a three-man panel along with C.P. Johnson of The Statesman and S.A. Govindarajan of The Hindu.
In 1959, Altaf Husain was awarded the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam by the Government of Pakistan. From 1965 to 1968, Altaf Husain served as the Minister for Industries and Natural Resources in the Federal Government of Pakistan.
Altaf Husain died on May 25, 1968 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Altaf Husain was not only the editor of Dawn in Delhi and a very close confidant of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah the president of all Pakistan Muslim League and the owner of Dawn he expressed through his powerful pen the hopes and dreams of all the Muslims of South Asia through inspiring and passionate editorials. Jinnah gave him total freedom to run Dawn and its editorial policy. At one time he told Altaf Husain, "I do not want you to spare any one who stands on our way to achieve Pakistan. Even me. If you feel that I am failing somewhere" Jinnah's trust in his editor was unshakable.[citation needed]
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Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI(M), HI (Urdu: اشفاق پرویز کیانی , born April 1952) is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff and the commandant of the army on November 29, 2007. General Kayani is the former Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and Director General of Military Operations (MO). On 24 July 2010, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani extended Kayani’s term as Chief of the Army Staff by three years, making him the first four-star general to receive a term extension from any democratic government. In 2008, Newsweek named him the 20th most powerful person in the world.
Kayani was promoted as Lieutenant General in September 2003, and was given the command of the X Corps in Rawalpindi. The promotion indicated Musharraf's significant trust in Kayani, since an army chief cannot build an army coup without the help of the X Corps commander. Kayani led the corps until October 2004, when he was transferred to the ISI as its chief.
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Ashoka the Great
Ashoka (Devanāgarī: अशोक, IAST: Aśoka, IPA: [aˈɕoːkə], ca. 304–232 BC), also known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests. His empire stretched from present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan in the west, to the present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam in the east, and as far south as northern Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. He conquered the kingdom named Kalinga, which none of his ancestors had conquered starting from Chandragupta Maurya. His reign was headquartered in Magadha (present-day Bihar). He embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. He was later dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism across Asia and established monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha. Ashoka was a devotee of ahimsa (nonviolence), love, truth, tolerance and vegetarianism. Ashoka is remembered in history as a philanthropic administrator. In the history of India, Ashoka is referred to as Samraat Chakravartin Ashoka – the "Emperor of Emperors Ashoka".
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Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari (Urdu: آصف علی زرداری, Sindhi: آصف علي زرداري; born 26 July 1955) is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister.
A Balochi from a tribe based in Sindh, Zardari rose to prominence after his marriage to Bhutto in 1987. Between 1993 and 1996, he held various cabinet positions in the second Bhutto administration.
He was arrested on the charges of corruption in late 1996, following the collapse of the Bhutto government. Although incarcerated, he nominally served in Parliament after being elected to the National Assembly in 1990 and Senate in 1997. He was released from jail in 2004. He subsequently went into self-exile in Dubai, but returned in December 2007 after Bhutto's assassination. As the Co-Chairman of the PPP, he led his party to victory in the 2008 general elections. He spearheaded a coalition that forced Musharraf to resign and was elected President on 6 September 2008.
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Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhiu 'd-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb (Persian/Urdu: ابلمظفر محىالدين محمداورنگزيب, Hindi: अबुल मुज़फ्फर मुहिउद्दीन मुहम्मद औरंगज़ेब आलमगीर) (4 November [O.S. 25 October] 1618 – 3 March [O.S. 20 February] 1707), is more popularly known as Aurangzeb, or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir ("Conquerer of the World"), he was the sixth Mughal Emperor, whose reign lasted for 49 years, from 1658 until his death in 1707.
Aurangzeb was a notable expansionist and was also among the wealthiest of the previous Mughal rulers with an annual yearly tribute of £38,624,680 (in the year 1690), during his lifetime victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to more than 1.25 million square miles, he ruled over more than 150 million subjects, constituting nearly one fourth of the world's population.
Aurangzeb was born the third son and sixth child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Bāno Begam) in Dahod on the way to Ujjain. Aurangzeb was born when Shah Jahan was a governor of Gujarat suba. In June 1626, after an unsuccessful rebellion by his father, Aurangzeb and his brother Dara Shikoh were kept as hostages under Nur Jahan at there grandfather Jahangir's Lahore court. On 26 February 1628, Shah Jahan was officially declared the Mughal Emperor, and then Aurangzeb returned to Agra fort to live with his parents and Since then Aurangzeb received his formal education in Arabic and Persian. His daily allowance were fixed to
500, while he spent his allowance in religious education and the study of history, he accused his brothers of alcoholism and womanizing.
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Ayub K. Ommaya
Ayub Khan Ommaya, MD, ScD (h.c.), FRCS, FACS (April 14, 1930, Mian Channu - July 11, 2008, Islamabad) was a Pakistani neurosurgeon and the inventor of the Ommaya reservoir. The reservoir is used to provide chemotherapy directly to the tumor site for brain tumors. Ommaya was also a leading expert in traumatic brain injuries. He is honored as an Amazing Pakistanis.
Dr. Ommaya received his M.D. from King Edward Medical College in Pakistan in 1953 http://www.pakneurosurgeon.com/pages.php?page=89 and completed his graduate work in Physiology, Psychology, and Biochemistry at the University of Oxford (Balliol College) as a Rhodes Scholar (M.A.) in 1956. http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/page/pakistan Dr. Ommaya received his honorary Doctor of Science degree from Tulane University, School of Engineering Sciences in 1981.http://tulane.edu/alumni/upload/potpourri.pdf
From 1960 to 1980, he joined the staff of the National Institute of Health and became Chief of Neurosurgery, http://nihrecord.od.nih.gov/newsletters/2008/08_22_2008/milestones.htm studying treatment of malignant neoplasms, the biomechanics and mechanisms of brain injury, and memory. He has also served as Chief Medical Advisor to the U.S. Department of Transportation (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) from 1980 until 1985. He was a clinical professor at George Washington University from 1980 until 2003.
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Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch (Balochi: بلوچ) are an ethnic group who mainly inhabit the Balochistan region in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia.
The Baluch people mainly speak Baluchi, which is a branch of the Iranian languages, and more specifically of the North-western Iranian languages, that is highly influenced by that of Mesopotamia and shares similarities with Kurdish and other languages of the region. It also contains archaic features reminiscent of Old Persian and Avestan. They inhabit mountainous terrains and deserts, and maintain a very distinct cultural identity. The Baloch-speaking population worldwide is estimated to be in the range of 10 to 15 million.[citation needed] However, the exact number of Baloch and those who are or claim to be of Baloch ancestry is difficult to determine. In the Punjab province of Pakistan almost 10% of peoples are Balochi.[citation needed] Most of them speak Saraiki but in the Jhang area of Punjab, the majority of the Baloch population speak Punjabi also.[citation needed]
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Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (Sindhi: بينظير ڀٽو; Urdu: بے نظیر بھٹو, pronounced [beːnəˈziːr ˈbʱʊʈʈoː]; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a former prime minister of Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which she led.
In 1982, at age 29, Benazir Bhutto became the chairwoman of PPP — a democratic socialist, centre-left party, making her the first woman in Pakistan to head a major political party. In 1988, she became the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state and was also Pakistan's first (and thus far, only) female prime minister. Noted for her charismatic authority and political astuteness, Benazir Bhutto drove initiatives for Pakistan's economy and national security, and she implemented social capitalist policies for industrial development and growth. In addition, her political philosophy and economic policies emphasized deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labor markets, the denationalization of state-owned corporations, and the withdrawal of subsidies to others. Benazir Bhutto's popularity waned amid recession, corruption, and high unemployment which later led to the dismissal of her government by conservative President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
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BRIC
In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. It is typically rendered as "the BRICs" or "the BRIC countries" or "the BRIC economies" or alternatively as the "Big Four".
The acronym was coined by Jim O'Neill in a 2001 paper entitled "Building Better Global Economic BRICs". The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world. It is estimated that BRIC economies will overtake G7 economies by 2027.
According to a paper published in 2005, Mexico and South Korea were the only other countries comparable to the BRICs, but their economies were excluded initially because they were considered already more developed, as they were already members of the OECD. The same creator of the term "BRICS" has recently coined the term MIKT, that includes Mexico and (South) Korea.
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Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha (meaning "the awakened one" in Sanskrit and Pāli). The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance (avidyā), craving (taṇhā), and suffering (dukkha), by recognizing dependent origination and sunyata, and attain Nirvana.
Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tiantai (Tendai) and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications, Vajrayana—practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana. There are other categorisations of these three Vehicles or Yanas.
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Bulleh Shah
Bulleh Shah (1680–1757) (Punjabi: بلہے شاہ, ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ, Hindi: बुल्ले शाह) was a Punjabi Sufi poet, humanist and philosopher. His full name was Abdullah Shah
Bulleh Shah is believed to have been born in 1680, in the small village of Uch, Bahawalpur, Punjab, in present day Pakistan. His father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a teacher and preacher in a village mosque. Little is known about Bulleh Shah's ancestry except that some of his forebears were migrants from Uzbekistan, and that his family claimed direct descent from Muhammad.
When he was six months old, his parents relocated to Malakwal. His father later got a job in Pandoke, about 50 miles southeast of Kasur. Bulleh Shah received his early schooling in Pandoke and moved to Kasur for higher education. He also received education from Maulana Mohiyuddin. His spiritual teacher was the Qadiri Sufi Shah Inayat Qadiri, who was a member of the Arain tribe of Lahore.
A large amount of what is believed to be known about Bulleh Shah comes through legends, and is subjective; to the point that there isn’t even agreement among historians concerning his precise date and place of birth. Some "facts" about his life have been pieced together from his own writings. Other "facts" seem to have been passed down through oral traditions.
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Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य महान Hindi: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य महान), (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320 BCE, – 298 BCE) was the founder of the Maurya Empire. He succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent and is considered the first unifier of India as well as its first genuine emperor. In foreign Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokyptos (Σανδρόκυπτος), Sandrokottos (Σανδρόκοττος) or Androcottus.
Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated the northwestern subcontinent, while the Nanda Dynasty dominated the middle and lower basin of the Ganges. After Chandragupta's conquests, the Maurya Empire extended from Bengal and Assam in the east, to Afghanistan and Balochistan,some part of the easten and south-east Iran in the west, to Kashmir and Nepal in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Tradition holds that Chandragupta abdicated his throne to become a monk and led such an ascetic life that he starved himself to death. Whether or not this is factually accurate, he was succeeded by his son in 298 BC.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Choudhary Rahmat Ali
Choudhry Rahmat Ali (Urdu: چودھری رحمت علی) (November 16, 1895 – February 1951) was a Pakistani Muslim nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan. He is credited with creating the name "Pakistan" for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia and is generally known as the founder of the movement for its creation. He is best known as the author of a famous 1933 pamphlet titled "Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever", also known as the Pakistan Declaration. The pamphlet started with a famous statement:
"At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN - by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan."
Ali was born into a Muslim Gujjar family in the town of Balachaur in Hoshiarpur District of Punjab (now Nawanshahr District), India. After graduating from Islamia Madrassa Lahore in 1918, he taught at Aitchison College Lahore before joining Punjab University to study law. In 1930 he moved to England to join Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1931. In 1933, he published a pamphlet, Now or Never, coining the word Pakistan for the first time. In 1933, he founded Pakistan National Movement in England. Subsequently, he obtained a BA degree in 1933 and MA in 1940 from the University of Cambridge. In 1943, he was called to the Bar, Middle Temple Inn, London. Until 1947, he continued publishing various booklets about his vision for South Asia. The final Partition of India disillusioned him due to the mass killings and mass migrations it ended up producing. He was also dissatisfied with the distribution of areas among the two countries and considered it a major reason for the disturbances.
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Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. She is also head of state of the Crown Dependencies.
Elizabeth was born in London, and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
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Fahmida Mirza
Dr. Fahmida Mirza (Urdu: فہمیدہ مرزا), sometimes also spelled as Fehmida Mirza (born December 20, 1956), is a medical doctor, agriculturist and businesswoman from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan who was elected as the first female Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan on March 19, 2008. She is also the first female parliamentary speaker in the Muslim world.
She has been elected to Parliament for three consecutive terms in 1997, 2002 and 2008 as MNA from Badin, in Sindh. Dr. Mirza graduated with a medical degree from Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro, Sindh, in 1982 and did her house job in gynaecology and paediatrics.
Fahmida Mirza hails from a Sindhi-speaking Muslim political family in Sindh, the Mughal Qazis of Sindh. Her grandfather, Qazi Abdul Qayyum, was the first Muslim president of Hyderabad (Latifabad) Sindh Municipality. Her father, Qazi Abdul Majeed Abid (Qazi Abid) held different ministries in the provincial (Sindh) and federal cabinets from 1982 to 1990 including Provincial Minister for Communication, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, Federal Minister for Education, and Federal Minister for Water and Power. Her Uncle, Qazi Mohammad Akbar, was also a long serving Provincial Minister in Sindh, including serving as Provincial Home Minister.
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Faisalabad
Faisalabad, (Urdu: فیصل آباد) formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan.
Nicknamed the Manchester of Asia, Faisalabad remains an important industrial city west of Lahore. The city-district of Faisalabad is bound on the north by the districts of Hafizabad and Chiniot, on the east by Nankana Sahib, on the south by Sahiwal, and Toba Tek Singh and on the west by Jhang.
The city is at a road and railway junction, which has played an influential role in the development of Faisalabad's trade and economy. The surrounding countryside, irrigated by the Lower Chenab River, has seen expanded production of cotton, wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, and fruits, which form 55% of Pakistan's exports. The city is an industrial centre with major railway repair yards, engineering works, and mills that process sugar, flour, and oil seed. Produce includes superphosphates, cotton and silk textiles, hosiery, dyes, industrial chemicals, beverages, apparels, pulp and paper, printing, agricultural equipment, and ghee (clarified butter). Faisalabad is the site of the prestigious University of Agriculture, founded in 1909.
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Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Urdu: فیض احمد فیض; February 13, 1911 – November 20, 1984) MBE, NI, was an influential left-wing intellectual, revolutionary poet, and one of the most famous poets of the Urdu language from State of Pakistan. A rising figure and notable member of the Progressive Writers' Movement (PWM), Faiz was an avowed Marxist-communist, long associated member of Russian-backed Communist Party and was a recipient of Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union in 1962. Despite being repeatedly accused of atheism by the political and military establishment, Faiz's poetry suggested his complicated relationship with religion in general and Islam in particular. He was, nevertheless, inspired by South Asia's Sufi traditions.
Faiz was controversially named and linked by Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan's government for hatching the conspiracy (see Rawalpindi conspiracy case) against Ali Khan's government, being Plot's central leader which was supported by left-wing military sponsor Major-General Akbar Khan. Having been arrested by Military police, Faiz among with others received a maximum sentence by JAG branch, although his sentence was commuted after the assassination Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951.
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Fatima Jinnah
Fatima Jinnah English IPA: fətɪ̈mɑ d͡ʒinnəɦ, (Urdu: فاطمہ جناح; July 31, 1893 — July 9, 1967), was a dental surgeon, biographer, stateswoman, and one of the leading Founding mothers of modern-state of Pakistan, and was also the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
Educated and obtaining the dental degree from Kolkata University, accompanied Muhammad Ali Jinnah, taking active participation in the politics, and was an influential political figure in the movement for independence from the British Indian Empire. After the declaration of the Pakistan Resolution in 1940, Fatima Jinnah was one of the influential and founding members of the Pakistan Movement, calling for independence of independent Muslims states into one national identity. During at this time, Fatima Jinnah also played a pivotal role in civil rights and introduced the women's rights movement in the Pakistan Movement. After the independence, Fatima Jinnah co-founded the Pakistan Women's Association (APWA), while significantly played an integral role in the settlement of the Urdu-speaking mass in the newly formed country.
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G. M. Syed
G. M. Syed (Sindhi: جي ايم سيد) was a political leader who pioneered the Jeay Sindh movement for the freedom of Sindh from Pakistan. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Sindhi nationalism. In 1930 he founded the Sindh Hari Committee, later led by Hyder Bux Jatoi.
He was known by the people of Sindh as "Saeen", son of Syed Mohammed Shah Kazmi, descendant of a famous saint of Sindh, Syed Haider Shah Kazmi, of whose mausoleum he is the sajjada nasmi.
He was the founder of Sindh Awami Mahaz, which went on to join the National Awami Party (National Peoples Party). Like Ibrahim Joyo, G.M. Syed blended Sindhi nationalism with Communism and Sufism through the ideas of Gandhi and Marx. In his early political life, he was a strong vocal supporter of the Pakistan Movement in Sindh and was said to be one of the driving forces in making sure the Sind Assembly voted to join Pakistan in 1947.
At the early age of fourteen years, Syed started his career as an activist.
Syed was the author of more than Forty nine books. His books are on numerous subjects, ranging from literature to politics, religion and culture. He was himself a mystic had a lot of love and regard for mystics of all faiths. Besides being a man of immense learning, Syed possessed a personality that was graceful and poised. Highly cultured and refined manners, hospitality and geniality were the salient traits of his character. Wit and humor were the keynotes of his personality. He respected all genuine difference of opinions. For decades, Sindh and Sindhi people had constituted the center of his interest and activity, and all his love energies were devoted to their good. His famous Books are Janam Guzarium Jin Sein.(Sindhi) Dayar Dil Dastan-e- Muhabt.(Sindhi) Sindh Ja Soorma.(Sindhi) Sindh speaks.(English) Struggle for New Sindh.(English) Religion and Reality.(English) Shah Latif's Message.(English)
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Gandhara
Gandhāra (Sanskrit: गन्धार Gandḥārā, Urdu: گندھارا Ghandhāra, Pashto: ګندارا, Punjabi: گندھارا, Persian: ویهیند) is the name of an ancient kingdom (Mahajanapada), located in modern day northern Pakistan and parts of eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau (see Taxila) and on the Kabul River. Its main cities were Purushapura (modern Peshawar), literally meaning "City of Man", Varmayana (modern Bamyan) and Takshashila (modern Taxila).
The Kingdom of Gandhara lasted from the early 1st millennium BC to the 11th century AD. It attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century under the Buddhist Kushan Kings. The Hindu term Shahi is used by history writer Al-Biruni to refer to the ruling Hindu dynasty that took over from the Turki Shahi and ruled the region during the period prior to Muslim conquests of the 10th and 11th centuries. After it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1021 CE, the name Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period the area was administered from Lahore or from Kabul. During Mughal times the area was part of Kabul province.
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General Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (Punjabi, Urdu: محمد ضياء الحق; August 12, 1924 – August 17, 1988), was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988. Distinguished by his role in the Black September in Jordan military operation in 1970, he was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after Bhutto forcefully retired seven senior lieutenant-generals who were tainted with their role in the East-Pakistan war in order to bring and promote Zia to four star rank. After widespread civil disorder, he planned and overthrew ruling Prime Minister Bhutto in a bloodless coup d'état on July 5, 1977, code name Fair Play, and became the state's third military ruler to impose martial law. Zia's idea of religious conservatism in Pakistan became the primary line of his military government. Throughout the 1980s, Zia managed to consolidate more and more power in his hands, gradually putting down all opposition groups in Pakistan.
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George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India, and the first Head of the Commonwealth.
As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. He served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret.
George's elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII on the death of their father in 1936. However, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry Mrs Simpson and remain king. Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor.
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Ghorid
The Ghurids or Ghorids (Persian: سلسله غوریان; self-designation: Shansabānī) were a medieval Muslim dynasty of Iranian origin that ruled during the 12th and 13th centuries in Khorasan. At its zenith, their empire, centred at Ghōr (now a province in Afghanistan), stretched over an area that included the whole of modern Afghanistan, the eastern parts of Iran, Pakistan and the northern section of the India, as far as Delhi. The Ghurids were succeeded in Persia by the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty and in North India by the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
In the 19th century, some European scholars, such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was Pashtun, but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship, and, as explained by Morgenstierne in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, is for "various reasons very improbable". Instead, the consensus in modern scholarship (incl. Morgenstierne, Bosworth, Dupree, Gibb, Ghirshman, Longworth Dames and others) holds that the dynasty was most likely of Tajik origin.Bosworth further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, Āl-e Šansab (Persianized: Šansabānī), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally Middle Persian name Wišnasp, perhaps hinting at a (Sassanian) Persian origin.
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Ghulam Bhik Nairang
Syed Ghulam Bhik Nairang (September 26, 1876 - October 16, 1952. Urdu: سید غلام بھیك نیرنگ ), also known as Meer Nairang, was a distinguished lawyer, a poet and a prominent Indian Muslim leader. He held office with the All-India Muslim League, India, pre-partition (1947). He was close friends with Allama Muhammad Iqbal, a college-mate and fellow poet. His compilation of poetry - Kalaam-e-Nairang was published in 1980s from Karachi.
In 2006, the Karachi-based Dawn newspaper published an article where his literary services were eulogised.
Born 7th Ramadan, 1293 H. (September 26, 1876) at Doorana (Distt. Ambala, India), Meer Nairang was given the name Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din. However, it was later changed to Ghulam Bhik – to show respect to the saint/ sufi Meeran Bheekh of nearby Thaska. Meer Nairang’s forefather, Syed Abdul Kareem Rizvi had migrated to Doorana from Tirmiz, Iran in 800 H. The family had vast land at their disposal, which however decreased to one gaon (village) by the time Meer Nairang’s father, Syed Qasim Ali’s time. He was a pious, religious farmer. His death in 1888 left Meer Nairang an orphan, but his pious, courageous mother instilled in him good moral values and an urge to work hard. He worked hard for school education at Ambala and topped the Entrance examination of the Punjab University, Lahore in 1895.
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Ghurid Dynasty
The Ghurids or Ghorids (Persian: سلسله غوریان; self-designation: Shansabānī) were a medieval Muslim dynasty of Iranian origin that ruled during the 12th and 13th centuries in Khorasan. At its zenith, their empire, centred at Ghōr (now a province in Afghanistan), stretched over an area that included the whole of modern Afghanistan, the eastern parts of Iran, Pakistan and the northern section of the India, as far as Delhi. The Ghurids were succeeded in Persia by the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty and in North India by the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
In the 19th century, some European scholars, such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was Pashtun, but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship, and, as explained by Morgenstierne in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, is for "various reasons very improbable". Instead, the consensus in modern scholarship (incl. Morgenstierne, Bosworth, Dupree, Gibb, Ghirshman, Longworth Dames and others) holds that the dynasty was most likely of Tajik origin.Bosworth further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, Āl-e Šansab (Persianized: Šansabānī), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally Middle Persian name Wišnasp, perhaps hinting at a (Sassanian) Persian origin.
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Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes (Greek: Ἕλληνες, [ˈelines]), are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and other regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world.
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established in most corners of the Mediterranean, but Greeks have always been centered around the Aegean Sea, where the Greek language has been spoken since antiquity. Until the early 20th century, Greeks were uniformly distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, Pontus, Egypt, Cyprus and Constantinople; many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of the ancient Greek colonization.
In the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), a large-scale population exchange between Greece and Turkey transferred and confined Christians from Turkey, except Constantinople (effectively ethnic Greeks) into the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. Other ethnic Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and in diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church.
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Hameed Nizami
Hameed Nizami (October 3, 1915–1962) was an eminent journalist from Pakistan. He was the founder of the Urdu newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt, and played an important role in the Pakistan movement.
He was born on October 3, 1915 at Sangla Hill, a small railway junction not far from Lyallpur (now Faisalabad). He received his early education at here and did his Master's in English from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He was a self-made man and his early life was a great struggle. While still a student at Islamia College, Lahore, he founded, along with others, the Punjab Muslim Students Federation and became its first elected President. Due to his dynamic role as a student leader, he came close to the Quaid-i-Azam and remained an ardent follower of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League; first as a student leader and later as a journalist. After attaining his degree, he choose journalism as his career and worked for a short time in the Press branch of the Punjab Government. After receiving training under a scheme sponsored by the Punjab Government, he also worked for some time on the staff of National Congress, an Urdu daily started by Dr. Satyapal, who represented the liberal wing of the Provincial Congress. Thereafter, he became the Manager of Lahore Office of the Orient News Agency and used the resources of the Orient News Agency for the projection of the League point of view and for helping the cause of Pakistan.
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Hephthalite
The Hephthalites (also spelled Ephthalites) were a Central Asian nomadic confederation of the AD 5th–6th centuries whose precise origins and composition remain obscure. According to Chinese chronicles, they were originally a tribe living to the north of the Great Wall and were known as Hoa or Hoa-tun. Elsewhere they were called White Huns, known to the Greeks as Hephthalite and the Indians as the Sveta Huns/Turushkas. It is likely that they spoke an East Iranian language.
Although the Hephtalite empire was known in China as Yanda (嚈噠), Chinese chroniclers recognized this designated the leaders of the empire. The same sources document that the main tribe called themselves Uar (滑). The modern Chinese variation Yanda has been given various Latinised renderings such as "Yeda", although the more archaic Korean pronunciation "Yeoptal" 엽달 is more compatible with the Greek Hephthal and is certainly a more archaic form.
According to B.A. Litvinsky, the names of the Hephtalite rulers used in the Shahnameh are Iranian. According to Xavier Tremblay, one of the Hephthalite rulers was named Khingila, which has the same root as the Sogdian word xnγr and the Wakhi word xiŋgār, meaning "sword". The name Mihirakula is thought to be derived from Mithra-kula which is Iranian for "Relier upon Mithra", and Toramāna is also considered to have an Iranian origin. Accordingly, in Sanskrit, "Mihirakula" would mean from the "Kul (family or race) of Mihir (Mithra or Sun)". Janos Harmatta gives the translation "Mithra's Begotten" and also supports the Iranian theory.
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Indo-Aryan peoples
Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages. Today, there are over one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, most of them native to South Asia, where they form the majority.
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Indo-Greek
The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other.
The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India early in the 2nd century BC. Pushed by the Scythian tribes, the Graeco-Bactrians were forced to invade India. The Greeks in India were eventually divided from the Graeco-Bactrians centered in Bactria (now the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan). But, the Greeks failed to establish a united rule in north-western India. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (Milinda). He had his capital at Sakala in Punjab, modern Pakistan, and he successfully invaded the Ganges-Yamuna doab.
The expression "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various dynastic polities, traditionally associated with a number of regional capitals like Taxila, (modern Punjab (Pakistan)), Pushkalavati and Sagala. Other potential centers are only hinted at; for instance, Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophila in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have been a satrapal or royal seat at one time.
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Indo-Greek Kingdom
The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other.
The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India early in the 2nd century BC. Pushed by the Scythian tribes, the Graeco-Bactrians were forced to invade India. The Greeks in India were eventually divided from the Graeco-Bactrians centered in Bactria (now the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan). But, the Greeks failed to establish a united rule in north-western India. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (Milinda). He had his capital at Sakala in Punjab, modern Pakistan, and he successfully invaded the Ganges-Yamuna doab.
The expression "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various dynastic polities, traditionally associated with a number of regional capitals like Taxila, (modern Punjab (Pakistan)), Pushkalavati and Sagala. Other potential centers are only hinted at; for instance, Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophila in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have been a satrapal or royal seat at one time.
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Indo-Greeks
The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other.
The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India early in the 2nd century BC. Pushed by the Scythian tribes, the Graeco-Bactrians were forced to invade India. The Greeks in India were eventually divided from the Graeco-Bactrians centered in Bactria (now the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan). But, the Greeks failed to establish a united rule in north-western India. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (Milinda). He had his capital at Sakala in Punjab, modern Pakistan, and he successfully invaded the Ganges-Yamuna doab.
The expression "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various dynastic polities, traditionally associated with a number of regional capitals like Taxila, (modern Punjab (Pakistan)), Pushkalavati and Sagala. Other potential centers are only hinted at; for instance, Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophila in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have been a satrapal or royal seat at one time.
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Iranian languages
The Iranian languages (also called Iranic languages) form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn are a subgroup of the Indo-European language family. The speakers of Iranian languages are known as Iranian peoples.
The Iranian languages are considered in three stages of Old (until 400 BCE), Middle (400 BCE – 900 CE), and New (since 900 CE). From the Old Iranian languages the better understood and recorded ones are Old Persian (a language of Achaemenid Iran) and Avestan (the language of Zarathushtra). Middle Iranian languages included Middle Persian (a language of Sassanid Iran) and Parthian (a language of Arsacid Iran). There are many Iranian languages, the largest amongst them are Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, and Balochi.
Today, there are an estimated 150–200 million native speakers of Iranian languages. The Ethnologue lists 87 Iranian languages.Persian has about 65 million native speakers, Pashto about 50 million, Kurdish about 18 million, Balochi about 7 million, and Lurish about 2.3 million.
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Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples (Iranic peoples) are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group that comprise the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of the Indo-European-speaking peoples. Their historical areas of settlement were on the Iranian plateau, and comprised most of Iran and certain areas of Central Asia such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and most of Afghanistan, some parts of western Pakistan, northern Iraq and eastern Turkey, and scattered parts of the Caucasus Mountains. Their current distribution spreads across the Iranian plateau, and stretches from Pakistan's Indus River in the east to eastern Turkey in the west, and from Central Asia and the Caucasus in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south – a region that is sometimes called the Iranian cultural continent, or Greater Persia by scholars, and represents the extent of the Iranian languages and influence of the Persian People, through the geopolitical reach of the Persian empire.
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Jahangir Khan
Jahangir Khan, HI, (born 10 December 1963, in Karachi, Pakistan) (sometimes spelled "Jehangir Khan") is a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game. Jahangir Khan is an ethnic Pashtun, originally from Neway Kelay, Peshawar. During his career he won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years. During that time he won 555 games consecutively, the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sports as recorded by Guinness World Records. He retired as a player in 1993, and has served as President of the World Squash Federation since 2002.
Jahangir was coached initially by his father, Roshan Khan, the 1957 British Open champion, and then by his late brother Torsam Khan. After his brother's sudden death he was coached by his cousin Rehmat Khan, who guided Jahangir through most of his career. Ironically, during his earlier years, Jahangir was a sickly child and physically very weak. Though the doctors had advised him not to take part in any sort of physical activity, after undergoing a couple of hernia operations his father let him play and try out their family game.
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Jansher Khan
Jansher Khan (born 15 June 1969, in Peshawar, Pakistan) is a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest squash players of all time. During his career he won the World Open a record eight times, and the British Open six times.
Jansher is of Pashtun ethnicity and belongs to Nuwai Kelai, Peshawar. He came from a family of outstanding squash players. His brother Mohibullah Khan was one of the world's leading professional squash players in the 1970s. Another older brother, Atlas Khan, was a highly-rated amateur competitor.
Jansher won the World Junior Squash Championship title in 1986. He also turned professional that year. At the time, the men's professional tour was dominated by another Pakistani player – Jahangir Khan. (Jansher is not known to be directly related to Jahangir, but their families originate from the same village in the Peshawar region of northern Pakistan, so they may be distantly related). At the World Open in 1986, Ross Norman finally ended an unbeaten run by Jahangir in tournament play which had lasted a staggering five and a half years. But from 1987 onwards, Jahangir would no longer be able to tower over the game in the way he did during the first half of the decade, as Jansher quickly turned men's squash into a sport which now had two powerful dominant players. Jahangir won the pair's first few encounters in late-1986 and early-1987. Jansher then scored his first win over Jahangir in September 1987, beating him in straight games in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open. Jansher then went on to beat Jahangir in their next eight consecutive encounters. This included a win in the semi-finals of the 1987 World Open, following which Jansher claimed his first World Open title by beating Australia's Chris Dittmar in the final.
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Jasmine
Jasminum (/ˈdʒæzmɨnəm/), commonly known as jasmines, is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World. Jasmines are widely cultivated for the characteristic fragrance of their flowers.
Jasmines can be either deciduous (leaves falling in autumn) or evergreen (green all year round), and can be erect, spreading, or climbing shrubs and vines. Their leaves are borne opposite or alternate. They can be simple, trifoliate, or pinnate. The flowers are typically around 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter. They are white or yellow in color, although in rare instances they can be slightly reddish. The flowers are borne in cymose clusters with a minimum of three flowers, though they can also be solitary on the ends of branchlets. Each flower has about four to nine petals, two locules, and one to four ovules. They have two stamens with very short filaments. The bracts are linear or ovate. The calyx is bell-shaped. They are usually very fragrant. The fruits of jasmines are berries that turn black when ripe.
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Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (IPA: [dʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru] ( listen), Hindi: जवाहरलाल नेहरू; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964), often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian lawyer, politician and statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India (1947–64) and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the 1930s and ’40s. Nehru was elected by the Indian National Congress to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1951 and 1952. Nehru contributed to the establishment of a parliamentary democracy in India and was one of the founders of the international Non-Aligned Movement.
