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• 
  

• 
  Abu Dhabi
  Abu Dhabi (Arabic: أبو ظبي‎ Abu Dhabi, Father of Deer) is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western coast. The city proper had an estimated population of 896,800 in 2009.
  Abu Dhabi houses important offices of the federal government, and is the seat for the United Arab Emirates Government and the home for the Abu Dhabi Emiri Family and the President of the UAE from this family. Abu Dhabi has grown to be a cosmopolitan metropolis. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed Abu Dhabi to a larger and advanced metropolis. Today the city is the country's center of political, industrial activities, and a major cultural, and commercial centre due to its position as the capital. Abu Dhabi alone generated 56.7% of the GDP of the United Arab Emirates in 2008.
  
  wn.com/Abu_Dhabi
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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.
  
  wn.com/Afghanistan
• 
  Amman
  Amman (Arabic: عمان‎  /ɑːˈmɑːn/; ʿAmmān; Rabat Ammon) is the capital and largest city of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost 6.5 million by 2025 due to constant and rapid immigration. The recent economic growth experienced in Amman is unmatched by any other Arab city except those located in the Gulf. Amman is also the administrative seat of the homonymous governorate. Amman is also ranked a Gamma global city on the World city index.
  Amman was named one of the MENA's best cities according to economic, labour, environmental, and socio-cultural factors. Amman is among the most popular locations for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai. Furthermore, it is expected that in the next 10 years these three cities will capture the largest share of multinational corporation activity in the region. It is a major tourist destination in the region and the capital is especially popular among Gulf tourists. Amman is considered one of the richest and most Western-oriented cities in the Middle East.
  
  wn.com/Amman
• 
  An Giang province
  An Giang ( listen) is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the southwestern part of the country, sharing a border with Cambodia to the northwest.
  An Giang occupies a position in the upper reaches of the Mekong Delta. The Hau Giang and Tien Giang branches of the Mekong are the dominant geographical features of the province. With the exception of the west, most of An Giang is fairly flat, and is criss-crossed by many canals and small rivers. This terrain has led to An Giang being a significant agricultural centre, producing significant quantities of rice. The Cam Mountains, also known as the Thất Sơn range or the "Seven Mountains", are located in the western Tịnh Biên District. Followers of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương tradition, founded in An Giang in 1849, refer to these mountains as Bửu Sơn, "Precious Mountains".
  Politically, An Giang is divided into nine districts:
  An Giang includes 156 rural communes, wards and towns.
  The cities of Long Xuyên (the provincial capital) and Châu Đốc, both of which are located on the Hau Giang branch of the Mekong, exist as independent municipalities.
  
  wn.com/An_Giang_province
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  Ankara
  Ankara (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈan.ka.ɾa]; historically known as Angora) is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 938 metres (3,077 ft), and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million.
  Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), Angora rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region's muscat grapes.
  The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises 150 m (492 ft) above the plain on the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located at 39°52'30" North, 32°52' East (39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333Coordinates: 39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333), about 450 km (280 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, which is 72 m² per head.
  
  wn.com/Ankara
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  Armenia
  Armenia ⁱ/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
  A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
  
  wn.com/Armenia
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  Ashgabat
  Ashgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat, Persian: اشک آباد‎, Russian: Ашхабад, also Ashkhabad in transliteration from Russian formerly Poltoratsk between 1919–1927) is the capital and largest city of Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia. It has a population of 695,300 (2001 census estimate), 2009 estimates around 1 million people in Ashgabat, and is situated between the Kara Kum desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range. Ashgabat has a primarily Turkmen population, with ethnic minorities of Russians, Armenians, and Azeris. It is 250 km from the second largest city in Iran, Mashhad.
  Ashgabat is Aşgabat in Turkmen, Ашхабад (Ashkhabad) in Russian, and اشک آباد (UniPers: Ešq-âbâd) in Persian. From 1919 until 1927, the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary. Before 1991, the city was usually spelled Ashkabad in English, a transliteration of the Russian form, which was itself from the original Persian form. It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad.
  Root of the name of the city goes back to Arshacid Empire era, and derived from the name of the founder of the Parthian Empire,Arsaces I of Parthia. So it seems the original form of the name was Ashk-Abad, and because of Turkish pronunciation of the name it became like it is today.
  
  wn.com/Ashgabat
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  Astana
  Astana (Russian/Kazakh: Астана, formerly known as Akmola (Kazakh: Ақмола / Aqmola, until 1998), Целиноград / Tselinograd until 1992) and Akmolinsk (Russian: Акмолинск, until 1961), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010. It is located in the north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.
  The current mayor of Astana is Imangali Tasmagambetov. He was appointed on 4 April 2008.
  The word Astana in Kazakh literally means Capital but the word itself originates from Persian Astane (Persian: آستانه‎ means "sublime threshold," "royal porte" implying a royal capital city or a holy shrine town, (from the Persian verb Istadan (آستان) 'to stand' (in respect)), and literally means "threshold" (royal or sacred, where people stand in respect or awe),^{[citation needed]} implying where the court is seated (the capital city) or the body of a sacred person is interred (a shrine town). The city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan that hosts the body of the saint Ahmad Yasavi is also called the "astana" as is the city of Mashhad in Iran that is the burial place of the 8th Shiite Imam Reza. In fact, long before becoming the new capital of Kazakhstan, the city was "an astana," a burial ground of a saint, hence the old name of the city, Ak Mola (Ақмола), "white mausoleum."
  
  wn.com/Astana
• 
  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
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  Ba Dinh District
  Ba Đình is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Ba Dinh is the political center of Vietnam. Most of the government offices and embassies are located here. It was formally called the "French Quarter" (Khu phố Pháp), a name that is still used in travel literature.
  It's surround at the north by Tây Hồ, to the east by Red River, to the south by Đống Đa, to the southeast by Hoàn Kiếm, to the west by Cầu Giấy
  The district contains 14 wards (phường)
  Coordinates: 21°02′12″N 105°50′10″E / 21.03667°N 105.83611°E / 21.03667; 105.83611
  
  wn.com/Ba_Dinh_District
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  Ba Dinh Square
  Ba Đình Square (Vietnamese: Quảng Trường Ba Đình) is the name of a famous square in Hanoi where president Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. When Ho Chi Minh died, the granite Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was built here to display his embalmed body. It remains a major site of tourism and pilgrimage.
  Ba Dinh Square is in the center of Ba Dinh district, near the President's Palace and opposite Ba Dinh Hall, which has been demolished and archaeological remains of Thang Long been found.
  
  Coordinates: 21°02′12″N 105°50′09″E / 21.03667°N 105.83583°E / 21.03667; 105.83583
  
  wn.com/Ba_Dinh_Square
• Ba Vi District
  Ba Vì ( listen) is a rural district (huyện) of Hanoi in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.
  Coordinates: 21°04′0″N 105°20′05″E / 21.066667°N 105.33472°E / 21.066667; 105.33472
  
  wn.com/Ba_Vi_District
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  Bac Ninh
  Bắc Ninh ( listen) is a city in Vietnam and capital of the Bac Ninh province. The city is the cultural, administrative, and commercial center of the province. The city area is 80.82 square km, with a population of 150,331 (2006). In January, 2006, the town (thị xã) of Bac Ninh was upgraded to city (thành phố). The city is home to the Banking Academy of Vietnam, Bac Ninh campus (Học viện Ngân hàng), the Kinh Bac International School, and the Military Academy of Politics main campus (Học viện Chính trị Quân sự).
  In March 1884, Bac Ninh was the site of a decisive battle in the wars between France and assorted Chinese/Vietnamese forces.
  The city's name is derived from Sino-Vietnamese 北寧, meaning "northern serenity."
  The city is administratively divided into 19 units, including 10 urban wards (phường) - Đáp Cầu, Thị Cầu, Vũ Ninh, Suối Hoa, Tiền An, Ninh Xá, Vệ An, Kinh Bắc, Đại Phúc, and Võ Cường - and 9 rural communes (xã) - Vạn An, Hoà Long, Phong Khê, Khúc Xuyên, Kim chân, Vân dương, Hạp Lĩnh, Nam Sơn, and Khắc Niệm.
  
  wn.com/Bac_Ninh
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  Bac Ninh province
  Bắc Ninh ( listen) is a province of Vietnam, located in the Red River Delta of the northern part of the country. It is situated to the east of the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, and borders Bac Giang province, Hung Yen province, Hai Duong province, Vinh Phuc province, and Hanoi. The province is rich in culture and is known nationally for Quan họ folk music.
  In terms of land area, Bắc Ninh is the smallest of all Vietnamese provinces (and in fact, is smaller than any of the five province-level municipalities). It is, however, home to a relatively large number of people for its size, having the highest population density of any province. On average, there are over 1,200 people for every square kilometre of land in Bắc Ninh.
  Historically, Bắc Ninh province and the neighbouring Bac Giang Province were united as Ha Bac Province. However, the population growth resulted in Ha Bac being split into two new provinces, each based around one of the old province's two major settlements. The new Bắc Ninh Province was formed around the municipality of Bắc Ninh, while the modern Bắc Giang Province encompasses Bắc Giang Municipality and most of the old Ha Bac Province's rural districts.
  
  wn.com/Bac_Ninh_province
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  Bach Mai Hospital
  Bach Mai Hospital is a multi-field medical facility in Hanoi and is considered one of the largest in Vietnam. The hospital was established in 1911 during the French colonial rule. It played important role in the health system of Vietnam and is one of three high specialized medical centers, specializing on internal medicine. It is a big center of cadres training and scientific research in the country.
  The facility has a department for foreigners with English speaking staff able to treat serious cases.
  A special rehabilitation unit was opened in 1998 for treating adults and children with disabling conditions (stroke and cerebral palsy). The unit sponsored by Veterans For America has seen more than 1,700 patients and has fitted more than 2,100 plastic braces since its establishment.
  Late in the Second Indochina War on December 22, 1972, a string of American bombs intended for nearby Bach Mai Airfield missed their target and struck the hospital instead, nearly destroying the building and killing 28 hospital staff members. The hospital was subsequently rebuilt, largely with private donations from the United States. A bas-relief memorial to the victims can be seen in the courtyard today.
  
  wn.com/Bach_Mai_Hospital
• 
  Baghdad
  Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد‎, Baġdād, IPA: [bæɣˈdæːd]) is the capital of Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad as of 2011 is approximately 7,216,040, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab World (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).
  Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic World. This in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom) garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 1,200,000 people. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture.
  
  wn.com/Baghdad
• 
  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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  Baku
  Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı, IPA: [bɑˈcɯ]), sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City (21.5 ha). Baku's urban population at the beginning of 2009 was estimated at just over two million people. Officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in the metropolitan city area of Baku.
  Baku is divided into eleven administrative districts (raions) and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on islands in the Baku Bay and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 km (37 mi) away from Baku. The Inner City of Baku along with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planet's ranking, Baku is also among the world's top ten destinations for urban nightlife.
  
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  Bandar Seri Begawan
  Bandar Seri Begawan (Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان ; Malay: [ˌbanda səˌri bəˈɡawan]) with an estimated population of 140,000 (as of 2010), is the capital and largest city of the Sultanate of Brunei. The urban area has a population of 296,500 people.
  Habitation on the banks of the Brunei River can be traced back to the 8th century where there had been settlements similar to those in Kt, located on areas close to the present site of the Brunei Museum.
  Seri Begawan was named after the Sultan's late father Omar Ali Saifuddien on 5 October 1970, its original name being Bandar Brunei or Brunei Town. Begawan is a name given to Bruneian monarchs who have abdicated, originally coming from the Sanskrit word for "god": भगवान bhagavān. Seri also comes from the honorific Sanskrit word Sri. Bandar, comes from Persian بندر via Indian languages and means "port" or "haven" (bandar means "town" in Malay).
  On 1 August 2007, the sultan of Brunei gave consent for the extension of Bandar Seri Begawan from 12.87 km² (4.97 sq mi) to 100.36 km² (38.75 sq mi). For a list of the included villages and mukims see "Expansion of the City" below.
  
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  Bangkok
  Bangkok is the capital city of and largest urban area in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp máhǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn] ( listen)) or simply Krung Thep ( listen), meaning "city of angels". Bangkok is by far the most densely populated city in Thailand with about 12 million people. Bangkok was a small trading post near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century. It eventually grew in size and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782.
  Because of its strategic location in Southeast Asia, Siam (later Thailand) acted as a buffer-zone between the French and British colonial empires. Bangkok itself has gained a reputation as an independent, dynamic and influential city. Bangkok is the political, social and economic centre of Thailand, and one of the leading cities in Southeast Asia.
  Due to the 1980s and 1990s Asian investment boom, many multinational corporations make their regional headquarters in Bangkok and the city is a regional force in finance and business. Its increasing influence on global politics, culture, fashion and entertainment underlines its status as an Alpha global city. In 2009, it was the second most expensive city in South-East Asia behind Singapore. The city's many cultural landmarks and attractions in addition to its nightlife venues has made it synonymous with exoticism. Its rapid modernization, reflected in the cityscape and the urban society, has left untouched the historic Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Vimanmek Palace Complex and hundreds of Buddhist temples draw about 10 million international visitors each year, second only to London.
  
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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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  Beijing
  Beijing ( /beɪˈdʒɪŋ/; Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng, [peɪ˨˩ t͡ɕiŋ˥]), formerly romanized as Peking ( /piːˈkɪŋ/ or /peɪˈkɪŋ/), is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The metropolis, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government, with 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.
  Beijing is China's second largest city by urban population after Shanghai and is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's largest state-owned companies. Beijing is a major transportation hub in the national highway, expressway, railway and high-speed rail network. Beijing's Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.
  
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  Beirut
  Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306
  Beirut (Arabic: بيروت‎ Bayrūt, Greek: Βηρυττός, Latin: Berytus, French: Beyrouth, Hebrew: ביירות‎ Beyrut) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As there has been no recent population census, the exact population is unknown; estimates in 2007 ranged from slightly less than 1 million to slightly more than 2 million. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. The Beirut metropolitan area consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating from the 15th century BC. The city has been inhabited continuously since then.
  Beirut is Lebanon's seat of government and plays a central role in the Lebanese economy, with many banks and corporations based in its city centre, Hamra Street, Rue Verdun and Ashrafieh. The city is the focal point of the region's cultural life, renowned for its press, theatres, cultural activities and nightlife. After the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beirut underwent major reconstruction, and the redesigned historic city centre, marina, pubs and nightlife districts have once again made it a tourist attraction. Beirut was named the top place to visit by The New York Times in 2009, and as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet in the same year.
  
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  Ben Tre
  Bến Tre ( listen) is the capital city and municipality of Bến Tre Province, located in the Mekong Delta area of southern Vietnam. It was upgraded from town to city on 11 August 2009.
  One of the most famous quotes of the Vietnam War was a statement attributed to an unnamed U.S. officer by AP correspondent Peter Arnett. Writing about the provincial capital, Bến Tre, on 7 February 1968, Arnett cited an unidentified U.S. military official as follows: "'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it', a United States major said today. He was talking about the decision by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town regardless of civilian casualties, to rout the Vietcong." The quote became distorted in subsequent publications, eventually becoming the more familiar, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." The accuracy of the original quote, and its source, have been called into question.
  Arnett never revealed his source, except to say that it was one of four officers he interviewed that day. United States Army Major Phil Cannella, the senior officer present at Bến Tre, suggested that the quote might have been a distortion of something he said to Arnett.The New Republic at the time attributed the quote to U.S. Air Force Major Chester L. Brown.
  
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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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  Bien Hoa
  Biên Hòa ( listen) is a city in Đồng Nai Province, Vietnam, about 20 miles (32 km) east of Hồ Chí Minh City (formerly Saigon), to which Biên Hòa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.
  In 1989 the estimated population was 273,879. In 1999, the population was 435,400 and now the city has 652,646 at the 2009 census.
  Biên Hòa grew into a major suburb of Saigon as the capital city of South Vietnam grew. Following the First Indochina War, tens of thousands of refugees from the northern and central regions of Vietnam—a large portion of whom were Roman Catholics — resettled in Biên Hòa as part of Operation Passage to Freedom. During the Vietnam War, the United States Air Force operated Biên Hòa Air Base near the city. Mortar attacks on U.S. and ARVN targets were frequently staged from residential districts in Biên Hòa.
  Like most other areas of Vietnam, post-war Biên Hòa suffered a period of severe economic decline between 1975 and the second half of the 1980s (see also the fall of Saigon). In part, because of its high concentration of former refugees and their descendants who had fled the Communist government of North Vietnam in the mid-1950s, Biên Hòa was the site of small-scale resistance to the Communist government in the months immediately following the fall of the Republic of Vietnam.^{[citation needed]}
  
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  Binh Duong province
  Bình Dương ( listen) is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the southeastern part of the country, immediately to the north of Ho Chi Minh City. The province was created from Song Be province on January 1, 1997.
  Bình Dương province is situated on relatively level terrain, and is crossed by the Saigon, Đồng Nai, and Bé rivers.
  The area is considered to be good cropland, and agriculture is an important industry in the province. Binh Duong is also home to a significant manufacturing industry, and in the first half of 2004, the province had the second highest levels of foreign investment in Vietnam. Nike, Adidas, H&M and McDonald’s have set up factories to manufacture goods they sell locally and abroad in the province. The southern Dĩ An and Thuận An wards are highly urbanised and are now encompassed within the Ho Chi Minh city metropolitan area.
  Binh Duong is divided into six districts:
  The provincial capital, Thủ Dầu Một, is a separate municipality.
  Originally, the area now known as Bình Dương was heavily forested, and was dominated by peoples of the Xtiêng, Cho Ro, Mnong, and Khmer Krom ethnic groups. In the 17th century, however, ethnic Vietnamese settlers arrived in the region from the east. Most were peasants, seeking to escape poverty by gaining land of their own. There were also a number of refugees from a war between two feudal houses. In 1698, there were enough people in the area that a prominent Vietnamese general was sent to establish official institutions and enforce law. From that point, Bình Dương developed rapidly, with extensive clearance of forests to make room for crops. The province is now dominated by ethnic Vietnamese.
  
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  Binh Thuan province
  Bình Thuận ( listen) is a province of Vietnam. It is located on the country's South Central Coast, not far from Hồ Chí Minh City. It is sometimes seen as part of the Southeast Region. Bình Thuận is known for its scenery and for its good beaches. There are also a number of sites of archaeological significance.
  Much of what is now Bình Thuận Province was part of the Cham principality of Panduranga, which had its political centre in neighbouring Ninh Thuan province. It was the last independent principality after the fall of Vijaya in 1471. Bình Thuận was later incorporated into Vietnam, while Ninh Thuận remained independent longer, until 1832.
  Before 1976, Bình Thuận province was much smaller because much of the west was a separate province (Bình Tuy). Bình Tuy, Bình Thuận and Ninh Thuận were merged in 1976 to form Thuận Hải province. It was divided again into Ninh Thuận and Binh Thuận in 1991, while Bình Tuy remained part of Bình Thuận province.
  Bình Thuận borders Lam Dong province in the north, Ninh Thuận in the north-east, and Dong Nai province and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in the west.
  
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  Bishkek
  Bishkek (in Kyrgyz and Russian: Бишкек), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
  The name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz word for a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis), the Kyrgyz national drink. Founded in 1825 as the Kyrgyz-Khokand fortress of "Bishkek", then, in 1862, named as the Russian fortress Pishpek (крепость Пишпек), in 1926 the city was renamed Frunze (Фрунзе), after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament restored the city's historical name.
  Bishkek is situated at about 800 metres (2,600 ft) altitude just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tian Shan mountain range, which rises up to 4,855 metres (15,928 ft) and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan. The Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway by a spur line.
  
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  Brunei
  Brunei ⁱ/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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  Burma
  Burma ⁱ/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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  Cam Ranh
  Cam Ranh ( listen) is a city in southern Khanh Hoa province, in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is the second-largest city in the province, after Nha Trang. It is located on Cam Ranh Bay. As of 2009 the city had a population of 125.311. and covers an area of 316 km².
  Cam Ranh becomes the second city of Khanh Hoa province from December 23, 2010.
  
  
  
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  Cambodia
  Cambodia (ⁱ/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
  With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.
  
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  Cau Giay District
  Cầu Giấy is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. The district is named after the historic bridge where the famous 19th century Battle of Cầu Giấy (Paper Bridge) was fought.
  Many urban areas are located in Cau Giay. Among them, Trung Hoa Nhan Chinh emerges as the new city's commercial center lying partly in the southern part of the district (Trung Hoa ward). The massive Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower, the highest constructed building of Vietnam is also located in this area.
  The district is divided into 8 wards (phường):
  
  
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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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  Co Loa Citadel
  Cổ Loa Citadel (Vietnamese: Thành Cổ Loa) is a citadel built near Phong Khe, about 20km to the North of today’s Hanoi, during the end of the Hồng Bàng Dynasty (about 257 BCE). The fortress is a spiral-shaped complex of the then new capital. Its name is derived from the Sino-Vietnamese 古螺, meaning "old spiral." The site has been the source of various relics of the Dong Son culture of the Bronze Age.
  According to folklore, Thục Phán (An Dương Vương) defeated the last of the Hung kings in 257 BCE and founded the kingdom of Âu Lạc, choosing the site of Co Loa as his capital. Co Loa is a very large site and is the dominant presence in the northern floodplain of the Red River Delta, which would have required a large amount of labour and resources to have built in its time.
  The site consists of two outer sets of ramparts and a citadel on the inside, of rectangular shape.
  The outer rampart comprises a perimeter of 8 km and is lined with guard towers. The ramparts still stand up to 12 m high and are 25 m in width at their base. Archaeologists have estimated that over two million cubic metres of material were moved in order to construct the entire fortress, including moats that were fed by the Hoang River.
  
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  Cyprus
  Cyprus ⁱ/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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  Cần Thơ
  Cần Thơ ( listen), also Tay Do, is a city in Vietnam. The name comes from cầm thi giang - river of poems. The city, regarded as "Western capital", with an estimated population of 1,121,000 as of 2004, is the biggest city in the Mekong Delta. The city is located on the south bank of the Hậu River, the bigger branch of the Mekong River. It is 169 km from Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city. Cần Thơ’s climate is tropical and monsoonal with two seasons: rainy, from May to November; and dry, from December to April. Average annual humidity is 83%, rainfall 1,635 mm and temperature 27 °C.
  Cần Thơ City constitutes an independent municipality at the same level as provinces of Vietnam. It was created in the beginning of 2004 by a split of the former Cần Thơ Province into two new administrative units: Cần Thơ City and Hậu Giang Province.
  Cần Thơ City is divided into nine districts:
  It borders the provinces of An Giang, Hậu Giang, Kiên Giang, Vĩnh Long and Đồng Tháp.
  Can Tho is connected to the rest of the country by National Road 1A and Can Tho Airport. The Can Tho Bridge which is now completed, is the longest cable-stayed bridge in South East Asia . The 6-lane Saigon-Can Tho Exressway is being built in parts from Ho Chi Minh City to Trung Luong of My Tho. The hydrofoil express boat links this city with Saigon.
  