The son of moderate nationalist leader and Congressman Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress when fairly young. Rising to become Congress President under the mentorship of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic leader, advocating complete independence for India from the British Empire. Throughout his life, Nehru advocated Democratic Socialism/Fabian Socialism and a strong public sector as the means by which economic development could be pursued by poorer nations. He was the father of Indira Gandhi and the maternal grandfather of Rajiv Gandhi, who would later serve as the third and sixth Prime Ministers of India respectively.
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Jogendra Nath Mandal
Jogendra Nath Mandal (Urdu: جوگيندرا ناتھ ماندل; Bengali: যোগেন্দ্রনাথ মণ্ডল; January 29, 1904 — October 5, 1968), was one of the central and leading Founding Fathers of modern state of Pakistan, and legislator serving as country's first minister of law and labor, and also was second minister of commonwealth and Kashmir affairs. An Indian and later Pakistani statesman who served as the first minister of law and labour in Pakistan. As leader of the Scheduled Castes, Jogendranath had made common cause with the Muslim League in their demand[citation needed] for Pakistan, hoping that the Scheduled Castes would be benefited from it and joined the first cabinet in Pakistan as the Minister of Law and Labour. He, however, realized his folly in 1950 when thousands of lower caste Hindus were massacred in East Bengal generating a wave of refugees to India. He himself fled to India and submitted his resignation to Liaquat Ali Khan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Following the partition of India on August 15, 1947 Mandal became a member and temporary chairman of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, and agreed to serve as the new state's first Minister for Law and Labour - becoming the highest-ranking Hindu member of the government. From 1947 to 1950 he would live in the port city of Karachi, which became Pakistan's capital. Mandal strongly supported Jinnah's ideal of a secular state in Pakistan.
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Kamboja Kingdom
The Kambojas (Sanskrit: कम्बोज, Kamboja; Persian: کمبوہ, Kambūh) were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature. Modern scholars conclude that the Kambojas were an Avestan speaking Eastern Iranian tribe at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.
The Kambojas migrated into India during the Indo-Scythian invasion from the 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE. Their descendants controlled various principalities in Medieval India.
The Kambojas were an Indo-Iranian tribe. However, the ancient Kambojas are sometimes described as Indo-Aryans or as having both Indian and Iranian affinities. However, most scholars now agree that the Kambojas were Iranians, cognate with the Indo-Scythians. The Kambojas are also described as a royal clan of the Sakas. This seems to be confirmed by the Mathura lion capital inscriptions made by Rajuvula and by one of the Edicts of Asoka. The Aśvakas were a subtribe of the Kambojas.
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Khawaja Nazimuddin
For other people with the same or similar name, see Liaqat Ali (disambiguation)
Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, KCIE (Urdu: خواجہ ناظم الدین; Bengali: খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন) (name pronounced as Khajyäħ Nazim-üddeen; July 19, 1894 - October 22, 1964), was one of the notable Bengali Founding Fathers of modern-state of Pakistan, career statesman from East-Pakistan, serving as the second Governor-General of Pakistan from 1948 until the assassination of Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951. Prior to that, Nazimuddin took the office of Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the second Prime minister as well the first Bengali prime minister of that country.
His government lasted only two years but saw the civil unrest, political differences, foreign challenges, and threat of communism in East Pakistan and socialism in West Pakistan, that led the final dismissal of his government. As in response to Lahore riots in 1953, Nazimuddin was the first one to have declared the Martial law in Punjab Province under Major-General Azam Khan and Colonel Rahimuddin Khan, initiating a massive repression of the Right-wing sphere in the country. His short tenure also saw the quick rise of socialists in West-Pakistan after failing to enforce to alleviated poverty reduce expenditure programme, and failed to counter the communist influence in the East-Pakistan (his native province) after the successful demonstration of the Language Movement— in both states the Muslim league was diminished in public circle. At foreign events, the relations with United States, Soviet Union, and India, gradually went down, and was failed to reduce the anti-Pakistan sentiment in those countries.
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Liaquat Ali Khan
For other people with the same or similar name, see Liaqat Ali (disambiguation)
Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan (English IPA: Næʍābzādāh Liāqat Alī Khān ( listen (help·info)), Urdu: لیاقت علی خان, Hindi: लियाक़त अली ख़ान; October 1, 1895 – October 16, 1951), often simply referred as Liaquat, was one of the leading Founding Fathers of modern Pakistan, statesman, lawyer, and political theorist who became and served as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, in addition, was also the first Defence minister and minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs, from 1947 until his assassination in 1951.
Born and hail from Muzaffarnagar, West UP, Ali Khan was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University in India, and the Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Prior to his return to India, Ali Khan rose to prominence and was also the influential member of the Muslim League led under Mohammad Ali Jinnah, advocating and determining to eradicate the injustices and ill treatment meted out to the Indian Muslims by the British government, and rose as the influential and later was one of the principle Founding Fathers of Pakistan. Ali Khan was invited first to join the Congress Party, but allied himself with the Muslim League, playing a vital role in the independence of India and Pakistan, while served as the Finance minister in the interim government of British Indian Empire, prior to partition. Significantly, Ali Khan and his wife are credited with persuading Jinnah to return to India— an event which marked the beginning of the Muslim League's ascendancy and paved the way for the Pakistan movement— following the passage of the Pakistan Resolution in 1940, Ali Khan assisted Jinnah in campaigning for the creation of a separate state for Indian Muslims. His influential role led the British Indian Empire to disintegrate into modern-day state of India and Pakistan.
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List of Pakistanis
Pakistan is the sixth most populous nation in the world. Below is a list of such famous people who belong or relate in some way to this nation. See Category:Pakistani people for an alphabetical list of Pakistanis with categories.
khurram azhar bhatti
Main article(s): List of Pakistani writers, List of Urdu poets.
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Masood Ashraf Raja
Originally from Pakistan, Masood Ashraf Raja (Urdu: مسعود اشرف راجہ) is an Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Literature and Theory at the University of North Texas and the editor of Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies, a journal that he founded in 2009. Besides teaching and writing about issues of postcoloniality, globalization, and political Islam, Raja also actively participates in the public debates through his public writing on his two blogs as well as other popular and scholarly websites. Raja moved to the United States in 1996, after ten years of service in the Pakistan Army as an Infantry officer. Raja graduated with a Masters in literature from Belmont University in 2002, and earned his Ph.D. in Postcolonial Studies from Florida State University in 2006, where he studied with Robin Truth Goodman. While at Belmont University, Raja was awarded the Graduate Writing Award and at Florida State he was awarded the Davis Award for Best Graduate Student and Davis Award for best dissertation in 2005 and 2006 respectively. A strong proponent of peace, social justice, and human rights, Raja hopes to foster a better understanding between his primary culture and rest of the world. Raja's last monograph, Constructing Pakistan, (Oxford University Press, 2010), is an interesting explanation of the rise of Muslim national political identity during the British Raj and offers an innovative explanation of the genesis of the idea of Pakistan. Raja has also published extensively in his area of study and on general academic topics in various academic journals and anthologies. Raja is also a member of the Advisory Committee (2009–12) of PMLA, the premier journal of literature and languages and was also recently elected to a five year term on the Executive Committee of the South Asian Studies Group, Modern Language Association. Besides his academic and popular writings, Raja has also actively presented his views at academic conferences as well as through public talks.
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Master Tara Singh
Master Tara Singh (24 June 1885, Rawalpindi, Punjab - 22 November 1967, Chandigarh) was a prominent Sikh political and religious leader in the first half of the 20th century. He was instrumental in organizing the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee, in organizing Sikhs politically, and guided the Sikhs during the Partition of India, and later led their demand for a Sikh-majority state in Punjab, India.
Master Tara Singh was born in a Punjabi Hindu family on 24 June 1885 in the village Harial in Rawalpindi District, now in Pakistan. His childhood name was Nanak Chand and his father’s name was Bakshi Gopi Chand. He had four brothers and a sister. His father was the village patwari by profession as well as by caste, and was held in great esteem by the villagers, and his mother was Mullan Devi, a very pious lady. The entire family, especially their parents believed in Sikh Gurus and Gurbani.
After passing his primary, he joined the mission school at Rawalpindi. During his childhood period there used to be a daily discourse from Sikh religious book Panth-Parkash in the village gurudwara. Nanak Chand daily went to the congregation to listen to the katha (discourse). His daily attendance had a deep-rooted effect and it became one of his foremost ambitions to become a Sikh as he was immensely inclined to the faith.
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Maulana Mohammad Ali
Mohammad Ali Jouhar (Urdu: مَولانا مُحمّد علی جَوہر) was an Indian Muslim leader, activist, scholar, journalist and poet, and was among the leading figures of the Khilafat Movement.
He was the sixth Muslim to become the President of Indian National Congress and it lasted only for few months. He was one of the founders of the All India Muslim League and he was also the former president of the All India Muslim League
Mohammad Ali, (10 December 1878 – 4 January 1931) well-known as Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar (مَولانا مُحمّد علی جَوہر), was born in 1878 in Rampur in India. He belonged to the family of famous Yousaf Zai, a "Rohilla" tribe of Pathans in Rohilkhand, the north west region of Uttarpardesh of India, however, their origin is traced back to the highland of Khyber pukhtoonkhawa, present day Pakistan. His ancestors settled in Rohilkhand, during the 19th century, later they settled in Rampur. However the progeny of Yousuf Zai tribe still found in Afghanistan, the Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa, Pakistan who still maintain Pushto language. He was the brother of Shaukat Ali and Zulfiqar Ali. Despite the early death of his father, the family strived and Ali attended the Darul Uloom Deoband, Aligarh Muslim University and Lincoln College, Oxford University in 1898, studying modern history.
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Maulana Shaukat Ali
Maulana Shaukat Ali was an Indian Muslim nationalist and leader of the Khilafat movement. He was the brother of Maulana Mohammad Ali.
Shaukat Ali was born in 1873 - in Rampur state in what is today Uttar Pradesh or known as Lucknow. He was of Azeri Turkish descent, Turks who had settled in modern day Iran, Afghanistan, and Northern India. He was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. He was extremely fond of playing cricket, captaining the university team. Mahatma Gandhi brought him into politics.
Ali served in the civil service of United Provinces of Oudh and Agra from 1896 to 1913.
Shaukat Ali helped his brother Mohammed Ali publish the Urdu weekly Hamdard and the English weekly Comrade. In 1919, while jailed for publishing what the British charged as seditious materials and organizing protests, he was elected as the first president of the Khilafat conference. He was re-arrested and imprisoned from 1921 to 1923 for his support to Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress during the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-1922). His fans accorded him and his brother the title of Maulana. In March 1922, he was in Rajkot jail
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Mian Muhammad Bakhsh
Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh (Punjabi: میاں محمد بخش ) was a Sufi saint and a Punjabi/Pahari poet; he belonged to the Qadiri tariqah. He is especially renowned as the author of a book of poetry called Saiful Malūk. He was born in a village called Khari Sharif, situated near Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.
He was a fourth generation descendant of Damriyan Wali Sarkar, who is buried in Khari Sharif. Damriyan Wali Sarkar's khalīfah was Dīn Muhammad; and his khalīfah was Mīān Shamsuddīn, who had three sons: Mīān Bahāval Bakhsh, Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh - the subject of this article -, and Mīān 'Alī Bakhsh. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh's ancestors originated in Gujrat, but had later settled in the Mirpur District of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He was a poet of Phari language (widely spoken in different parts of Kashmir.
There is considerable disagreement about his year of birth. Mahbūb 'Alī Faqīr Qādirī, in a biography printed as an appendix to the text of Saiful Malūk gives the date as 1246 AH (1826 AD), a date also followed by the Shāhkār Islāmī Encyclopedia; 1830 and 1843 are suggested in other works. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh himself states in his magnum opus - Saiful Malūk - that he completed the work in the month of Ramadan, 1279 AH (1863 AD), and that he was then thirty-three years of age. Hence, he must have been born in 1829 or 1830.
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Mirza Kalich Beg
Shams-ul-Ulema Mirza Kalich Beg is a renowned scholar hailed for his contributions to the Sindhi literature. He was born on October 7, 1853 in a small village called Tando Thoro on the bank of Phuleli Canal in Hyderabad, Pakistan. His father Mirza Faridun Beg was from Kakheti, Georgia.
The ancestors of Mirza Kalich Beg, were from Georgia, his grandfather was a Christian Emir in Kakheti, due to subsequent turmoil between Nadir Shah and the Ottoman Empire; Georgia was annexed and the grandfather of Mirza Kalich Beg was captured along with his son Sedini (later named Mirza Faridun Beg by Nadir Shah).
Mirza Faridun Beg, converted to Islam and served in the Qizilbash cavalry units of Nadir Shah. He served along side Mir Tala Khan (the founder of the Talpur dynasty). They sacked the fortifications of the ruling Kalhora Nawabs of Sindh and probably served during the dramatic Battle of Karnal.
In the late 18th century, the Talpurs had taken hold of the Pacco Qillo in Hyderabad and were declared official rulers of the city and the Emirs of Sindh. It was during this reign of the Talpurs, that Mirza Faridoon Beg settled in the outskirts of this thriving city. In the years to come his father had made cordial relations with the then ruler Mir Karam Ali Talpur and became his courtier. He was invited to live in the Hyderabad fort (the Pacco Qillo) and married a Talpur princess.
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Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Urdu: محمد علی جناح, Audio (help·info); 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a lawyer, politician and statesman who is known as being the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as 'Quaid-e-Azam' (lit. Great Leader) and 'Baba-e-Qaum' (lit. Father of the Nation).
Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, and as Pakistan's first Governor-General from 15 August 1947 until his death on 11 September 1948. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress initially expounding ideas of Hindu-Muslim unity and helping shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress; he also became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League. He proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India.
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Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad (2 July 1900 - 23 February 1992, Urdu: محمد اسد), born Leopold Weiss, was a Austrian Jew who converted to Islam, and a 20th century journalist, traveler, writer, social critic, linguist, thinker, reformer, diplomat, political theorist, translator and scholar. Asad was one of the 20th century's most influential European Muslims.
In 1947, Asad was given Pakistani citizenship by the newly established Muslim state of Pakistan and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan, where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and, in 1952, was appointed Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations in New York.
Muhammad Asad is famously known for his two publications - The Road to Mecca, a biographical account of his life up to the age of 32, his conversion to Islam from Judaism and his journey to Mecca, and his magnum opus, The Message of the Qur'an, a translation and commentary of the sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an.
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Muhammad bin Qasim
Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi (Arabic: محمد بن قاسم) (c. 31 December 695–18 July 715) was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River (now a part of Pakistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born & raised in the city of Taif (in modern day Saudi Arabia). Qasim's conquest of Sindh and Punjab laid the foundations of Islamic rule in the Indian subcontinent.
A member of the Thaqeef tribe, which is still settled in and around the city of Taif ( a city in modern day Saudi Arabia) to this very day, Muhammad bin Qasim's father was Qasim bin Yusuf[citation needed] who died when Muhammad bin Qasim was young, leaving his mother in charge of his education. Umayyad governor Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi, Muhammad bin Qasim's paternal uncle, was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governance. Muhammad bin Qasim married his cousin Zubaidah, Hajjaj's daughter, shortly before going to Sindh. Another paternal uncle of Muhammad bin Qasim was Muhammad bin Yusuf, governor of Yemen.[citation needed] Under Hajjaj's patronage, Muhammad bin Qasim was made governor of Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion.[citation needed]
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Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal (Urdu: محمد اقبال) (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938), also known as Allama Iqbal (Urdu: علامہ اقبال), was a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages.
Iqbal is admired as a prominent classical poet by Pakistani, Indian and other international scholars of literature. Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times". His first poetry book, Asrar-e-Khudi, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Payam-i-Mashriq and Zabur-i-Ajam. Amongst these his best known Urdu works are Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim and a part of Armughan-e-Hijaz. Along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his various Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political disputes over the years. In 1922, he was knighted by King George V, giving him the title "Sir".
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Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif (Punjabi, Urdu: نواز شریف; born December 5, 1949) is a Pakistani steel magnate and national conservative, serving as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 until October 12, 1999. He is the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the Centre-right-conservative political force in Pakistan.
Before becoming the Prime minister, Sharif served as the ninth Chief Minister of Punjab Province from 1985 to 1990 and embarked his political career under the military regime of President General Zia-ul-Haq. An advocate and businessman, he owns Ittefaq Group, a private steel mill enterprise and one of the largest producer of iron materials, noted as being as Pakistan's one of the wealthiest investor in the steel mill business. His political philosophy emphasized and reflected conservatism advocating for the free-market economy, capitalism as its economic base. His first term survived a serious constitutional crisis when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan attempted to dismissed Sharif by citing "corruption and nepotism", which Sharif strongly denied and turned to Supreme Court. The apex Supreme Court of Pakistan favored the Prime minister citing that Presidential ordnance as "unconstitutional and irrelevant", therefore the government was reconstituted. His first term was finally dismissed after the Pakistan Armed Forces persuaded him to resign to end the political standoff with President Ishaq Khan, which he too was forced to resigned.
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Parsi
Parsi or Parsee ( /ˈpɑrsiː/) refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community.
According to tradition, the present-day Parsis descend from a group of Zoroastrians of Iran who immigrated to India during the 10th century AD, to avoid persecution by Muslim invaders who were in the process of conquering Iran. At the time of the Arab invasion of Iran, the dominant religion of the region was Zoroastrianism. The Iranians rebelled against the Arab invaders for almost 200 years; in Iran this period is now known as the "Two "Centuries of Silence" or "Period of Silence". After many failed attempts to free the country from Arab domination, the Iranians were forced to either pay heavy taxes (Jizya) or to convert to Islam, the latter being the ultimate goal of the new rulers and thus the easier way. During this time many Iranians who are now called Parsi rejected both options and instead chose to take refuge by fleeing from Iran to India.
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Pashtun people
Pashtuns (Pashto: پښتانه Pax̌tānə; also spelled Pushtuns, Pakhtuns or Pukhtuns), also known as ethnic Afghans (Persian: افغان) or Pathans (Urdu: پٹھان, Hindi: पठान Paṭhān), are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group with populations primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pashtuns are typically characterised by their usage of the Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali, which is a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Their origins are unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Paktha (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who inhabited the region between the Hindu Kush and Indus River and may be the early ancestors of Pashtuns. Since the 3rd century AD and onward, they have been referred to by the ethnonym "Afghan".
Often characterised as a warrior and martial race, their history is spread amongst various countries of South, Central and Western Asia, centred around their traditional seat of power in medieval Afghanistan. During the Delhi Sultanate era, the Pashtun Lodi dynasty replaced the Turkic kingdoms as the ruling dynasty in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Other Pashtuns fought the Persian Empire and the Mughal Empire before obtaining an independent state in the early-18th century, which began with a successful revolution by the Mirwais Hotak followed by conquests by Ahmad Shah Durrani. Pashtuns played a vital role during the Great Game from the 19th century to the 20th century as they were caught between the imperialist designs of the British and Russian empires.
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Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
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Pervaiz Hoodbhoy
Dr. Prof. Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy (Urdu: پرویز ہودبھائی; born 11 July 1950), is a Pakistani nuclear physicist, essayist and political-defence analyst. He is the professor of nuclear and high-energy physics, and the head of the Physics Department at the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU). He graduated and also received PhD from MIT and continues to do research in Particle physics. He received the Baker Award for Electronics in 1968, and the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics in 1984. He has authored various scientific research papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Hoodbhoy is also a prominent environmental and social activist and regularly writes on a wide range of social, cultural and environmental issues. He is the chairman of Mashal, a non-profit organization which publishes Urdu books on feminism, education, environmental issues, philosophy, and modern thought. Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy is a strong and avid supporter for peaceful use of nuclear technology in Pakistan, nuclear non-proliferation, and nuclear disarmament; and criticizing the United States, Israel, Pakistan's and India's nuclear program in many national and international forums.
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Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: پرویز مشرف, born 11 August 1943) is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled Pakistan as Chief Executive from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008. Facing impeachment, he preferred to resign on 18 August 2008.
After years of military service, he rose to prominence when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him as the Chief of Army Staff in October 1998. Musharraf was the mastermind behind the controversial and internationally condemned Kargil infiltration, which derailed peace negotiations with Pakistan's long standing enemy India. He previously also played a vital role in the Afghanistan civil war (1996–2001) both in peace negotiations and in trying to end the bloodshed. After months of contentious relations with Sharif, Musharraf was brought to power through a bloodless military coup. Subsequently Nawaz Sharif was placed under a house-arrest, later shifting him to Adiala Jail.
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Sadequain
Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi (Urdu: سید صادقین احمد نقوی), Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, also often referred to as Sadequain Naqqash, was a world-renowned Pakistani artist, best known for his skills as a calligrapher and a painter. He is considered as one of the finest painters and calligraphers Pakistan has ever produced.
Sadequain was born in 1930, descending from a family of calligraphers. In late 1940s he joined the Progressive Writers and Artists Movement. His true talent was discovered by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy who brought Sadequain into the limelight He also spent some time in Paris augmenting his skills. Sadequain received much praise for his calligraphic style, which is widely considered iconic by many critics of South Asian art.
Life in Chronology
1930 - Born in Amroha
1954 - First solo exhibition in Quetta
1955 - Mural at Jinnah Hospital, exhibitions at Frere Hall and residence of Mr. Suhrawardy
1960 - Awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and first prize in National Exhibition
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Saraiki people
Even though Saraiki is not an ethnicity but is a language, some people refer to the people living in the Saraiki speaking areas as Saraiki people (Saraiki: سرائيکی). The "Siraiki speaking belt" as it is often called is located in the central and south-eastern areas of Pakistan, especially the former princely state of Bahawalpur and the districts of Multan, Lodhran, Vehari, Khanewal, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Dera Ismail Khan, Bahawalnagar, Sukkur, Larkana, Dadu, Sehwan, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Sindh, Mirpurkhas. A significant number of Saraiki speaking people also reside in India, with most concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat.. The Saraiki speaking people follow many religions, among them mostly Islam but also some are Hindu. Many Siraiki speaking Hindus living in these areas migrated to India after the Subcontinental India divided into the modern day India and Pakistan in August of 1947. See Partition of India.
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Shaukat Hayat Khan
Shaukat Hayat Khan (1915–1998) was a prominent Muslim League movement worker and political leader, who worked closely with the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the Punjab.
Shaukat Hayat Khan (SHK) hailed from the famous Hayat Khattar family of Wah in Attock, and he was the eldest son of Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan (1892-1942), the famous Punjabi statesman and feudal baron, from his first wife Begum Zubaida Khanum, a lady from a prominent Kashmiri family settled in Amritsar, British India. After his mother's early demise in 1919, the young Shaukat and his siblings were taken care of by their step-mother and in due course, he was sent to study at the Aitchison College and the Aligarh University, briefly, before he was sent, in keeping with family tradition, to join the British Indian Army, upon passing the qualifying examinations .
Upon completing his military training or cadetship at the Indian Military Academy, he was formally commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 16th Light Cavalry with effect from 15th July 1937. After some service on the North West Frontier, when World War II broke out, he volunteered to go abroad for active service with any cavalry regiment being sent out to the Front, and was therefore seconded to Skinner's Horse. He thereafter served in Somalia, the Middle East and North Africa from 1941 to 1942, first promoted as a Captain and then a War Substantive Major, until his father's death in December 1942, when he had to quit military service to take up his political role in the Punjab.
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Sindhi people
Sindhis (Sindhi: سنڌي) are a Sindhi-speaking ethnic group of people native to the Sindh province of Pakistan.
Some of the places in Sindh have been inhabited as early as the 3rd millennium BC. A large number of Indus valley sites have been found in Sindh. Sindh was ruled by Hindu, Buddhist and Zoroastrian kingdoms till 712, when it became a part of the Umayyad Caliphate. While Sindhis were originally Hindus or Buddhists.
Sindhi culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles. Some of the popular cultural icons are Raja Dahir, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal and Sachal Sarmast.
Following the partition of India in 1947, most Hindus, Sikhs and Jains migrated to India and other parts of the world, though as of 1998, Hindus still constituted about 6% of the total Sindhi population in Pakistan. Sindhis in different parts of the world formed their own social gatherings or sammelans and associations.
The original inhabitants of ancient Sindh were believed to be aboriginal tribes speaking languages of the Indus Valley civilization around 3000 BC.
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Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War (Hindi: भारत-चीन युद्ध Bhārat-Chīn Yuddh), also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict (simplified Chinese: 中印边境战争; traditional Chinese: 中印邊境戰爭; pinyin: Zhōng-Yìn Biānjìng Zhànzhēng), was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India had granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. India initiated a Forward Policy in which it placed outposts along the border, including several north of the McMahon Line, the eastern portion of a Line of Actual Control proclaimed by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1959.
Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometer-long Himalayan border, the Chinese launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962, coinciding with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Chinese troops advanced over Indian forces in both theatres, capturing Rezang la in Chushul in the western theatre, as well as Tawang in the eastern theatre. The war ended when the Chinese declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal from the disputed area.
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Steve Coll
Steve Coll (born October 8, 1958 in Washington, D.C.) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and writer. Coll is currently president and CEO of the New America Foundation. Prior to assuming that post on September 17, 2007, Coll was a staff writer for The New Yorker, and served as managing editor of The Washington Post from 1998 to 2004. Coll was also an associate editor for The Post from late 2004 to August 2005. Coll used to maintain a blog on The New Yorker website entitled Think Tank, where he wrote primarily on issues of foreign and public policy, and American national security.
Born in Washington, DC, Coll graduated from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland in 1976. He moved to the west coast, attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980 with majors in English and History.
He is the writer of numerous books, including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for general non-fiction, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Coll also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for explanatory journalism for his coverage of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Syed Ahmed Khan
Javad-ud Daula, Arif Jang, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, KCSI (October 17, 1817 – March 27, 1898), also known as Syed Ahmed Taqvi, commonly known as Sir Syed, was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist. Sir Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim entrepreneurs and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims of India.
In 1842, Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II revived upon Syed Ahmad Khan the title of Javad-ud Daulah, conferred upon Syed Ahmad’s grandfather Syed Hadi by Emperor Shah Alam II in about the middle of the 18th century. The Emperor added to it the additional title of Arif Jang. The conferment of these titles was symbolic of Syed Ahmad Khan’s incorporation into the nobility of Delhi.
Born into Muslim nobility, Sir Syed earned a reputation as a distinguished scholar while working as a jurist for the British East India Company. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 he remained loyal to the British and was noted for his actions in saving European lives. After the rebellion he penned the booklet Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Mutiny) — a daring critique, at the time, of British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt. Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox outlook, Sir Syed began promoting Western-style scientific education by founding modern schools and journals and organising Muslim entrepreneurs. Towards this goal, Sir Syed founded the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 with the aim of promoting social and economic development of Indian Muslims.
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W. J. M. Turowicz
Air Commodore Władysław Józef Marian Turowicz (April 23, 1908 – November 8, 1980), SP (MI), SK (MI), TP (MI), SQA [MI], SI [MI], usually referred to as Air Cdre. W. J. M. Turowicz, was a prominent and noted Polish Pakistani military scientist and an aeronautical engineer. He is considered as one of the chief architects of the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan's space program. Turowicz, an eminent rocket scientist and an aeronautical engineer, was the leading and central figure in Pakistan's drive to develop high-tech rocket and missile technology of its own.
Turowicz was the administrator of Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) from 1967 to 1970, and towards the end of his career, he was appointed to the post of Air Marshal of the Pakistan Air Force. He was one of thirty high ranking Polish pilots who served in Pakistan Air Force during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and is considered one of the pioneers of Pakistan's space program, playing a central role in Pakistan's aviation and aerospace industry.
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Yahya Khan
General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan , (Urdu: آغا محمد یحیی خان; February 4, 1917 – August 10, 1980), was the senior Army Commander who was the third President of Pakistan, and the military dictator from 1969 until the dissolution of East-Pakistan, in December 16, 1971. Yahya was born to a family that was descended from the elite soldier class of Nāder Shah, the Persian ruler who conquered Delhi in the 18th century.
Born in 1917 in Chakwal in the British Punjab, then part of the British Indian Empire, Khan was commissioned into the Indian Army and served with distinction in World war II, seeing active service in the North Africa, Middle East, and Mediterranean theatres of the war. After the world war, Khan opted the Pakistani citizenship and became one of the earliest senior local officers in the Pakistan Armed Forces. After his successes with Operation Grand Slam during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, Khan was promoted to become one of the Pakistan Army's top commanders. He was first appointed as Chief Martial Law Administrator in 1968, succeeding Field Marshal Ayub Khan as military dictator and president in 1969, declaring martial law and dissolving much of the civilian infrastructure, government ministries and appointments, replacing them with military infrastructure and personnel instead.
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Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yousuf Raza Gillani, also spelled Gilani,MP (Urdu, Saraiki: یوسف رضا گیلانی; English IPA: jusæf ɾæzə ɡillɑnɪ̈ ; b. June 9, 1952) is the 16th and current Prime Minister of Pakistan and the vice-chairman of the democratic socialist party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Gillani was nominated for the office of prime minister and became prime minister when his party formed the coalition government with Pakistan Muslim League, Awami National Party, Assembly of Islamic Clergy and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), after his party secured a considerable victory on 2008 parliamentary elections. He is the first prime minister from the Saraiki-speaking belt, and also the longest serving prime minister with a period span of 45 months, chairing more than 100 cabinet and parliamentary sessions; the most any successive democratic government in the political history of the country.
He first successfully contested 1988 parliamentary elections and has been a senior member of parliament for the Multan-IV constituency since 1988, heading the Ministry of Tourism under the government of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. After his party wining the plurality in 1990 parliamentary elections, Gillani was nominated by Benazir Bhutto to become the 15th Speaker of the National Assembly, serving until 16 February 1997. On 11 February 2001, Gillani was imprisoned by military court instituted under by then-CMLA and President Pervez Musharraf on the accusations and charges on corruption in infamous Adiala Jail, and released on 7 October 2006.
wn.com/Yousaf_Raza_Gillani -
Yusuf Khattak
Muhamad Yusuf Khan Khattak (18 November 1917 – 29 July 1991) was a Pakistan movement activist. A scion of one of the most influential families in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, he was a son of Khan Bahadur Kuli Khan Khattak, and brother to former Governor Aslam Khattak, Lt Gen Habibullah Khan and Kulsom Saifullah Khan, Yusuf Khattak was a Pakistan movement activist against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (then NWFP) Congress government under Dr Khan Sahib. A close confidante of Liaqat Ali Khan he became Secretary General of the Muslim League after partition. However, he fell out with Muslim League Chief Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan, who actively organised a campaign to oust him and his colleagues like Barrister Khan Saifullah Khan, from any role in provincial politics.
He was then elected Secretary General of the Provincial Muslim League, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in 1949. He was soon elevated to the prominent position of Secretary General of All Pakistan Muslim League the same year thereby succeeding Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan as Secretary General of the League.
wn.com/Yusuf_Khattak -
Z. A. Suleri
Ziauddin Ahmad Suleri (Urdu: ضیاء الدین احمد سلہری) (or ZA Suleri; 1913-1999) was a notable journalist and writer from Pakistan. He served as Editor of Dawn and the Pakistan Times and founded the Times of Karachi. He was outspoken and frequently jailed for his statements and activities. He was also called Pip (short for patriotic and preposterous). In 1965 he headed Military Public Relations directorate of Pakistan. In his early life he was an activist of Pakistan movement and wrote My Leader, the first semi-biographical work in English on Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was also the chairman of Quaid-i-Azam Academy. He died of a heart attack in Lahore.
When ZA Suleri wanted to write his autobiography, he chose Boys Will Be Boys as its title. The autobiography never materialised, and after his death when his daughter, Sara Suleri, decided to write a tribute to him, she gave this title to the book.
wn.com/Z._A._Suleri -
Zafar Ali Khan
Zafar Ali Khan (1873–1956) (Urdu: ظفر علی خان) was a writer, poet, and journalist who played an important role in the Pakistan Movement against the British government in the Indian subcontinent.
Khan was born to a Janjua family at Kot Mehrath, Sialkot, which at the time was part of British India. He received his early education in Mission High School, Wazirabad, Gujranwala District, and then went to graduate at Aligarh Muslim University.
After graduation Khan was appointed secretary to Mohsin-ul-Mulk, then in Bombay. Then he worked for some time as a translator in Hyderabad, Deccan, rising to the post of Secretary, Home Department. He returned from Hyderabad and launched his daily Zamindar from Lahore which was founded by his father Maulvi Sirajuddin Ahmad.
Khan's interest in poetry began in his childhood. His poems are full of religious and political sentiments. He was specially versed in impromptu compositions. His poetical output has been published in "Baharistan", "Nigaristan", and "Chamanistan". His other works are "Marka-e-Mazhab-o-Science", "Ghalba-e-Rum", "Sayr-e-Zulmet" and an opera "Jang-e-Roos-o-Japan".
wn.com/Zafar_Ali_Khan -
Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (Punjabi, Urdu: محمد ضياء الحق; August 12, 1924 – August 17, 1988), was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988. Distinguished by his role in the Black September in Jordan military operation in 1970, he was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after Bhutto forcefully retired seven senior lieutenant-generals who were tainted with their role in the East-Pakistan war in order to bring and promote Zia to four star rank. After widespread civil disorder, he planned and overthrew ruling Prime Minister Bhutto in a bloodless coup d'état on July 5, 1977, code name Fair Play, and became the state's third military ruler to impose martial law. Zia's idea of religious conservatism in Pakistan became the primary line of his military government. Throughout the 1980s, Zia managed to consolidate more and more power in his hands, gradually putting down all opposition groups in Pakistan.
wn.com/Zia-ul-Haq -
Ziauddin Ahmed
Sir Ziauddin Ahmed or Ziauddin Ahmed Zuberi or Dr. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ziauddin Ahmed (Urdu:ضیاء الدین احمد ) (February 13, 1878 – December 23, 1947) was a Indian mathematician, parliamentarian, logician, natural philosopher, politician, political theorist, versatile educationist and an eminent scholar who was one of famous and the longest serving Vice Chancellor and later on Rector of Aligarh Muslim University, India. Dr. Sir Ziauddin Ahmed was born on February 13, 1878 in Meerut and did his High School from Meerut. He did his Intermediate from Allahabad University in 1893 and then B.A. with Mathematics from Aligarh in 1895 with distinction and won Strachey Gold Medal. He was appointed as Assistant Master in M.A.O. College. He pledged to Sir Syed that he would dedicate his life to MAO College and left the job of deputy collector at the time when the salary and prestige of the two post varied considerably.
His brilliant academic career won him the scholarship to join the Cambridge University, England in 1901 from where he took his mathematical Tripos topping the University and became a Wrangler. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1905 from Gottengen University in Germany. For further education Ziauddin joined Paris University and later Bologna University Italy and then on return to India, he joined the alma mater as a Professor of Mathematics.
wn.com/Ziauddin_Ahmed -
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Urdu: ذوالفقار علی بھٹو, Sindhi: ذوالفقار علي ڀُٽو, IPA: [zʊlfɪqɑːɾ ɑli bʱʊʈːoː]) (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and served as its chairman until his execution in 1979. His elder daughter, Benazir Bhutto, later also served as Prime Minister, while his son Murtaza Bhutto served as member of Parliament of Pakistan.
Educated at the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley in the United States and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Bhutto was noted for his progressive economic initiatives, industrialisation, education, and foreign policy, and his intellectualism. In addition to national security issues, Bhutto promoted his policies on nationalisation, health care, and social reforms. Under his premiership, Pakistan's Parliament gave approval and passed unanimously the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, a supreme law that provides a parliamentary system to Pakistan, strengthened Sino-Pakistani and Saudi-Pakistani relations, recognised East-Pakistan as Bangladesh, and hosted the second Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1974 where he delegated and invited leaders from the Muslim world to Lahore, Punjab Province of Pakistan. In July 1972, Bhutto successfully proceeded the Shimla treaty, signed with Indira Gandhi of India, brought 93,000 Prisoners of War back to Pakistan, and secured 5,000 sq mi (13,000 km2) held by India. In 20 January 1972, weeks after the Indo-Pakistani 1971 winter war, Bhutto orchestrated, authorised, and administrated the scientific research on nuclear weapons; for this, he is colloquially known in the world as "Father of the Pakistan's nuclear deterrent programme".
wn.com/Zulfikar_Ali_Bhutto
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Nuqta e Nazar (12th December 2012) West Pakistan (Bangladesh) History
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 30:21
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
Topic: West Pakistan (Bangladesh) History Guests: Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar PPP Host: Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami Show Your Support & Subscribe To Our Channel, Click On Link Below To Subscribe: bit.ly At www.iPakshows.com, We Pride Ourselves With Providing You With Qualify & Timely Uploads & Updates. For Updates You Can Follow Us on Our Website www.iPakShows.com, Facebook & Twitter Like Our Facebook Page for Pakistani TV Shows & Updates www.facebook.com Also Our Facebook Page, Against Status-Quo www.facebook.com Follow Us on Twitter for All Latest Upload & Updates twitter.com Subscribe for all the latest updates on Pakistani Current Affairs, Politics, Politicians, News Anchors & Talk Shows. Don't forget to Comment & Like the video Subscribe Now: bit.ly
http://wn.com/Nuqta_e_Nazar_12th_December_2012_West_Pakistan_Bangladesh_History
Topic: West Pakistan (Bangladesh) History Guests: Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar PPP Host: Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami Show Your Support & Subscribe To Our Channel, Click On Link Below To Subscribe: bit.ly At www.iPakshows.com, We Pride Ourselves With Providing You With Qualify & Timely Uploads & Updates. For Updates You Can Follow Us on Our Website www.iPakShows.com, Facebook & Twitter Like Our Facebook Page for Pakistani TV Shows & Updates www.facebook.com Also Our Facebook Page, Against Status-Quo www.facebook.com Follow Us on Twitter for All Latest Upload & Updates twitter.com Subscribe for all the latest updates on Pakistani Current Affairs, Politics, Politicians, News Anchors & Talk Shows. Don't forget to Comment & Like the video Subscribe Now: bit.ly
Audacious attack by Taliban on Pakistan airport
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:21
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
www.euronews.com In Pakistan, nine people have been killed in a car bomb attack by the Taliban on a military airport in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Five of the attackers are among the dead. Rockets and guns were also fired in the incident which happened on Saturday. A Pakistani official said the security forces are in control of the situation. Find us on: Youtube bit.ly Facebook www.facebook.com Twitter twitter.com
http://wn.com/Audacious_attack_by_Taliban_on_Pakistan_airport
www.euronews.com In Pakistan, nine people have been killed in a car bomb attack by the Taliban on a military airport in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Five of the attackers are among the dead. Rockets and guns were also fired in the incident which happened on Saturday. A Pakistani official said the security forces are in control of the situation. Find us on: Youtube bit.ly Facebook www.facebook.com Twitter twitter.com
- published: 16 Dec 2012
- views: 908
- author: Euronews
Pakistan repeats stale rhetoric
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:07
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
Even as India pushes Pakistan to expedite the 26/11 trial, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has dismissed the demand for action against the terror attacks' mastermind Hafiz Saeed. As the JuD Chief holds one rally after another in Pakistan lashing at India, Rehman Malik says that they need hard and substantive proof against the terrorist to arrest him
http://wn.com/Pakistan_repeats_stale_rhetoric
Even as India pushes Pakistan to expedite the 26/11 trial, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has dismissed the demand for action against the terror attacks' mastermind Hafiz Saeed. As the JuD Chief holds one rally after another in Pakistan lashing at India, Rehman Malik says that they need hard and substantive proof against the terrorist to arrest him
- published: 17 Dec 2012
- views: 3
- author: timesnowonline
Pakistan has no love lost for Hafiz Saeed: Rehman Malik
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:34
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
A major point of dispute is Pakistan's lack of action against Hafiz Saeed, chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, for whom the US offered a $10 million reward this year. India says he is the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks; Pakistan says no evidence has been furnished to prove this. "We have no love lost for Hafiz Saeed. If I got the information today before I leave from here, I will order his arrest," the Pakistani minister said. Pakistani authorities arrested Saeed three times, but the courts found him innocent and freed him each time, Mr Malik said. Watch full video: www.ndtv.com
http://wn.com/Pakistan_has_no_love_lost_for_Hafiz_Saeed_Rehman_Malik
A major point of dispute is Pakistan's lack of action against Hafiz Saeed, chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, for whom the US offered a $10 million reward this year. India says he is the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks; Pakistan says no evidence has been furnished to prove this. "We have no love lost for Hafiz Saeed. If I got the information today before I leave from here, I will order his arrest," the Pakistani minister said. Pakistani authorities arrested Saeed three times, but the courts found him innocent and freed him each time, Mr Malik said. Watch full video: www.ndtv.com
- published: 15 Dec 2012
- views: 470
- author: ndtv
Imran Khan(Pakistan) & Amir Khan(Indian Actor) in an Indian show
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 84:43
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Imran_KhanPakistan_Amir_KhanIndian_Actor_in_an_Indian_show
The Taliban in Pakistan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 18:47
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
We went to Pakistan to invesitage why suicide bombings, IED use, and the Taliban are all growing at alarming rates. In a recent trip to Pakistan to report on the recent spike in the region's violence and bloodshed, Suroosh Alvi heard over and over the same sentiment from people on the ground: America's war on terror is falling flat on its face. The military conflict in neighboring Afghanistan, repeatedly cited by locals, sends a constant flood of guns, refugees, militants, and heroin flowing into Pakistan. Heroin is now actually cheaper than hashish in cities like Lahore, and the Kalashnikov culture, the foundation of which was laid 30 years ago when the CIA financed the mujahideen, is all-consuming. According to the Pakistanis he spoke to, it's all taken a devastating toll on the country and is creating the next generation of militants. Hosted by Suroosh Alvi | Originally released in 2010 on vice.com Follow Suroosh Alvi on Twitter - http Watch "The Gun Markets of Pakistan": bit.ly Subscribe for videos that are actually good: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/The_Taliban_in_Pakistan
We went to Pakistan to invesitage why suicide bombings, IED use, and the Taliban are all growing at alarming rates. In a recent trip to Pakistan to report on the recent spike in the region's violence and bloodshed, Suroosh Alvi heard over and over the same sentiment from people on the ground: America's war on terror is falling flat on its face. The military conflict in neighboring Afghanistan, repeatedly cited by locals, sends a constant flood of guns, refugees, militants, and heroin flowing into Pakistan. Heroin is now actually cheaper than hashish in cities like Lahore, and the Kalashnikov culture, the foundation of which was laid 30 years ago when the CIA financed the mujahideen, is all-consuming. According to the Pakistanis he spoke to, it's all taken a devastating toll on the country and is creating the next generation of militants. Hosted by Suroosh Alvi | Originally released in 2010 on vice.com Follow Suroosh Alvi on Twitter - http Watch "The Gun Markets of Pakistan": bit.ly Subscribe for videos that are actually good: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
- published: 02 Aug 2012
- views: 338325
- author: vice
101 East - Pakistan: The Winds of Change
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:59
- Updated: 10 Dec 2012
Pakistan is facing a myriad of domestic problems including a plummeting economy, power shortages and cities beset with dysfunction. 101 East examines whether Pakistan's judiciary and the opposition are real agents of change that can improve life in the country.
http://wn.com/101_East_Pakistan_The_Winds_of_Change
Pakistan is facing a myriad of domestic problems including a plummeting economy, power shortages and cities beset with dysfunction. 101 East examines whether Pakistan's judiciary and the opposition are real agents of change that can improve life in the country.
- published: 21 Sep 2012
- views: 14577
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Pakistan - Mountains of the North - Wild Frontiers Adventure Travel
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:34
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
In this video Wild Frontiers boss, Jonny Bealby, leads a group through the mountains for northern Pakistan from Chitral and the valleys of the Kalash, to Hunza. For more information about travelling in Pakistan and adventure tours in Pakistan visit www.wildfrontiers.co.uk
http://wn.com/Pakistan_Mountains_of_the_North_Wild_Frontiers_Adventure_Travel
In this video Wild Frontiers boss, Jonny Bealby, leads a group through the mountains for northern Pakistan from Chitral and the valleys of the Kalash, to Hunza. For more information about travelling in Pakistan and adventure tours in Pakistan visit www.wildfrontiers.co.uk
- published: 03 Oct 2012
- views: 12936
- author: wildfrontiersuk
Pakistan After Bin Laden
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:11
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
Suroosh Alvi of VICE travels to Bin Laden's infamous compound to see what people really think about living next to America's most vilified fugitive. Unsurprisingly, their concern lies less with the proximity of Bin Laden than the chaos that his death has sparked. Although the controversy over whether or not Pakistan was harboring Bin Laden and the "trust deficit" is the primary focus for the American media, Pakistani news is busy covering the onslaught of violence that has broken out since the May 2nd raid. The people have seen a marked increase in American drone attacks, while the Taliban continues its retaliation with a relentless wave of suicide bombings. Anti-American sentiment has never run higher and this turbulent nation clearly has bigger issues than Bin Laden's death to contend with. Hosted by Suroosh Alvi | Originally released in 2011 on vice.com Follow Suroosh Alvi on Twitter - http Watch "The Gun Markets of Pakistan": bit.ly Subscribe for videos that are actually good: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/Pakistan_After_Bin_Laden
Suroosh Alvi of VICE travels to Bin Laden's infamous compound to see what people really think about living next to America's most vilified fugitive. Unsurprisingly, their concern lies less with the proximity of Bin Laden than the chaos that his death has sparked. Although the controversy over whether or not Pakistan was harboring Bin Laden and the "trust deficit" is the primary focus for the American media, Pakistani news is busy covering the onslaught of violence that has broken out since the May 2nd raid. The people have seen a marked increase in American drone attacks, while the Taliban continues its retaliation with a relentless wave of suicide bombings. Anti-American sentiment has never run higher and this turbulent nation clearly has bigger issues than Bin Laden's death to contend with. Hosted by Suroosh Alvi | Originally released in 2011 on vice.com Follow Suroosh Alvi on Twitter - http Watch "The Gun Markets of Pakistan": bit.ly Subscribe for videos that are actually good: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
- published: 10 Aug 2012
- views: 193485
- author: vice
Pakistan: Center of the Grand Chessboard
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:32
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Follow Saad Ali on twitter.com WeAreChange presents a film by Saad Ali. Read the article that accompanies this short film at our website: wearechange.org FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 USC section 107 of the US Copyright Law
http://wn.com/Pakistan_Center_of_the_Grand_Chessboard
Follow Saad Ali on twitter.com WeAreChange presents a film by Saad Ali. Read the article that accompanies this short film at our website: wearechange.org FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 USC section 107 of the US Copyright Law
- published: 07 Sep 2012
- views: 58121
- author: wearechange
VICE Guide to Karachi: Pakistan's Most Violent City (Part 1/5)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:54
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Sure, we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time, but in 2011, more than three times as many people were killed in Karachi than the number of people killed in American drone strikes in the tribal areas. VICE explores the seedy underbelly of this ultra-violent metropolis of more than eighteen million people, and meet the players who make Karachi one of the craziest cities on earth. Hosted by VICE Founder Suroosh Alvi Follow @SurooshAlvi on Twitter: twitter.com Part 1/5: bit.ly Part 2/5: bit.ly Part 3/5: bit.ly Part 4/5: bit.ly Part 5/5: bit.ly On a lighter note, VICE throws a party in Karachi: bit.ly Watch more VICE documentaries here: bit.ly Subscribe to VICE: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/VICE_Guide_to_Karachi_Pakistan's_Most_Violent_City_Part_1_5
Sure, we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time, but in 2011, more than three times as many people were killed in Karachi than the number of people killed in American drone strikes in the tribal areas. VICE explores the seedy underbelly of this ultra-violent metropolis of more than eighteen million people, and meet the players who make Karachi one of the craziest cities on earth. Hosted by VICE Founder Suroosh Alvi Follow @SurooshAlvi on Twitter: twitter.com Part 1/5: bit.ly Part 2/5: bit.ly Part 3/5: bit.ly Part 4/5: bit.ly Part 5/5: bit.ly On a lighter note, VICE throws a party in Karachi: bit.ly Watch more VICE documentaries here: bit.ly Subscribe to VICE: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
- published: 04 Jun 2012
- views: 568125
- author: vice
Drunk British Woman Abuses Pakistani in London Metro
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:32
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
More abt video: bit.ly Alert for Overseas Pakistanis: After a shameful defeat against Pakistan in Test Series, British fans and citizens are broken completely. They may retaliate and may try to abuse you in public. This is what you need to do in a situation like that! Proud to be a Paki ! Pakistan Zindabad PS: the incident actually happened on 23 January in a London metro. facebook.com
http://wn.com/Drunk_British_Woman_Abuses_Pakistani_in_London_Metro
More abt video: bit.ly Alert for Overseas Pakistanis: After a shameful defeat against Pakistan in Test Series, British fans and citizens are broken completely. They may retaliate and may try to abuse you in public. This is what you need to do in a situation like that! Proud to be a Paki ! Pakistan Zindabad PS: the incident actually happened on 23 January in a London metro. facebook.com
- published: 05 Feb 2012
- views: 422168
- author: pakiumdotcom
Halal Donkey meat sale in Karachi Pakistan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:07
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Halal Donkey meat sale in Karachi Pakistan
http://wn.com/Halal_Donkey_meat_sale_in_Karachi_Pakistan
The Outsider: Special : India-Pakistan Relations - Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 22:10
- Updated: 14 Dec 2012
The Outsider With Tim Sebastian on Bloomberg TV India. The Motion of the special debate - India-Pakistan Relations. Debate between Jaswant Singh, Former Indian Foreign Minister and General Pervez Musharraf, Former President, Pakistan
http://wn.com/The_Outsider_Special_India-Pakistan_Relations_Part_1
The Outsider With Tim Sebastian on Bloomberg TV India. The Motion of the special debate - India-Pakistan Relations. Debate between Jaswant Singh, Former Indian Foreign Minister and General Pervez Musharraf, Former President, Pakistan
- published: 15 Nov 2012
- views: 13894
- author: BloombergUTV
![Pakistan Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2012 [Winning Moments] 28 Sep 2012 - Pak Vs SA 2012 Match](http://web.archive.org./web/20121217133913im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IFyW5RTSRUQ/default.jpg "Pakistan Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2012 [Winning Moments] 28 Sep 2012 - Pak Vs SA 2012 Match")
Pakistan Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2012 [Winning Moments] 28 Sep 2012 - Pak Vs SA 2012 Match
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:39
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Pakistan Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2012 [Winning Moments] 28 Sep 2012 - Pak Vs SA 2012 Match www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Pakistan_Vs_South_Africa_T20_World_Cup_2012_Winning_Moments_28_Sep_2012_Pak_Vs_SA_2012_Match
Pakistan Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2012 [Winning Moments] 28 Sep 2012 - Pak Vs SA 2012 Match www.facebook.com
- published: 28 Sep 2012
- views: 120647
- author: OfficialCricketVideo
Pakistan's Real Life Superhero
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:10
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
Meet Pakistan's most-principled patriarch, Abdul Sattar Edhi. He feeds the hungry, cares for the sick, and defies the Taliban, bringing a message of love and peace to Karachi. When we were filming The Vice Guide to Karachi, things kept taking one dark turn after another, but when we met Edhi, one of Pakistan's living legends, he managed to give us hope. Hosted by VICE Founder Suroosh Alvi Follow @SurooshAlvi on Twitter: twitter.com Donate to the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation: edhi.org Watch the full length "VICE Guide to Karachi" here Part 1/5: bit.ly Part 2/5: bit.ly Part 3/5: bit.ly Part 4/5: bit.ly Part 5/5: bit.ly Watch more VICE documentaries here: bit.ly Subscribe to VICE: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/Pakistan's_Real_Life_Superhero
Meet Pakistan's most-principled patriarch, Abdul Sattar Edhi. He feeds the hungry, cares for the sick, and defies the Taliban, bringing a message of love and peace to Karachi. When we were filming The Vice Guide to Karachi, things kept taking one dark turn after another, but when we met Edhi, one of Pakistan's living legends, he managed to give us hope. Hosted by VICE Founder Suroosh Alvi Follow @SurooshAlvi on Twitter: twitter.com Donate to the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation: edhi.org Watch the full length "VICE Guide to Karachi" here Part 1/5: bit.ly Part 2/5: bit.ly Part 3/5: bit.ly Part 4/5: bit.ly Part 5/5: bit.ly Watch more VICE documentaries here: bit.ly Subscribe to VICE: bit.ly Check out our full video catalog: www.youtube.com Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com Like VICE on Facebook fb.com Follow VICE on Twitter: twitter.com Read our tumblr: vicemag.tumblr.com
- published: 22 Jun 2012
- views: 100005
- author: vice
![Imran Khan a Real Tiger of Pakistan: Emotional Video for any Patriot [MUST WATCH]](http://web.archive.org./web/20121217133913im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ohzUshJ5U4/default.jpg "Imran Khan a Real Tiger of Pakistan: Emotional Video for any Patriot [MUST WATCH]")
Imran Khan a Real Tiger of Pakistan: Emotional Video for any Patriot [MUST WATCH]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:05
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Imran Khan a Real Tiger of Pakistan: Emotional Video for any Patriot [MUST WATCH] Show Your Support & Subscribe To Our Channel, Click On Link Below To Subscribe: bit.ly At www.iPakshows.com, We Pride Ourselves With Providing You With Qualify & Timely Uploads & Updates. For Updates You Can Follow Us on Our Website www.iPakShows.com, Facebook & Twitter Like Our Facebook Page for Pakistani TV Shows & Updates www.facebook.com Also Our Facebook Page, Against Status-Quo www.facebook.com Follow Us on Twitter for All Latest Upload & Updates twitter.com Subscribe for all the latest updates on Pakistani Current Affairs, Politics, Politicians, News Anchors & Talk Shows. Don't forget to Comment & Like the video Subscribe Now: bit.ly
http://wn.com/Imran_Khan_a_Real_Tiger_of_Pakistan_Emotional_Video_for_any_Patriot_MUST_WATCH_
Imran Khan a Real Tiger of Pakistan: Emotional Video for any Patriot [MUST WATCH] Show Your Support & Subscribe To Our Channel, Click On Link Below To Subscribe: bit.ly At www.iPakshows.com, We Pride Ourselves With Providing You With Qualify & Timely Uploads & Updates. For Updates You Can Follow Us on Our Website www.iPakShows.com, Facebook & Twitter Like Our Facebook Page for Pakistani TV Shows & Updates www.facebook.com Also Our Facebook Page, Against Status-Quo www.facebook.com Follow Us on Twitter for All Latest Upload & Updates twitter.com Subscribe for all the latest updates on Pakistani Current Affairs, Politics, Politicians, News Anchors & Talk Shows. Don't forget to Comment & Like the video Subscribe Now: bit.ly
- published: 09 Nov 2012
- views: 7571
- author: Imran Khan Shaikh Rasheed
Risking it all - Pakistan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:00
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
The Lowari Pass begins in the town of Dir in the tribal regions of northwest Pakistan. The road is 240km long and is the only supply route through the mountains to the small villages of the Chitral valley which is shared with Afghanistan. It is a road where even the slightest error can be fatal. The holy city of Dir and its 20000 inhabitants make their living off the road. Each day tons of goods are loaded and unloaded from trucks, the only means of transport in the region. The trucker's quarter provides most of the jobs here. Drivers, mechanics, assistants of all ages work here every day amid the dust and pollution. We follow Pakistani truck drivers facing death at every turn transporting goods across mountain passes on arguably the world's most dangerous road. This episode of Risking it all can be seen from Monday, May 9, at the following times GMT: Monday: 2230; Tuesday: 0930; Wednesday: 0330; Thursday: 1630.
http://wn.com/Risking_it_all_Pakistan
The Lowari Pass begins in the town of Dir in the tribal regions of northwest Pakistan. The road is 240km long and is the only supply route through the mountains to the small villages of the Chitral valley which is shared with Afghanistan. It is a road where even the slightest error can be fatal. The holy city of Dir and its 20000 inhabitants make their living off the road. Each day tons of goods are loaded and unloaded from trucks, the only means of transport in the region. The trucker's quarter provides most of the jobs here. Drivers, mechanics, assistants of all ages work here every day amid the dust and pollution. We follow Pakistani truck drivers facing death at every turn transporting goods across mountain passes on arguably the world's most dangerous road. This episode of Risking it all can be seen from Monday, May 9, at the following times GMT: Monday: 2230; Tuesday: 0930; Wednesday: 0330; Thursday: 1630.
- published: 19 May 2011
- views: 662739
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Al Jazeera World - Balochistan: Pakistan's other war
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 47:30
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
The ongoing conflict in the remote province of Balochistan is often called Pakistan's "dirty war". Ethnic Balochi politicians and leaders share their vision of self-determination and freedom from Pakistani rule.
http://wn.com/Al_Jazeera_World_Balochistan_Pakistan's_other_war
The ongoing conflict in the remote province of Balochistan is often called Pakistan's "dirty war". Ethnic Balochi politicians and leaders share their vision of self-determination and freedom from Pakistani rule.
- published: 04 Jan 2012
- views: 376307
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Hassan Nisar On New Corrupt Prime Minister of Pakistan Property Dealer Raja Parvez Ashraf.mpg
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:42
- Updated: 10 Dec 2012
Hassan Nisar New Corrupt Prime Minister of Pakistan Property Dealer Raja Parvez Ashraf.mpg
http://wn.com/Hassan_Nisar_On_New_Corrupt_Prime_Minister_of_Pakistan_Property_Dealer_Raja_Parvez_Ashrafmpg
Hassan Nisar New Corrupt Prime Minister of Pakistan Property Dealer Raja Parvez Ashraf.mpg
- published: 22 Jun 2012
- views: 65617
- author: SAVEPAKISTAN1000
Pakistan Vs India Hong Kong Super Sixes 2012 Full Match Highlights 27-10-2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 36:40
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Pakistan Vs India Hong Kong Super Sixes 2012 Full Match Highlights 27-10-2012 www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Pakistan_Vs_India_Hong_Kong_Super_Sixes_2012_Full_Match_Highlights_27-10-2012
Pakistan Vs India Hong Kong Super Sixes 2012 Full Match Highlights 27-10-2012 www.facebook.com
- published: 27 Oct 2012
- views: 46366
- author: OfficialT20WorldCup
Pakistan's drug problem
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:52
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Pakistan officials say abuse of drugs like heroin and hashish is skyrocketing, especially among children. For more visit GlobalPost: glpo.st
http://wn.com/Pakistan's_drug_problem
Pakistan officials say abuse of drugs like heroin and hashish is skyrocketing, especially among children. For more visit GlobalPost: glpo.st
- published: 28 Nov 2012
- views: 408
- author: GlobalPost
Talk to Al Jazeera - Hina Rabbani Khar: 'Give Pakistan some time'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:59
- Updated: 06 Dec 2012
The Haqqani network is still fighting against NATO forces in Afghanistan. Last week the United States designated the group as a terror organisation and pushed through a resolution at the UN targeting it for global sanctions. Western leaders believe the network is based across the border in Pakistan and may even to some extent be protected there. But if you ask Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's foreign minister, she will tell you her country has nothing to do with the group, and resents implications that it is not doing enough to fight extremists: "My country has lost as much blood as anyone else ... I am opposed to the narrative that Pakistan is somehow not doing enough," she says.
http://wn.com/Talk_to_Al_Jazeera_Hina_Rabbani_Khar_'Give_Pakistan_some_time'
The Haqqani network is still fighting against NATO forces in Afghanistan. Last week the United States designated the group as a terror organisation and pushed through a resolution at the UN targeting it for global sanctions. Western leaders believe the network is based across the border in Pakistan and may even to some extent be protected there. But if you ask Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's foreign minister, she will tell you her country has nothing to do with the group, and resents implications that it is not doing enough to fight extremists: "My country has lost as much blood as anyone else ... I am opposed to the narrative that Pakistan is somehow not doing enough," she says.
- published: 10 Nov 2012
- views: 13597
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
photo: AP / Jason DeCrow
16 Dec 2012
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage committed suicide as first responders closed in, the governor said Sunday, raising the specter that Adam Lanza had planned an even more gruesome massacre and was stopped short. Lanza blasted his way into the building and used a high-power rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal who tried to stop him, authorities said ... Among the questions ... H ... The Rev....(size: 8.8Kb)
photo: AP / Nick Ut
14 Dec 2012
Former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, meet 55-year-old Martha Sellers. For the past nine years, Sellers has worked as a Walmart cashier in Paramount, California ... More than 10,000 community members joined more than 30 striking employees who walked off the job to demand better working conditions. . "It was wonderful ... That's not too much to ask for." ... 1698 ... ....(size: 23.6Kb)
photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks
15 Dec 2012
Newtown, Conn. Twenty schoolchildren were slaughtered by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban elementary school in Connecticut on Friday, ultimately killing at least 27 people including himself in the one of the worst mass shootings in US history ... Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being taken to a hospital ... Reuters ....(size: 7.5Kb)
photo: AP / Khalil Hamra
16 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. "Fundamentalism is good for protest, good for revolution, and good for war, but not so good for development.". After a century of being persecuted and driven underground, mainly for their vibrant nationalism and their anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian views, Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood has finally taken center-state ... Such actions will have to be avoided....(size: 6.9Kb)
photo: AP / Jessica Hill
14 Dec 2012
More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News. The massacre involved two gunmen at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today. State Police confirm that one shooter is dead ... at ABCNews.com ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)
Deccan Chronicle
17 Dec 2012
Bangladesh have agreed to tour Pakistan early next year and become the first team to play international cricket there since gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's team bus in 2009, its cricket board said Monday. "We have in principle agreed to tour Pakistan....(size: 1.2Kb)
Newstrack India
17 Dec 2012
Bangladesh have agreed in principle to tour Pakistan early next year and become the first team to play international cricket in the country since the terrorist attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in 2009, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has said. "We have in principle agreed to tour Pakistan ......(size: 2.1Kb)
DNA India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan seeks to resolve the Kashmir issue on the basis of UN resolutions and aspiration of the Kashmiri people, prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said on Monday ... Ashraf told the separatist leaders that there was "consensus in Pakistan among all political parties on the Kashmir issue" ... On Saturday, the delegation met leaders in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir....(size: 2.0Kb)
The Times of India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik's failed bid in Delhi to neutralize Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed's role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks appears to be part of the government's policy of appeasement of rightwing forces, which influences the thinking of people across Pakistan and spreads hatred against India. The Pakistan government's ......(size: 1.8Kb)
The Times of India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan had never detained or arrested the mastermind of the 26\11 Mumbai terror attack and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed in that case as claimed by the country at every bilateral forum. He was, in fact, detained in connection with some old cases in which he was subsequently given clean chit by Pakistan's Supreme Court. It was revealed when Pakistan shared ......(size: 2.4Kb)
The Siasat Daily
17 Dec 2012
India today said China was a "major concern" than Pakistan given the power it has to impact the country in various spheres. Noting that China was necessarily more important in terms of India's global vision and the ties between the two countries can impact the region, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, in an interview to PTI, said as far as Pakistan was concerned, the impact was "more pacific"....(size: 3.3Kb)
Deutsche Welle
17 Dec 2012
A car bomb explosion in a market in northwestern Pakistan has killed as least 16 people ... Jamrud is in Khyber district, which is part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt known for Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militant group activity ... Pakistan suffers frequent bomb and suicide attacks ......(size: 1.5Kb)
The Siasat Daily
17 Dec 2012
India today said China was a "major concern" than Pakistan given the power it has to impact the country in various spheres ... Pakistan was concerned, the impact was "more pacific" ... deficit with Pakistan ... As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is more pacific.". China is part of a larger picture and Pakistan being part of that picture .... can ruin that picture if Pakistan does not have right colour....(size: 3.6Kb)
New Straits/Business Times
17 Dec 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan. A car bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded dozens more in a Pakistan market on Monday in the northwestern town of Jamrud close to the Afghan border, officials said. Jamrud is in Khyber district, which is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked groups have strongholds....(size: 2.7Kb)
The Times of India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan had never detained or arrested the 26\11 mastermind and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack case as repeatedly claimed by the country at every bilateral forum. Saeed was, in fact, detained in connection with some old cases in which he was subsequently given clean chit by Pakistan's courts ... Nailing Pakistan's lie, ......(size: 2.5Kb)
The Times of India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan had never detained or arrested the 26\11 mastermind and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack case as repeatedly claimed by the country at every bilateral forum ... It was revealed when Pakistan shared documents, including FIRs relating to Saeed's detention, with India during its interior minister Rehman Malik's visit to New Delhi last week....(size: 2.5Kb)
The Times of India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan had never detained or arrested the 26\11 mastermind and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack case as repeatedly claimed by the country at every bilateral forum ... It was revealed when Pakistan shared documents, including FIRs relating to Saeed's detention, with India during its interior minister Rehman Malik's visit to New Delhi last week....(size: 2.5Kb)
The Times of India
17 Dec 2012
Pakistan had never detained or arrested the 26\11 mastermind and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack case as repeatedly claimed by the country at every bilateral forum ... It was revealed when Pakistan shared documents, including FIRs relating to Saeed's detention, with India during its interior minister Rehman Malik's visit to New Delhi last week....(size: 2.5Kb)
This article is about the country. For other uses, see Pakistan (disambiguation).
| Islamic Republic of Pakistan
اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان
Islāmī Jumhūrī-ye Pākistān |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Motto: Faith, Unity, Discipline[1] Urdu: ایمان ، اتحاد ، تنظیم Iman, Ittehad, Tanzeem |
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Anthem: Qaumī Tarāna
 |
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.svg) Area constituting Pakistan in dark green; claimed but uncontrolled territory in light green
|
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| Capital | Islamabad 33°40′N 73°10′E / 33.667°N 73.167°E / 33.667; 73.167 |
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| Largest city | Karachi | |||||
| Official language(s) | Urdu English (Pakistani) |
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| Regional languages | Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Saraiki, Hindko, Brahui[2][3] | |||||
| Demonym | Pakistani | |||||
| Government | Federal Parliamentary republic | |||||
| - | President | Asif Ali Zardari (PPP) | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Yousaf Raza Gillani (PPP) | ||||
| - | Chief Justice | Iftikhar Chaudhry | ||||
| - | Chair of Senate | Nayyar Hussain Bukhari (PPP) | ||||
| - | House Speaker | Fahmida Mirza (PPP) | ||||
| Legislature | Majlis-e-Shoora | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower house | National Assembly | ||||
| Formation | ||||||
| - | Conception of Pakistan | 29 December 1930 | ||||
| - | Pakistan Declaration | 28 January 1933 | ||||
| - | Pakistan Resolution | 23 March 1940 | ||||
| - | Independence | from the United Kingdom | ||||
| - | Declared | 14 August 1947 | ||||
| - | Islamic Republic | 23 March 1956 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 796,095 km2 [a](36th) 307,374 sq mi |
||||
| - | Water (%) | 3.1 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2011 estimate | 177,100,000[5] (6th) | ||||
| - | 1998 census | 132,352,279[6] | ||||
| - | Density | 214.3/km2 (55th) 555/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $488.580 billion[7] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $2,787[7] | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $210.566 billion[7] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $1,201[7] | ||||
| Gini (2005) | 31.2 (medium) | |||||
| HDI (2011) |  0.504[8] (low) (145th) |
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| Currency | Pakistani Rupee (Rs.) (PKR) |
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| Time zone | PST (UTC+5) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC+6) | ||||
| Drives on the | left[9] | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | PK | |||||
| Internet TLD | .pk | |||||
| Calling code | 92 | |||||
Pakistan (i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of four provinces and four federal territories. With a population exceeding 170 million people, it is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the largest Muslim population after Indonesia. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similar variation in its geography and wildlife. It has a semi-industrialised economy which is the 27th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and 47th largest in terms of nominal GDP. Pakistan's post-independence history has been characterised by periods of military rule, political instability and conflicts with neighbouring India. The country continues to face challenging problems, including terrorism, poverty, illiteracy and corruption.