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  Da Lat
  Đà Lạt (Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɗâː làːt] ( listen)), or Dalat, (pop. 206,105 as of 2009^[update], of which 185,509 are urban inhabitants) is the capital of Lam Dong province in Vietnam. The city is located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level on the Langbiang Plateau in the southern parts of the Central Highlands (in Vietnamese, Tây Nguyên). In Vietnam, Da Lat is a popular tourist destination.
  Da Lat’s specific sights are pine wood (forming the name: “City of thousands of pine trees”) with twisting roads and tree marigold (Vietnamese: dã quỳ) blossom in the winter. The city’s temperate weather stands in contrast to Vietnam’s otherwise tropical climate. Mist covering the valleys almost year-round leads to its name “City of eternal spring”.
  Da Lat is also known as an area for scientific research in the fields of biotechnology and nuclear physics.
  With its year-round cool weather, Da Lat supplies temperate agriculture products for all over Vietnam, for example: cabbage and cauliflower. Its flower industry produces two typical flowers: hydrangea (Vietnamese: cẩm tú cầu) and golden everlasting (Vietnamese: hoa bất tử). The confectionery industry offers a wide range of mứt, a kind of fruit preserve made from strawberry, mulberry, sweet potato, and rose.
  
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  Da Nang
  Đà Nẵng ( listen) is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Hàn River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of National Route 1A and the North-South Railway make it a hub for transportation. It is located within 100 km of several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Imperial City of Huế, the Old Town of Hội An, and the Mỹ Sơn ruins. The city was previously known as Cửa Hàn during early Đại Việt settlement, and as Tourane (or Turon) during French colonial rule.
  Before 1997, the city was part of Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng Province. On 1 January 1997, Đà Nẵng was separated from Quảng Nam province to become one of five independent (centrally-controlled) municipalities in Vietnam. Đà Nẵng is listed as a first class city, and has a higher urbanization ratio than any of Vietnam's other provinces or centrally governed cities. In the 2009 census and base urban population, Đà Nẵng was the 4th largest city in Vietnam..
  
  wn.com/Da_Nang
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  Damascus
  Damascus (Arabic: دِمَشق‎ / ALA-LC: Dimashq; commonly known in Syria as al-Sham (Arabic: الشام‎ / al-Shām), and as the City of Jasmine (Arabic: مدينة الياسمين‎ / Madīnat al-Yāsmīn), is the capital and the second largest city of Syria. Both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).
  Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
  First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. Damascus was chosen as the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.
  
  wn.com/Damascus
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  Dhaka
  Dhaka (Bengali: ঢাকা, pronounced IPA: [ˈɖʱaka]; formerly spelled Dacca, named Jahangirnagar during Mughal era) is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. It is located on the banks of the Buriganga River. Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 16 million in 2011, making it the largest city in Bangladesh. It is the 9th largest city in the world and also 28th among the most densely populated cities in the world. Dhaka is known as the City of Mosques and with 400,000 cycle rickshaws running on its streets every day, the city is also described as the Rickshaw Capital of the World.
  Under Mughal rule in the 17th century, the city was known as Jahangir Nagar. It was a provincial capital and a centre of the worldwide muslin trade. The modern city, however, was developed chiefly under British rule in the 19th century, and became the second-largest city in Bengal after Calcutta (presently Kolkata). After the Partition of Bengal in 1905, Dhaka became the capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam but lost its status as a provincial capital again after the partition was annulled in 1911. After the partition of India in 1947, Dhaka became the administrative capital of East Pakistan, and later, in 1971, the capital of an independent Bangladesh. During the intervening period, the city witnessed widespread turmoil; this included many impositions of martial law, the declaration of Bangladesh's independence, military suppression, devastation during war, and natural calamities.
  
  wn.com/Dhaka
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  Dien Bien Phu
  Điện Biên Phủ ( listen) is a city in northwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Điện Biên Province. The city is best known for the events which occurred there during the First Indochina War, the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, during which the region was a breadbasket for the Việt Minh. The city was formally called Thaeng.
  Statistics on Điện Biên Phủ's population vary depending on definitions — figures are generally between 70,000 and 125,000. The city is growing quickly, and is projected to have a population of 150,000 by 2020. The majority of the population is not ethnically Vietnamese - rather, Thai ethnic groups form the largest segment. Ethnic Vietnamese make up around a third of the population, with the remainder being Hmong, Si La, or others.^{[citation needed]}
  Điện Biên Phủ lies in Muong Thanh valley, a 20-km-long and 6-km-wide basin sometimes described as "heart-shaped." It is on the western edge of Điện Biên Province, of which it is the capital, and is only a short distance from the border with Laos. Until the creation of the province in 2004, it was part of the province of Lai Châu. The Vietnamese government elevated Điện Biên Phủ to town status in 1992, and to city status in 2003.
  
  wn.com/Dien_Bien_Phu
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  Dili
  Dili is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor.
  Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It is the seat of the administration of the district of Dili, which is the administrative entity of the area and includes the island of Atauro and some cities close to Dili city. The city is divided into the subdistricts of Nain Feto, Vera Cruz, Dom Aleixo and Cristo Rei and is divided into several sucos, which are headed by an elected chefe de suco. 18 of the 26 sucos of the four subdistricts are categorized as urban.
  There is no city administration beside the district administrator, who was appointed by state government. The Timorese government started to plan in 2009 to change the status of districts into municipalities. These will have an elected mayor and council.
  The 2010 census recorded a population of 193,563 in the areas of Dili district classified as urban, with a population of 234,331 in the whole district including rural areas such as Atauro and Metinaro.
  
  wn.com/Dili
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  Doha
  Doha (Arabic: الدوحة‎, ad-Dawḥa or ad-Dōḥa, literally: "the big tree") is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar. Doha is Qatar's largest city, with over 60% of the nation's population residing in Doha or its surrounding suburbs, and is also the economic centre of the country.
  Doha also serves as the seat of government of Qatar, which is ruled by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Doha is home to the Education City, an area devoted to research and education. Doha was the site of the first ministerial-level meeting of the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization negotiations. The city of Doha held the 2006 Asian Games, which was the largest Asian Games ever held. Doha also hosted the 2011 Pan Arab Games and most of the games at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. Doha will also host a large number of the venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The World Petroleum Council held the 20th World Petroleum Conference in Doha in December 2011.
  
  wn.com/Doha
• Dong Da District
  Đống Đa literally Banyan Heap is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam.
  The district is divided into 21 wards (phường).
  
  
  
  
  wn.com/Dong_Da_District
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  Dong Ha
  Đông Hà ( listen) is the capital town of Quang Tri province, Vietnam. It is located at around 16°49′49″N 107°5′50″E / 16.83028°N 107.09722°E / 16.83028; 107.09722Coordinates: 16°49′49″N 107°5′50″E / 16.83028°N 107.09722°E / 16.83028; 107.09722. Dong Ha is situated at the crossroads of National Highway 1A and Route 9, part of the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC). It lies on the Reunification Express Railway and is served by Dong Ha Railway Station. EWEC is an economic development program which includes Northeast Thailand, Southern Laos, and central Vietnam.
  During the Vietnam War, Dong Ha was the northernmost town in South Vietnam and was the location on a strategically important U.S. Marine Combat Base, outposted to provide surveillance of troops movements across the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Dong Ha was overrun on March 31, 1972, during the initial assaults of the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive.
  Tourists come to Dong Ha nowadays, especially ex-servicemen from the U.S. and Vietnam, who nearly always include a DMZ tour in their programs. The contemporary Vietnamese singer Nhu Quynh was born in Dong Ha in 1970.
  
  wn.com/Dong_Ha
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  Dong Hoi
  Đồng Hới ( listen) is the capital city of Quảng Bình province in the north central coast of Vietnam. The city's area is 155.71 km² (60.12 sq mi), population as per the 2009 census: 108,526. Urban area is 55.47 km², urban population was 71,620; Suburban area is 100.24 square kilometers, suburban population was 36,906. The city is served by National Highway 1A and the local railway station and airport. By road, Đồng Hới is 486 kilometres (302 mi) south of Hanoi, 195 kilometres (121 mi) south of Vinh, 172 kilometres (107 mi) north of Huế and 1,238 kilometres (769 mi) north of Hồ Chí Minh City. It borders Quảng Ninh District on the west and south, the South China Sea on the east, Bố Trạch District on the north.
  Đồng Hới has a 12-km-long coastline with white sand beaches. Đồng Hới is the closest city to Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, UNESCO's World Natural Heritage Site located 50 km north of the city.
  Archaeological excavation in this area proved that human living in what is now Quảng Bình province in the Stone Age period. Many artifacts, such as ceramic vases, stone tools, and china, have been unearthed in Quảng Bình.
  
  wn.com/Dong_Hoi
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  Dong Nai province
  Đồng Nai ( listen) is a province of southeastern Vietnam, located east and northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The largest city in Dong Nai is Bien Hoa.
  Đồng Nai is divided into the following districts:
  The city of Biên Hòa is its own municipality.
  Đồng Nai is situated in southeastern Vietnam and bordered by: Bình Thuận, Lâm Đồng, Bình Dương and Bình Phước, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Dong Nai province has an advanced traffic system with many backbone national roads crossing, such as: National route 1A, national route 20, National route 51, North–South railway lines; Located adjacent to the Saigon Port and Tan Son Nhat International Airport, it offers many advantages to economic activities in the area. Its location is very important for the development of the Southern economic main hub and a junction of the South Eastern and Tay Nguyen Highland.
  The population of Đồng Nai is primarily the dominant Kinh (Viet) ethnicity, although there are residents of the Chinese, Nung, Tay, and Cham minorities.
  
  wn.com/Dong_Nai_province
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  Dushanbe
  Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, Dushanbe, Dyushambe until 1929; Stalinabad, Tajik: Сталинабад until 1961), population 679,400 people (2008 est.), is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in Tajik, and the name reflects the fact that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a popular Monday marketplace.
  Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon, Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan. Although archaeological remnants dating to the 5th century BC have been discovered in the area, there is little to suggest that Dushanbe was more than a small village until the early 20th century. In 1920, the last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dushanbe (then called Dyushambe) after being overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. He fled to Afghanistan after the Red Army conquered the area the next year.
  Dushanbe, which means "Monday" in Persian, (فارسی), developed on the site of a Monday marketplace village, Dyushambe-Bozor, and its former name Dyushambe was a Russified version of the word meaning "Monday" in Persian (du-shanbe from du two + shanbe Saturday, lit. "second day after Saturday"). Following the Red Army victory in Central Asia the village was upgraded to town in 1925 and made the capital of the newly created Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik ASSR). After the transformation of Tajik ASSR to Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) in 1929, Dyushambe was renamed Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin. As part of Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization initiative, the city was renamed Dushanbe in 1961.
  