A regional and middle power,[10][11] Pakistan has the seventh largest standing armed forces in the world and is a declared nuclear weapons state, being the first and only nation in the Muslim world, and the second in South Asia, to have that status. It is designated as a major non-NATO ally of the United States and a strategic ally of China. Pakistan is a founding member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) and is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and the G20 developing nations.
Contents |
Etymology[link]
The name Pakistan literally means "Land of (the) Pure" in Urdu and Persian. It was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never,[12] using it as an acronym ("thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN") referring to the names of the five northern regions of the Indian subcontinent: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan".[13][14][15] The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct name.[16]
History[link]
Main articles: History of Pakistan and History of South Asia
Early and medieval age[link]
Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan. The earliest known inhabitants in the region were the Soanians, who settled in the Soan Valley of Punjab.[17] The Indus region, which covers most of Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Neolithic Mehrgarh[18] and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation (2800–1800 BCE) at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.[19][20]
The Vedic Civilization (1500–500 BCE), characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, which would become well established in the region.[21][22] Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre.[23] The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxila in Punjab.[18] Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Persian Achaemenid Empire around 519 BCE, Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE[24] and the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya and extended by Ashoka the Great until 185 BCE.[18] The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria (180–165 BCE) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165–150 BCE), prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region.[18] [25] Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of higher education in the world.[26][27][28][29]
The Medieval period (642–1219 CE) is defined by the spread of Islam in the region. During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam.[30] The Rai Dynasty (489–632 CE) of Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories.[31]
The Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab in 711CE.[32] The Pakistan government's official chronology identifies this as the point where the "foundation" of Pakistan was laid.[32] This conquest set the stage for the rule of several successive Muslim empires in the region, including the Ghaznavid Empire (975–1187 CE), the Ghorid Kingdom and the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 CE). The Lodi dynasty, the last of the Delhi Sultanate, was replaced by the Mughal Empire (1526–1857 CE). The Mughals introduced Persian literature and high culture, establishing the roots of Indo-Persian culture in the region.[33]
Colonial period[link]
The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire in the early eighteenth century enabled Sikh rulers to control large areas until the British East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia.[34] The Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, was the region's major armed struggle against the British.[35] The largely non-violent freedom struggle led by the Indian National Congress engaged millions of protesters in mass campaigns of civil disobedience in the 1920s and 1930s .[36][37]
The All-India Muslim League rose to popularity in the late 1930s amid fears of under-representation and neglect of Muslims in politics. In his presidential address of 29 December 1930, Muhammad Iqbal called for "the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State" consisting of Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan.[38] Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, espoused the two-nation theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940, popularly known as the Pakistan Resolution.[34] In early 1947, Britain announced the decision to end its rule in India. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders of British India—including Jawaharlal Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad representing the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League, and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs—agreed to the proposed terms of transfer of power and independence.[39]
The modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 (27 Ramadan 1366 in the Islamic Calendar) in the eastern and northwestern regions of British India, where there was a Muslim majority. It comprised the provinces of Balochistan, East Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab and Sindh.[34][39] The partition of the Punjab and Bengal provinces led to communal riots across India and Pakistan; millions of Muslims moved to Pakistan and millions of Hindus and Sikhs moved to India.[40] Dispute over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir led to the First Kashmir War in October 1947.[41][42]
Independence and Modern Pakistan[link]
From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations,[43] under two monarchs. In 1947, King George VI relinquished the title of Emperor of India and became King of Pakistan. He retained that title until his death on 6 February 1952, after which Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of Pakistan.[43] Pakistan became an Islamic and Parliamentary republic in 1956,[44] but civilian rule was stalled by a military coup led by the Army Commander-in-Chief, General Ayub Khan. The country experienced exceptional growth until a second war with India took place in 1965 and led to economic downfall and internal instability.[45][46] Ayub Khan's successor, General Yahya Khan (President from 1969 to 1971), had to deal with a devastating cyclone which caused 500,000 deaths in East Pakistan.[47]
In 1970, Pakistan held its first democratic elections since independence. They were meant to mark a transition from military rule to democracy, but after the East Pakistani Awami League won, Yahya Khan and the ruling elite in West Pakistan refused to hand over power.[48][49] There was civil unrest in the East, and the Pakistan Army launched a military operation on 25 March 1971, aiming to regain control of the province.[48][49] The targeting of civilians and other atrocities during this operation led to a declaration of independence and to the waging of a war of liberation by the Bengali Mukti Bahini forces in East Pakistan, with support from India.[49][50] Independent estimates of civilian deaths during this period range from 1 million to 3 million.[51] Attacks on Indian military bases by the Pakistan Air Force in December 1971 sparked the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which ended with the formal secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh.[49]
With Pakistan's defeat in the war, Yahya Khan was replaced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Civilian rule resumed from 1972 to 1977.[52] During this period Pakistan began to build nuclear weapons; the country's first atomic power plant was inaugurated in 1972.[53][54] Civilian rule ended with a military coup in 1977, and in 1979 General Zia-ul-Haq became the third military president. Military government lasted until 1988, during which Pakistan became one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia.[55] Zia consolidated nuclear development and increased Islamization of the state.[56] During this period, Pakistan helped to subsidise and distribute US resources to factions of the Mujahideen movement against the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[57][58]
Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, and Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was followed by Nawaz Sharif, and over the next decade the two leaders fought for power, alternating in office while the country's situation worsened; economic indicators fell sharply, in contrast to the 1980s. This period is marked by political instability, misgovernance and corruption.[59][60] In May 1998, while Sharif was Prime Minister, India tested five nuclear weapons and tension with India heightened to an extreme: Pakistan detonated six nuclear weapons of its own in the Chagai-I and Chagai-II tests later in the same month. Military tension between the two countries in the Kargil district led to the Kargil War of 1999, after which General Pervez Musharraf took over through a bloodless coup d'état and assumed vast executive powers.[61][62]
Musharraf ruled Pakistan as head of state from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008, a period of extensive economic reform[63] and Pakistan's involvement in the US-led war on terrorism. On 15 November 2007, Pakistan's National Assembly became the first to completed its full five-year term, and new elections were called.[64] After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the largest number of seats in the 2008 elections, and party member Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister.[65] Musharraf resigned from the presidency on 18 August 2008 when threatened with impeachment, and was succeeded by Asif Ali Zardari, the current President.[66][67][68] By its own estimates, Pakistan's involvement in the war on terrorism has cost up to $67.93 billion,[69][70] thousands of casualties and nearly 3 million displaced civilians.[71]
Politics[link]
Pakistan is a democratic parliamentary federal republic with Islam as the state religion. The first Constitution of Pakistan was adopted in 1956 but suspended by Ayub Khan in 1958. The Constitution of 1973—suspended by Zia-ul-Haq in 1977 but reinstated in 1985—is the country's most important document, laying the foundations of the current government.[72]
The bicameral legislature comprises a 100-member Senate and a 342-member National Assembly. The President is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and is elected by an electoral college. The prime minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly. Each province has a similar system of government, with a directly elected Provincial Assembly in which the leader of the largest party or alliance becomes Chief Minister. Provincial governors are appointed by the President.[72] The Pakistani military establishment has played an influential role in mainstream politics throughout Pakistan's political history. Presidents brought in by military coups ruled in 1958–1971, 1977–1988 and 1999–2008.[73]
Pakistan's foreign policy focuses on security against threats to national identity and territorial integrity, and on the cultivation of close relations with Muslim countries. A 2004 briefing on foreign policy for Pakistani Parliamentarians says, "Pakistan highlights sovereign equality of states, bilateralism, mutuality of interests, and non-interference in each other's domestic affairs as the cardinal features of its foreign policy."[74] The country is an active member of the United Nations. It is a founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in which it has promoted Musharraf's concept of "Enlightened Moderation".[75][76][77] Pakistan is also a member of Commonwealth of Nations,[78] the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO)[79][80] and the G20 developing nations.[81] India's nuclear tests were seen as a threat to Pakistan and led it to establish itself as a nuclear power.[82] Pakistan now maintains a policy of "credible minimum deterrence".[83]
Pakistan maintains good relations with all Arab and most other Muslim countries. Since the Sino-Indian War of 1962, Pakistan's closest strategic, military and economic ally has been China. The relationship has survived changes of governments and variations in the regional and global situation.[84][85][86] Pakistan and India continue to be rivals. The Kashmir conflict remains the major point of rift; three of their four wars were over this territory.[87] Pakistan has had mixed relations with the United States. As an anti-Soviet power in the 1950s and during Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, Pakistan was one of the closest allies of the US,[74][88] but relations soured in the 1990s when the US imposed sanctions because of Pakistan's possession and testing of nuclear weapons.[89] The US war on terrorism led initially to an improvement in the relationship, but it was strained by a divergence of interests and resulting mistrust during the war in Afghanistan and by issues related to terrorism.[90][91][92][93] Since 1948, there has been an ongoing, and at times fluctuating, violent conflict in the southwestern province of Balochistan between various Baloch separatist groups, who seek greater political autonomy, and the central government of Pakistan.[94]
Administrative divisions[link]
Main articles: Administrative units of Pakistan and Districts of Pakistan
Pakistan is a federation of four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as well as the Islamabad Capital Territory and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the northwest, which include the Frontier Regions. The government of Pakistan exercises de facto jurisdiction over the western parts of the disputed Kashmir region, organised into the separate political entities Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan (formerly Northern Areas). The Gilgit–Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009 assigned a province-like status to the latter, giving it self-government.[95]
Local government follows a three-tier system of districts, tehsils and union councils, with an elected body at each tier.[96] There are about 130 districts altogether, of which Azad Kashmir has ten[97] and Gilgit–Baltistan seven.[98] The Tribal Areas comprise seven tribal agencies and six small frontier regions detached from neighbouring districts.[99]
Clickable map of the four provinces and four federal territories of Pakistan.
Law enforcement in Pakistan is carried out by federal and provincial police agencies. The four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory each have a civilian police force with jurisdiction limited to the relevant province or territory. At the federal level, there are a number of civilian agencies with nationwide jurisdictions; including the Federal Investigation Agency, the National Highways and Motorway Police, and several paramilitary forces such as the Pakistan Rangers and the Frontier Corps.[100]
The court system of Pakistan is organised as a hierarchy, with the Supreme Court at the apex, below which are High Courts, Federal Shariat Courts (one in each province and one in the federal capital), District Courts (one in each district), Judicial Magistrate Courts (in every town and city), Executive Magistrate Courts and Civil Courts. Pakistan's penal code has limited jurisdiction in the Tribal Areas, where law is largely derived from tribal customs.[100][101]
Military[link]
Main article: Pakistan Armed Forces
The armed forces of Pakistan are the eighth largest in the world in terms of numbers in full-time service, with about 617,000 personnel on active duty and 513,000 reservists in 2010.[102] They came into existence after independence in 1947, and the military establishment has frequently been involved in the politics of Pakistan ever since.[73] The three main branches are the Army (headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani[103]), the Navy and the Air Force, and they are supported by a number of paramilitary forces.[104] The National Command Authority is responsible for employment, for control of the development of all strategic nuclear organisations and for Pakistan's nuclear doctrine. Pakistan's defence forces maintain close military relations with China and the United States and import military equipment mainly from them.[105] The defence forces of China and Pakistan carry out joint military exercises.[104][106][107] Conscription may be introduced in times of emergency, but it has never been imposed.[108]
Since independence, Pakistan has been involved in four wars with neighbouring India, beginning in 1947 with the First Kashmir War, when Pakistan gained control of present-day Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. The two countries were at war again in 1965 and in 1971,[109] and most recently in the Kargil War of 1999.[61] The Army has also been engaged in several skirmishes with Afghanistan on the western border: in 1961, it repelled a major Afghan incursion.[110] During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Pakistan shot down several intruding pro-Soviet Afghan communist aircraft and provided covert support to factions of the Afghan mujahideen through the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.[111]
Apart from its own conflicts, Pakistan has been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions. It played a major role in rescuing trapped American soldiers from Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 in Operation Gothic Serpent.[112][113][114] Pakistani armed forces are the largest troop contributors to UN peacekeeping missions.[115]
_Shahjahan_%26_Tippi_Sultan.jpeg)
Pakistan maintained significant numbers of troops in some Arab countries in defence, training and advisory roles.[116][117] During the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, PAF pilots volunteered to go to the Middle East to support Egypt and Syria, which were in a state of war with Israel; they shot down ten Israeli planes in the Six-Day War.[112] In 1979, at the request of the Saudi government, commandos of the Pakistani Special Service Group were rushed to assist Saudi forces in Mecca to lead the operation of the Grand Mosque Seizure.[118] In 1991 Pakistan got involved with the Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a US-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia.[119]
Pakistani armed forces have been engaged in a war in North-West Pakistan since 2001, mainly against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.[120][121] Major operations undertaken by the Army include Operation Black Thunderstorm and Operation Rah-e-Nijat.[122][123]
Kashmir conflict[link]
Main article: Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, the most northwesterly region of South Asia. The two countries have fought at least three wars over Kashmir—the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1947, 1965 and 1999—and several skirmishes over the Siachen Glacier.[87] India claims the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir and administers approximately 45.1% of the region, including most of Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and the Siachen Glacier. India's claim is contested by Pakistan, which controls approximately 38.2% of Kashmir, consisting of Azad Kashmir and the northern areas of Gilgit and Baltistan.[87][124]
The conflict of Kashmir has its origin in 1947, when British India was separated into the two states of Pakistan and India. As part of the partition process, both countries had agreed that the rulers of princely states would be allowed to opt for membership of either Pakistan or India, or in special cases to remain independent.[125] India claims Kashmir on the basis of the Instrument of Accession, a legal agreement with Kashmir's leaders executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, then ruler of Kashmir, agreeing to accede the area to India.[126][127] Pakistan claims Kashmir on the basis of a Muslim majority and of geography, the same principles that were applied for the creation of the two independent states.[128][129] India referred the dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948.[130] In a resolution in 1948, the UN asked Pakistan to remove most of its troops. A plebiscite would then be held. However, Pakistan failed to vacate the region. A ceasefire was reached in 1949 and a Line of Control was established, dividing Kashmir between the two countries.[125]
Pakistan's position is that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have the right to determine their future through impartial elections as mandated by the United Nations.[131] India has stated that it believes that Kashmir is an integral part of India, referring to the 1972 Simla Agreement and to the fact that elections take place regularly.[132] Certain Kashmiri independence groups believe that Kashmir should be independent of both India and Pakistan.[87]
Geography and climate[link]
Main articles: Geography of Pakistan and Climate of Pakistan
See also: Geology of Pakistan and Extreme points of Pakistan
Pakistan covers an area of 796,095 km2 (307,374 sq mi), approximately equal to the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. It is the 36th largest nation by total area, although this ranking varies depending on how the disputed territory of Kashmir is counted. Pakistan has a 1,046 km (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south[133] and land borders of 6,774 km (4,209 mi) in total: 2,430 km (1,510 mi) with Afghanistan, 523 km (325 mi) with China, 2,912 km (1,809 mi) with India and 909 km (565 mi) with Iran.[72] It shares a marine border with Oman,[134] and is separated from Tajikistan by the cold, narrow Wakhan Corridor.[135] Pakistan occupies a geopolitically important location at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia.[136]
Geologically, Pakistan overlaps the Indian tectonic plate in its Sindh and Punjab provinces; Balochistan and most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are within the Eurasian plate, mainly on the Iranian plateau. Gilgit–Baltistan and Azad Kashmir lie along the edge of the Indian plate and hence are prone to violent earthquakes. Ranging from the coastal areas of the south to the glaciated mountains of the north, Pakistan's landscapes vary from plains to deserts, forests, hills and plateaus .[137]
Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plain and the Balochistan Plateau.[138] The northern highlands contain the Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges (see mountains of Pakistan), which contain some of the world's highest peaks, including five of the fourteen eight-thousanders (mountain peaks over 8,000 metres or 26,250 feet), which attract adventurers and mountaineers from all over the world, notably K2 (8,611 m or 28,251 ft) and Nanga Parbat (8,126 m or 26,660 ft).[139] The Balochistan Plateau lies in the west and the Thar Desert in the east. The 1,609 km (1,000 mi) Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea. There is an expanse of alluvial plains along it in Punjab and Sindh.[140]
The climate varies from tropical to temperate, with arid conditions in the coastal south. There is a monsoon season with frequent flooding due to heavy rainfall, and a dry season with significantly less rainfall or none at all. There are four distinct seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November.[34] Rainfall varies greatly from year to year, and patterns of alternate flooding and drought are common.[141]
Flora and fauna[link]
Main articles: Flora of Pakistan and Fauna of Pakistan
The diversity of landscapes and climates in Pakistan allows a wide variety of trees and plants to flourish. The forests range from coniferous alpine and subalpine trees such as spruce, pine and deodar cedar in the extreme northern mountains, through deciduous trees in most of the country (for example the mulberry-like shisham found in the Sulaiman Mountains), to palms such as coconut and date in southern Punjab, southern Balochistan and all of Sindh. The western hills are home to juniper, tamarisk, coarse grasses and scrub plants. Mangrove forests form much of the coastal wetlands along the coast in the south.[143]
Coniferous forests are found at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 metres in most of the northern and northwestern highlands. In the xeric regions of Balochistan, date palm and Ephedra are common. In most of Punjab and Sindh, the Indus plains support tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forestry as well as tropical and xeric shrublands. These forests are mostly of mulberry, acacia, and eucalyptus.[144] About 2.2% or 1,687,000 hectares (16,870 km2) of Pakistan was forested in 2010.[145]
The fauna of Pakistan reflects its varied climates too. Around 668 bird species are found there:[146][147] crows, sparrows, mynas, hawks, falcons, and eagles commonly occur. Palas, Kohistan, has a significant population of Western Tragopan.[148] Many birds sighted in Pakistan are migratory, coming from Europe, Central Asia and India.[149]
The southern plains are home to mongooses, civets, hares, the Asiatic jackal, the Indian pangolin, the jungle cat and the desert cat. There are mugger crocodiles in the Indus, and wild boar, deer, porcupines and small rodents are common in the surrounding areas. The sandy scrublands of central Pakistan are home to Asiatic jackals, striped hyenas, wildcats and leopards.[150][151] The lack of vegetative cover, the severe climate and the impact of grazing on the deserts have left wild animals in a precarious position. The chinkara is the only animal that can still be found in significant numbers in Cholistan. A small number of nilgai are found along the Pakistan-India border and in some parts of Cholistan.[150][152] A wide variety of animals live in the mountainous north, including the Marco Polo sheep, the urial (a subspecies of wild sheep), Markhor and Ibex goats, the Asian black bear and the Himalayan brown bear.[150][153][154] Among the rare animals found in the area are the snow leopard,[153] the Asiatic cheetah[155] and the blind Indus river dolphin, of which there are believed to be about 1,100 remaining, protected at the Indus River Dolphin Reserve in Sindh.[153][156] In total, 174 mammals, 177 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 198 freshwater fish species and 5,000 species of invertebrates (including insects) have been recorded in Pakistan.[146][147]
The flora and fauna of Pakistan suffer from a number of problems. Pakistan has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the world. This, along with hunting and pollution, is causing adverse effects on the ecosystem. The government has established a large number of protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and game reserves to deal with these issues.[146][147]
Infrastructure[link]
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of Pakistan
File:Jinnahavenuenight.png
Blue Area, the commercial hub of Islamabad
Pakistan is a rapidly developing country[157][158][159] and is one of the Next Eleven, the eleven countries that, along with the BRICs, have a high potential to become the world's largest economies in the 21st century.[160] The economy is semi-industrialized, with centres of growth along the Indus River.[161][162][163] The diversified economies of Karachi and Punjab's urban centres coexist with less developed areas in other parts of the country.[162] Pakistan's estimated nominal GDP as of 2011 is US$202 billion. The estimated nominal per capita GDP is US$1,197, GDP (PPP) per capita is US$2,851 (international dollars), and debt-to-GDP ratio is 55.5%.[164][165] A 2010 report by RAD-AID positioned Pakistan's economy at 27th largest in the world by purchasing power and 45th largest in absolute dollars.[163] It is South Asia's second largest economy, representing about 15 percent of regional GDP.[166][167]
Pakistan's economic growth since its inception has been varied. It has been slow during periods of civilian rule, but excellent during the three periods of military rule, although the foundation for sustainable and equitable growth was not formed.[46] The early to middle 2000s was a period of rapid reform; the government raised development spending, which reduced poverty levels by 10% and increased GDP by 3%.[72][168] The economy cooled again from 2007.[72] Inflation reached 25% in 2008[169] and Pakistan had to depend on an aggressive fiscal policy backed by the International Monetary Fund to avoid possible bankruptcy.[170][171] A year later, the Asian Development Bank reported that Pakistan's economic crisis was easing.[172] The inflation rate for the fiscal year 2010–11 was 14.1%.[173]
Pakistan is one of the largest producers of natural commodities, and its labour market is the 10th largest in the world. Around 600,000 Pakistanis went abroad to work in 2009. Expatriate workers send remittances of close to US$8 billion annually—the largest source of foreign exchange apart from exports.[174] According to the World Trade Organization Pakistan's share of overall world exports is declining; it contributed only 0.128% in 2007.[175] The trade deficit in the fiscal year 2010–11 was US$11.217 billion.[176]
The structure of the Pakistani economy has changed from a mainly agricultural to a strong service base. Agriculture now[when?] accounts for only 21.2% of the GDP. Even so, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Pakistan produced 21,591,400 metric tons of wheat in 2005, more than all of Africa (20,304,585 metric tons) and nearly as much as all of South America (24,557,784 metric tons).[177] The service and industrial sectors account for 52.4% and 26.4% of GDP respectively.[178] Between 2002 and 2007 there was substantial foreign investment in Pakistan's banking and energy sectors.[179] Other important industries include clothing and textiles (accounting for nearly 60% of exports), food processing, chemicals manufacture, iron and steel.[180] There is great potential for tourism in Pakistan, but it is severely affected by the country's instability.[181]
Transport[link]
Main article: Transport in Pakistan
The transport sector accounts for 10.5% of Pakistan's GDP.[182] Its road infrastructure is better than those of India, Bangladesh and Indonesia, but the rail system lags behind those of India and China, and aviation infrastructure also needs improvement.[183] There is scarcely any inland water transportation system, and coastal shipping only meets minor local requirements.[184]
Road form the backbone of Pakistan's transport system; a total road length of 259,618 km accounts for 91% of passenger and 96% of freight traffic. Road transport services are largely in the hands of the private sector, which handles around 95% of freight traffic. The National Highway Authority is responsible for the maintenance of national highways and motorways. The highway and motorway system depends mainly on north–south links, connecting the southern ports to the populous provinces of Punjab and NWFP. Although this network only accounts for 4.2% of total road length, it carries 85 percent of the country's traffic.[183][185]
Pakistan Railways, under the Ministry of Railways, operates the railroad system. Railway was the primary means of transport till 1970. In the two decades from around 1990, there was a marked shift in traffic from rail to highways. Now the railway's share of inland traffic is only 10% for passengers and 4% for freight traffic. The total rail track decreased from 8,775 km in 1990–91 to 7,791 km in 2011.[183][186] Pakistan expects to use the rail service to boost foreign trade with China, Iran and Turkey.[187][188]
Pakistan had 35 airports in 2007–8. The state-run Pakistan International Airlines is the major airline; it carries about 73% of domestic passengers and all domestic freight. Karachi's Jinnah International Airport is the principal international gateway to Pakistan, although Islamabad and Lahore also handle significant amounts of traffic. Pakistan's major seaports are Karachi, Muhammad bin Qasim and Gwadar, which is still[when?] under construction.[183][186]
Science and technology[link]
Main articles: Science and technology in Pakistan and List of Pakistani inventions and discoveries
Pakistan is active in physics research. Every year, scientists from around the world are invited by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the Pakistan Government to participate in the International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics.[190] Pakistan hosted a international seminar on Physics in Developing Countries for International Year of Physics 2005.[191] Pakistani theoretical physicist Abdus Salam won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the electroweak interaction.[192]
In medicine, Salimuzzaman Siddiqui was the first Pakistani scientist to bring the therapeutic constituents of the Neem tree to the attention of natural products chemists.[193] Pakistani neurosurgeon Ayub Ommaya invented the Ommaya reservoir, a system for treatment of brain tumours and other brain conditions.[194]
Pakistan has an active space program led by its space research agency, SUPARCO. Polish-Pakistani aerospace engineer W. J. M. Turowicz developed and supervised the launch of the Rehbar-I rocket from Pakistani soil, making Pakistan the first South Asian country to launch a rocket into space.[195] Pakistan launched its first satellite, Badr-I, from China in 1990, becoming the first Muslim country and second South Asian country to put a satellite into space.[196] In 1998, Pakistan became the seventh country in the world to successfully develop and its own nuclear weapons.[197]
Pakistan is one of a small number of countries that have an active research presence in Antarctica. The Pakistan Antarctic Programme was established in 1991. Pakistan has two summer research stations on the continent and plans to open another base, which will operate all year round.[198]
Electricity in Pakistan is generated and distributed by two vertically integrated public sector utilities: the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) for Karachi and the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) for the rest of Pakistan.[199] Nuclear power in Pakistan is provided by three licensed commercial nuclear power plants under Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).[200] Pakistan is the first Muslim country in the world to embark on a nuclear power program.[201] Commercial nuclear power plants generate roughly 3% of Pakistan's electricity, compared with about 64% from thermal and 33% from hydroelectric power.[199]
Education[link]
Main article: Education in Pakistan
File:Hostels.jpg
The Lahore University of Management Sciences, one of Pakistan's top ranking business management universities
The constitution of Pakistan requires the state to provide free primary and secondary education.[202] At the time of independence Pakistan had only one university, the University of the Punjab.[203] As of September 2011[update] it has 136 universities, of which 74 are public universities and 62 are private universities.[204] It is estimated that there are 3193 technical and vocational institutions in Pakistan,[205] and there are also madrassahs that provide free Islamic education and offer free board and lodging to students, who come mainly from the poorer strata of society.[206] After criticism over terrorists' use of madrassahs for recruitment, efforts have been made to regulate them.[207]
Education in Pakistan is divided into six main levels: pre-primary (preparatory classes); primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary (School) Certificate); and university programmes leading to graduate and postgraduate degrees.[205] Pakistani private schools also operate a parallel secondary education system based on the curriculum set and administered by the Cambridge International Examinations. Some students choose to take the O level and A level exams conducted by the British Council.[208]
Government is in development stage[timeframe?] of extending English medium education to all schools across the country.[209] By 2013 all educational institutions in Sindh will have to provide Chinese language courses, reflecting China's growing role as a superpower and Pakistan's close ties with China.[210]
Around 57.7% of adult Pakistanis are literate. Male literacy is 69.3%, female literacy 45.2%.[173] Literacy rates vary by region and particularly by sex; for instance, female literacy in tribal areas is 3%.[211] The government launched a nationwide initiative in 1998 with the aim of eradicating illiteracy and providing a basic education to all children.[212] Through various educational reforms, by 2015 the ministry of education expects to attain 100% enrolment levels among children of primary school age and a literacy rate of 86% among people aged over 10.[213]
Demographics[link]
Main articles: Demographics of Pakistan and Pakistani people
See also: Ethnic groups in Pakistan and Religion in Pakistan
With 177.1 million residents reported in 2011, Pakistan is the sixth most populated country in the world, behind Brazil and ahead of Bangladesh. Its 2.03% population growth rate is the highest among the SAARC countries and gives an annual increase of 3.6 million. The population is projected to reach 210.13 million by 2020 and to double by 2045. In 1947, Pakistan had a population of 32.5 million.[174][214] From 1990 to 2009 it increased by 57.2%.[215] By 2030 it is expected to overtake Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world.[216][217][218] Pakistan is a 'young' nation, with a median age of about 20 and 104 million people under 30 in 2010.[174]
The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. Karachi is its most populous city.[219] In the northern half of the country, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar. During 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia.[72][174] Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more.[220]
Expenditure on health was 2.6% of GDP in 2009.[221] Life expectancy at birth was 65.4 years for females and 63.6 years for males in 2010. The private sector accounts for about 80% of outpatient visits. Approximately 19% of the population and 30% of children under five are malnourished.[163] Mortality of the under-fives was 87 per 1,000 live births in 2009.[221] About 20% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.[222]
More than sixty languages are spoken in Pakistan, including a number of provincial languages. Urdu, the lingua franca and a symbol of Muslim identity and national unity, is the national language and is understood by over 75% of Pakistanis.[136][223] English is the official language of Pakistan, used in official business, government, and legal contracts;[72] the local dialect is known as Pakistani English. Punjabi is the commonest native language in Punjab and has many native speakers. Saraiki is mainly spoken in South Punjab. Pashto is the provincial language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindhi is the provincial language of Sindh, while Balochi is dominant in Balochistan.[3][34][224]
|
Largest cities or towns of Pakistan 2010 estimate[225] |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | City name | Province | Pop. | Rank | City name | Province | Pop. | ||
 Karachi |
1 | Karachi | Sindh | 13,205,339 | 11 | Sargodha | Punjab | 600,501 |  Faisalabad |
| 2 | Lahore | Punjab | 7,129,609 | 12 | Bahawalpur | Punjab | 543,929 | ||
| 3 | Faisalabad | Punjab | 4,880,675 | 13 | Sialkot | Punjab | 510,863 | ||
| 4 | Rawalpindi | Punjab | 3,991,656 | 14 | Sukkur | Sindh | 493,438 | ||
| 5 | Multan | Punjab | 5,506,481 | 15 | Larkana | Sindh | 456,544 | ||
| 6 | Hyderabad | Sindh | 1,578,367 | 16 | Sheikhupura | Punjab | 426,980 | ||
| 7 | Gujranwala | Punjab | 1,569,090 | 17 | Jhang | Punjab | 372,645 | ||
| 8 | Peshawar | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 1,439,205 | 18 | Rahim Yar Khan | Punjab | 353,112 | ||
| 9 | Quetta | Balochistan | 896,090 | 19 | Mardan | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 352,135 | ||
| 10 | Islamabad | Capital Territory | 689,249 | 20 | Gujrat | Punjab | 336,727 | ||
The population comprises several ethnic groups. As of 2009, the Punjabi population dominates with 78.7 million (44.15%), followed by 27.2 million (15.42%) Pashtuns, 24.8 million (14.1%) Sindhis, 14.8 million (10.53%) Seraikis, 13.3 million (7.57%) Muhajirs and 6.3 million (3.57%) Balochs. The remaining 11.1 million (4.66%) belong to various ethnic minorities.[226] There is also a large worldwide Pakistani diaspora, numbering over seven million.[227]
Pakistan's census does not include immigrant groups such as the 1.7 million registered refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan, who are found mainly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA areas, with small numbers in Karachi and Quetta.[228][229] As of 1995, there were more than 1.6 million Bengalis, 650,000 Afghans, 200,000 Burmese, 2,320 Iranians and Filipinos and hundreds of Nepalese, Sri Lankans and Indians living in Karachi.[230][231] Pakistan hosts more refugees than any other country in the world.[232]
Religion[link]
Main article: Religion in Pakistan
Pakistan is the second most populous Muslim-majority country[233] and has the second largest Shi'a population in the world.[234] About 97% of Pakistanis are Muslim. The majority are Sunni, with an estimated 5–20% Shi'a.[34][235][236] A further 2.3% are Ahmadis,[237] who are officially considered non-Muslims by virtue of a 1974 constitutional amendment.[238] There are also several Quraniyoon communities.[239][240] Although the Muslim denominations usually coexist peacefully, sectarian violence occurs sporadically.[241]
Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition, has a long history and a large popular following in Pakistan. Popular Sufi culture is centered on Thursday night gatherings at shrines and annual festivals which feature Sufi music and dance. Contemporary Islamic fundamentalists criticize its popular character, which in their view, does not accurately reflect the teachings and practice of the Prophet and his companions. There have been terrorist attacks directed at Sufi shrines and festivals, 5 in 2010 that killed 64 people.[242][243]
After Islam, Hinduism and Christianity are the largest religions in Pakistan, each with 2,800,000 (1.6%) adherents in 2005.[34] They are followed by the Bahá'í Faith, which has a following of 30,000, then Sikhism, Buddhism and Parsis, each claiming 20,000 adherents,[235] and a very small community of Jains.