  wn.com/Dushanbe
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  East Timor
  The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (tiˈmɔr ˈlɛʃteɪ), commonly known as East Timor ⁱ/ˌiːst ˈtiːmɔr/ (Tetum: Timór Lorosa'e, Portuguese: Timor-Leste), is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The small country of 15,410 km² (5,400 sq mi) is located about 640 km (400 mi) northwest of Darwin, Australia.
  East Timor was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until Portugal's decolonization of the country. In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence, but later that year was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year. In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002. East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being the Philippines.
  
  wn.com/East_Timor
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  Flag Tower of Hanoi
  Coordinates: 21°1′57″N 105°50′23″E / 21.0325°N 105.83972°E / 21.0325; 105.83972
  The Flag Tower of Hanoi (Vietnamese: Cột cờ Hà Nội) is a tower in Hanoi, Vietnam, which is one of the symbols of the city and part of the Hanoi Citadel, a World Heritage Site. Its height is 33.4 m (41 m with the flag).
  Built in 1812, the tower, unlike many other structures in Hanoi, was not destroyed during the French administration (1896-1897), being used as a military post. Now, it is locating in Vietnam Military History Museum.
  Cột cờ is composed of three tiers and a pyramid-shaped tower with a spiral staircaise leading to the top inside it. The first tier is 42.5 m wide and 3.1 m high; the second - 25 m wide and 3.7 m high and the third - 12.8 m wide and 5.1 m high. The second tier has four doors. The words "Nghênh Húc" (English: "To welcome dawn's sunlight") are inscribed on the eastern door; the words "Hà Quang" ("To reflect light") - on the western door and "Hướng Minh" ("Directed to the sunlight") - on the southern door. The tower is lighted by 36 flower-shaped and 6 fan-shaped windows. The National Flag of Vietnam is on top of the tower.
  
  wn.com/Flag_Tower_of_Hanoi
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  France
  France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
  Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
  
  wn.com/France
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  Fukuoka Prefecture
  Fukuoka Prefecture (福岡県, Fukuoka-ken^?) is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.
  Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen.
  Fukuoka Prefecture has signed Friendship Agreements with Bangkok (Thailand), Delhi (India), and Hanoi (Vietnam).
  Fukuoka Prefecture faces the sea on three sides, bordering on Saga, Ōita, and Kumamoto prefectures and facing Yamaguchi Prefecture across the Kanmon Straits.
  Fukuoka includes the two largest cities on Kyūshū, Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, and much of Kyūshū's industry. It also includes a number of small islands near the north coast of Kyūshū.
  Twenty-eight cities are located in Fukuoka Prefecture:
  These are the towns and villages in each district.
  Fukuoka prefecture's main cities form one of Japan's main industrial centers, accounting for nearly 40% of the economy of Kyūshū. Major industries include automobiles, semiconductors, and steel. Fukuoka prefecture is noteworthy as the place where tire manufacturer Bridgestone[1] and consumer electronics chain Best Denki were founded.
  
  wn.com/Fukuoka_Prefecture
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  Gia Lai province
  Gia Lai ( listen) is a province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
  The province is divided into one city (Pleiku), two towns (An Khê and Ayun Pa), and 13 districts:
  
  wn.com/Gia_Lai_province
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  Ha Giang province
  Hà Giang ( listen) is a province in northeastern Vietnam. It is located in the far north of the country, and contains Vietnam's northernmost point. It shares a 270 km long border with Yunnan province of southern China, and thus is known as Vietnam's final frontier. The province covers an area of 7945.8 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 705,100 people.
  The provincial capital, also called Hà Giang, is connected by Highway 2 and is 320 km away from Hanoi. The border crossing is at Thanh Thủy, 25 km from the capital, Hà Giang town. It is one of the poorest provinces of Vietnam as it has mountainous topography with the least potential for agricultural development.
  The province borders China with a length of over 270 kilometres (170 mi); the border gate is known as the Thanh Thủy. In addition, there are three smaller gates namely, the Phó Bảng, the Xín Mần and Săm Pun.
  The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Tự: 河江).
  Hà Giang is bounded by Cao Bằng, Tuyên Quang, Lào Cai, and Yên Bái provinces and has common international border with China in the north. Hà Giang has many high rocky mountains, limestone formations and springs; the important mountains are the Cam and Mo Neo. The major rivers of the region are the Lô River (Hà Giang town is located on its left bank) and Mien River.
  
  wn.com/Ha_Giang_province
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  Hai Phong
  Hải Phòng ( listen), also Haiphong, is the 3rd largest city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence". Haiphong also names "The City of the Red Flamboyant", because there are a lot of flamboyant trees which are planted in the city. Haiphong is also the largest 1st-class city, and is an economic, industrial, commercial and educational center in Vietnam. With the advantage of having deep-watered ports, maritime transport here is very developed.
  Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters (Hai Bà Trưng) in the year 43 C.E. The area which is now known as Duong Kinh District was once known as Hai tan Phong thu ("defensive coastal area"), and served as the second capital of the Mac dynasty (1527–1592). At the end of Nguyen Emperor Tu Duc's reign, the headquarters of An Duong District was also moved to Hang Kenh Communal House, which now belongs to Le Chan district.
  In 1881, the city was the site of a devastating typhoon which claimed up to 300,000 lives.
  
  wn.com/Hai_Phong
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  Hanoi
  Hanoi (Hà Nội;  listen), is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế during the Nguyen dynasty as the capital of Vietnam, but Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam.
  The city is located on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is located at 1,760 km (1,090 mi) north of Ho Chi Minh City.
  October 2010 officially marked 1000 years since the establishment of the city.
  Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, in central Hanoi
  Emperor Lý Thái Tổ made Thăng Long (Hanoi) his capital in the 11th century
  Colonial Hanoi
  Modern Hanoi
  Hanoi has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC. One of the first known permanent settlements is the Co Loa citadel (Cổ Loa) founded around 200 BC.
  Hanoi has had many names throughout history, all of them of Sino-Vietnamese origin. During the Chinese domination of Vietnam, it was known first as Long Biên, then Tống Bình (Chinese: 宋平, Sòngpíng, "Song Peace") and Long Đỗ (Chinese: 龍肚, Lóngdù, "Dragonbelly"). In 866, it was turned into a citadel and named Đại La (Chinese: 大羅, Dàluó, "Big Net").
  
  wn.com/Hanoi
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  Hanoi Hilton
  Coordinates: 21°1′31″N 105°50′47″E / 21.02528°N 105.84639°E / 21.02528; 105.84639
  Hỏa Lò Prison, later sarcastically known to American prisoners of war as the "Hanoi Hilton", was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners and later by North Vietnam for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War.
  The name Hoa Lo, commonly translated as "fiery furnace" or even "Hell's hole", also means "stove". The name originated from the street name phố Hỏa Lò, due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.
  The prison was built in Hanoi by the French, in dates ranging from 1886–1889 to 1898 to 1901, when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. The French called the prison Maison Centrale—literally, Central House, a traditional euphemism to denote prisons in France. It was located near Hanoi's French Quarter. It was intended to hold Vietnamese prisoners, particularly political prisoners agitating for independence who were often subject to torture and execution. A 1913 renovation expanded its capacity from 460 inmates to 600. It was nevertheless often overcrowded, holding some 730 prisoners on a given day in 1916, a figure which would rise to 895 in 1922 and 1,430 in 1933. By 1954 it held more than 2000 people; with its inmates held in subhuman conditions, it had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation and of the bitterness of the Vietnamese towards the French.
  
  wn.com/Hanoi_Hilton
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  Hanoi Opera House
  The Hanoi Opera House (Vietnamese: Nhà hát lớn Hà Nội) is an opera house in central Hanoi, Vietnam. It was erected by the French colonial administration between 1901 and 1911. It was modeled on the Palais Garnier, the older of Paris's two opera houses, and is considered to be one of the architectural landmarks of Hanoi.
  The Hanoi Opera House provides the name for the nearby Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel which opened in 1999 and which, for historical reasons associated with the Vietnam war, was not named the Hanoi Hilton^{[citation needed]}.
  The Saigon Opera House is a smaller structure built around the same time.
  Coordinates: 21°01′27″N 105°51′28″E / 21.02417°N 105.85778°E / 21.02417; 105.85778
  
  
  wn.com/Hanoi_Opera_House
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  Ho Chi Minh City
  Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh;  listen), formerly named Saigon (Sài Gòn;  listen) is the largest city in Vietnam. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer sea port prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century.
  Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochin-china and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1955–75. South Vietnam, as an anti-communist state, fought against the communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, with aid from the United States of America and countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Saigon fell when it was captured by the communists on 30 April 1975, bringing an end to the War with its enemy's victory. Vietnam was then turned into a communist state with the South overtaken. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after Hồ Chí Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used.)
  The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,090 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
  
  wn.com/Ho_Chi_Minh_City
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  Ho Chi Minh Museum
  The Ho Chi Minh Museum is located in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is a museum dedicated to the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam's revolutionary struggle against foreign powers. It was constructed in the 1990s. However, the museum is widely regarded as a propaganda tool of the Vietnamese communist regime, used to whitewash both the Communist Party and Ho Chi Minh's legacy and historical image.
  Media related to Ho Chi Minh Museum at Wikimedia Commons
  Coordinates: 21°02′08″N 105°49′57″E / 21.035693°N 105.832624°E / 21.035693; 105.832624
  
  wn.com/Ho_Chi_Minh_Museum
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  Hoa Binh
  Hòa Bình ( listen) is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hòa Bình province, and located 76 kilometres from Hanoi, and 5 kilometres from the Đà River. The Battle of Hòa Bình was fought around the city from 1951-52 during the First Indochina War.
  
  wn.com/Hoa_Binh
• Hoai Duc District
  Hoài Đức is a district huyện of Hanoi in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.
  Coordinates: 21°04′N 105°43′E / 21.067°N 105.717°E / 21.067; 105.717
  
  wn.com/Hoai_Duc_District
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  Hoan Kiem District
  Hoàn Kiếm is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, named after the scenic Hoan Kiem Lake.
  Hoan Kiem district is the downtown and commercial centre of Hanoi. Most of the largest Vietnamese public corporations and bank headquarters are located here, but the central government offices are located in Ba Dinh District (sometimes called the French quarter).
  Many of Hanoi tourist attractions are located here, including: The Old Quarter, Hanoi Opera House, National Museum of Vietnamese History, and the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. Media related to Hoan Kiem Lake at Wikimedia Commons
  
  
  wn.com/Hoan_Kiem_District
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  Hoi An
  Hội An ( listen), also Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is located in Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Hoi An Ancient Town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site.
  The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lâm Ấp Phố (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth. The former harbour town of the Cham at the estuary of the Thu Bồn River was an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled. During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the "Japanese Bridge" (16th-17th century). The bridge (Chùa cầu) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Hoi_An
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  Hong Kong
  Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
  Hong Kong (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 situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, 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. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
  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. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
  
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  Huế
  Huế ( listen) is the capital city of Thua Thien – Hue province, Vietnam. Between 1802 and 1945, it was the imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty. Its population stands at about 950,000. In Sino-Vietnamese script, used until 1945, the name of the city is written 化.
  Huế originally rose to prominence as the capital of the Nguyễn Lords, a feudal dynasty which dominated much of southern Vietnam from the 17th to the 19th century. In 1775 when Trịnh Sâm captured it, it was known as Phú Xuân. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long) succeeded in establishing his control over the whole of Vietnam, thereby making Huế the national capital.
  Minh Mạng (14 February 1791 – 20 January 1841; born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm 阮 福 膽, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu 阮 福 晈) was the second emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty, reigning from 14 February 1820 (his 29th birthday) until his death, on 20 January 1841. He was a younger son of Emperor Gia Long, whose eldest son, Crown Prince Cảnh, had died in 1801. Minh was well known for his opposition to French involvement in Vietnam, and for his rigid Confucian orthodoxy.
  