Culture and society[link]
Main article: Culture of Pakistan
Pakistani society is largely hierarchical, emphasising local cultural etiquettes and traditional Islamic values that govern personal and political life. The basic family unit is the extended family,[244] although there has been a growing trend towards nuclear families for socio-economic reasons.[245] The traditional dress for both men and women is the Shalwar Kameez; trousers and shirts are also popular among men.[23] The middle class has increased to around 30 million and the upper and upper-middle classes to around 17 million in recent decades, and power is shifting from rural landowners to the urbanised elites.[246] Pakistani festivals like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Ramadan are mostly religious in origin.[244] Increasing globalisation has resulted in Pakistan ranking 56th on the A.T. Kearney/FP Globalization Index.[247]
Media and entertainment[link]
State-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation for radio were the dominant media outlets until the start of the 21st century. The end of PTV's monopoly led to a boom in electronic media, which gained greater political influence. There are now numerous private television channels that enjoy a large degree of freedom of speech.[248] In addition to the national entertainment and news channels, foreign television channels and films are also available to most Pakistanis via cable and satellite television.[248][249] There is a small indigenous film industry based in Lahore and Peshawar, known as Lollywood. While Bollywood films were banned from public cinemas from 1965 until 2008, they have remained important in popular culture.[250][251]
Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern forms fusing traditional and western music, such as the blend of Qawwali and western music by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[252][253] Pakistan has many famous folk singers, such as the late Alam Lohar, who is also well known in Indian Punjab. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has stimulated interest in Pashto music, although there has been intolerance of it in some places.[254]
Literature[link]
Main article: Literature of Pakistan
Pakistan has literature in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Baluchi, Persian, English and many other languages.[255] Before the 19th century it consisted mainly of lyric and religious poetry, mystical and folkloric works. During the colonial age, native literary figures influenced by western literary realism took up increasingly varied topics and narrative forms. Prose fiction is now very popular.[256][257]
The national poet of Pakistan, Muhammad Iqbal, wrote poetry in Urdu and Persian and is read in Afghanistan, Iran, Indonesia, India and the Arab world. He was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilisation and encouraged Muslims binding all over the world to bring about successful revolution.[258][259][260]
Well-known representatives of contemporary Pakistani Urdu literature include Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Sadequain is known for his calligraphy and paintings.[257] Sufi poets Shah Abdul Latif, Bulleh Shah, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Khawaja Farid are very popular in Pakistan.[261] Mirza Kalich Beg has been termed the father of modern Sindhi prose.[262]
Architecture[link]
Main article: Pakistani architecture
Pakistani architecture has four recognised periods: pre-Islamic, Islamic, colonial and post-colonial. With the beginning of the Indus civilisation around the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE,[263] an advanced urban culture developed for the first time in the region, with large buildings, some of which survive to this day.[264] Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and Kot Diji are among the pre-Islamic settlements that are now tourist attractions.[139] The rise of Buddhism and the Persian and Greek influence led to the development of the Greco-Buddhist style, starting from the 1st century CE. The high point of this era was reached at the peak of the Gandhara style. An example of Buddhist architecture is the ruins of the Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[265]
The arrival of Islam in today's Pakistan meant a sudden end of Buddhist architecture in the area and a smooth transition to the predominantly pictureless Islamic architecture. The most important Persian-style building still standing is the tomb of the Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan. During the Mughal era, design elements of Persian-Islamic architecture were fused with and often produced playful forms of Hindustani art. Lahore, occasional residence of Mughal rulers, exhibits many important buildings from the empire. Most prominent among them are the Badshahi mosque, the fortress of Lahore with the famous Alamgiri Gate, the colourful, Persian-style Wazir Khan Mosque, the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore and the Shahjahan Mosque in Thatta. In the British colonial period, predominantly functional buildings of the Indo-European representative style developed from a mixture of European and Indian-Islamic components. Post-colonial national identity is expressed in modern structures like the Faisal Mosque, the Minar-e-Pakistan and the Mazar-e-Quaid.[266]
Cuisine[link]
Main article: Pakistani cuisine
Pakistani cuisine is a blend of cooking traditions from different regions of the Indian subcontinent, originating from the royal kitchens of sixteenth-century Mughal emperors. It has similarities to North Indian cuisine, although Pakistan has a greater variety of meat dishes. Pakistani cooking uses large quantities of spices, herbs and seasoning. Garlic, ginger, turmeric, red chilli and garam masala are used in most dishes, and home cooking regularly includes curry. Chapati, a thin flat bread made from wheat, is a staple food, served with curry, meat, vegetables and lentils. Rice is also common; it is served plain or fried with spices and is also used in sweet dishes.[136][267][268] Lassi is a traditional drink in the Punjab region. Black tea with milk and sugar is popular throughout Pakistan and is taken daily by most of the population.[23][269]
Sports[link]
Main article: Sports in Pakistan
The national sport of Pakistan is hockey, in which it has earned 8 of its 10 Olympic medals,[270] including three gold medals (1960, 1968, and 1984). Pakistan has also won the Hockey World Cup a record four times (1971, 1978, 1982, 1994).[271]
Cricket, however, is the most popular game across the country.[272] The national cricket team has won the Cricket World Cup once (in 1992), been runners-up once (in 1999), and co-hosted the tournament twice (in 1987 and 1996). Pakistan were runners-up in the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa and won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England. Lately, however, Pakistani cricket has suffered severely because teams have refused to tour Pakistan for fear of terrorism. No teams have toured Pakistan since March 2009, when militants attacked the touring Sri Lankan cricket team.[273]
Squash is another sport in which Pakistanis have excelled in international competition. Successful world-class squash players such as Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan won the World Open Squash Championship several times during their careers.[274] Jahangir Khan also won the British Open a record ten times.[275] Pakistan has competed many times at the Olympics in field hockey, boxing, athletics, swimming, and shooting.[276] Pakistan's Olympic medal tally stands at 10 of which 8 were earned in hockey.[277] The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medal tallies stand at 65 and 160 respectively.[citation needed][278]
At national level, football and polo are popular, with regular national events in different parts of the country. Boxing, billiards, snooker, rowing, kayaking, caving, tennis, contract bridge, golf and volleyball are also actively pursued, and Pakistan has produced regional and international champions in these sports.[21][274][276]
Notes[link]
- ^ "Excludes data for Pakistani territories of Kashmir; Azad Kashmir (13,297 km2 or 5,134 sq mi) and Gilgit–Baltistan (72,520 km2 or 28,000 sq mi).[4] Including these territories would produce an area figure of 881,912 km2 (340,508 sq mi)."
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- ^ "Pakistan set to become most populous Muslim nation". Samaa Tv. 27 January 2011. http://www.samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=27990. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- ^ "The Urban Frontier—Karachi". National Public Radio. 2 June 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91009748. Retrieved 2 July 2008..
- ^ Jason Burke (17 August 2008). "Pakistan looks to life without the general". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/17/pakistan. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ a b "WHO | Pakistan". World Health Organization. 30 March 2009. http://www.who.int/countries/pak/en/. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
- ^ "Human Development Indices" (PDF). United Nations Dvelopment Programme, Human Development Reports. p. 15. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDI_2008_EN_Tables.pdf. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
- ^ Braj B. Kachru; Yamuna Kachru; S.N. Sridhar. Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=O2n4sFGDEMYC&pg=PA138&dq=reason+for+urdu+being+national+language#v=onepage&q=reason%20for%20urdu%20being%20national%20language&f=false.
- ^ "Teaching and Learning in Pakistan: The Role of Language in Education". British Council.Org. 2010. p. 13, 14, 15. http://www.britishcouncil.org/pakistan-ette-english-language-report.pdf. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
- ^ "Pakistan: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer. http://world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&des=wg&geo=-172&srt=npan&col=abcdefghinoq&msz=1500&pt=c&va=&srt=pnan. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
- ^ Ian S. Livingston; Micheal O'Hanlon (29 November 2011). "Pakistan Index" (PDF). Brookings. p. 13. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Programs/FP/pakistan%20index/index.pdf. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
- ^ Nadia Mushtaq Abbasi (2010). "The Pakistani Diaspora in Europe and Its Impact on Democracy Building in Pakistan" (PDF). International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. p. 5. http://www.idea.int/resources/analysis/upload/Abbasi_low_2-2.pdf.
- ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "2010 UNHCR country operations profile – Pakistan". UNHCR. http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e487016. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- ^ "Future Floods of Refugees" (PDF). Norwegian Refugee Council. April 2008. p. 25. http://www.nrc.no/arch/_img/9268480.pdf. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ^ Owais Tohid; Arshad Mahmud (29 November 1995). "Homeless In Karachi". Outlookindia.com. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?200305. Retrieved 18 December 2011. "Officials say there are more than 1.6 million Bengalis, 650,000 Afghans, 200,000 Burmese, 2,320 Iranians and Filipinos and hundreds of Nepalese, Sri Lankans and Indians living in Karachi. The officials believe they pose a threat to Karachi, a city already stricken by political violence that has claimed more than 1,650 lives this year. Many of these immigrants have fake Pakistani passports and identity cards."
- ^ Derek Flood (12 May 2008). "From South to South: Refugees as Migrants: The Rohingya in Pakistan". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derek-flood/from-south-to-south-refug_b_100387.html. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Questions and Answers About Refugees & Asylum Seekers". Australian Human Rights Commission. http://www.hreoc.gov.au/racial_discrimination/face_facts_05/refugee.html#endnote7. Retrieved December 2011.
- ^ Robert U. Ayres (1998). Turning Point: The End of the Growth Paradigm.. James & James publishers. p. 63. ISBN 1-85383-439-4.
- ^ Tracy Miller, ed. (October 2009). "Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population". Pew Research Center. http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population%286%29.aspx. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
- ^ a b "Pakistan — International Religious Freedom Report 2008". United States Department of State. 2008. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108505.htm. Retrieved 28 August 2010. "The majority of Muslims in the country are Sunni, with a Shi'a minority ranging between 10 to 20 percent."
- ^ "Field Listing :: Religions". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html?countryName=Pakistan&countryCode=pk®ionCode=sas&#pk. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ "Ahmadis of Pakistan". faqs.org. http://www.faqs.org/minorities/South-Asia/Ahmadis-of-Pakistan.html. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "International Religious Freedom Report 2008: Pakistan". US State Department. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108505.htm. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ "South Asian Media Net". South Asian Free Media Association. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110518210117/http://www.southasianmedia.net/profile/pakistan/pk_leadingpersonalities_literature.cfm#gap. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ "Can Sufi Islam counter the Taleban?". BBC. 24 February 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7896943.stm. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ "Bomb kills four at Pakistan Shiite funeral: police". AFP. 19 February 2009. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jURPF9QMucM4uQY2KbI9ou-ip-RA. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
- ^ Produced by Charlotte Buchen. "Sufism Under Attack in Pakistan" (video). The New York Times. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/06/world/asia/1248069532117/sufism-under-attack-in-pakistan.html. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
- ^ Huma Imtiaz; Charlotte Buchen (January 6, 2011). "The Islam That Hard-Liners Hate" (blog). The New York Times. http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/the-islam-that-hard-liners-hate/. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
- ^ a b "Pakistan- Language, Religion, Culture, Customs and Etiquette". Kwint Essential. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/pakistan.html. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
- ^ Anwar Alam (2008). "Factors and Consequences of Nuclearization of Family at Hayatabad Phase-II, Peshawar". Sarhad J. Agric. (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Peshawar) 24 (3). http://www.aup.edu.pk/sj_pdf/FACTORS%20AND%20CONSEQUENCES%20OF%20NUCLEARIZATION.pdf. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ Irfan Husain (17 April 2010). "The rise of Mehran man". Dawn. Pakistan News. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101125011513/http://news.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/irfan-husain-the-rise-of-mehran-man-740. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ "A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine Globalization Index 2006" (PDF). A.T. Kearney. Nov/Dec 2006. p. 4. http://www.atkearney.com/images/global/pdf/Globalization-Index_FP_Nov-Dec-06_S.pdf. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ a b "Media in Pakistan" (PDF). International Media Support. July 2009. pp. 14–16, 21. http://www.i-m-s.dk/files/publications/1491%20Pakistan.final.web.pdf. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ^ David Frum. "The hard choice in Pakistan". oped.ca. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110706192616/http://oped.ca/National-Post/david-frum-the-hard-choice-in-pakistan/. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Naseem Randhava (11 October 2011). "Bollywood films may be banned in Pakistan". Yahoo! News. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/bollywood-films-may-banned-pakistan-094000464.html. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- ^ "Pakistan to show Bollywood film". BBC News. 23 January 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4639216.stm. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
- ^ Adam Nayyar (1988). "Origin and History of the Qawwali" (PDF). University of Toronto. p. 1. http://www.utoronto.ca/jkcourses/mus200/Nayyar_Qawwali.pdf. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
- ^ Amit Baruah; R. Padmanabhan (6 September 1997). "The stilled voice". Frontline. http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1418/14181230.htm. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
- ^ Owais Tohid (7 June 2005). "Music soothes extremism along troubled Afghan border". The Christian Science Monitor.. http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0607/p07s01-wosc.html. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
- ^ Alamgir Hashmi (1996). Radhika Mohanram. ed. English postcoloniality: literatures from around the world. Gita Rajan. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 107–112. ISBN 978-0-313-28854-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=H_uwA78YZDoC&pg=PA107. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ Gilani Kamran (January 2002). "Pakistani Literature – Evolution & trends". the-south-asian magzine. http://www.the-south-asian.com/Jan2002/Pakistani-Literature3-the-Novel.htm. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
- ^ a b Huma Imtiaz (26 September 2010). "Granta: The global reach of Pakistani literature". The Express Tribune. http://tribune.com.pk/story/53272/granta-the-global-reach-of-pakistani-literature/. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
- ^ Annemarie Schimmel (15 December 2004). "Iqbal, Muhammad". Encyclopædia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iqbal-muhammad. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ Nadeem Shafique. "Global Apprecaition of Allama Iqbal". Bahauddin Zakariya University. Journal of Research, Faculty of Languages and Islamic Studies. pp. 47–49. http://www.bzu.edu.pk/jrlanguages/Vol-1%202001/Nadeem%20Shafiq-3.pdf. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ Iqbal Academy (26 May 2006). "Allama Iqbal – Biography" (PHP). http://www.allamaiqbal.com/person/biography/biotxtread.html. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
- ^ Muhammad Zahid Rifat (3 October 2011). "Paying tributes to popular Sufi poets.". highbeam.com. The Nation. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-268638505.html. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
- ^ Chetan Karnani (2003). L.H. Ajwani. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-81-260-1664-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=dL5owdAV5TcC&pg=PA50. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
- ^ Vidja Dehejia. "South Asian Art and Culture". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sasa/hd_sasa.htm. Retrieved 10 February 2008..
- ^ "The Indus Valley And The Genesis Of South Asian Civilization". History World International. http://history-world.org/indus_valley.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
- ^ "UNESCO Advisory Body Evaluation of Takht Bhai" (PDF). International Council on Monuments and Sites. 29 December 1979. pp. 1–2. http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/140.pdf. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Kamil Khan Mumtaz (1985). Architecture in Pakistan. Concept Media Pte Ltd. pp. 32,51,160. ISBN 9971-84-141-X.
- ^ Kathleen W. Deady (2001). Countries of the world :Pakistan. Capstone Press. pp. 13–15. ISBN 0-7368-0815-9.
- ^ American Geriatrics Society. Ethnogeriatrics Committee (2006). Doorway thoughts: cross-cultural health care for older adults. Jones & Bartlett Learning. pp. 119–120. ISBN 978-0-7637-4355-0.
- ^ Tarla Dalal (2007). Punjabi Khana. Sanjay & Co. p. 8. ISBN 978-81-89491-54-3.
- ^ Bill Mallon; Jeroen Heijmans (2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement (4th revised ed.). Scarecrow. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-8108-7249-3.
- ^ V.V.K.Subburaj (30 August 2004). Basic Facts of General Knowledge. Sura College of Competition. p. 771. ISBN 978-81-7254-234-4. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=Z0mjae1kdYUC&pg=PA771&dq=Hockey+World+Cup+Pakistan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3WKUT-HhFYXHtAbNndXPBA&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Hockey%20World%20Cup%20Pakistan&f=false. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
- ^ Saad Khan (15 March 2010). "The Death of Sports in Pakistan". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saad-khan/the-death-of-sports-in-pa_b_498758.html. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ^ "Pakistan cricket future in doubt". BBC. 4 March 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/cricket/7921384.stm. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ a b Ian Graham (2003). Pakistan. Black Rabbit Books. pp. 20–21. ISBN 1-58340-239-X.
- ^ "Greatest player". Squashsite. http://www.squashsite.co.uk/olympics4.htm. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ a b K M Shariff (2002). Pakistan almanac 2001–2002. Royal Book Company. pp. 561–574. ISBN 969-407-257-3.
- ^ Bill Mallon; Jeroen Heijmans (11 August 2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement (4th ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-8108-7249-3. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=9mM0XzW03AcC&pg=PA291&dq=Pakistan+in+olympic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nGWUT7i-OM_BtAaxtqnNBA&ved=0CD0Q6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Pakistan%20in%20olympic&f=false. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
- ^ "Asian Games Medal Count". Asian Games. Olympic Council of Asia. http://ocasia.org/Game/NocsMedalCount.aspx?9QoyD9QEWPeJ2ChZBk5tvA==. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
Further reading[link]
 |
This article contains Urdu text, written from right to left with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined letters or other symbols instead of Urdu script. |
File:Pakistan Smart Book v1.pdf
- Hafeez Malik (2006) The Encyclopedia of Pakistan Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-19-597735-6
- Anatol Lieven (2012) Pakistan: A Hard Country PublicAffairs ISBN 978-1-61039-145-0
- Akbar Ahmed (1997) Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-14966-2
- Matthew McCartney (2011), Pakistan – The Political Economy of Growth, Stagnation and the State, 1951–2009 Routledge ISBN 978-0-415-57747-2
- Stephen Philip Cohen (2006) The Idea of Pakistan, Brookings Institution Press ISBN 978-0-8157-1503-0
- Iftikhar Malik (2005) Culture and Customs of Pakistan (Culture and Customs of Asia) Greenwood, ISBN 978-0-313-33126-8
- Spear, Percival (2007) India, Pakistan and the West. Read books publishers ISBN 1-4067-1215-9
- Masood Ashraf Raja (2010) Constructing Pakistan: Foundational Texts and the Rise of Muslim National Identity 1857–1947 Oxford, ISBN 978-0-19-547811-2
External links[link]
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| Senator Rehman Malik | |
|---|---|
| Interior Minister of Pakistan | |
| President | Asif Ali Zardari |
| Prime Minister | Yousaf Raza Gillani |
| Preceded by | Hamid Nawaz Khan |
| Director-General Federal Investigation Agency | |
| In office 1993–1996 |
|
| President | Wasim Sajjad Farooq Leghari |
| Prime Minister | Benazir Bhutto |
| Personal details | |
| Born | A. Rehman Malik (1951-12-12) December 12, 1951 (age 60) Jajjay(Village), Sialkot, Punjab |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Political party | Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) |
| Residence | Islamabad, Pakistan |
| Alma mater | University of Karachi (B.S. and M.Sc.) |
| Profession | FIA intelligence officer and politician |
| Cabinet | Cabinet of Pakistan |
| Portfolio | Senator |
| Religion | Islam - Muslim |
| Notable Awards | Sitara-i-Shujaat |
| Website | Rehman Malik |
Senator A. Rehman Malik (Urdu: رحمان ملک ) (born 12 December 1951[citation needed]) is a Pakistani politician, member of the Senate of Pakistan, and the current Interior Minister of Pakistan under the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani administration. He was upgraded to latter position from Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs and Narcotics Control after he was elected in the Senate of Pakistan.[1] He took the oath as the federal minister on 27 April 2009.[2][3]
Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pakistan Peoples Party and was the trusted lieutenant and chief security officer (CSO) of Benazir Bhutto.
On 30th May 2012,Pakistan's Supreme Court gave Rehman Malik a one-day deadline to prove that he has given up his British citizenship, in absence of which he would lose his membership of the senate.[4]
On 30th May 2012,A three member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry, was hearing the dual nationality case, and observed that the documents presented by Malik’s counsel did not have the declaration of the interior minister renouncing his British citizenship.[5]
Contents |
Federal Investigation Agency career[link]
Benazir Bhutto appointed Malik as the additional director-general of the FIA which then launched a secret war against the Islamist elements in Pakistan, which amounted to a direct attack on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).[6] The Pakistani military was equally dismayed by reports of FIA contacts with the Israeli secret service, the Mossad, to investigate Islamist terrorists. The FIA leadership under Bhutto also angered Taliban supporters within the establishment, because they allowed the extradition of Ramzi Yousef to the US for trial on the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[6]
One of the first acts of President Leghari after dismissing Benazir Bhutto on 5 November 1996 was to imprison Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA, on non specified corruption charges, and Malik, Additional Director General of FIA, was also arrested.[6]
In 2011 Karachi University awarded him an honorary PhD.[citation needed] During his nine-year long exile in England, Malik obtained British citizenship. However, Malik stated that he have up his British nationality in 2008 before holding public office.[7]
Removal from FIA and exile[link]
In November 1998, Malik termed the termination of his service by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif an "act of retaliation" because of the 200-page report, which he had sent to then President Rafiq Tarar, disclosing large-scale corruption of Sharif family.U Malik then fled to London and made corruption accusation against the Sharif brothers.[8]
With the dismissal of the government of the PPP, Malik left the country and settled in the United Kingdom where he started his business and became a business tycoon. He assisted Benazir Bhutto during her exile, and he was the chief of the security of Bhutto when she returned home in 2007.[2]
Malik emerged as the deal broker in Benazir-Musharraf reconciliation talks in Abu Dhabi in July 2007, and replaced Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the most trusted political lieutenant of Benazir Bhutto. Fahim was Benazir's aide since 2002, when he formed the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and acted as the leader of PPP in the absence of Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari. It was also reported in The News that after Malik took over the role of top "adviser and broker" of Benazir on important matters ranging from politics to business, Fahim seemed to have become an "obsolete political commodity."[9]
Appointment as Interior Minister[link]
He was made an adviser on interior affairs and narcotics control to the PPP Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, with the status of Federal Minister. He was later upgraded as Interior Minister of Pakistan.[citation needed]
National Reconciliation Ordinance[link]
In 2007 threekuta ha s alleged case of corruption against Malik were dropped under the amnesty of the National Reconciliation Ordinance.[10]
References[link]
- ^ Tahir Niaz. "Masood Kausar to be made law, justice adviser " Daily Times, 18 March 2009
- ^ a b Muhammad Saleh Zaafir. "Malik made federal minister" The News,
- ^ Syed Irfan Raza, "Rehman and Haqqani join Gilani team" Dawn Newspaper, 28 March 2008
- ^ "SC asks Pakistan minister to prove he gave up British citizenship". 30 may 2012. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/SC-asks-Pakistan-minister-to-prove-he-gave-up-British-citizenship/articleshow/13671648.cms.
- ^ "SC rejects Rehman Malik's papers renouncing UK nationality". 30 may 2012. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-15005-SC-rejects-Rehman-Maliks-papers-renouncing-UK-nationality.
- ^ a b c "Federal Investigative Agency " fas.org, retrieved 4 February 2009
- ^ MPs with dual-nationality: Holding dual citizenship is no crime says Rehman Malik
- ^ Rehman Malik refuses to accept his termination Dawn Newspaper, 10 November 1998
- ^ Rauf Klasra, "Rehman replaces Fahim as Benazir’s most trusted aide" The News, 29 July 2007
- ^ "Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik faces arrest as crisis deepens". The Telegraph, 18 December 2009.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hamid Nawaz Khan |
Interior Minister of Pakistan 2008 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Malik, Rehman |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 12 December 1951 |
| Place of birth | Sialkot, Pakistan |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Rehman_Malik
Related pages:
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehman_Malik
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other people named Imran Khan, see Imran Khan (disambiguation).
| Imran Khan Niazi عمران خان نیازی |
|
|---|---|
_cropped.jpg) |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1952-11-25) 25 November 1952 (age 59) Lahore, West Punjab,  Dominion of Pakistan |
| Political party | Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf |
| Spouse(s) | Jemima Khan (1995–2004) |
| Children | Sulaiman Qasim Khan |
| Residence | Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Alma mater | Keble College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Politician Philanthropist Cricketer |
| Religion | Islam |
| Website | PTI |
Imran Khan Niazi (Urdu: عمران خان نیازی; born 25 November 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist, cricket commentator, Chancellor of the University of Bradford and Founder and Chairman Board of Governors of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre.
Arguably Pakistan's most successful cricket captain, Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and served as its captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992.[1] After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup, he was called back to join the team in 1988. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan's first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an 'All-rounder's Triple' in Test matches.[2] On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[3]
In April 1996, Khan founded and became the chairman of a political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice).[4] He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from November 2002 to October 2007.[5] Foreign Policy magazine has described him as "Pakistan's Ron Paul".[6]
Through worldwide fundraising, he has also helped establish the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in 1996 and Mianwali's Namal College in 2008.
Contents |
Family, education, and personal life[link]
Imran Khan was born in Lahore, the only son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, and his wife Shaukat Khanum.[7] Although long settled in Mianwali in Punjab, the family were of Pashtun ethnicity and belonged to the Niazi Shermankhel tribe.[8] A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his four sisters in relatively affluent (upper middle-class) circumstances[9] and received a privileged education. He was educated the Cathedral School in Lahore, the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket, and at Aitchison College, Lahore. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics.[10] Khan's mother hailed from the Burki family which had produced several successful hockey players,[7] as also cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan.[8] Early in life, Khan developed an interest in cricket, which is an extremely popular sport in Pakistan.
Marriage to Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith[link]
On 16 May 1995, Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, in an Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey.[11] . The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan,[8] produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999).[12] As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan".[13] The marriage ended amicably. Imran has regular access to his children and his relationship with his ex-wife is friendly. Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad, where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays.[8]
Cricket career[link]
| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1952-11-25) 25 November 1952 (age 59) Lahore, West Punjab, Dominion of Pakistan |
|||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||
| Bowling style | Right-arm fast | |||
| Role | All-rounder | |||
| International information | ||||
| National side | Pakistan | |||
| Test debut (cap 65) | 3 June 1971 v England | |||
| Last Test | 2 January 1992 v Sri Lanka | |||
| ODI debut (cap 12) | 31 August 1974 v England | |||
| Last ODI | 25 March 1992 v England | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| 1977–1988 | Sussex | |||
| 1984/85 | New South Wales | |||
| 1975–1981 | PIA | |||
| 1971–1976 | Worcestershire | |||
| 1973–1975 | Oxford University | |||
| 1969–1971 | Lahore | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Test | ODI | FC | LA |
| Matches | 88 | 175 | 382 | 425 |
| Runs scored | 3,807 | 3,709 | 17,771 | 10,100 |
| Batting average | 37.69 | 33.41 | 36.79 | 33.22 |
| 100s/50s | 6/18 | 1/19 | 30/93 | 5/66 |
| Top score | 136 | 102* | 170 | 114* |
| Balls bowled | 19,458 | 7,461 | 65,224 | 19,122 |
| Wickets | 362 | 182 | 1,287 | 507 |
| Bowling average | 22.81 | 26.61 | 22.32 | 22.31 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 23 | 1 | 70 | 6 |
| 10 wickets in match | 6 | n/a | 13 | n/a |
| Best bowling | 8/58 | 6/14 | 8/34 | 6/14 |
| Catches/stumpings | 28/– | 36/– | 117/– | 84/– |
| Source: ESPNCricinfo, 24 December 2011 | ||||
| Pride of Performance Award Recipient | |
|---|---|
 Imran Khan was recipient of the Pride of Performance Award 1983 |
|
| Presented by | Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
| Date | 1983 |
| Country | Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
| Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award Recipient | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
| Date | 1992 |
| Country | Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71).[14] Khan was part of Oxford University's Blues Cricket team during the 1973–75 seasons.[10] At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975–76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–76 to 1980–81). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.[2]
In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976–77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia.[14] Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.[2] His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.[2]
As a fast bowler, Khan reached the peak of his powers in 1982. In 9 Tests, he got 62 wickets at 13.29 each, the lowest average of any bowler in Test history with at least 50 wickets in a calendar year.[15] In January 1983, playing against India, he attained a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Although calculated retrospectively (ICC player ratings did not exist at the time), Khan's form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.[16]
Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order.[17] He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia.[18] He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so.[2] In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs.
Captaincy[link]
At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year-old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team from Javed Miandad. Recalling his initial discomfort with this new role, he later said, "When I became the cricket captain, I couldn’t speak to the team directly I was so shy. I had to tell the manager, I said listen can you talk to them, this is what I want to convey to the team. I mean early team meetings I use to be so shy and embarrassed I couldn’t talk to the team."[19] As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, out of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the rest of 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.[2]
In the team's second match under his leadership, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's.[20] Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981–82.[2] He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982–83, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain.[14]
This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984–85 season.[2]
In 1987, Khan led Pakistan to its first ever Test series win in India, which was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England the same year.[20] During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President Of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team.[2] Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as "the last time I really bowled well".[8] He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 tests.[2]
Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting line-up, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself.[14]
Post-retirement[link]
In 1994, Khan had admitted that, during Test matches, he "occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam." He had also added, "Only once did I use an object. When Sussex were playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot."[21] In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, India Today. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class." Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago.[22] Khan won the libel case, which the judge labelled a "complete exercise in futility", with a 10–2 majority decision by the jury.[22]
Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India's Outlook magazine,[23] the Guardian,[24] the Independent, and the Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu[25] and the Star TV network.[26] In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports' special live show, Straight Drive,[27] while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series.[28] He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for BBC during the 1999 World Cup.[28]
In November 2009 Khan underwent emergency surgery at Lahore's Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to remove an obstruction in his small intestine.[29]
Social work[link]
For more than four years after retiring from cricket in 1992, Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust's maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan's first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world.[4] Inspired by the memory of his mother, who died of cancer, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, a charitable cancer hospital with 75 percent free care, opened in Lahore on 29 December 1994.[8] Khan currently serves as the chairman of the hospital and continues to raise funds through charity and public donations.[30]
During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF's Special Representative for Sports[31] and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.[32]
On 27 April 2008, Khan's brainchild, a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College, was inaugurated. Namal College was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), as chaired by Khan, and was made an associate college of the University of Bradford (of which Khan is Chancellor) in December 2005.[33] Currently, Khan is building another cancer hospital in Karachi, using his successful Lahore institution as a model. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.[4]
Political work[link]
In 1996, Khan founded a political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which emphasized on anti-corruption policies.[8][34] The newly formed party was unable to win a seat during the 1997 Pakistani general election.[35] Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999,[36] believing Musharraf would "end corruption, clear out the political mafias".[37] According to Khan, he was Musharraf's choice of prime minister in 2002 but turned down the offer.[38] The 2002 Pakistani general election were held in October across 272 constituencies. Khan anticipated doing well in the elections and was prepared to form a coalition if his party did not get a majority of the vote.[39] He was elected from the NA-71 constituency of Mianwali and being the only party member to have secured a seat, PTI won only 0.8% of the popular vote. Khan, who was sworn in as an MP on 16 November,[40] remained part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts, and expressed legislative interest in Foreign Affairs, Education and Justice.[41]
On 6 May 2005, Khan became one of the first Muslim figures to criticise a 300-word Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Khan held a press conference to denounce the article and demanded that Gen. Pervez Musharraf secure an apology from the American president George W. Bush for the incident.[42]. In June 2007, the federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr. Sher Afghan Khan Niazi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party filed separate ineligibility references against Khan, asking for his disqualification as member of the National Assembly on grounds of immorality. Both references, filed on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan, were rejected on 5 September.[43]
On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the Presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which General Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief.[5] On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest at his father's home hours after President Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Khan had demanded the death penalty for Musharraf after the imposition of emergency rule, which he equated to "committing treason". The next day, on 4 November, Khan escaped and went into peripatetic hiding.[44] He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab.[45] At the rally, Khan was captured by students from the Jamaat-i-Islami political party, who claimed that Khan was an uninvited nuisance at the rally, and they handed him over to the police, who charged him under the Anti-terrorism act for allegedly inciting people to pick up arms, calling for civil disobedience, and for spreading hatred.[46].