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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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  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/ or ⁱ/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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  Isfahan
  Isfahan (Persian: اصفهان‎ Esfahān), historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609 and is Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad. The Isfahan metropolitan area had a population of 3,430,353 in the 2006 Census, the second most populous metropolitan area in Iran after Tehran.
  The cities of Zarrinshahr, Fooladshahr and Najafabad, Se-deh , Shahin-shahr, Mobarakeh, Falavarjan and chiarmahin all constitute the metropolitan city of Isfahan.
  Isfahan is located on the main north-south and east-west routes crossing Iran, and was once one of the largest cities in the world. It flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th century under the Safavid dynasty, when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history. Even today, the city retains much of its past glory. It is famous for its Islamic architecture, with many beautiful boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, mosques, and minarets. This led to the Persian proverb "'Esfahān nesf-e jahān ast" (Isfahan is half of the world).
  
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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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  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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  Jakarta
  Jakarta ( /dʒəˈkɑrtə/), officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of Java, Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre, and with a population of 10,187,595 as of November 2011, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the twelfth-largest city in the world. The official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabekjur, is the second largest in the world, yet the city's suburbs still continue beyond it. Jakarta is listed as a global city in the 2008 Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) research. and has an area of 661 square kilometres (255 sq mi)
  Based on Brooking Institute survey about growth, in 2011 Jakarta ranked 17th among the world's 200 largest cities, a significant jumps from 2007 when Jakarta ranked 171st. Jakarta has seen more rapid growth than Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Bangkok.
  
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  Japan
  Japan ⁱ/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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  Jerusalem
  Jerusalem ( /dʒəˈruːsələm/; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎‎ Yerushaláyim   ; Arabic: القُدس‎ al-Quds    and/or أورشليم Ûrshalîm) is the capital of Israel, though not internationally recognized as such, and one of the oldest cities in the world. It is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. If the area and population of East Jerusalem is included, it is Israel's largest city in both population and area, with a population of 801,000 residents over an area of 125.1 km² (48.3 sq mi). Jerusalem is also a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
  During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond its boundaries.
  
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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
  Kabul ( /ˈkɑːbəl/, /ˈkɑːbuːl/; Pashto: کابل Kābəl, IPA: [kɑˈbəl]; Persian: کابل Kābol‎, IPA: [kɒːˈbol]), also spelled Cabool, Caubul or Cabul, mostly in historical contexts, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Kabul is the 5th fastest growing city in the world [2] and the world's 64th largest city [3]. It is also the capital of Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan. According to latest estimates, the population of the Kabul metropolitan area is over 4 million.
  The city serves as the nation's cultural and learning centre, situated 1,791 metres (5,876 ft) above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River. It is linked with Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif via the circular Highway 1 that stretches across Afghanistan. It is also the start of the main road to Jalalabad and further to Peshawar, Pakistan. The Kabul International Airport is located about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the center of the city, next to the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. Bagram Airfield is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Kabul.
  
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  Kathmandu
  Kathmandu (Nepali: काठमांडौ [kɑːʈʰmɑːɳɖuː]; Nepal Bhasa: येँ देय्‌) is the capital and, with more than one million inhabitants, the largest metropolitan city of Nepal. The city is the urban core of the Kathmandu Valley in the Himalayas, which contains two sister cities: Lalitpur (Patan), 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to its south and Bhaktapur or Bhadgaon, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to its east, and a number of smaller towns. It is also acronymed as 'KTM' and named 'tri-city'. In the last census (2001), the city of Kathmandu had 671,846 inhabitants. Population estimates for 2005 were 790,612 and for 2010 they stood at 989,273. The municipal area is (50.67 square kilometres (19.56 sq mi)) and the population density is 19,500 per km².
  The city stands at an elevation of approximately 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) in the bowl-shaped valley in central Nepal surrounded by four major hills: Shivapuri, Phulchowki, Nagarjun and Chandragiri. Kathmandu valley is part of three districts, Kathmandu District, Lalitpur District and Bhaktapur District, with the highest population density in the country and accounting for about 1/15 of its population. These three disticts contain 2.5 million people, as of the 2011 census.
  
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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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  Kon Tum
  
  
  Kon Tum is the capital town of Kon Tum province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, near the borders with Laos and Cambodia.
  After the People's Army of Vietnam invaded South Vietnam on March 30, 1972 during the Easter Offensive, two divisions attempted to capture Kontum, but failed. In March 1975, however, Kontum was overrun during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign and large numbers of refugees were forced to flee east to the south central coast.
  Kon Tum has several vestiges of the French colonial period, as well as several tribal villages directly in the suburbs of the Vietnamese-reconstructed town. Among the town's landmarks, there is a Roman Catholic wooden church on discrete stilts and a large French-built seminary which hosts a small museum on local hill tribes. French missionary presence in Kon Tum traces back to 1851.
  
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  Kon Tum province
  Kon Tum province lies in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam and shares borders with Laos and Cambodia. It has an area of 9,934 square km and a population of approximately 330,000. The economy is primarily agricultural.
  The name Kon Tum comes from the name of a village of the Bahnar ethnic group. In the Bahnar language, kon means "village" and tum means "pool". Prior to the adoption of quốc ngữ, the name was rendered in Hán tự (Sino-Vietnamese characters), in official documents, as 崑嵩.
  Kon Tum is divided into 8 districts:
  The capital, Kon Tum, is its own municipality.
  There are 76 communes, 10 wards, and 6 towns.
  Neighboring provinces are Quảng Nam to the north, Quảng Ngãi to the east and Gia Lai to the south. The capital city is Kon Tum.
  Ethnic groups in Kon Tum Province include the Viet, Ba Na, Brau, Giẻ Triêng, Jarai, Rơ Măm, and Xo Dang.
  
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  Kuala Lumpur
  Kuala Lumpur is the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. The city covers an area of 243 km² (94 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 1.6 million as of 2012.Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million. It is among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country, in terms of population and economy.
  Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia. The city was once home to the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, but they were moved to Putrajaya in early 1999. Some sections of the judiciary still remains in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The official residence of the Malaysian King, the Istana Negara, is also situated in Kuala Lumpur. Rated as an alpha world city, Kuala Lumpur is the cultural, financial and economic centre of Malaysia due to its position as the capital as well as being a key city. Kuala Lumpur was ranked 48th among global cities by Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index and was ranked 67th among global cities for economic and social innovation by the 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index in 2010.
  
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  Kuwait
  Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait ⁱ/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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  Kuwait City
  Kuwait City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت, transliteration: Madīnat al-Kuwayt), is the capital of Kuwait. It has a population of 2.38 million in the metropolitan area. Located at the heart of the country on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and containing Kuwait's parliament (Majlis Al-Umma), most governmental offices, the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate.
  Kuwait City’s trade and transportation needs are served by Kuwait International Airport, Mina Al-Shuwaik (Shuwaik Port) and Mina Al Ahmadi (Ahmadi Port) 50 kilometers to the south, on the Persian Gulf coast.
  Kuwait City was first settled in the early 18th century by the Al-Sabāh clan, later the ruling family of Kuwait and a branch of the Al-Utūb tribe (that also included the Al-Khalīfah clan, the ruling family of Bahrain), and their leader, Sheikh Sabāh I. Its name may have derived from an earlier abandoned fort located there, called "Kūt" (كوت) – Arabic for a fortress by the sea.
  
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  Kyrgyzstan
  Kyrgyzstan ( /ˈkɜrɡɨstæn/ KUR-gi-stan;Kyrgyz & Russian: Кыргызстан, Kyrgyzstan, or Киргизия, Kirgiziya), officially the Kyrgyz Republic is a nation located in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.
  Kyrgyzstan is officially a democratic parliamentary republic. A revolution in April 2010 overthrew the former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and resulted in the adoption of a new constitution and the appointment of an interim government. Presidential elections were held in November 2011.
  Kyrgyzstan is one of the active members of the Turkic Council and the TÜRKSOY community. The national language, Kyrgyz, is also closely related to the other Turkic languages, with which it shares strong cultural and historical ties.
  Additionally, Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Community, the Non-aligned movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
  
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  Lai Chau province
  Lai Châu ( listen) is a province in northwestern Vietnam. Lai Chau province is the most sparsely populated in Vietnam. It shares a border with China. It once was a province of the Lan Xang kingdom, then switched ownership to Vietnam during the French Colonial period. It became part of the Northwest Autonomous Area of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975, when Lai Châu province is formed. Điện Biên province is carved out of Lai Châu in 2004.
  Lai Châu is divided into one town (Lai Châu) and five districts:
  Lai Châu has long been the poorest province in Vietnam. It is also the least industrialised province. In 1974, the industrial output of Hanoi - the richest province in North Vietnam at that time - was 47 times as high as that of Lai Châu. The province became even more backward after the more industrialised south was separated to become Điện Biên Province. In 2007, Hanoi’s industrial output (before its merger with Hà Tây Province) was 93 times that of Lai Châu. Industrial output has, however, grown rapidly in recent years, more than tripling between 2000 and 2007, making the fastest growing sector in the province compared to an agriculture and forestry sector that has grown by less than 50% and a service sector that has more than doubled in the same time. Industrial products include liquor, bricks, cement and electricity. Industrial output in 2007 was 476.6bn VND, accounting for 28.9% of the province's economy, compared to only 16.5% in 2000.
  
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  Lang Son
  Coordinates: 21°50′52″N 106°45′28″E / 21.84778°N 106.75778°E / 21.84778; 106.75778
  Lạng Sơn ( listen), sometimes Langson, is a city in far northern Vietnam, is the capital of Lạng Sơn province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Road 1A.
  Due to its geography as Vietnam's gateway to China, Lạng Sơn and its ancient citadel have been in the path of many invasions, and were the site of three French defeats during the colonial era. Occupied by Qing forces during the military buildup that preceded the Sino-French War, the city was occupied by France after a two-week campaign in February 1885. However, the brigade there conducted a hasty retreat after a failed attack through Bang Bo into China; the "retreat from Lạng Sơn" became the most controversial aspect of the war and led to the fall of Jules Ferry's ministry. French colonial forces clashed with the Japanese 5th Division in the Battle of Lạng Sơn during the Japanese Vietnam Expedition in 22 September 1940. The French were again compelled to retreat hastily.^{[citation needed]}
  
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  Lao Cai
  Lào Cai ( listen) is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River (Sông Hồng) and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles (260 km) northwest of Hanoi. It is a market town for timber located on the Hải Phòng railway to Yunnan Province in China.
  The town was invaded by the Chinese in 1979 and the border was closed and not reopened until 1993. The town has a carbide factory. As of 2003 the district had a population of 86,855. The district covers an area of 223 km².
  
  Coordinates: 22°29′N 103°57′E / 22.483°N 103.95°E / 22.483; 103.95
  
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  Lao Cai province
  Lào Cai ( listen), is a province of northwestern in the mountainous region of Vietnam, bordering the province of Yunnan in the China. The province covers an area of 6383.9 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 602,300 people.
  Lao Cai and Sa Pa are two important cities within the province at the border with China; the former is well known as key trading post and the latter is hill station famous for tourism, in northwestern Vietnam. Lao Cai is also the capital of Lào Cai Province and shares border with the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. This border town was closed after the 1979 war with China, since reopened in 1993, has become a major tourist centre between Hanoi, Sapa and Kunming (China). Sapa is notable as a hill resort, a market town for timber and sex trade and known as the "queen of mountains"
  Lào Cai has many historical sites, natural caves and produces agricultural specialties such as Bắc Hà plums.
  In a 1929 survey conducted in the area, the vegetation (flora) and fauna (mammals) recorded by the French biologist Delacour who accompanied Theodore Roosevelt were unique to the region in North Vietnam.
  
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  Laos
  Laos ((ⁱ/ˈlaʊs/, /ˈlɑː.ɒs/, /ˈlɑː.oʊs/, or /ˈleɪ.ɒs/) Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, pronounced [sǎː.tʰáː.laʔ.naʔ.lat páʔ.sáː.tʰiʔ.páʔ.tàj páʔ.sáː.són.láːw] Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be 6.5 million in 2012.
  Laos traces its history to the Kingdom which existed from the 14th to the 18th century when it split into three separate kingdoms. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three kingdoms, Luang Phrabang, Vientiane and Champasak, uniting to form what is now known as Laos. It briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a long civil war ended the monarchy, when the Communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975.
  
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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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  Liu Song Dynasty
  The Liu Song Dynasty (simplified Chinese: 刘宋朝; traditional Chinese: 劉宋朝; pinyin: Liú Sòng Cháo; Wade-Giles: Liu Sung Ch'ao), also known as Former Song Dynasty (前宋) (420-479 CE), was first of the four Southern Dynasties in China, succeeding the Eastern Jin Dynasty and followed by the Southern Qi Dynasty.
  The dynasty was founded by Liu Yu 劉裕 (363–422), whose surname together with "Song" forms the most commonly used name for the dynasty, the Liu Song 劉宋. This appellation is used to distinguish it from a later dynasty of the same name, the Song Dynasty 宋 (960–1279), which is much more famous and significant. The Liu Song is also at times referred to as the "Southern Song Dynasty" (南宋), as it is one of the Southern Dynasties period, i.e., one of those with its capital at Jiankang (modern Nanjing). However, the later Song Dynasty, after 1127, when it moved its capital south to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang), is most commonly referred to as "Southern Song Dynasty" (南宋). Thus, for the shorter dynasty which is the subject of this article, "Liu Song" has become the term preferred in most contexts.
  
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  Long An province
  Long An ( listen) is a province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam.
  The province comprises one town (Tân An, the provincial capital) and 13 districts:
  Being a low-lying coastal region, Long An is particularly susceptible to floods resulting from rises in sea level due to climate change. The Climate Change Research Institute at Can Tho University, in studying the possible consequences of climate change, has predicted that 49% of Long An province is expected to be flooded if sea levels rise by 1 meter.
  
  
  
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  Long Bien Bridge
  Coordinates: 21°2′36″N 105°51′32″E / 21.04333°N 105.85889°E / 21.04333; 105.85889
  Long Bien Bridge (Vietnamese: Cầu Long Biên) is a historic cantilever bridge across the Red River that connects two parts of the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was originally called Paul Doumer Bridge.
  The bridge was built in 1903 by the architects of Daydé & Pillé, a French company. Before North Vietnam's independence in 1954, it was called Doumer Bridge, named after Paul Doumer - The Governor-General of French Indochina and then French president. It was, at that time, one of the longest bridges in Asia with the length of 2,500 m. For the French colonial government, the construction was of strategic importance in securing control of northern Vietnam. From 1899 to 1902, more than 3,000 Vietnamese took part in the construction.
  It was heavily bombarded during Vietnam War due to its critical position (the only bridge at that time across the Red River and connect Hanoi to the main port Haiphong). The first attack took place in 1967, and the center span of the bridge was felled by an attack by 20 USAF F-105 fighter-bombers. The defence of Long Bien Bridge continues to play a large role in Hanoi’s self-image and is often extolled in poetry and song. It was rendered unusable for a year when, in May 1972, it fell victim to one of the first co-ordinated attacks using laser-guided "smart bombs".
  
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  Long Xuyen
  Long Xuyên ( listen) is the capital city of An Giang Province, in the Mekong Delta region of southwestern Vietnam. It is located at approximately 1,950 km south of Hanoi, 189 km from Ho Chi Minh City, and 45 km from the boundary with Cambodia. The population of Long Xuyen city is over 300,000 (2007), with an area of only 130 km².
  Long Xuyen is the second most prosperous city in southwestern Vietnam, just after Can Tho city.^{[citation needed]}
  Long Xuyen is a very developed city in merchandising (mainly in rice trading) and processing fish industry (such as basa fish) with more than six plants and 10,000 workers.
  Long Xuyen is home to An Giang University and the Long Xuyen Teacher's Training College. An Giang University is the second largest university in the Mekong Delta. An Giang University has more than 8,000 students and began as a teaching trainer's college. It was recognized with university status in 2000. Currently they have faculties in Education, Agriculture, Economics, IT, and Marx-Lenin Ideologies
  
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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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  Malé
  Malé (/ˈmɑːl.eɪ/; /məːle/; Dhivehi: މާލެ), is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. It is located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll (Kaafu Atoll). It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located. The city was also called Mahal. Formerly it was a walled city surrounded by fortifications and gates (doroshi). The Royal Palace (Gan'duvaru) was destroyed along with the picturesque forts (kotte) and bastions (buruzu) when the city was remodelled under President Ibrahim Nasir's rule after the abolition of the monarchy. However, the beautifully decorated Malé Hukuru Miskiy remains. In recent years, the island has been considerably expanded through landfilling operations. Over the years there have been many coup attempts and protests centered in Male as a result of demand for greater democracy in the Maldives.^{[citation needed]}
  
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  Manama
  Manama (Arabic: المنامة‎ Al Manāma) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 155,000 people. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very diverse population. After periods of Portuguese and Persian control and invasions from the Al Sauds and Oman, Bahrain established itself as an independent nation during the 19th century period of British hegemony. In the 20th century, Bahrain's oil wealth helped spur fast growth and in the 1990s a concerted diversification effort led to expansion in other industries and helped transform Manama into an important financial hub in the Middle East.
  Manama was mentioned in Islamic chronicles at least as far back as 1345. It was conquered by Portugal in 1521 and then by the Persians in 1602. Since 1783 it has been under the control of the Al-Khalifa dynasty. Manama was declared a free port in 1958, and in 1971 it became the capital of independent Bahrain.
  
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  Manila
  Manila (English: /məˈnɪlə/; Tagalog: Maynila, [majˈnilaʔ]) is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities (along with the smaller municipality of Pateros) that comprise Metro Manila.
  Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north; Quezon City to the northeast; San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east; Makati to the southeast, and Pasay to the south.
  Manila has a total population of more than 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census. Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world with an estimated population of 16,300,000. The greater urban area is the fifth-most populous in the world and has an estimated metropolitan population of 20,654,307 people.
  The city is divided into six legislative districts and consists of sixteen geographical districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Bustling commerce and some of the most historically and culturally significant iconic landmarks in the country, as well as the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the government are to be found in the city; and it is also home to many scientific and educational institutions, numerous sport facilities, a variety of other culturally and historically significant venues. As a primary transportation hub and with the larger capital region bearing its name, there is very little of a general nature to be found in cities anywhere that Manila is lacking.
  
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  Mekong Delta
  The Mekong Delta (Vietnamese: đồng bằng sông Cửu Long “Nine Dragon river delta”) is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of 39,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi). The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.
  The Mekong Delta has recently been dubbed as a 'biological treasure trove'. Over 10,000 new species have been discovered in previously unexplored areas of Mekong Delta, including a species of rat thought to be extinct.
  The Mekong Delta was likely inhabited long since prehistory; the empire of Funan and later Chenla maintained a presence in the Mekong Delta for centuries. Archaeological discoveries at Oc Eo and other Funan sites show that the area was an important part of the Funan Kingdom, bustling with trading ports and canals as early as in the first century CE and extensive human settlement in the region may have gone back as far as the 4th century BCE.
  
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  Ming Dynasty
  The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, described by some as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. Although the Ming capital Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the Shun Dynasty, soon replaced by the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty), regimes loyal to the Ming throne—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
  Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of one million troops. Although private maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He in the 15th century far surpassed all others in size. There were enormous construction projects, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century. Estimates for the late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million.
  
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  Mong Cai
  Móng Cái ( listen) is a district-level city of Quang Ninh province in northern Vietnam, on the border with Dongxing town, Fangchenggang, Guangxi Province, China. It has a population of about 103,000. It is known as one of the wealthiest cities in Vietnam with the average income in some areas exceeding 20,000 USD per family. One of these areas is the Tran Phu ward.
  The volume of trade between Vietnam and China through the Mong Cai border gate reached 2.4 and 4.1 billion USD in 2007, 2008 respectively, the highest among the Vietnam-China border gates. The cash flow via the banks located in Mong Cai was VND180,469 billion (US$11 billion). The volume trade is increasing significantly year by year. In particular, counting up to the end of March 2008, the volume trade had reached 720 Million which is equal to 182% in comparison to the same period of last year. The tax revenue of Mong Cai in 2008 was more than 1,700 Billion VND (nearly US$100 Million) equal to 150% to the year of 2007 result in the fact that Mong Cai is only district level area in northern Vietnam has tax revenue more than 1,000 billion and rank 3rd in whole nation.
  
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  Mongolia
  Mongolia ⁱ/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian:  Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
  The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.
  
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  Moscow
  Moscow ( /ˈmɒskaʊ/ or /ˈmɒskoʊ/; Russian: Москва́, tr. Moskva; IPA: [mɐˈskva] ( listen)) is the capital and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe, and the 6th largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the results of the 2010 Census, is 11,503,501. Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world.
  Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian President and of the executive branch of the Government of Russia. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.
  
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• My Duc District
  Mỹ Đức is a district (huyện) of Hanoi in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.
  Coordinates: 20°41′03″N 105°44′33″E / 20.68417°N 105.7425°E / 20.68417; 105.7425
  
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  Naypyidaw
  Naypyidaw (Burmese: နေပြည်တော်; MLCTS: Nepranytau, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw and Naypyitaw; pronounced: [nèpjìdɔ̀]) is the capital city of Burma, also known as Myanmar. It is administered as the Naypyidaw Union Territory, as per the 2008 Constitution. On 6 November 2005, the administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a greenfield 3.2 km (2.0 mi) west of Pyinmana, and approximately 320 km (200 mi) north of Yangon (Rangoon), the previous capital. The capital's official name was announced on 27 March 2006, Myanmar Armed Forces Day. Much of this planned city is still under construction, which is set to be completed by around 2012. As of 2009, the population was 925,000, which makes it Myanmar's third largest city, behind Yangon and Mandalay. The city is one of the world's 10 fastest-growing cities.
  Nay Pyi Daw is generally translated as "royal capital", "seat of the king" or "abode of kings". Traditionally, it was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called ရတနာပုံနေပြည်တော် (Yadanabon Naypyidaw). The name literally means "royal city of the sun" in Burmese.
  