On 30 October, 2011, Imran Khan changed the political picture of the country by addressing more than 100,000 supporters, challenging the policies of the current government, calling this new change a "tsunami" against the ruling parties,[47] followed by another successful public gathering in Karachi on 25 December, 2011.[48] Since then Imran Khan has become a real threat for the current ruling parties and future political prospect in Pakistan. According to International Republican Institute (IRI)'s survey, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tops the list of popular parties in Pakistan both at the national as well as provincial level, leaving Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peopleís Party (PPP) behind.[49]
Ideology[link]
Khan's proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and the implementation of anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country's police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan.[18][26][50]
Khan told Britain's Daily Telegraph, "I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary."[18] Other ideas he has presented include a requirement of all students to spend a year after graduation teaching in the countryside and cutting down the over-staffed bureaucracy in order to send them to teach too.[51] "We need decentralisation, empowering people at the grass roots," he has said.[52]
Criticism[link]
Khan had a child out of wedlock with Ana-Luisa White (Sita White).[53] This was confirmed by a judgement of paternity rendered by a Superior Court of the State of California for the county of Los Angeles in favour of White[54] wherein it was held that Khan was the father of a female child born on June 15, 1992.[55][56][not in citation given] Khan did not challenge that judgement and in 2004 accepted the child as his daughter. He and his wife Jemima became the girls guardians.[57][58] [59] [60] [61]
During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp, though he claims to have hated English pubs and to never drink alcohol.[4][8][26][42] He gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine, Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant.[8]
Khan is often dismissed as a political lightweight[45] and a celebrity outsider in Pakistan,[19] where national newspapers also refer to him as a "spoiler politician".[62] The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has asserted that Khan is "a sick person who has been a total failure in politics and is alive just because of the media coverage".[63] Political observers say the crowds he draws are attracted by his cricketing celebrity, and the public has been reported to view him as a figure of entertainment rather than a serious political authority.[51]
Declan Walsh in The Guardian newspaper in England in 2005 described Khan as a "miserable politician," observing that, "Khan's ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower... He preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next."[64] The charge constantly raised against Khan is that of hypocrisy and opportunism, including what has been called his life's "playboy to puritan U-turn."[19] Political commentator Najam Sethi, stated that, "A lot of the Imran Khan story is about backtracking on a lot of things he said earlier, which is why this doesn’t inspire people."[19]. He is also criticized for being a puppet of Pakistan's 'establishment'.[65]
Awards and honours[link]
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- Khan is featured in the University of Oxford's Hall of Fame and has been an honorary fellow of Oxford's Keble College.[31]
- In 1976 as well as 1980, Khan was awarded The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket.
- In 1983, he was also named Wisden Cricketer of the Year
- In 1983, he had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award
- In 1985, Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year
- In 1990, Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year[14]
- In 1992, Khan was given Pakistan's civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz
- On 8 July 2004, Khan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Asian Jewel Awards in London, for "acting as a figurehead for many international charities and working passionately and extensively in fund-raising activities.[66]
- On 7 December 2005, Khan was appointed the fifth Chancellor of the University of Bradford, where he is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project.
- On 13 December 2007, Khan received the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur for his efforts in setting up the first cancer hospital in Pakistan.[67]
- On 5 July 2008, he was one of several veteran Asian cricketers presented special silver jubilee awards at the inaugural Asian cricket Council (ACC) award ceremony in Karachi.[68]
- In 2009, at International Cricket Council's centennial year celebration, Khan was one of fifty-five cricketers inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.[69]
- In 2011 he was given Jinnah award.
Writings by Khan[link]
Khan has published six works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. He periodically writes editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics in several leading Pakistani and British newspapers. It was revealed in 2008 that Khan's second book, Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan, had required heavy editing from the publisher. The publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that when he asked Khan to show his writing for publication, "he handed me a leatherbound notebook or diary containing a few jottings and autobiographical snippets. It took me, at most, five minutes to read them; and that, it soon became apparent, was all we had to go on."[70]
Books
- Khan, Imran (1989). Imran Khan's cricket skills. London : Golden Press in association with Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-56349-9.
- Khan, Imran & Murphy, Patrick (1983). Imran: The autobiography of Imran Khan. Pelham Books. ISBN 0-7207-1489-3.
- Khan, Imran (1991). Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0-7011-3527-1.
- Khan, Imran (1992). All Round View. Mandarin. ISBN 0-7493-1499-0.
- Khan, Imran (1993). Warrior Race: A Journey Through the Land of the Tribal Pathans. Chatto Windus. ISBN 0-7011-3890-4.
- Khan, Imran (2011). Pakistan: A Personal History. Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-06774-6.
Articles
- Guardian comments, political and cricket commentary by Khan
- Telegraph columns, sports articles penned by Khan from 2000 to present
- We must address the root causes of this terror, Khan's editorial in the Independent following the 11 September attacks
- Benazir Bhutto has only herself to blame, Khan's 2007 editorial on Bhutto's return to Pakistan
In popular culture[link]
Main article: Kaptaan
After the permission from him, Kaptaan is a biographical film about him.
References[link]
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- ^ "Pakistan legend Imran Khan inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame". Thesportscampus.com. http://www.thesportscampus.com/201007146222/test-cricket/former-pakistan-great-imran-khan-inducted-into-icc-cricket-hall-of-fame. Retrieved 19 July 2010. [dead link]
- ^ a b c d Kervin, Alison (2006-08-06). "Imran Khan: ‘What I do now fulfils me like never before’". The Sunday Times (UK). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article601339.ece. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
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- ^ "Profiles:Jemima Khan". Hello!. http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/jemimakhan/. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
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- ^ "University delegation goes east to establish new College". University of Bradford. 2006-02-22. http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/pr/pressreleases/2006/delegation.php. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ "Imran Khan leads 100,000 rally against Pakistan's US alliance". The Telegraph. 30 October 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8858550/Imran-Khan-leads-100000-rally-against-Pakistans-US-alliance.html. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
- ^ Burns, John F. (5 February 1997). "Muslim Party Gets Huge Margin in Pakistan's Parliament". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/05/world/muslim-party-gets-huge-margin-in-pakistan-s-parliament.html. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
- ^ Walsh, Declan (31 October 2011). "Imran Khan laps up acclaim in Pakistan". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/31/imran-khan-acclaim-pakistan?newsfeed=true. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
- ^ "'When you speak out, people react'". The Guardian. 31 August 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2005/aug/31/cricket.pakistan. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
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- ^ "Khan 'optimistic' about Pakistan elections". BBC News. 21 June 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2056431.stm. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
- ^ Lancaster, John (2002-11-16). "Pakistan's parliament sworn, after 3 years". United Press International. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-69595658.html. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- ^ "Candidate details: Imran Khan". Pakistan Elections. http://www.elections.com.pk/candidatedetails.php?id=72. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ a b Forsyth, James (2005-05-31). "Khan Artist". The Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/658vhcpk.asp?pg=1. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ "EC rejects references against Imran Khan". Associated Press of Pakistan. 2007-09-05. Archived from the original on 2008-01-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20080125103524/http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15979&Itemid=2. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ "Imran Khan escapes from house arrest". The Times of India (India). 2007-11-05. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Imran_Khan_escapes_from_house_arrest/articleshow/2517638.cms. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ a b Page, Jeremy (2007-11-14). "Imran Khan comes out of hiding to lead students in street protests". The Times (UK). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2866163.ece. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ Page, Jeremy (2007-11-14). "Imran Khan faces terror charges after arrest in Pakistan". The Times (UK). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2868571.ece. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Imran Khan's 'tsunami' sweeps Lahore". Express Tribune (Pakistan). 2011-10-30. http://tribune.com.pk/story/285058/pti-rally-in-lahore-live-updates/. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ "Imran's dream team wows Karachi". The Express Tribune (Pakistan). 2011-12-25. http://tribune.com.pk/story/311748/pakistan-tehreek-i-insaf-rally-in-karachi-live-updates/. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ "IRI survey shows PTI on top of popularity list". The News (Pakistan). 2012-05-07. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-14418-IRI-survey-shows-PTI-on-top-of-popularity-list/. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ "Imran Khan's party issues election manifesto". Radio Pakistan.
- ^ a b "Imran Khan Standing for Election Again". The Guardian (UK). 2002-09-26. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-26-2002-27111.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ "Imran Khan's new game". BBC. 1998-07-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/128794.stm. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ Times Of India
- ^ Hindustan Times
- ^ Telegraph uk
- ^ Government Of Pakistan
- ^ Daily Times Newspaper
- ^ BBC UK
- ^ we'll care for tyrian
- ^ Gordon_White,_Baron_White_of_Hull
- ^ BBC UK
- ^ Khalil, Azam (2008-09-08). "A New Era". Frontier Post.
- ^ "A "totally failed" politician Imran surviving on media glare, says MQM". Asian News International. 2008-05-23.
- ^ Walsh, Delcan (2005-08-31). "'When you speak out, people react'". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2005/aug/31/cricket.pakistan. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^ ["http://tribune.com.pk/story/295690/pti-faces-fresh-allegations-of-establishment-links]
- ^ "Former Cricketer Imran Khan is an Asian jewel". 2004-07-09. http://www.redhotcurry.com/archive/news/2004/jewel_awards2004_southern.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ "Asian Awards". Hindustan Times. India. 2007-12-13. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=fc2d1dd8-df34-4ba0-9e47-58f92b1f4c3d&MatchID1=4576&TeamID1=8&TeamID2=2&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1147&MatchID2=4614&TeamID3=1&TeamID4=5&MatchType2=2&SeriesID2=1161&PrimaryID=4576&Headline=Indian+tennis+legend+gets+top+Asian+honour. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ "Tendulkar honoured with best Asian ODI batsman award by ACC". Hindustan Times (India). 2008-07-06. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=55160544-320b-4723-8ca9-14b5063fb544&ParentID=52c6b1a7-aaed-4d36-811f-eea832a76f24&MatchID1=4726&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1191&PrimaryID=4726&Headline=Sachin+adjudged+best+Asian+ODI+batsman. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
- ^ "Hall of Famers / ICC Centenary". 2004-07-09. http://www.catchthespirit.com/hall_of_fame/hall_of_famers.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
- ^ "It's a miracle... Imran's notes turn into book". Evening Standard. 2008-07-04.
Further reading[link]
- Tennant, Evo (1996). Imran Khan. Trafalgar Square. ISBN 0-575-05936-2.
External links[link]
- Player profile: Imran Khan from ESPNcricinfo
- Player profile: Imran Khan from CricketArchive
- Player Profile: Imran Khan from Yahoo! Cricket
- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Khan's political party
- Chancellor: Imran Khan at the University of Bradford
- Column archive at The Guardian
- Imran Khan on Charlie Rose
- Imran Khan at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by or about Imran Khan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Imran Khan collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- PTI to move SC against speaker's decision today, says Imran Khan, The News International, May 28, 2012]
- PTI will form next government, says Imran Khan, Geo News Pakistan]
- Articles
- The NS Interview: Imran Khan Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman, 20 August 2010
- Imran Khan's revolution, Murtaza Razvi, Dawn, 27 April 2011
- Imran Khan: Pakistan's next leader?, Frost Over the World, Aljazeera English, 10 December 2011
- Thousands rally for Pakistan's Imran Khan, Aljazeera English, 25 December 2011
- Hundreds of thousands gather at PTI rally in Karachi, Dawn, 25 December 2011
- Imran stands out, Adiah AfrazThe News International, 27 May 2012
- The Imran that we know Shafqat Mahmood, The News International, 27 May 2012
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by Zaheer Abbas Zaheer Abbas Abdul Qadir |
Pakistan Cricket Captain 1982–1983 1985–1987 1989–1992 |
Succeeded by Sarfraz Nawaz Abdul Qadir Javed Miandad |
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Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 1996–present |
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| Preceded by Baroness Lockwood |
Chancellor of the University of Bradford 2005–present |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Khan, Imran |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 25 November 1952 |
| Place of birth | Lahore, Punjab |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
"Osama" and "bin Laden" redirect here. For other uses, see Osama (disambiguation) and bin Laden (disambiguation).
| Osama bin Laden أسامة بن لادن |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (1957-03-10)March 10, 1957 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Died | May 2, 2011(2011-05-02) (aged 54) Abbottabad, Pakistan 34°10′9″N 73°14′33″E / 34.16917°N 73.2425°E / 34.16917; 73.2425 |
| Resting place | Arabian Sea |
| Nationality | Saudi Arabian (1957–1994) None (Stateless) (1994–2011)[1] |
| Years active | 1979–2011 |
| Successor | Ayman Al-Zawahiri[2] |
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Qutbism)[3][4] |
| Children | |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Al-Qaeda |
| Years of service | 1988–2011 |
| Battles/wars | |
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /oʊˈsɑːmə bɪn moʊˈhɑːmɨd bɪn əˈwɑːd bɪn ˈlɑːdən/; Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن, ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin; March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011a), was the founder of Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets.[5][6][7] He was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.[8]
Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.[9][10][11] From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, with a US$25 million bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[12] On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs and CIA operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President Barack Obama.[13][14]
Contents |
Early life and education[link]
Main article: Personal life of Osama bin Laden
See also: Bin Laden family
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,[15] a son of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a billionaire construction magnate with close ties to the Saudi royal family,[16] and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas (then called Alia Ghanem).[17] In a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10, 1957.[18]
Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and they are still together.[19] The couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.[17] The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, of which Osama later inherited around $25–30 million.[20]
Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim.[21] From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular Al-Thager Model School.[17][22] He studied economics and business administration[23] at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979,[24] or a degree in public administration in 1981.[25] One source described him as "hard working",[26] another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree.[27] At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work.[28] Other interests included writing poetry;[29] reading, with the works of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle said to be among his favorites; black stallions; and association football, in which he enjoyed playing at centre forward and followed English club Arsenal F.C.[30]
Personal life[link]
In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia, Syria;[31] they were divorced before September 11, 2001. Bin Laden's other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s), Khairiah Sabar (married 1985), Siham Sabar (married 1987), and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.[32] Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives.[33][34] Many of bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and as of 2010[update] Iranian authorities reportedly continue to control their movement.[35]
Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing.[36] Bin Laden's eldest half-brother, Salem bin Laden, the subsequent head of the bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 near San Antonio, Texas, in the United States, when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.[37]
The FBI described bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between 6 ft 4 in and 6 ft 6 in (193–198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Bin Laden had an olive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white turban and he had stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male headdress.[38] Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.[39]
Name[link]
There is no universally accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English;[40] bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered "Osama bin Laden". The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as other U.S. governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin". Less common renderings include "Ussamah bin Ladin" and, in the French-language media, "Oussama ben Laden". Other spellings include "Binladen" or, as used by his family in the West, "Binladin". The decapitalization of bin is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions and articles uncapitalized in surnames; however, bin means "son of" and is not, strictly speaking, a preposition or article. The spellings with o and e come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, where bin Laden spent many years.
Osama bin Laden's full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden". "Mohammed" refers to bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden; "Awad" refers to his grandfather, Awad bin Aboud bin Laden, a Kindite Hadhrami tribesman; "Laden" refers not to bin Laden's great-grandfather, who was named Aboud, but to a more distant ancestor.
The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden" alone, as "bin Laden" is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Laden's son Omar bin Laden, the family's hereditary surname is "al-Qahtani" (Arabic: القحطاني, āl-Qaḥṭānī), but bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden never officially registered the name.[41]
Osama bin Laden had also assumed the kunyah "Abū ʿAbdāllāh" ("father of Abdallah"). His admirers have referred to him by several nicknames, including the "Prince" or "Emir" (الأمير, al-Amīr), the "Sheik" (الشيخ, aš-Šayḫ), the "Jihadist Sheik" or "Sheik al-Mujahid" (شيخ المجاهد, al-Muǧāhid Šayḫ), "Hajj" (حج, Ḥaǧǧ), and the "Director".[42] The word ʾusāmah (أسامة) means "lion",[43] earning him the nicknames "Lion" and "Lion Sheik".[44]
Beliefs and ideology[link]
Main article: Beliefs and ideology of Osama bin Laden
According to former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer, who led the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader was motivated by a belief that U.S. foreign policy has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East,[45] condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are."
Bin Laden also said only the restoration of Sharia law would "set things right" in the Muslim world, and that alternatives such as "pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy" must be opposed.[46] This belief, in conjunction with violent jihad, has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb.[47] Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.[48] Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,[49] the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury", in an October 2002 letter.[50]
Bin Laden's ideology included the idea that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.[51][52] Bin Laden was anti-Semitic, and delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."[53] Shia Muslims have been listed along with "heretics, [...] America, and Israel" as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.[54]
Bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,[55] and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.[56]
His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars,[57][58] journalists from The New York Times,[59][60] the BBC,[61] and Qatari news station Al Jazeera,[62] analysts such as Peter Bergen,[63] Michael Scheuer,[64] Marc Sageman,[65] and Bruce Hoffman[66][67] and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.[68]
Bin Laden's overall strategy against much larger enemies such as the Soviet Union and United States was to lure them into a long war of attrition in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to economic collapse of the enemy nation.[69] Al-Qaeda manuals clearly outline this strategy. In a 2004 tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, bin Laden spoke of "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy".[70]
Militant activity[link]
Main article: Militant activity of Osama bin Laden
See also: CIA-Osama bin Laden controversy
Mujahideen in Afghanistan[link]
After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden went to Pakistan, joined Abdullah Azzam and used money and machinery from his own construction company to help the mujahideen resistance in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.[71][72] He later told a journalist: "I felt outraged that an injustice had been committed against the people of Afghanistan."[73] Under Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the mujahideen[74] through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Bin Laden met and built relations with Hamid Gul, who was a three-star general in the Pakistani army and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the ISI.
By 1984, bin Laden and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat, which funneled money, arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune[75] paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet puppet regime; the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It was during this time that he became idolised by many Arabs.[76]
Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda[link]
Main article: Al-Qaeda
By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.[77] Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20, 1988, indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "Basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make his religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (bayat) to follow one's superiors.[78]
According to Wright, the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret".[79] His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, and bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.[80] Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union.[81] However, he was angry at the outbreak of internecine tribal fighting among the Afghans.[82]
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Arab legion. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. forces in Saudi territory.[83] Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi dependence on the U.S. military, arguing the two holiest shrines of Islam, Mecca and Medina, the cities in which the Prophet Mohamed received and recited God's message, should only be defended by Muslims. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led them to attempt to silence him. The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division landed in north-eastern Saudi city of Dhahran and was deployed in the desert barely 400 miles from Medina.[82]
Meanwhile, on November 8, 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed, discovering copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.[84] Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and later admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City on November 5, 1990.
Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992, in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.[85]
Sudan and return to Afghanistan[link]
In Sudan, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Khartoum. He bought a house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at Soba on the Blue Nile.[86][87] During his time in Sudan, he heavily invested in the infrastructure, in agriculture and businesses. He built roads using the same bulldozers he had employed to construct mountain tracks in Afghanistan. Many of his labourers were the same fighters who had been his comrades in the war against the Soviet Union. He was generous to the poor and popular with the people.[88][89] He continued to criticize King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and in response, in 1994, Fahd stripped bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and persuaded his family to cut off his $7 million a year stipend.[90][1] By now bin Laden was being linked with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.
The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being a 'sponsor of international terrorism' and bin Laden himself of operating 'terrorist training camps in the Sudanese desert. Sudan therefore began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states:
In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer Billy Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.[91] U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. Sudan's minister of defense, Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding against bin Laden in any country.[92]
The 9/11 Commission Report further states:
In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. U.S. officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by the CIA.
In May 1996, due to increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden was permitted to leave for a country of his choice. He chose to return to Jalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar.[93][94] Despite his ambitions and organizational skills, when bin Laden left Sudan, he and his organization were significantly weakened.[95]
In August, 1996, bin Laden declared war against the United States. Despite the assurance of President George H.W. Bush to King Fahd in 1990, that all U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia would be withdrawn once the Iraqi threat had been dealt with, by 1996 the Americans were still there, citing the continued existence of Saddam's regime (which Bush had chosen not to destroy). Bin Laden's view was that "the 'evils' of the Middle East arose from America's attempt to take over the region and from its support for Israel. Saudi Arabia had been turned into 'an American colony".[96] The fatwā was first published in Al Quds Al Arabi, a London-based newspaper. It was entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."[97] Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest places in Islam. The reference to 'occupation' in the fatwā referred to US forces based in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq, known as Operation Southern Watch.
In Afghanistan, bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad", and from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to establish more training camps for Mujahideen fighters.[98] Bin Laden effectively took over Ariana Afghan Airlines, which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as provided false identifications to members of bin Laden's terrorist network.[99] Viktor Bout helped to run the airline, maintaining planes and loading cargo. Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, concluded that Ariana was being used as a "terrorist taxi service".[100]
Early attacks and aid for attacks[link]
It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992, bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.[101]
It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to Jannah (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to Jahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.[102] The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.
In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria, Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150,000–200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government.
Bin Laden funded the Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997,[103][104][105] which killed 62 civilians, but outraged the Egyptian public. In mid-1997, the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing bin Laden to abandon his Nazim Jihad compound and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south.[106]
Another successful attack was carried out in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundreds of Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand Hazaras overrunning the city.[107]
In February 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip".[108][109] At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."[110]
Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on June 24, 1998.[111]
The 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the major East African cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks were linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to the attention of the United States public for the first time, and resulted in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation placing bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list.
In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to President Bill Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the United States of America, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.[112]
At the end of 2000, Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a triple attack on January 3, 2000 which would have included bombings in Jordan of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman and tourists at Mount Nebo and a site on the Jordan River, the sinking of the destroyer USS The Sullivans in Yemen, as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of Ahmed Ressam.[113]
Yugoslav Wars[link]
See also: Bosnian mujahideen
A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described Bosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists, after it was asserted that militant elements of the former Sarajevo government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden.[114] In 1997, Rzeczpospolita, one of the largest Polish daily newspapers, reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, hundreds of volunteers joined an "all-mujahedeen unit" called El Moujahed in an abandoned hillside factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.
According to Middle East intelligence reports, bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them was Karim Said Atmani who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the United States of America.[115] He is a former roommate of Ahmed Ressam, the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials.[116][117] He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.[118]
A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former mujahideen who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists, and had lived in the area 60 miles (97 km) north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years. Khalil al-Deek, was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama bin Laden. In its June 26, 1997, report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, The New York Times noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Osama bin Laden.[119][120][121]
In 1999 it was revealed that bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and Bosnian passports in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the September 11 attacks, but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in Turkey and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation, a new explanation was given that bin Laden "did not personally collect his Bosnian passport" and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna, which issued the passport, could not have known who bin Laden was at the time.[119][120][121] The Bosnian daily Oslobođenje published in 2001 that three men, believed to be linked to bin Laden, were arrested in Sarajevo in July 2001. The three, one of whom was identified as Imad El Misri, were Egyptian nationals. The paper said that two of the suspects were holding Bosnian passports.[119]
In 1998 it was reported that bin Laden was operating his al-Qaeda network out of Albania. The Charleston Gazette quoted Fatos Klosi, the head of the Albanian intelligence service, as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Confirmation of these activities came from Claude Kader, a French national who said he was a member of bin Laden's Albanian network.
By 1998 four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt.[122]
During his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević presented FBI documents that verified bin Laden's al-Qaeda had a presence in the Balkans and aided the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was identified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization shortly before the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Milošević had argued that the United States aided the terrorists which culminated in its backing of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.[123]
September 11, 2001 attacks[link]
"God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."
— Osama bin Laden, 2004[124]
After his denial,[125][126][Full citation needed] Osama bin Laden finally claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States in 2004.[127][128][129] The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft,[130] the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia,[131] and the deaths of 2,973 people[132] and the nineteen hijackers.[133] In response to the attacks, the United States launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.[134]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified[135] evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable.[136] The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks, although the government report notes that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient for a prosecutable case.[137]
Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16, 2001, bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.[138]
In a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge.[139] The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."[140]
In the 2004 Osama bin Laden video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers.[128][141] In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.[128]
According to the tapes, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.[142]
Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announced, "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. [...] I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers [...] with the raids" (May 23, 2006).[143] In the tapes he was seen with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they made preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006).[144]
Identified motivations of the September 11 attacks include the support of Israel by the United States, presence of the U.S. military in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. enforcement of sanctions against Iraq.
Criminal charges[link]
| Osama Bin Laden | |
|---|---|
| FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives | |
| Charges |
|
| Reward | $25 million |
| Alias |
|
| Description | |
| Born | 1957 Saudi Arabia |
| Died | May 2, 2011(2011-05-02) (aged 54) Abbottabad, Pakistan |
| Cause of death | Ballistic trauma |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6'4" to 6'6" |
| Weight | Approximately 160 pounds |
| Occupation | Unknown |
| Criminal Status | |
| Added | June 7, 1999 |
| Number | 456 |
| Killed During Attempt to Capture | |
On March 16, 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing Silvan Becker, agent of Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the Terrorism Department, and his wife Vera in Libya on March 10, 1994.[68][145] Bin Laden was still wanted by the Libyan government at the time of his death.[146][147] Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8, 1998, when a grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the November 14, 1995, truck bombing of a U.S.-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.[148] Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al-Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.[148] Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack. On November 4, 1998, Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on charges of Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death[149] for his alleged role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Khaleel in the United States.[150][151] However the Taliban ruled not to extradict Bin Laden on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence published in the indictments and that non-Muslim courts lacked standing to try Muslims[152]
Bin Laden became the 456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, when he was added to the list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment along with others for capital crimes in the 1998 embassy attacks. Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure prior to the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001.[153] In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.[154]
Years later, on October 10, 2001, bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22 FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by the President of the United States George W. Bush, in direct response to the September 11 attacks, but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.
Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. They did however offer to try him before an Islamic court if evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks was provided. It was not until eight days after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial in return for the United States ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by President Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable, with Bush responding "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."[155] In June 2006 FBI's chief of investigative publicity, Rex Tomb, saw no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11.[156][157]
On June 15, 2011, federal prosecutors of the United States of America officially dropped all criminal charges against Osama bin Laden following his death in May.[158]
Pursuit by the United States[link]
Clinton administration[link]
Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton.[159] Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (and specifically their elite Special Activities Division) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized.[160] On August 20, 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the Arabian Sea struck bin Laden's training camps near Khost in Afghanistan, narrowly missing him by a few hours.[161] In 1999 the CIA, together with Pakistani military intelligence, had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden, but the plan was aborted by the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état;[161] in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was in.[160]
In 2000, prior to the September 11 attacks, Paul Bremer characterized the Clinton administration as "correctly focused on bin Laden", while Robert Oakley criticized their "obsession with Osama".[113]
Bush administration[link]
Immediately after the September 11 attacks, U.S. government officials named bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.[42][162] On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million.[163] The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward.[164]
According to The Washington Post, the U.S. government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the United States to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the United States in the war against al-Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the Battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.[165]
The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing bin Laden was shut down in late 2005.[166] Bush had previously defended this scaling back of the effort several times, saying, "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."[167]
U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between August 14–16, 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al-Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.[168]
Obama administration[link]
On October 7, 2008, in the second presidential debate, on foreign policy, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged, "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority."[169] Upon being elected, then President-elect Obama expressed his plans to "renew U.S. commitment to finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to his national security advisers" in an effort to ratchet up the hunt for the terrorist.[169] President Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on bin Laden that "conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda to Hamas to Hezbollah," replacing it with "with a covert, laserlike focus on al-Qaeda and its spawn."[170][171]
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in December 2009 that officials had had no reliable information on bin Laden's whereabouts for years. One week later, General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said bin Laden had become an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world", and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed", McChrystal said of bin Laden. "Killing or capturing bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."[172]
In April 2011, President Obama ordered a covert operation to kill or capture bin Laden. On May 2, 2011, the White House announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had carried it out, killing him in his Abbottabad, Pakistan compound.[173]
Activities and whereabouts after the September 11 attacks[link]
Main article: Location of Osama bin Laden
While referring to Osama bin Laden in a CNN film clip on September 17, 2001, then President George W. Bush stated, "I want justice. There is an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted dead or alive'.[174] Subsequently, bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death; some placed bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods. None were ever definitively proven. After military offensives in Afghanistan failed to uncover his whereabouts, Pakistan was regularly identified as his suspected hiding place. Some of the conflicting reports regarding bin Laden's continued whereabouts and mistaken claims about his death follow:
- In December 11, 2005, a letter from Atiyah Abd al-Rahman to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicated that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan at the time. In the letter, translated by the United States military's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, "Atiyah" instructs Zarqawi to "send messengers from your end to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership [...] I am now on a visit to them and I am writing you this letter as I am with them..." Al-Rahman also indicates that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "weak" and "have many of their own problems." The letter has been deemed authentic by military and counterterrorism officials, according to The Washington Post.[175][176]
- Al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally verified videos demonstrating bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007.[177]
- In 2009, a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew of UCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in Parachinar as bin Laden's likely hideouts.[178]
- In March 2009, the New York Daily News reported that the hunt for bin Laden had centered in the Chitral District of Pakistan, including the Kalam Valley. Author, Rohan Gunaratna, stated that captured al-Qaeda leaders had confirmed that bin Laden was hiding in Chitral.[179]
- In the first week of December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that bin Laden was in Afghanistan in 2009. The detainee reported that in January or February (2009) he met a trusted contact who had seen bin Laden in Afghanistan about 15 to 20 days earlier. However, on December 6, 2009, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of bin Laden in years.[180] Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.[181]
- On December 9, 2009, BBC News reported that U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal, who served as Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan from June 15, 2009, until June 23, 2010, emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of bin Laden, thus indicating that the U.S. high command believed that bin Laden was still alive.[182]
- On February 2, 2010, Afghan president, Hamid Karzai arrived in Saudi Arabia for an official visit. The agenda included discussion of a possible Saudi role in Karzai's plan to reintegrate Taliban militants. During the visit an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban severed ties with extremists and expelled Osama bin Laden.[183]
- On June 7, 2010, the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Siyassa reported that bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town of Savzevar, in north eastern Iran.[184] The Australian News,online edition published the claim on June 9.[185] On June 9, The Australian News, online edition repeated the claim.
- On October 18, 2010, an unnamed NATO official suggested that bin Laden was "alive and well and living comfortably" in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the United States.[186]
- On April 16, 2011, a leaked Al Jazeera report claimed that bin Laden had been captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.[187]
On March 29, 2012 Pakistani newspaper Dawn acquired a report produced by Pakistani security officials, based on interrogation of his three surviving wives, that detailed his movements while living underground in Pakistan.[188]
In a letter Bin Laden wrote in 2010 he chastised followers who had reinterpreted al-tatarrus — an Islamic doctrine meant to excuse the unintended killing of non-combatants in unusual circumstances — to justify routine massacres of Muslim civilians which had turned Muslims against the jihadi movement. Of the groups affiliated with al-Qaida, Bin Laden condemned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan for an attack on members of a hostile tribe, declaring that “the operation is not justified, as there were casualties of noncombatants.” Bin Laden wrote that the tatarrus doctrine “needs to be revisited based on the modern-day context and clear boundaries established.” He asked a subordinate to draw up a jihadist code of conduct that would constrain military operations in order to avoid civilian casualties. In Yemen, Bin Laden urged his allies to seek a “truce” that would bring the country “stability” or would at least “show the people that we are careful in keeping … the Muslims safe on the basis of peace.” In Somalia, he called attention to the extreme poverty caused by constant warfare, and he advised al-Shabab to pursue economic development. He instructed his followers around the world to focus on education and persuasion rather than “entering into confrontations” with Islamic political parties.[189]
Whereabouts just prior to his death[link]
In April 2011, various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was originally believed that bin Laden was hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, but he was found 100 miles (160 km) away in a three-story mansion in Abbottabad at 34°10′9.51″N 73°14′32.78″E / 34.1693083°N 73.2424389°E / 34.1693083; 73.2424389.[190][191][192] Bin Laden's mansion was located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) southwest of the Pakistan Military Academy, the country's "West Point".[193][194][195][196] Google Earth maps show that the compound was not present in 2001, but was present on images taken in 2005.[original research?]