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  Nepal
  Nepal (नेपाल) (ⁱ/nɛˈpɔːl/ ne-PAWLNepali: नेपाल [neˈpal] ( listen)), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India. Specifically, the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Sikkim border Nepal, while across the Himalayas lies the Tibetan Autonomous Region. With an area of 147,181 square kilometres (56,827 sq mi) and a population of approximately 27 million (and 2 million absentee workers living abroad), Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass and the 41st most populous country. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the country's largest metropolis. Kathmandu Valley itself has estimated population of 5 million.
  Nepal has a rich geography. The mountainous north has eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, called Sagarmatha in Nepali. It contains more than 240 peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m) above sea level. The fertile and humid south is heavily urbanized.
  
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  New Delhi
  New Delhi ⁱ/ˈnjuː dɛli/ is the capital city of India. As the national capital, New Delhi is the seat of executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the Government of India. It also serves as the centre of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi and is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory.
  The definition of New Delhi is unclear and the differentiation between Delhi and New Delhi is blurry. Even administratively, the demarcation between Delhi and New Delhi is not clear. Government of India and Government of Delhi have not clearly defined the area and boundaries of New Delhi. The boundaries of areas of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and New Delhi district of Delhi do not completely overlap. In 1920s, when British constructed New Delhi, there were only two Delhis' – the old walled city called Old Delhi and the new city designed by Edwin Lutyens to serve as capital of British India, which was called 'New Delhi'. The rest of Delhi was rural. But after independence as more and more areas around New Delhi urbanized they also became a part of New Delhi as they were also a part of Delhi which was 'new'. Now, almost all of National Capital Territory of Delhi, with exceptions of the old city called Old Delhi, Civil Lines area, Trans-Yamuna region, some rural areas and some underdeveloped parts of Delhi (e.g. Ashok Vihar, Timarpur, Nangloi, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Badarpur etc.), is designated as 'New Delhi' in postal addresses. Especially, almost all the places in South, South-west, Central and West districts of Delhi are designated as New Delhi. Most of the time, the terms Delhi and New Delhi are used interchangeably.
  
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  Nghe An province
  Nghệ An ( listen) is the largest province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam.
  The province is divided into one city (Vinh), two towns (Cửa Lò and Thái Hòa), and 17 districts. The province contains 437 communes, the highest in any province in Vietnam.
  Districts:
  There are two universities in Nghệ An, both of them are in Vinh city which is the capital of Nghệ An province. The biggest one is Vinh University.
  Nghệ An is the home province of Phan Bội Châu and Ho Chi Minh.
  In addition to the majority Vietnamese people, some Ơ Đu people also live here.
  The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Tự: 乂安), meaning “governance in peace.”
  
  
  
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  Nguyen dynasty
  The Nguyễn Dynasty (Vietnamese: Nhà Nguyễn; Hán Việt: 阮朝, Nguyễn triều) was the last ruling family of Vietnam. Their rule lasted a total of 143 years. It began in 1802 when Emperor Gia Long ascended the throne after defeating the Tây Sơn Dynasty and ended in 1945 when Bảo Đại abdicated the throne and transferred power to the State of Vietnam. During the reign of Emperor Gia Long, the nation officially became known as Việt Nam (越南), but from the reign of emperor Minh Mạng on, the nation was renamed Đại Nam (大南, literally "Great South"). Their rule was marked by the increasing influence of French colonialism; the nation was eventually partitioned into three, Cochinchina became a French colony while Annam and Tonkin became protectorates which were independent in name only.
  The Nguyễn family had been one of the major families in Vietnamese history, dating back to the days of the Hero–Emperor Lê Lợi. Due to a civil war and the weakness of the Later Lê Dynasty, the Nguyễn and the Trịnh (another of the major families) joined together in opposition to the Mạc. Nguyễn Kim, the leader of this alliance, was assassinated in 1545 by a servant of the Mạc. Kim's son-in-law Trịnh Kiểm, took over the alliance because Kim's sons were too young. In 1558, Nguyễn Hoàng, the eldest son of Nguyễn Kim was given lordship over the southern, newly conquered provinces of Vietnam. He ruled from the city of Huế for the rest of his life and established the dominion of the Nguyễn Lords in the southern part of the country. While the Nguyễn Lords, like the Trịnh, paid tribute to the Lê Emperor, the reality was they ruled, not the king. Nguyễn Hòang and his successors continually expanded their territory by making Kampuchea a protectorate, and by invading Laos, Champa and many small countries in the area. The Nguyễn lords styled themselves as "lord" (Chúa in Vietnamese).
  
  wn.com/Nguyen_dynasty
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  Nha Trang
  Nha Trang (Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɲaː ʈʂaːŋ] ( listen)) is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district. The city has about 300,000 inhabitants, a number which is projected to increase to between 500,000 and 600,000 inhabitants by 2020^{[citation needed]} according to an estimation of Nha Trang Administrative Board Statistics.
  Nha Trang is well known for its pristine beaches and excellent scuba diving and is fast becoming a popular destination for international tourists, attracting large numbers of backpackers as well as more affluent travellers on the Southeast Asia circuit. It is already very popular with Vietnamese tourists. Nha Trang Bay is widely considered as amongst the world's most beautiful bays. Tourists are welcome to participate in the Sea Festival, held biennially. Nha Trang was the site of the Miss Universe 2008 Pageant on July 14, 2008 and Miss Earth 2010 held December 4, 2010.Besides, Nha Trang was also approved to host 2016 Asian Beach Games.
  
  wn.com/Nha_Trang
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  Nicosia
  Nicosia (/ˌnɪkəˈsiːə/ NIK-ə-SEE-ə), known locally as Lefkosia (Greek: Λευκωσία, Turkish: Lefkoşa), is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Nicosia remained the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line. It is located near the center of the island, on the banks of the Pedieos River.
  Nicosia is the capital and seat of government of the Republic of Cyprus. The northern part of the city functions as the capital of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a disputed breakaway region whose independence is recognized only by Turkey, and which the rest of the international community considers as occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus since the Turkish Invasion in 1974.
  Despite the division Nicosia has managed to become a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city, rich in history and culture that combines its historic past with the amenities of a modern city.
  
  wn.com/Nicosia
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  Ninh Binh
  Ninh Bình ( listen) is a city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam; it is the capital of Ninh Bình.
  Ninh Bình City is located in northern Vietnam comprising 48 square kilometres; the 2007 city population was 130,517.
  During the period of undeclared hostilities in Tonkin that preceded the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August 1884, the allegiance of Ninh Bình was of considerable importance to the French, as artillery mounted in its lofty citadel controlled river traffic to the Gulf of Tonkin. Although the Vietnamese authorities in Ninh Bình made no attempt to hinder the passage of an expedition launched by Henri Rivière in March 1883 to capture Nam Dinh, they were known to be hostile towards the French. In November 1883, on the eve of the Sơn Tây Campaign, the French occupied the citadel of Ninh Bình without resistance and installed a garrison.
  Ninh Bình City is a tourist center with such attractions as Ancient Hoa Lu, Phat Diem Cathedral, Cuc Phuong, Tam Coc - Bich Dong, and the Bai Dinh Pagoda.
  
  wn.com/Ninh_Binh
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  North Central Coast
  Bắc Trung Bộ (literally North Central Region, and often translated as North Central Coast) is one of the regions of Vietnam. It consists of six provinces: Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế. The last two provinces were the northern-most provinces of South Vietnam until 1975.
  6 of the northern-most provinces, lying inside the communist-ruled North Vietnam, was hostile to United States and ARVN forces throughout the Vietnam War as it was a NLF stronghold.
  This region features three out of seven UNESCO's world heritage sites in Vietnam, namely: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (2003) under Natural, and Complex of Hue Monuments (1993) and Citadel of the Ho Dynasty (2011) under Cultural.
  The Bắc Trung Bộ region has the second lowest GDP per capita in the country, while the Tây Bắc region ranks the lowest GDP per capita.
  The monthly income for the North Central Coast is 902,900 VND compared with the whole country of 1,387,200 VND (2010).
  The percentage of households with permanent housing for the North Central Coast is 75.6% compared with the whole country of 49.2% (2010).
  
  wn.com/North_Central_Coast
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  North Korea
  Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40°N 127°E / 40; 127 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국), commonly referred to as "North Korea" ( listen), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok, or Yalu, and the Tumen rivers form the border between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the far northeast is the border with Russia.
  The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1910. It was divided into Soviet- and American-occupied zones in 1945, after the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. North and South Korea each claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean Peninsula, which led to the Korean War of 1950. The Armistice Agreement of 1953 ended the fighting; but the two countries are officially still at war against each other, for a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.
  
  wn.com/North_Korea
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  North Vietnam
  North Vietnam was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976. It was officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), and was proclaimed in Hanoi in 1945. Vietnam was partitioned following the Geneva Conference at the end of the First Indochina War.
  During World War II, Vietnam was a French colony under Japanese occupation. Soon after Japan surrendered in 1945, the DRV was proclaimed in Hanoi. Viet Minh leader Hồ Chí Minh became head of the government while former emperor Bảo Đại became "supreme advisor." Non-communist figures were ousted from the DRV on October 30 and fled to the South. In November, the French reoccupied Hanoi and the French Indochina War followed. Bảo Đại became head of the Saigon government in 1949, which was then renamed the State of Vietnam. Following the Geneva Accords of 1954, Vietnam was partitioned at the 17th parallel. The DRV became the government of North Vietnam while the State of Vietnam retained control in the South.
  
  wn.com/North_Vietnam
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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.
  
  wn.com/Oman
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  One Pillar Pagoda
  The One Pillar Pagoda (Vietnamese: Chùa Một Cột, formally Diên Hựu tự 延祐寺 or Liên Hoa Đài 蓮花臺) is a historic Buddhist temple in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It is regarded alongside the Perfume Temple, as one of Vietnam's two most iconic temples.
  The temple was built by Emperor Lý Thái Tông, who ruled from 1028 to 1054. According to the court records, Lý Thái Tông was childless and dreamt that he met the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who handed him a baby son while seated on a lotus flower. Lý Thái Tông then married a peasant girl that he had met and she bore him a son. The emperor constructed the temple in gratitude for this in 1049, having been told by a monk named Thiền Tuệ to build the temple, by erecting a pillar in the middle of a lotus pond, similar to the one he saw in the dream.
  The temple was located in what was then the Tây Cấm Garden in Thạch Bảo, Vĩnh Thuận district in the capital Thăng Long (now known as Hanoi). Before the pagoda was opened, prayers were held for the longevity of the monarch. During the Lý Dynasty era, the temple was the site of an annual royal ceremony on the occasion of Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha. A Buddha-bathing ceremony was held annually by the monarch, and it attracted monks and laymen alike to the ceremony. The monarch would then free a bird, which was followed by the people.
  
  wn.com/One_Pillar_Pagoda
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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.
  
  wn.com/Pakistan
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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.
  
  wn.com/Papua_New_Guinea
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  Philippines
  The Philippines ⁱ/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
  With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.
  