Death[link]
Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 am local time[197][198] by a United States special forces military unit. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or informally by its former name, SEAL Team Six) of the Joint Special Operations Command, with support from CIA operatives on the ground.[199][200] The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan.[201] After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours after his death.[202]
Critics accused Pakistan's military and security establishment of protecting bin Laden.[203] For example, Mosharraf Zaidi, a leading Pakistani columnist, stated, "It seems deeply improbable that bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state."[204] Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari denied that his country's security forces sheltered bin Laden,[205][206] and called any supposed support for bin Laden by the Pakistani government "baseless speculation".
It was speculated that the issue might further strain U.S. ties with Pakistan.[207][208] Bin Laden was killed in what some suggest was his residence for five years.[209][210] It was an expensive compound located less than a mile from Pakistan Military Academy,[211][212][213] probably built for him[214] and less than 100 kilometers' drive from the capital.
The Pakistani government's foreign office issued a statement that "categorically denies" any reports by the media that the country's leadership, "civil as well as military, had any prior knowledge of the U.S. operation against Osama bin Laden".[215][216]
Pakistan's United States envoy, ambassador Husain Haqqani, promises a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound, just a few hours drive from Islamabad, and stated that "obviously bin Laden did have a support system; the issue is, was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan or within the society of Pakistan?"[217]
See also[link]
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References[link]
Footnotes[link]
- ^ a b Dan Ackman. "The Cost Of Being Osama Bin Laden". 2001-09-14. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
- ^ "Ayman al-Zawahiri appointed as al-Qaeda leader". BBC News. June 16, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13788594. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
- ^ Osama Bin Laden (2007) Suzanne J. Murdico
- ^ Armstrong, Karen (July 11, 2005). "The label of Catholic terror was never used about the IRA". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/jul/11/northernireland.july7.
- ^ "Death of Osama bin Ladin". Pakistani Ministry Of Foreign Affairs. May 1, 2011. http://www.mofa.gov.pk/Press_Releases/2011/May/PR_150.htm. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ^ Baker, Peter; Cooper, Helene; Mazzetti, Mark (May 1, 2011). "Bin Laden Dead, US Officials Say". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html.
- ^ Aleem Maqbool. "Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, dead - Barack Obama". May 1, 2011. BBC News Online. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
- ^ Scheuer, Michael (February 7, 2008). "Yemen still close to al-Qaeda's heart". Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB07Ak01.html. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ "FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives". FBI.gov. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ Dan Eggen (August 28, 2006). "Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings?". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700687.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ "Most wanted terrorists list released". CNN. October 10, 2001. http://articles.cnn.com/2001-10-10/us/inv.mostwanted.list_1_saif-al-adel-abdul-rahman-yasin-ahmed-khalfan-ghailani. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ^ "Fbi – Usama Bin Laden". Fbi.gov. August 7, 1998. http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ "USS Carl Vinson: Osama Bin Laden's Burial at Sea". ABC News. USA. May 1, 2011. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/uss-carl-vinson-osama-bin-ladens-burial-sea/story?id=13510831. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
- ^ Quigley, Rachel (May 6, 2011). "Your happiness will turn to sadness: Al Qaeda admits Bin Laden IS dead – but vows bloody revenge". Daily Mail (UK). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384260/Al-Qaeda-confirm-Osama-Bin-Laden-death-vow-continue-US-terrorist-attacks.html. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ "Frontline: Hunting Bin Laden: Who is Bin Laden?: Chronology". PBS. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ David Johnson. "Osama bin Laden infoplease". Infoplease. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c Steve Coll (December 12, 2005). "Letter From Jedda: Young Osama- How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ "Osama bin Laden". GlobalSecurity.org. January 11, 2006. http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/osama_bin_laden.htm. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ "The Mysterious Death of Osama Bin Laden". August 3, 2011. http://votebits.com/tag/osama-bin-laden-histery. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ The Economist, "Osama bin Laden", May 5, 2011, p. 93.
- ^ Beyer, Lisa (September 24, 2001). "The Most Wanted Man In The World". Time. http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wosama.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ Bergen 2006, pp. 52
- ^ Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, Verso, 2005, p. xii.
- ^ Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 22. Gale Group, 2002. (link requires username/password)
- ^ "A Biography of Osama Bin Laden". PBS Frontline. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/bio.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ Aziz Hug (January 19, 2006). "The Real Osama". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080430133236/http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=10855. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ Gunaratna, Rohan (2003). Inside Al Qaeda (3rd ed.). Berkley Books. p. 22. ISBN 0-231-12692-1.
- ^ Wright 2006, pp. 79
- ^ Michael Hirst (September 24, 2008). "Analysing Osama's jihadi poetry". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7630934.stm. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ "Osama bin Laden's bodyguard: I had orders to kill him if the Americans tried to take him alive". Daily Mirror. May 4, 2011. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/osama-bin-ladens-bodyguard-i-had-orders-126430. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
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- ^ a b Arena, Kelli (December 28, 2001). "Obama administration to ratchet up hunt for bin Laden". CNN. http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-12/politics/binladen.hunt. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
- ^ Serwer, Adam (February 7, 2011). "No, killing of Bin Laden does not represent `continuity' with Bush – The Plum Line". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/no-killing-of-bin-laden-does-not-represent-continuity-with-bush/2011/03/04/AFJbo3YG_blog.html. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ Newlin, Eliza. "Obama's War – Thursday, May 5, 2011". NationalJournal.com. http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/vantage-point/obama-s-war-against-al-qaida-20110505. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ "Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat". BBC News. December 9, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8402138.stm. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ "Osama Bin Laden dead, US President Obama confirms". BBC News Online. May 2, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13256791. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ "2001, President George W. Bush 'Bin Laden, Wanted dead or alive'". CNN. May 2, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgn4EaCGQA. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- ^ Karen DeYoung (October 2, 2006). "Letter Gives Glimpse of Al-Qaeda's Leadership". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100101083.html. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Letter Exposes New Leader in Al-Qa`ida High Command (PDF)" (PDF). Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. September 25, 2006. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/CTC-AtiyahLetter.pdf. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Experts warn of attack clues in Bin Laden video". September 6, 2007. Archived from the original on April 8, 2008. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_EKAnlECgMVCrglrdYA5IqvQ6hQ. Retrieved May 25, 2010. Bin Laden video release authenticity discussed.
- ^ Gillespie, Thomas W. et al. (2009). "Finding Osama bin Laden: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery" (PDF). MIT International Review. http://web.mit.edu/mitir/2009/online/finding-bin-laden.pdf. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ Meek, James Gordon, "Tighten The Net On Evil", Daily News, 2009-03-15, p. 27.
- ^ "No Bin Laden information in years, says Gates". December 6, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ Bin Laden not in Pakistan, PM says. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat". BBC News. December 9, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8402138.stm. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia Wants Taliban to Expel Bin Laden". Associated Press. Newsmax. February 2, 2010. http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ML-Saudi-Afghan/2010/02/02/id/348703. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ "Kuwaiti Daily 'Al-Siyassa': Bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri Guarded by Iranian Troops in Iranian Territory". Memrijttm.org. June 7, 2010. http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=4338. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
- ^ "Bin Laden, aides 'hiding in Iran'". June 9, 2010. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/bin-laden-aides-hiding-in-iran/story-fn3dxity-1225877288776.
- ^ Crilly, Rob (October 18, 2010). "Osama bin Laden 'living comfortably in Pakistan'". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8070836/Osama-bin-Laden-living-comfortably-in-Pakistan.html.
- ^ Qari, Sarah (April 16, 2011). "Al-Jazeera: LEAK: Osama Bin Laden Captured". The RMC News page. http://rmc2011.net/2011/04/16/al-jazeera-leak-osama-bin-laden-captured.
- ^ Declan Walsh (March 30, 2012). "On the Run, Bin Laden Had 4 Children and 5 Houses, a Wife Says". The New York Times: p. A1. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/world/asia/on-run-bin-laden-had-4-children-and-5-houses-a-wife-says.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
- ^ Saletan, William (May 4, 2012). "Reflections of a Terrorist". Slate. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/05/bin_laden_s_documents_al_qaida_letters_show_the_moral_and_political_failure_of_terrorism_.single.html.
- ^ Zengerle, Patricia; Bull, Alister (May 2, 2011). "Bin Laden was found at luxurious Pakistan compound". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/02/us-binladen-compound-idUSTRE7411NX20110502. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ Osama bin Laden death: Pakistan locals flock to see villain's lair Declan Walsh The Guardian May 5, 2011
- ^ "Map of Where Osama bin Laden Was Killed – Map". The New York Times. May 2, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/02/world/asia/abbottabad-map-of-where-osama-bin-laden-was-killed.html. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ "Osama Bin Laden's death: How it happened". BBC News Online. June 7, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ "Osama bin Laden, the face of terror, killed in Pakistan". CNN. May 2, 2011. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/bin.laden.obit/index.html. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ "Spitzer: What role did Pakistan play in the killing of Osama bin Laden? – In the Arena". CNN. http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/spitzer-what-role-did-pakistan-play-in-the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden/. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ "President Obama Praises Troops Who Killed Osama bin Laden". ABC news. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/osama-bin-laden-death-prompts-celebrations-security-alerts/story?id=13507836. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ Greg Miller (May 5, 2011). "CIA spied on bin Laden from safe house". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-spied-on-bin-laden-from-safe-house/2011/05/05/AFXbG31F_story.html. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ Cooper, Helene (May 1, 2011). "Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden". The New York Times. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-dead-u-s-official-says/. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
- ^ Philip Sherwell (May 7, 2011). "Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
- ^ Dilanian, Ken (May 2, 2011). "CIA led U.S. special forces mission against Osama bin Laden". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-osama-bin-laden-cia-20110502,0,6466214.story. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- ^ C. Christine Fair (May 4, 2011). "The bin Laden aftermath: The U.S. shouldn't hold Pakistan's military against Pakistan's civilians". Foreign Policy. http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/04/the_bin_laden_aftermath_the_us_shouldnt_hold_pakistans_military_against_pakistans_c. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ^ "Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, dead – Barack Obama". BBC News. May 1, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ Marisa Schultz. "Levin questions Pakistan's role". The Detroit News. http://detnews.com/article/20110503/NATION/105030368/Levin-questions-Pakistan's-role#ixzz1LGfVnAVd. [dead link]
- ^ "Osama bin Laden killed near Pakistan's West Point. Was he really hidden?". The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2011/0502/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-near-Pakistan-s-West-Point.-Was-he-really-hidden. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
- ^ Nahal Toosi; Zarar Khan (May 3, 2011). "Pakistan's president denies harboring bin Laden". Associated Press. Yahoo Finance. http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Pakistans-president-denies-apf-1756634910.html. Retrieved January 6, 2011. [dead link]
- ^ "Zardari defends Pakistan over intel". AFP. Emirates 24/7. May 3, 2011. http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/zardari-defends-pakistan-over-bin-laden-intel-2011-05-03-1.388294. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ "Pakistan admits it wasn't part of US operation to kill Osama bin Laden – DNA". Dnaindia.com. September 11, 2001. http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_pakistan-admits-it-wasn-t-part-of-us-operation-to-kill-osama-bin-laden_1538828. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Perlez, Jane (September 11, 2001). "Nation & World, Bin Laden's death casts more suspicion on Pakistan". Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014941260_osamapakistan03.html. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Peter Walker and agencies (May 6, 2011). "Osama bin Laden lived in two rooms for five years, wife says". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/06/osama-bin-laden-lived-two-rooms. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ Reuters (May 3, 2011). "U.S.: Bin Laden lived in Pakistan compound for at least 5 years". Haaretz. Israel. http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-bin-laden-lived-in-pakistan-compound-for-at-least-5-years-1.359578. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- ^ Sherwell, Philip. "Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Rodriguez, Alex (May 6, 2011). "Mystery shrouds the quiet man who built Bin Laden's compound". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/print/2011/may/06/world/la-fg-osama-builder-20110506. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "8 Interesting Facts About Osama bin Laden's Compound". International Business Times. http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/140534/20110503/interesting-facts-about-osama-bin-laden-s-compound.htm. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Westhead, Rick (April 1, 2011). "Questions about bin Laden embarrassing to Pakistan". Toronto Star (Toronto). http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/984289. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Ross, Brian. "Osama Bin Laden Killed: U.S. Intelligence Probes Possible Pakistani Support System". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed-us-probes-pakistan-support/story?id=13516775. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ 'Osama raid took Pakistan Army by surprise'. PTI. July 26, 2011. rediff.com
- ^ "Death of Bin Laden: Live report". Yahoo!. http://ph.news.yahoo.com/death-bin-laden-live-report-013459906.html.
Additional notes[link]
- ^ The date according to Pakistan Standard Time (UTC+05:00).
Bibliography[link]
- Bergen, Peter (2006). The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9592-7. http://books.google.com/?id=_XkM92XMlQ4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11. New York: Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-3084-6. http://books.google.com/?id=RNkj-mO-Nt8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Looming+Tower:+Al-Qaeda+And+The+Road+To+9/11#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Scheuer, Michael (2002). Through Our Enemies' Eyes. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's. ISBN 1-57488-553-7. http://books.google.com/?id=sK0n1UoN9gAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Through+Our+Enemies%27+Eyes#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Further reading[link]
- Berner, Brad K (2007). Quotations from Osama Bin Laden. Peacock Books. ISBN 81-248-0113-4. http://books.google.com/?id=ytwlNcIqYs0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Bin Laden, Osama; Bruce Lawrence (2005). Messages to the world: the statements of Osama Bin Laden. Verso. ISBN 1-84467-045-7. http://books.google.com/?id=3_fRlEZoaioC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Scheuer, Michael (2011). Osama Bin Laden. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-973866-1. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Vt-a30Z4_UUC&lpg=PP1&dq=Osama%20bin%20Laden&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service (2006) – Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004
- Ibrahim, Raymond (2007). The Al Qaeda Reader. Broadway Books. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-7679-2262-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=Tdx3M-bHj34C&dq=raymond+ibrahim&hl=en&ei=_EsCTtq3KYOwuAPQkfj1DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA.
External links[link]
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- Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
- Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at Dawn
- Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
- Works by or about Osama bin Laden in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Osama bin Laden collected legal news at JURIST
- Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America', The Observer, November 24, 2002
- Hunting Bin Laden, PBS Frontline, (November 2002)
- Young Osama, Steve Coll, The New Yorker, December 12, 2005
- How the World Sees Osama bin Laden[dead link], slideshow by Life
- The Osama bin Laden File from The National Security Archive, posted May 2, 2011
- Letters from Abbottabad from Combating Terrorism Center
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | bin Laden, Osama |
| Alternative names | Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden (full name); أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن (Arabic); Laden, Osama bin (alternate form); Bin Laden, Usama (alternate transliteration); UBL (common referent); Bin Ladin, Ussamah (alternate transliteration); Ben Laden, Oussama (alternate transliteration); Binladen, Osama (alternate transliteration); Binladin, Osama (alternate transliteration); Al-Amir (alias); Abu Abdallah (alias); Mujahid, Sheikh Al- (alias) |
| Short description | Al-Qaeda leader |
| Date of birth | 1957-03-10 |
| Place of birth | Riyadh, Saudi Arabi |
| Date of death | 2011-05-02 |
| Place of death | Abbottabad, Pakistan |
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"HK" redirects here. For other uses, see HK (disambiguation).
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China[note 1]
中華人民共和國香港特別行政區
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| Anthem: March of the Volunteers 《義勇軍進行曲》 |
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 View at night from Victoria Peak
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| Official language(s) | Chinese, English[note 2] | |||||
| Spoken languages | Cantonese, English | |||||
| Writing systems | Traditional Chinese, English alphabet | |||||
| Demonym | Hong Konger | |||||
| Government | Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China | |||||
| - | Chief Executive | Donald Tsang | ||||
| - | Chief Executive-elect | CY Leung | ||||
| - | Chief Justice | Geoffrey Ma | ||||
| - | President of the Legislative Council |
Jasper Tsang | ||||
| Legislature | Legislative Council | |||||
| Establishment | ||||||
| - | Treaty of Nanking | 29 August 1842 | ||||
| - | Japanese occupation | 25 December 1941 – 15 August 1945 |
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| - | Conveyance from British sovereignty to Chinese sovereignty | 1 July 1997 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 1,104 km2 (179th) 426 sq mi |
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| - | Water (%) | 4.58 (50 km²; 19 mi²)[3] | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2010 census | 7,061,200[4] | ||||
| - | Density | 6,480[5]/km2 (4th) 16,576/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $351.119 billion[6] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $49,137[6] | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $243.302 billion[6] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $34,049[6] | ||||
| Gini (2007) | 43.4[7] | |||||
| HDI (2011) | 0.898[8] (very high) (13th) |
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| Currency | Hong Kong dollar (HKD) |
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| Time zone | HKT (UTC+8) | |||||
| Date formats | yyyy年m月d日 (Chinese) dd-mm-yyyy (English) |
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| Drives on the | left | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | HK | |||||
| Internet TLD | .hk and .香港 | |||||
| Calling code | +852 | |||||
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| Chinese | 香港 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Jyutping | Hoeng1gong2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | Hēunggóng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Xiānggǎng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Fragrant harbour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 香港特別行政區 (or 香港特區) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 香港特别行政区 (or 香港特区) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. |
Hong Kong[note 3] (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state[9] situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea,[10] it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.[11] Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups.[12] Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.[13]
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty.[14][15] The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era.[16] The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West",[17] and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England[18] until reforms implemented in 2009.[19]
Under the principle of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong has a different political system from mainland China.[20] Hong Kong's independent judiciary functions under the common law framework.[21][22] Hong Kong Basic Law, its constitutional document, stipulates that Hong Kong shall have a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign relations and military defence, governs its political system.[23][24] Although it has a burgeoning multi-party system, a small-circle electorate[clarification needed] controls half of its legislature. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, the head of government, is selected by a Selection Committee / Election Committee with 400 to 1200 members, during the first 20 years.[25] [26][27] [28]
As one of the world's leading international financial centres, Hong Kong has a major capitalist service economy characterised by low taxation and free trade, and the currency, Hong Kong dollar, is the eighth most traded currency in the world.[29] The lack of space caused demand for denser constructions, which developed the city to a centre for modern architecture and the world's most vertical city.[30][31] Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita income in the world.[6] The dense space also led to a highly developed transportation network with public transport travelling rate exceeding 90 percent,[32] the highest in the world.[33] Hong Kong has numerous high international rankings in various aspects. For instance, its economic freedom, financial and economic competitiveness, quality of life, corruption perception, Human Development Index, etc., are all ranked highly.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40] According to both UN and WHO estimates, Hong Kong has the second longest life expectancy of any country in the world. [41][42]
Contents |
Etymology[link]
The name "Hong Kong" is an approximate phonetic rendering of the pronunciation of the spoken Cantonese or Hakka name "香港", meaning "fragrant harbour".[43] Before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet – now Aberdeen Harbour or 香港仔 hoeng1 gong2 zai2 "Little Hong Kong" – between the Aberdeen Island and the south side of Hong Kong Island, which was one of the first points of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[44]
The reference to fragrance may refer to the harbour waters sweetened by the fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River, or to the incense from factories lining the coast to the north of Kowloon, which was stored around Aberdeen Harbour for export before the development of Victoria Harbour.[43] In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking was signed, and the name Hong Kong was first recorded on official documents to encompass the entirety of the island.[45]
History[link]
Main article: History of Hong Kong
Pre-colonial[link]
Main articles: Prehistoric Hong Kong and History of Hong Kong under Imperial China
Archaeological studies support a human presence in the Chek Lap Kok area from 35,000 to 39,000 years ago, and in Sai Kung Peninsula from 6,000 years ago.[46][47][48] Wong Tei Tung and Three Fathoms Cove are the two earliest sites of human habitation in the Paleolithic period. It is believed the Three Fathom Cove was a river valley settlement and Wong Tei Tung was a lithic manufacturing site. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggest cultural differences from the Longshan culture in northern China and settlement by the Che people prior to the migration of the Baiyue.[49][50] Eight petroglyphs were discovered on surrounding islands, which dated to the Shang Dynasty in China.[51]
In 214 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, conquered the Baiyue tribes in Jiaozhi (modern Liangguang region) and incorporated the territory into imperial China for the first time. Modern Hong Kong is located in Nanhai commandery (modern Nanhai District) and near the ancient capital city Pun Yue.[52][53][54] The area was consolidated under the kingdom of Nanyue, founded by general Zhao Tuo in 204 BC after the Qin Dynasty collapsed.[55] When the kingdom was conquered by Emperor Wu of Han in 111 BC, the land was assigned to the Jiaozhi commandery under the Han Dynasty. Archaeological evidence indicates the population increased and early salt production flourished in this time period. Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb in the Kowloon Peninsula is believed to have been built during the Han Dynasty.[56]
During the Tang Dynasty period, the Guangdong region flourished as a regional trading center. In 736, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established a military town in Tuen Mun to defend the coastal area in the region.[57] The first village school, Li Ying College, was established around 1075 in the New Territories under the Northern Song Dynasty.[58] During the Mongol invasion in 1276, the Southern Song Dynasty court moved to Fujian, then to Lantau Island and later to Sung Wong Toi (modern Kowloon City), but the child Emperor Bing of Song committed suicide by drowning with his officials after being defeated in the Battle of Yamen. Hau Wong, an official of the emperor is still worshipped in Hong Kong today.[59]
The earliest recorded European visitor was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese explorer who arrived in 1513.[60][61] After establishing settlements in the region, Portuguese merchants began trading in southern China. At the same time, they invaded and built up military fortifications in Tuen Mun. Military clashes between China and Portugal led to the expulsion of the Portuguese. In the mid-16th century, the Haijin order banned maritime activities and prevented contact with foreigners; it also restricted local sea activity.[59] In 1661–69, the territory was affected by the Great Clearance ordered by Kangxi Emperor, which required the evacuation of the coastal areas of Guangdong. It is recorded that about 16,000 persons from Xin'an County were driven inland, and 1,648 of those who left are said to have returned when the evacuation was rescinded in 1669.[62] What is now the territory of Hong Kong became largely wasteland during the ban.[63] In 1685, Kangxi became the first emperor to open limited trading with foreigners, which started with the Canton territory. He also imposed strict terms for trades such as requiring foreign traders to live in restricted areas, staying only for the trading seasons, banning firearms, and trading with silver only.[64] The East India Company made the first sea venture to China in 1699, and the region's trade with British merchants developed rapidly soon after. In 1711, the company established its first trading post in Canton. By 1773, the British reached a landmark 1,000 chests of opium in Canton with China consuming 2,000 chests annually by 1799.[64]
British colonial era[link]
Main articles: British Hong Kong, History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)
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Flag of the British colony of Hong Kong(used in between 1870-1876)
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Flag of the British colony of Hong Kong(used in between 1876-1910)
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Flag of the British colony of Hong Kong(used in between 1910-1959)
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Flag of the British colony of Hong Kong (Unofficial Red ensign for Hong Kong used in between 1959 to prior the Handover of Hong Kong to the PRC in 1997)
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In 1839, the refusal by Qing Dynasty authorities to import opium resulted in the First Opium War between China and Britain. Hong Kong Island was occupied by British forces on 20 January 1841 and was initially ceded under the Convention of Chuenpee as part of a ceasefire agreement between Captain Charles Elliot and Governor Qishan, but the agreement was never ratified due to a dispute between high ranking officials in both governments.[65] It was not until 29 August 1842 that the island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Nanking. The British established a crown colony with the founding of Victoria City the following year.[66]
Under British rule, the population of Hong Kong island had increased from 7,450 Chinese residents, mostly fishermen, in 1841 to over 115,000 Chinese and 8,754 Europeans in Hong Kong (including Kowloon) in 1870.[67]
In 1860, after China's defeat in the Second Opium War, the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island were ceded in perpetuity to Britain under the Convention of Peking.
In 1894, the deadly Third Pandemic of bubonic plague spread from China to Hong Kong, causing 50,000–100,000 deaths.[68]
In 1898, under the terms of the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, Britain obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island and the adjacent northern lands, which became known as the New Territories.[69] Hong Kong's territory has remained unchanged to the present.[70][71]
During the first half of the 20th century, Hong Kong was a free port, serving as an entrepôt of the British Empire. The British introduced an education system based on their own model, while the local Chinese population had little contact with the European community of wealthy tai-pans settled near Victoria Peak.[69]
Japanese invasion[link]
In conjunction with its military campaign, the Empire of Japan invaded Hong Kong on 8 December 1941.[72] The Battle of Hong Kong ended with British and Canadian defenders surrendering control of the colony to Japan on 25 December.[73] During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, civilians suffered widespread food shortages, rationing, and hyper-inflation due to forced exchange of currency for military notes. Through a policy of enforced repatriation of the unemployed to the mainland throughout the period, because of the scarcity of food, the population of Hong Kong had dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945, when the United Kingdom resumed control of the colony.[74]
Cold war era[link]
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Granted by the College of Arms on 21 January 1959, the Blue Ensign colonial flag and coat of arms of Hong Kong were used by British Hong Kong during 1959–1997.
File:Flag of Immigration Department, 1988-1997.gif
Flag of British Hong Kong Immigration Department,1988-1997
Hong Kong's population recovered quickly as a wave of migrants from China arrived for refuge from the ongoing Chinese Civil War. When the PRC was proclaimed in 1949, more migrants fled to Hong Kong for fear of persecution by the Communist Party.[69] Many corporations in Shanghai and Guangzhou shifted their operations to Hong Kong.[69]
In the 1950s, Hong Kong's rapid industrialization was driven by textile exports and other expanded manufacturing industries. As the population grew and labour costs remained low, living standards rose steadily. [75] The construction of Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 followed a massive slum fire, and marked the beginning of the public housing estate programme designed to cope with the huge influx of immigrants. Trade in Hong Kong accelerated even further when Shenzhen, immediately north of Hong Kong, became a special economic zone of the PRC, and Hong Kong was established as the main source of foreign investment in China.[76] The manufacturing competitiveness gradually declined in Hong Kong due to the development of the manufacturing industry in southern China beginning in the early 1980s. By contrast, the service industry in Hong Kong experienced high rates of growth in the 1980s and 1990s after absorbing workers released from the manufacturing industry.[77]
Throughout the British colonial era, Hong Kong was industrialized and improved in all aspects from its economy to its health care system. Many health facilities were built for its citizens, for example the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, the Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, the Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong and the Prince of Wales Hospital. Many changes happened during this era shaped the future of Hong Kong. In the year 1983, when the United Kingdom reclassified Hong Kong from a British crown colony to a dependent territory, the governments of the United Kingdom and China were already discussing the issue of Hong Kong's sovereignty due to the impending expiry (within two decades) of the lease of the New Territories. In 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration – an agreement to transfer sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997 – was signed.[69] It stipulated that Hong Kong would be governed as a special administrative region, retaining its laws and a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer. The Hong Kong Basic Law, which is based on the English law would serve as the constitutional document after the transfer, was ratified in 1990.[69]
Since 1997[link]
Main articles: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong and 2000s in Hong Kong
Left:Old British passports issued to Hong Kong citizens. Right:The British National (Overseas) passport issued to residents of Hong Kong prior 1997, holders are British nationals and Commonwealth citizens, but not British Citizens.
On 1 July 1997, the transfer of sovereignty from United Kingdom to the PRC occurred, officially ending 156 years of British colonial rule. Hong Kong became China's first special administrative region, and Tung Chee Hwa took office as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong. That same year, Hong Kong suffered an economic double blow from the Asian financial crisis and the H5N1 avian influenza.[69] In 2003, Hong Kong was gravely affected by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).[78][79] The World Health Organization reported 1,755 infected and 299 deaths in Hong Kong.[80] An estimated 380 million Hong Kong dollars (US$48.9 million) in contracts were lost as a result of the epidemic.[81]
On 10 March 2005, Tung Chee Hwa announced his resignation as Chief Executive due to "health problems".[82] Donald Tsang, the Chief Secretary for Administration at the time, entered the 2005 election unopposed and became the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong on 21 June 2005.[83] In 2007, Tsang won the Chief Executive election and continued his second term in office.[84]
In 2009, Hong Kong hosted the fifth East Asian Games, in which nine national teams competed. It was the first and largest international multi-sport event ever held in the territory.[85] Today, Hong Kong continues to serve as an important global financial centre, but faces uncertainty over its future due to the growing mainland China economy, and its relationship with the PRC government in areas such as democratic reform and universal suffrage.[86]
Governance[link]
In accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and the underlying principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong has a "high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region in all areas except defence and foreign affairs."[note 4] The declaration stipulates that the region maintain its capitalist economic system and guarantees the rights and freedoms of its people for at least 50 years beyond the 1997 handover.[note 5] The guarantees over the territory's autonomy and the individual rights and freedoms are enshrined in a constitution, the Hong Kong Basic Law(formed based on the Common law of England), which outlines the system of governance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, but which is subject to the interpretation of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC).[87][88]
The primary pillars of government are the Executive Council, the civil service, the Legislative Council, and the Judiciary. The Executive Council is headed by the Chief Executive who is elected by the Election Committee and then appointed by the Central People's Government.[89][90] The civil service is a politically neutral body that implements policies and provides government services, where public servants are appointed based on meritocracy.[26][91] The Legislative Council has 60 members, half of whom are directly elected by universal suffrage by permanent residents of Hong Kong according to five geographical constituencies. The other half, known as functional constituencies, are directly elected by a smaller electorate, which consists of corporate bodies and persons from various stipulated functional sectors. The entire council is headed by the President of the Legislative Council who serves as the speaker.[92][93] Judges are appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of an independent commission.[21][94]
The implementation of the Basic Law, including how and when the universal suffrage promised therein is to be achieved, has been a major issue of political debate since the transfer of sovereignty. In 2002, the government's proposed anti-subversion bill pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law, which required the enactment of laws prohibiting acts of treason and subversion against the Chinese government, was met with fierce opposition, and eventually shelved.[23][95][96] Debate between pro-Beijing groups, which tend to support the Executive branch, and the Pan-democracy camp characterises Hong Kong's political scene, with the latter supporting a faster pace of democratisation, and the principle of one man, one vote.[97]
In 2004, the government failed to gain pan-democrat support to pass its so-called "district council model" for political reform.[98] In 2009, the government reissued the proposals as the "Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the LegCo in 2012". The document proposed the enlargement of the Election Committee, Hong Kong's electoral college, from 800 members to 1,200 in 2012 and expansion of the legislature from 60 to 70 seats. The 10 new legislative seats would consist of five geographical constituency seats and five functional constituency seats, to be voted in by elected district council members from among themselves.[99] The proposals were destined for rejection by pan-democrats once again, but a significant breakthrough occurred after the Central People's Government accepted a counter-proposal by the Democratic Party. In particular, the Pan-democracy camp was split when the proposal to directly elect five newly created functional seats was not acceptable to two constituent parties. The Democratic Party sided with the government for the first time since the handover and passed the proposals with a vote of 46–12.[100]
Legal system and judiciary[link]
Main articles: Law of Hong Kong and Judiciary of Hong Kong
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Statue of Themis on the Legislative Council Building.
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The Court of Final Appeal in Central is the supreme court of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's legal system is completely independent from the legal system of Mainland China. In contrast to mainland China's civil law system, Hong Kong continues to follow the English Common Law tradition established under British rule.[101] Hong Kong's courts may refer to decisions rendered by courts of other common law jurisdictions as precedents,[21][102] and judges from other common law jurisdictions are allowed to sit as non-permanent judges of the Court of Final Appeal.[21][102]
Structurally, the court system consists of the Court of Final Appeal, the High Court, which is made up of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance, and the District Court, which includes the Family Court.[103] Other adjudicative bodies include the Lands Tribunal, the Magistrates' Courts, the Juvenile Court, the Coroner's Court, the Labour Tribunal, the Small Claims Tribunal, and the Obscene Articles Tribunal.[103] Justices of the Court of Final Appeal are appointed by Hong Kong's Chief Executive.[21][102]
The Department of Justice is responsible for handling legal matters for the government. Its responsibilities include providing legal advice, criminal prosecution, civil representation, legal and policy drafting and reform, and international legal cooperation between different jurisdictions.[101] Apart from prosecuting criminal cases, lawyers of the Department of Justice act on behalf of the government in all civil and administrative lawsuits against the government.[101] As protector of the public interest, the department may apply for judicial reviews and may intervene in any cases involving the greater public interest.[104] The Basic Law protects the Department of Justice from any interference by the government when exercising its control over criminal prosecution.[105][106]
Human rights[link]
Main article: Human rights in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's Basic law is based on the English law and so in general, Hong Kong is perceived to enjoy a high level of civil liberties.[107] The Hong Kong government generally respect the human rights of the citizens, although core issues remain.[108] There are concerns over the freedom of assembly which is restricted by the Public Order Ordinance. The police has been occasionally accused of using heavy-handed tactics towards protestors[109] and questions are asked towards the extensive powers of the police.[110] As to the right of privacy, covert surveillance remains the major concern.[111] There is a lack of protection for gay men and lesbians due to the absence of a sexual orientation discrimination law, though there are currently no laws that criminalize homosexuality per se.[112] There are also comments regarding a lack of protection for labour rights.[108]
Internet censorship in Hong Kong operates under different principles and regulations than under the rest of China.[113]
Administrative districts[link]
Statistics
| New Territories | |||
| No. | District | Population[114] | Area[115] |
| 1. | Islands | 138,900 | 175.03 km2 (67.58 sq mi) |
| 2. | Kwai Tsing | 510,300 | 21.82 km2 (8.42 sq mi) |
| 3. | North | 287,700 | 137.31 km2 (53.02 sq mi) |
| 4. | Sai Kung | 407,300 | 136.39 km2 (52.66 sq mi) |
| 5. | Sha Tin | 606,700 | 69.46 km2 (26.82 sq mi) |
| 6. | Tai Po | 292,700 | 147.42 km2 (56.92 sq mi) |
| 7. | Tsuen Wan | 292,300 | 60.7 km2 (23.44 sq mi) |
| 8. | Tuen Mun | 493,800 | 84.45 km2 (32.61 sq mi) |
| 9. | Yuen Long | 533,300 | 138.43 km2 (53.45 sq mi) |
| Kowloon | |||
| No. | District | Population | Area |
| 10. | Kowloon City | 359,400 | 9.97 km2 (3.85 sq mi) |
| 11. | Kwun Tong | 579,400 | 11.05 km2 (4.27 sq mi) |
| 12. | Sham Shui Po | 365,600 | 9.48 km2 (3.66 sq mi) |
| 13. | Wong Tai Sin | 421,900 | 9.36 km2 (3.61 sq mi) |
| 14. | Yau Tsim Mong | 285,300 | 6.85 km2 (2.64 sq mi) |
| Hong Kong Island | |||
| No. | District | Population | Area |
| 15. | Central and Western | 253,100 | 12.52 km2 (4.83 sq mi) |
| 16. | Eastern | 588,700 | 18.81 km2 (7.26 sq mi) |
| 17. | Southern | 275,700 | 38.95 km2 (15.04 sq mi) |
| 18. | Wan Chai | 155,700 | 10.02 km2 (3.87 sq mi) |
Main article: Districts of Hong Kong
Hong Kong has a unitary system of government; no local government has existed since the two municipal councils were abolished in 2000. As such there is no formal definition for its cities and towns. Administratively, Hong Kong is subdivided into 18 geographic districts, each represented by a district council which advises the government on local matters such as public facilities, community programmes, cultural activities, and environmental improvements.[116]
There are a total of 534 district council seats, 405 of which are elected; the rest are appointed by the Chief Executive and 27 ex officio chairmen of rural committees.[116] The Home Affairs Department communicates government policies and plans to the public through the district offices.[117]
Military[link]
Main articles: Royal Hong Kong Regiment, Hong Kong Military Service Corps, and British Forces Overseas Hong Kong
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Coat of Arms of the Royal Hong Kong Regiment(UK)
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Badge of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force.gif
Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force(UK)
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HKMSC.jpg
Hong Kong Military Service Corps(UK)
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The Cenotaph of Hong Kong.Constructed in 1923 and located between Statue Square and the City Hall in Central, Hong Kong,[1] commemorates the dead in the First and Second World War[2] that served in Hong Kong in the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
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When Hong Kong was a British colony and later, a dependent territory, defence was provided by the British military under the command of the Governor of Hong Kong who was ex officio Commander-in-chief.[118] Most of the members of the British Forces in Hong Kong were from Britain but there were locally enlisted personnel (LEP) who served as regular British Forces members in the Hong Kong Squadron of the Royal Navy as well as the Hong Kong Military Service Corps. The Royal Hong Kong Regiment a military unit part of the Hong Kong Government, trained and organised along timelines of British Territorial Army and supported by British Army personnel holding key positions. These British Army personnel, for their duration of service to the Royal Hong Kong Regiment, are seconded to the Hong Kong Government. In the post-WWII era, the majority of the regiment's members have been local citizens of Chinese descent. The Hong Kong Military Service Corps maintained its reputation for loyalty and military skill at the highest level, often outshining British and Gurkha troops based in Hong Kong. The HKMSC Shooting Team won the Team and Individual champion pistol shot a number of times at RASAAM (the Regular Army Skill at Arms Meeting) at Bisley, in the UK, and in 1992 a Training Company team representing the HQ and Depot HKMSC won the Dragon Cup for military skills (outperforming the Queen's Gurkha Signals in signalling and the British Military Hospital team in first aid); the competition was not held again.
The HKMSC reached a peak strength of 1,200 men, providing the British garrison in Hong Kong with supporting personnel. All HKMSC soldiers were basically trained in Hong Kong and from time to time attended upgrading and trade courses in the United Kingdom. HKMSC soldiers who were posted to and served with other non-HKMSC units, wore the other units' cap badge. Unit personnel were enlisted as officers and drivers in 29 Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) based in Gun Club Hill Barracks. It provided crews for 415 Maritime Troop based on Stonecutters' Island, dog handlers in the Defence Animal Support Unit (DASU) of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC) based in Sek Kong, officer instructors in the Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC), officers and clerks in the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC), technicians in the Royal Signals (R Sigs) of the Queen's Gurkha Signals (QGS) and engineers and armourers in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). The HKMC trained physical training instructors (PTI) in the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC), medics in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) based in the British Military Hospital (BMH), military police in the Royal Military Police (RMP), helicopter support crews in 660 Squadron Army Air Corps (AAC) based at Sek Kong Airfield, cooks in the Army Catering Corps (ACC), Weapons and Supplies Storekeepers in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and intelligence staff in the Intelligence Corps. They also provided interpreters, clerks, Regimental Police and light-infantry personnel in Dragon Company of the General Service Corps (GSC) headquartered in Osborn Baracks, Kowloon Tong. The HKMSC offered Hong Kong Chinese soldiers the opportunity to pursue a full career in the British Regular Army up to and including a Queen's Commissioned officer rank of the General List (HKMSC). As all members of the HKMSC were British Regular Army soldiers, they received a Regular Army Service Record Book when they left the army. Many of them had also been awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LS&GC) after 15 years of good and loyal service. British gallantry awards, Orders, Decorations and Medal Ribbons had also been presented to some HKMSC soldiers; such as the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM), the British Empire Medal (BEM), Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and the Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
When the PRC assumed sovereignty in 1997, the British barracks were replaced by a garrison of the People's Liberation Army, comprising ground, naval, and air forces, and under the command of the Chinese Central Military Commission.
The Hong Kong Basic Law is formed based on the Common law of England and it protects local civil affairs against interference by the garrison, and members of the garrison are subject to Hong Kong laws. The Hong Kong Government remains responsible for the maintenance of public order; however, it may ask the PRC government for help from the garrison in maintaining public order and in disaster relief. The PRC government is responsible for the costs of maintaining the garrison.[23][119]
Geography and climate[link]
Hong Kong is located on China's south coast, 60 km (37 mi) east of Macau on the opposite side of the Pearl River Delta. It is surrounded by the South China Sea on the east, south, and west, and borders the Guangdong city of Shenzhen to the north over the Shenzhen River. The territory's 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) area consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories, and over 200 offshore islands, of which the largest is Lantau Island. Of the total area, 1,054 km2 (407 sq mi) is land and 50 km2 (19 sq mi) is inland water. Hong Kong claims territorial waters to a distance of 3 nautical miles (5.6 km). Its land area makes Hong Kong the 179th largest inhabited territory in the world.[3][10]
As much of Hong Kong's terrain is hilly to mountainous with steep slopes, less than 25% of the territory's landmass is developed, and about 40% of the remaining land area is reserved as country parks and nature reserves.[120] Most of the territory's urban development exists on Kowloon peninsula, along the northern edge of Hong Kong Island, and in scattered settlements throughout the New Territories.[121] The highest elevation in the territory is at Tai Mo Shan, 957 metres (3,140 ft) above sea level.[122] Hong Kong's long and irregular coast provides it with many bays, rivers and beaches.[123] On September 18, 2011, UNESCO listed the Hong Kong National Geopark as part of its Global Geoparks Network. Hong Kong Geopark is made up of eight Geo-Areas distributed across the Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region and Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock Region.[124]
Despite Hong Kong's reputation of being intensely urbanised, the territory has tried to promote a green environment,[125] and recent growing public concern has prompted the severe restriction of further land reclamation from Victoria Harbour.[126] Awareness of the environment is growing as Hong Kong suffers from increasing pollution compounded by its geography and tall buildings. Approximately 80% of the city's smog originates from other parts of the Pearl River Delta.[127]
Though it is situated just south of the Tropic of Cancer, Hong Kong has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa). Summer is hot and humid with occasional showers and thunderstorms, and warm air coming from the southwest. Summer is when typhoons are most likely, sometimes resulting in flooding or landslides. Winters are mild and usually start sunny, becoming cloudier towards February; the occasional cold front brings strong, cooling winds from the north. The most temperate seasons are spring, which can be changeable, and autumn, which is generally sunny and dry.[128] Hong Kong averages 1,948 hours of sunshine per year,[129] while the highest and lowest ever recorded temperatures at the Hong Kong Observatory are 36.1 °C (97.0 °F) and 0.0 °C (32.0 °F), respectively.[130]
| Climate data for Hong Kong (1981–2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 18.6 (65.5) |
18.9 (66.0) |
21.4 (70.5) |
25.0 (77.0) |
28.4 (83.1) |
30.2 (86.4) |
31.4 (88.5) |
31.1 (88.0) |
30.1 (86.2) |
27.8 (82.0) |
24.1 (75.4) |
20.2 (68.4) |
25.6 (78.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 16.3 (61.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.1 (66.4) |
22.6 (72.7) |
25.9 (78.6) |
27.9 (82.2) |
28.8 (83.8) |
28.6 (83.5) |
27.7 (81.9) |
25.5 (77.9) |
21.8 (71.2) |
17.9 (64.2) |
23.24 (73.84) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) |
15.0 (59.0) |
17.2 (63.0) |
20.8 (69.4) |
24.1 (75.4) |
26.2 (79.2) |
26.8 (80.2) |
26.6 (79.9) |
25.8 (78.4) |
23.7 (74.7) |
19.8 (67.6) |
15.9 (60.6) |
21.4 (70.5) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 24.7 (0.972) |
54.4 (2.142) |
82.2 (3.236) |
174.7 (6.878) |
304.7 (11.996) |
456.1 (17.957) |
376.5 (14.823) |
432.2 (17.016) |
327.6 (12.898) |
100.9 (3.972) |
37.6 (1.48) |
26.8 (1.055) |
2,398.4 (94.425) |
| % humidity | 74 | 80 | 82 | 83 | 83 | 82 | 81 | 81 | 78 | 73 | 71 | 69 | 78.0 |
| Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 5.37 | 9.07 | 10.90 | 12.00 | 14.67 | 19.07 | 17.60 | 16.93 | 14.67 | 7.43 | 5.47 | 4.47 | 137.65 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 143.0 | 94.2 | 90.8 | 101.7 | 140.4 | 146.1 | 212.0 | 188.9 | 172.3 | 193.9 | 180.1 | 172.2 | 1,835.6 |
| Source: Hong Kong Observatory [131] | |||||||||||||
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of Hong Kong
As one of the world's leading international financial centres, Hong Kong has a major capitalist service economy characterised by low taxation and free trade. The currency, Hong Kong dollar, is the eighth most traded currency in the world as of 2010.[29] Hong Kong was once described by Milton Friedman as the world’s greatest experiment in laissez-faire capitalism.[132] It maintains a highly developed capitalist economy, ranked the freest in the world by the Index of Economic Freedom every year since 1995.[133][134][135] It is an important centre for international finance and trade, with one of the greatest concentrations of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region,[136] and is known as one of the Four Asian Tigers for its high growth rates and rapid development from the 1960s to the 1990s. Between 1961 and 1997 Hong Kong's gross domestic product grew 180 times while per-capita GDP increased 87 times over.[137][138][139]
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the seventh largest in the world, with a market capitalisation of US$2.3 trillion as of December 2009.[140] In that year, Hong Kong raised 22 percent of worldwide initial public offering (IPO) capital, making it the largest centre of IPOs in the world [141] and the easiest place to raise capital.[142] Hong Kong's currency is the Hong Kong dollar, which has been pegged to the U.S. dollar since 1983.[143]
The Hong Kong Government has traditionally played a mostly passive role in the economy, with little by way of industrial policy and almost no import or export controls. Market forces and the private sector were allowed to determine practical development. Under the official policy of "positive non-interventionism", Hong Kong is often cited as an example of laissez-faire capitalism. Following the Second World War, Hong Kong industrialised rapidly as a manufacturing centre driven by exports, and then underwent a rapid transition to a service-based economy in the 1980s.[144] Since then, it has grown to become a leading center for management, financial, IT, business consultation and professional services.[142]
Hong Kong matured to become a financial centre in the 1990s, but was greatly affected by the Asian financial crisis in 1998, and again in 2003 by the SARS outbreak. A revival of external and domestic demand has led to a strong recovery, as cost decreases strengthened the competitiveness of Hong Kong exports and a long deflationary period ended.[145][146] Government intervention, initiated by the later colonial governments and continued since 1997, has steadily increased, with the introduction of export credit guarantees, a compulsory pension scheme, a minimum wage, anti-discrimination laws, and a state mortgage backer.[132]
The territory has little arable land and few natural resources, so it imports most of its food and raw materials. Agricultural activity—relatively unimportant to Hong Kong’s economy and contributing just 0.1% of its GDP—primarily consists of growing premium food and flower varieties.[142] Hong Kong is the world's eleventh largest trading entity,[147] with the total value of imports and exports exceeding its gross domestic product. It is the world's largest re-export centre.[148] Much of Hong Kong's exports consist of re-exports,[149] which are products made outside of the territory, especially in mainland China, and distributed via Hong Kong. Its physical location has allowed the city to establish a transportation and logistics infrastructure that includes the world’s second busiest container port and the world’s busiest airport for international cargo.[142] Even before the transfer of sovereignty, Hong Kong had established extensive trade and investment ties with the mainland, which now enable it to serve as a point of entry for investment flowing into the mainland. At the end of 2007, there were 3.46 million people employed full-time, with the unemployment rate averaging 4.1% for the fourth straight year of decline.[150] Hong Kong's economy is dominated by the service sector, which accounts for over 90% of its GDP, while industry constitutes 9%. Inflation was at 2.5% in 2007.[151] Hong Kong's largest export markets are mainland China, the United States, and Japan.[3]
As of 2010, Hong Kong is the eighth most expensive city for expatriates, falling from fifth position in the previous year.[152] Hong Kong is ranked fourth in terms of the highest percentage of millionaire households, behind Switzerland, Qatar, and Singapore with 8.5 percent of all households owning at least one million US dollars.[153] In 2011, Hong Kong was ranked second in the Ease of Doing Business Index, behind Singapore.[154] General principle No. 5 of the Basic Law of the SAR suggests that the CPC expects that it shall have brought the economic system of the Mainland and Hong Kong into harmony by 2047, by which time the Chinese economy is predicted by Businessweek to have been the largest by any measure of GDP for decades.[155]
Demographics[link]
The territory's population is 7.03 million. In 2009, Hong Kong had a birth rate of 11.7 per 1,000 population and a fertility rate of 1,032 children per 1,000 women.[156] Residents from mainland China do not have the right of abode in Hong Kong, nor are they allowed to enter the territory freely.[95] However, the influx of immigrants from mainland China, approximating 45,000 per year, is a significant contributor to its population growth – a daily quota of 150 Mainland Chinese with family ties in Hong Kong are granted a "one way permit".[157] Life expectancy in Hong Kong is 79.16 years for males and 84.79 years for females as of 2009, making it one of the highest life expectancies in the world.[3]
About 95% of the people of Hong Kong are of Chinese descent,[12] the majority of whom are Taishanese, Chiu Chow, other Cantonese people, and Hakka. Hong Kong's Han majority originate mainly from the Guangzhou and Taishan regions in Guangdong province.[13] The remaining 5% of the population is composed of non-ethnic Chinese.[12] There is a South Asian population of Indians, Pakistanis and Nepalese; some Vietnamese refugees have become permanent residents of Hong Kong. There are also Europeans (mostly British), Americans, Canadians, Japanese, and Koreans working in the city's commercial and financial sector.[note 6] In 2008, there were an estimate of 252,500 foreign domestic helpers from Indonesia and the Philippines working in Hong Kong.[159]
Hong Kong's de facto official language is Cantonese, a Chinese language originating from Guangdong province to the north of Hong Kong.[160] English is also an official language, and according to a 1996 by-census is spoken by 3.1 percent of the population as an everyday language and by 34.9 percent of the population as a second language.[161] Signs displaying both Chinese and English are common throughout the territory. Since the 1997 handover, an increase in immigrants from mainland China and greater integration with the mainland economy have brought an increasing number of Mandarin speakers to Hong Kong.[162]
A majority of residents of Hong Kong would claim no religious affiliation, professing a form of agnosticism or atheism.[163] According to the U.S Department of State only 43 percent of the population practices some form of religion.[164] Some figures put it higher, according to a Gallup poll, 64% of Hong Kong residents do not believe in any religion,[165][166] and possibly 80% of Hong Kong claim no religion.[167] In Hong Kong teaching evolution won out in curriculum dispute about whether to teach other explanations, and that creationism and intelligent design will form no part of the senior secondary biology curriculum[168] [169]
Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of religious freedom, guaranteed by the Basic Law. Hong Kong's main religions are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism; a local religious scholar in contact with major denominations estimates there are approximately 1.5 million Buddhists and Taoists.[164] A Christian community of around 600,000 forms about 8% of the total population;[170][171] it is nearly equally divided between Catholics and Protestants, although smaller Christian communities exist, including the Latter-Day Saints[172] and Jehovah's Witnesses.[173] The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches each freely appoint their own bishops, unlike in mainland China. There are also Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Bahá'í communities.[170] The practice of Falun Gong is tolerated.[174]
Statistically Hong Kong's income gap is the greatest in Asia Pacific. According to a report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 2008, Hong Kong's Gini coefficient, at 0.53, was the highest in Asia and "relatively high by international standards".[175][176] However, the government has stressed that income disparity does not equate to worsening of the poverty situation, and that the Gini coefficient is not strictly comparable between regions. The government has named economic restructuring, changes in household sizes, and the increase of high-income jobs as factors that have skewed the Gini coefficient.[177][178][179]
Education[link]
Main article: Education in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's education system used to roughly follow the system in England,[18] although international systems exist. The government maintains a policy of "mother tongue instruction" (Chinese: 母語教學) in which the medium of instruction is Cantonese,[180] with written Chinese and English. In secondary schools, 'biliterate and trilingual' proficiency is emphasised, and Mandarin-language education has been increasing.[181] The Programme for International Student Assessment ranked Hong Kong's education system as the second best in the world.[182] Hong Kong's public schools are operated by the Education Bureau. The system features a non-compulsory three-year kindergarten, followed by a compulsory six-year primary education, a compulsory three-year junior secondary education, a non-compulsory two-year senior secondary education leading to the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examinations and a two-year matriculation course leading to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations.[183] The New Senior Secondary academic structure and curriculum was implemented in September 2009, which provides for all students to receive three years of compulsory junior and three years of compulsory senior secondary education.[19][184] Under the new curriculum, there is only one public examination, namely the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education.[185]
Most comprehensive schools in Hong Kong fall under three categories: the rarer public schools; the more common subsidised schools, including government aids-and-grant schools; and private schools, often run by Christian organisations and having admissions based on academic merit rather than on financial resources. Outside this system are the schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme and private international schools.[184]
There are nine public universities in Hong Kong, and a number of private higher institutions, offering various bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, other higher diplomas, and associate degree courses.The University of Hong Kong, the oldest institution of tertiary education in the territory, was described by Quacquarelli Symonds as a "world-class comprehensive research university"[186] and was ranked 24th on the 2009 THES - QS World University Rankings,[187] making it first in Asia.[188] The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology was ranked 35th in the world in 2009 and ranked second in Asia for 2010. The Chinese University of Hong Kong was ranked 46th in the world in 2009 and ranked fourth in Asia for 2010.[188] Based on the 2011 rankings published by career and education network QS, three of the top five Asian universities are in Hong Kong. They are the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong kong as first, second and fifth rank, respectively.[189]
Healthcare[link]
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There are 13 private hospitals and more than 50 public hospitals in Hong Kong. Among the widest range of healthcare services throughout the globe are on offer, and some of the SAR's private hospitals are rightly considered to be among the very best of their type in the world.
There are two medical schools in the SAR, one based at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the other at Hong Kong University. Both have strong links with public sector hospitals.
With respect to postgraduate education, traditionally many doctors in Hong Kong have looked overseas for further training, and many took British Royal College exams such as the MRCP(UK) and the MRCS(UK). However, Hong Kong has been developing its own postgraduate medical institutions, in particular the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, and this is gradually taking over the responsibility for all postgraduate medical training in the SAR.
There are also strong public health systems in Hong Kong, and the Centre for Health Protection, founded after the SARS outbreak of 2003, is particularly worthy of mention.
By 2011, however, there have been growing concerns that mothers-to-be from Mainland China, in a bid to obtain the right of abode in Hong Kong and the benefits that come with it, have saturated the neonatal wards of the city's hospitals, both public and private sectors, which has led to outcries and protests from local pregnant women for the government to remedy the issue, as they have found difficulty securing a bed space for giving birth and arrange routine check-ups. Other concerns in the decade of 2001-2010 relate to the workload medical staff experience; and medical errors and mishaps, which are frequently highlighted in local news.
Culture[link]
Main article: Culture of Hong Kong
Hong Kong is frequently described as a place where "East meets West", reflecting the culture's mix of the territory's Chinese roots with influences from its time as a British colony.[17] Hong Kong balances a modernised way of life with traditional Chinese practices. Concepts like feng shui are taken very seriously, with expensive construction projects often hiring expert consultants, and are often believed to make or break a business.[190] Other objects like Ba gua mirrors are still regularly used to deflect evil spirits,[191] and buildings often lack any floor number that has a 4 in it,[192] due to its similarity to the word for "die" in Cantonese.[193] The fusion of east and west also characterises Hong Kong's cuisine, where dim sum, hot pot, and fast food restaurants coexist with haute cuisine.[194]
Hong Kong is a recognised global centre of trade, and calls itself an "entertainment hub".[195] Its martial arts film genre gained a high level of popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s. Several Hollywood performers, notable actors and martial artists have originated from Hong Kong cinema, notably Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung and Jet Li. A number of Hong Kong film-makers have achieved widespread fame in Hollywood, such as John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, and Stephen Chow.[195] Homegrown films such as Chungking Express, Infernal Affairs, Shaolin Soccer, Rumble in the Bronx, In the Mood for Love and Echoes of the Rainbow have gained international recognition. Hong Kong is the centre for Cantopop music, which draws its influence from other forms of Chinese music and Western genres, and has a multinational fanbase.[196]
The Hong Kong government supports cultural institutions such as the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. The government's Leisure and Cultural Services Department subsidises and sponsors international performers brought to Hong Kong. Many international cultural activities are organised by the government, consulates, and privately.[197][198]
Hong Kong has two licensed terrestrial broadcasters – ATV and TVB. There are three local and a number of foreign suppliers of cable and satellite services.[199] The production of Hong Kong's soap dramas, comedy series, and variety shows reach audiences throughout the Chinese-speaking world. Magazine and newspaper publishers in Hong Kong distribute and print in both Chinese and English, with a focus on sensationalism and celebrity gossip.[200] The media in Hong Kong is relatively free from official interference compared to mainland China, although the Far Eastern Economic Review points to signs of self-censorship by journals whose owners have close ties to or business interests in the People's Republic of China and states that even Western media outlets are not immune to growing Chinese economic power.[201]
Hong Kong offers wide recreational and competitive sport opportunities despite its limited land area. It sends delegates to international competitions such as the Olympic Games and Asian Games, and played host to the equestrian events during the 2008 Summer Olympics.[202] There are major multipurpose venues like Hong Kong Coliseum and MacPherson Stadium. Hong Kong's steep terrain and extensive trail network with expansive views attracts hikers, and its rugged coastline provides many beaches for swimming.[203]
Cityscape[link]
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Architecture[link]
Main article: Architecture of Hong Kong
See also: List of tallest buildings in Hong Kong
According to Emporis, there are 7,650 skyscrapers in Hong Kong, which puts the city at the top of world rankings.[204] It has more buildings higher than 500ft (or 150m) than any other city. The high density and tall skyline of Hong Kong's urban area is due to a lack of available sprawl space, with the average distance from the harbour front to the steep hills of Hong Kong Island at 1.3 km (0.81 mi),[205] much of it reclaimed land. This lack of space causes demand for dense, high-rise offices and housing. Thirty-six of the world's 100 tallest residential buildings are in Hong Kong.[206] More people in Hong Kong live or work above the 14th floor than anywhere else on Earth, making it the world's most vertical city.[30][31]
As a result of the lack of space and demand for construction, few older buildings remain, and the city is becoming a centre for modern architecture. The International Commerce Centre (ICC), at 484 m (1,588 ft) high, is the tallest building in Hong Kong and the third tallest in the world, by height to roof measurement.[207] The tallest building prior to the ICC is Two International Finance Centre, at 415 m (1,362 ft) high.[208] Other recognisable skyline features include the HSBC Headquarters Building, the triangular-topped Central Plaza with its pyramid-shaped spire, The Center with its night-time multi-coloured neon light show; A Symphony of Lights and I. M. Pei's Bank of China Tower with its sharp, angular façade. According to the Emporis website, the city skyline has the biggest visual impact of all world cities.[209] Also, Hong Kong's skyline is often regarded to be the best in the world,[210] with the surrounding mountains and Victoria Harbour complementing the skyscrapers.[211][212] Most of the oldest remaining historic structures, including the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower, the Central Police Station, and the remains of Kowloon Walled City were constructed during the 19th and early 20th centuries.[213][214][215]
There are many development plans in place, including the construction of new government buildings,[216] waterfront redevelopment in Central,[217] and a series of projects in West Kowloon.[218] More high-rise development is set to take place on the other side of Victoria Harbour in Kowloon, as the 1998 closure of the nearby Kai Tak Airport lifted strict height restrictions.[219]
Transport[link]
Main article: Transport in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's transportation network is highly developed. Over 90% of daily travels (11 million) are on public transport,[32] the highest such percentage in the world.[33] Payment can be made using the Octopus card, a stored value system introduced by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), which is widely accepted on railways, buses and ferries, and accepted like cash at other outlets.[220][221]
The city's main railway company (KCRC) was merged with the urban mass transit operator (MTR) in 2007, creating a comprehensive rail network for the whole territory (also called MTR).[222] This MTR rapid transit system has 152 stations, which serve 3.4 million people a day.[223] Hong Kong Tramways, which has served the territory since 1904, covers the northern parts of Hong Kong Island.[224]
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Hong Kong's bus service is franchised and run by private operators. Five privately owned companies provide franchised bus service across the territory, together operating more than 700 routes. The two largest, Kowloon Motor Bus provides 402 routes in Kowloon and New Territories; Citybus operates 154 routes on Hong Kong Island; both run cross-harbour services. Double-decker buses were introduced to Hong Kong in 1949, and are now almost exclusively used; single-decker buses remain in use for routes with lower demand or roads with lower load capacity. Public light buses serve most parts of Hong Kong, particularly areas where standard bus lines cannot reach or do not reach as frequently, quickly, or directly.[225]
The Star Ferry service, founded in 1888, operates four lines across Victoria Harbour and provides scenic views of Hong Kong's skyline for its 53,000 daily passengers.[226] It acquired iconic status following its use as a setting on The World of Suzie Wong. Travel writer Ryan Levitt considered the main Tsim Sha Tsui to Central crossing one of the most picturesque in the world.[227] Other ferry services are provided by operators serving outlying islands, new towns, Macau, and cities in mainland China. Hong Kong is famous for its junks traversing the harbour, and small kai-to ferries that serve remote coastal settlements.[228][229] The Port of Hong Kong is a busy deepwater port, specialising in container shipping.[230]
Hong Kong Island's steep, hilly terrain was initially served by sedan chairs.[231] The Peak Tram, the first public transport system in Hong Kong, has provided vertical rail transport between Central and Victoria Peak since 1888.[232] In Central and Western district, there is an extensive system of escalators and moving pavements, including the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, the Mid-Levels escalator.[233]
Hong Kong International Airport is a leading air passenger gateway and logistics hub in Asia and one of the world's busiest airports in terms of international passenger and cargo movement, serving more than 47 million passengers and handling 3.74 million tonnes (4.12 million tons) of cargo in 2007.[234] It replaced the overcrowded Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon in 1998, and has been rated as the world's best airport in a number of surveys.[235] Over 85 airlines operate at the two-terminal airport and it is the primary hub of Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Air Hong Kong, Hong Kong Airlines, and Hong Kong Express.[234][236]
See also[link]
- Outline of Hong Kong
- Index of Hong Kong-related articles
- List of cities with most skyscrapers
- Public holidays in Hong Kong
Footnotes[link]
- ^ This is the official convention employed on the Chinese text of the Hong Kong regional emblem, the text of the Hong Kong Basic Law, and the Hong Kong Government website,[1] although "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" and "Hong Kong" are also accepted.
- ^ The Hong Kong Basic Law states that the official languages are "Chinese and English".[2] It does not explicitly specify the standard for "Chinese". While Mandarin written in Simplified Chinese characters are the standards in mainland China, Cantonese and Traditional Chinese characters are the de facto standards in Hong Kong. See also: Bilingualism in Hong Kong.
- ^ The name was often written as Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926 (Hongkong Government Gazette, Notification 479, 3 September 1926). Nevertheless, some century-old organisations still use the name, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. While the names of most Chinese place names are romanised into English using Pinyin, the official English name is Hong Kong rather than the pinyin Xianggang.
- ^ Section 3(2) of the Sino-British Joint Declaration states in part, "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs which, are the responsibilities of the Central People's Government."
- ^ Section 3(5) of the Sino-British Joint Declaration states that the social and economic systems and lifestyle in Hong Kong will remain unchanged, and mentions rights and freedoms ensured by law. Section 3(12) states in part, "The above-stated basic policies of the People's Republic of China ... will remain unchanged for 50 years."
- ^ The results of the 2006 census showed that the "white" population had declined from 46,584 in 2001 to 36,384, a decline of 22 percent.[158]
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Further reading[link]
- Endacott, G. B (1964). An Eastern Entrepot;: A Collection of Documents Illustrating the History of Hong Kong. Her Majesty's Stationary Office. p. 293. ASIN B0007J07G6.
- Fu, Poshek; Deser, David (2002). The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity. Cambridge University Press. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-521-77602-8.
- Lui, Adam Yuen-chung (1990). Forts and Pirates – A History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong History Society. p. 114. ISBN 962-7489-01-8.
- Liu, Shuyong; Wang, Wenjiong; Chang, Mingyu (1997). An Outline History of Hong Kong. Foreign Languages Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-7-119-01946-8.
- Ngo, Tak-Wing (1 August 1999). Hong Kong's History: State and Society Under Colonial Rule. Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-415-20868-0.
- Tsang, Steve (1995). Government and Politics: A Documentary History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. p. 312. ISBN 962-209-392-2.
- Tsang, Steve (4 September 2007). A Modern History of Hong Kong. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-419-0.
- Welsh, Frank (1993). A Borrowed place: the history of Hong Kong. Kodansha International. p. 624. ISBN 978-1-56836-002-7.
External links[link]
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- Key Development Forecasts for Hong Kong from International Futures
- Government
- Discover Hong Kong – Official site of the Hong Kong Tourism Board
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