  wn.com/Philippines
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  Phnom Penh
  Phnom Penh (/pəˈnɒm ˈpɛn/ or /ˈnɒm ˈpɛn/; Khmer: ភ្នំពេញ, Khmer pronunciation: [pnum pɨɲ]) is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security, politics, economics, cultural heritage, and diplomacy of Cambodia.
  Once known as the “Pearl of Asia”, it was considered one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s. Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, are significant global and domestic tourist destinations for Cambodia. Founded in 1434, the city is noted for its beautiful and historical architecture and attractions. There are a number of surviving French colonial buildings scattered along the grand boulevards.
  Situated on the banks of the Tonlé Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers, the Phnom Penh metropolitan area is home to more than 2 million of Cambodia’s population of over 14 million. The city is the wealthiest and most populous city in Cambodia and is home to the country’s political hub.
  
  wn.com/Phnom_Penh
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  Phu Ly
  Phủ Lý is the capital city of Ha Nam province of Vietnam.
  
  wn.com/Phu_Ly
• Phuc Tho District
  Phúc Thọ is a district huyện of Hanoi, formerly of Ha Tay province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.
  Coordinates: 21°10′01″N 105°37′01″E / 21.167°N 105.617°E / 21.167; 105.617
  
  wn.com/Phuc_Tho_District
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  Pleiku
  Pleiku is a town in central Vietnam, located in that nation's central highland region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province; Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or Degar. But now, it is inhabited primarily by Kinh ethnic group. The town is the centre of the urban district of Pleiku which covers an area of 261 km². As of 2003 the district had a population of 186,763. The town sits at the junction of several national roads—National Road 14 to Kon Tum in the north and Buon Ma Thuot in the south and National Road 19 to Stœng Trêng in Cambodia in the west (via Ratanakiri Province) and to Binh Dinh Province in the east.
  The city is home to the Hoàng Anh Gia Lai club.
  Pleiku is served by Pleiku Airport in the near outskirts of the city.
  Pleiku was strategically important during the Vietnam War because it was the primary terminus of the military supply logistics corridor extending westwards along Highway 19 from the coastal population center and port facilities of Qui Nhơn. Additionally, its central location on the plateau, between Kontum in the north, Buôn Ma Thuột to the south, and the North Vietnamese Army's base areas inside Cambodia to the west made Pleiku the main center of defense of the entire highland region of the Republic of Vietnam.
  
  wn.com/Pleiku
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  Poland
  Poland ⁱ/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; Kashubian: Pòlskô Repùblika; Silesian: Polsko Republika), is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency, G6, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Visegrád Group, Weimar Triangle and Schengen Agreement.
  
  wn.com/Poland
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  Port Moresby
  Port Moresby ( /ˌpɔərt ˈmɔərzbi/), or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 in World War II, as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas. In 2000 it had a population of 254,158. As of 2009 it has a population of 307,643, giving it an annual growth rate of 2.1% over a nine year period.
  The place where the city was founded has been inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people for centuries. The first European to see it was Captain John Moresby in 1873. It was named in honour of his father, Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby.
  According to a survey of world cities by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, Port Moresby is one of the world's least livable cities (ranked 137 of 140 cities rated).
  Although Port Moresby is surrounded by Central Province, of which it is also the capital, it is not part of that province, but forms the National Capital District.
  
  wn.com/Port_Moresby
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  Putrajaya
  Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas. Nevertheless, Kuala Lumpur remains Malaysia's national capital, being the seat of the King and Parliament, as well as the country's commercial and financial centre. Putrajaya was the brainchild of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad. In 2001, Putrajaya became Malaysia's third Federal Territory after Kuala Lumpur and Labuan.
  Named after the first Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, the city is situated within the Multimedia Super Corridor, beside the also newly developed Cyberjaya. In Malay/Sanskrit, the words "putra" or "putera" means "prince", and "jaya" means "success" or "victory". The development of Putrajaya started in early 1990s, and today major landmarks are completed and the population is expected to grow bigger.
  
  wn.com/Putrajaya
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  Pyongyang
  Pyongyang (평양, Korean pronunciation: [pʰjɔŋjaŋ], literally: "Flat Land") is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946. It is administered as a directly governed city (chikhalsi), on the same level as provincial governments, not a special city (teukbyeolsi) as Seoul is in South Korea.
  
  
  One of Pyongyang's many historic names is Ryugyong (류경; 柳京), or "capital of willows", as willow trees have always been numerous throughout the city's history, and many poems have been written about these willows. Even today, the city has numerous willow trees, with many buildings and places having "Ryugyŏng" in their names. The most notable of these is the uncompleted Ryugyong Hotel. The city's other historic names include Kisong, Hwangsong, Rakrang, Sŏgyong, Sodo, Hogyong, and Changan.^{[citation needed]} During the colonial period (1910–1945), Pyongyang was named Puto ".
  
  wn.com/Pyongyang
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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.
  
  wn.com/Qatar
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  Quang Binh province
  Quảng Bình ( listen), formerly Tiên Bình under the reign of Lê Trung Hưng of the Lê Dynasty, this province was renamed Quảng Bình in 1604) is a province along Vietnam's north-central coast. The province has an area of 8,065.8 square kilometers and population of 857,818 inhabitants (as of 2008) The province is bordered by the Laotian province of Khammouan to the west, the South China Sea to the east, Hà Tĩnh to the north and Quảng Trị to the south. Historically, this region belonged to Văn Lang and later the kingdom of Champa. Later it was claimed by both the Đại Việt and Champa and officially annexed into Đại Việt by Lý Thường Kiệt, a Lý dynasty general (under the reign of Lý Thánh Tông).
  The site of present-day Quảng Bình was battlefields between Champa and Vietnam until the Vietnamese territory was expanded further south by subsequent dynasties. Quảng Bình's importance expanded after Nguyễn Hoàng, a prince of Nguyễn Lords was sent to the south by a king of the Lê dynasty. Hoàng built his estate and turned it into Đàng Trong, a rival of the de facto Trịnh-controlled Đàng Ngoài. Quảng Bình became an important front to defend Đàng Trong from attck by Đàng Ngoài. Under French rule, this province was part of Annam. During the Vietnam War, this province was part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (aka North Vietnam), only 20 km from the DMZ. This province was severely devastated by bombing from U.S. B-52s. This province is home to the World Heritage Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. The province is also home to several famous Vietnamese persons, including general Võ Nguyên Giáp, poet Hàn Mặc Tử, writer Bảo Ninh and the family of former South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm.
  
  wn.com/Quang_Binh_province
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  Qui Nhon
  Qui Nhơn ( listen), also Quy Nhơn, is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of 286 km². Quy Nhơn is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2009 its population was 280,900. Historically, the commercial activities of the city focused on agriculture and fishing. In recent years, however, there has been a significant shift towards service industries and tourism. There is also a substantial manufacturing sector.
  Quy Nhơn was officially founded more than 100 years ago, although its origins stretch back much further to the 11th-century Champa culture, the Tây Sơn Dynasty and the 18th century seaport of Thị Nại. The city is renowned as the birthplace of 18th century Vietnamese emperor Nguyễn Huệ and, more recently, had a large American military presence during the Vietnam War. Today the city is recognized as a first grade city with a geo-economic priority and an urbanized infrastructure. The government describes it as one of the three commercial and tourism centres of the central southern coastal region (with Đà Nẵng and Nha Trang).
  
  wn.com/Qui_Nhon
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  Ramallah
  Ramallah (Arabic: رام الله‎    (help·info) Rāmallāh) (literally "Height of God") is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority. With a population of nearly 25,500, Ramallah was historically a Christian town, but today Muslims form the majority of the population, with a strong Christian minority.
  Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-16th century by the Haddadins, a Jordanian tribe of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christian Arabs. The Haddadins, led by Rashid Haddadin, arrived from east of the Jordan River near the Jordanian town of Shoubak. The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area. According to modern living descendents of original Haddadin family members, Rashid's brother Sabra Haddadin was hosting Emir Ibn Kaysoom, head of a powerful Muslim clan in the region, when Sabra's wife gave birth to a baby girl. According to custom, the Emir proposed a betrothal to his own young son when they came of age. Sabra believed the proposal was in jest, as Muslim-Christian marriages were not customary, and gave his word. When the Emir later came to the Haddadins and demanded that they fulfill their promise, they refused. This set off bloody conflict between the two families. The Haddadins fled west and settled on the hilltops of Ramallah, where only a few Muslim families lived at the time. Today, a large community of people descended directly from the Haddadins live in the United States. The town is now predominately Muslim.
  
  wn.com/Ramallah
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  Red River Delta
  The Red River Delta (Vietnamese: Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng) is the flat plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries joining in the Thai Binh River in northern Vietnam. The delta measuring some 15,000 square km is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich area and densely populated. Most of the land is devoted to rice cultivation.
  Eight provinces together with two municipalities, the capital Hà Nội and the main port Hải Phòng form the delta. It has a population of about ten million.
  Water puppetry originated in the rice paddies here.
  The region was bombed during the Vietnam War.
  
  
  wn.com/Red_River_Delta
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  Riyadh
  Riyadh (/rɨˈjɑːd/; Arabic: الرياض‎ transliterated Ar Riyāḍ pronounced [ʔɑrːiˈjɑːdˤ], English: The Gardens) is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a region with a population of close to 7 million people. The city is divided into 15 municipal districts, managed by Riyadh Municipality headed by the mayor of Riyadh, and the Riyadh Development Authority, chaired by the Governor of Riyadh Province, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz. The current mayor of Riyadh is Abdul Aziz ibn Ayyaf Al-Miqrin, appointed in 1998. Riyadh has the largest female university in the world, the Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University.. It has been designated as Beta World City.
  During the Pre-Islamic era, the settlement at the site was called Hajr (Arabic: حجر‎), and was reportedly founded by the tribe of Banu Hanifa. Hajr served as the capital of the province of Al Yamamah, whose governors were responsible for most of central and eastern Arabia during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. Al-Yamamah broke away from the Abbasid Empire in 866 and the area fell under the rule of the Ukhaydhirites, who moved the capital from Hajr to nearby Al Kharj. The city then went into a long period of decline. In the 14th century North African traveller Ibn Battuta wrote of his visit to Hajr, describing it as "the main city of Al-Yamamah, and its name is Hajr". Ibn Battuta goes on to describe it as a city of canals and trees with most of its inhabitants belonging to Bani Hanifa, and reports that he continued on with their leader to Mecca to perform the Hajj.
  
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  Russia
  Russia ⁱ/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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  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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  Seoul
  Seoul (Korean pronunciation: [sʌ.ul] ( listen), English /soʊl/), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world. The Seoul National Capital Area is the world's second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Almost a quarter of South Koreans live in Seoul, half of South Koreans live in the metropolitan area, along with over 275,000 international residents.
  Located in the Han River, Seoul has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years, with its foundation dating back to 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. It continued as the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.
  
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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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• Soc Son District
  Sóc Sơn is a district (huyện) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Noi Bai International Airport is located in this district.
  Coordinates: 21°15′14″N 105°50′58″E / 21.25389°N 105.84944°E / 21.25389; 105.84944
  
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  South Central Coast
  Coordinates: 15°41′49.51″N 108°25′26.66″E / 15.6970861°N 108.4240722°E / 15.6970861; 108.4240722
  South Central Coast (Vietnamese: Nam Trung Bộ) is one of the regions of Vietnam. It consists of the independent municipality of Đà Nẵng and seven other provinces. The two southern provinces Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận are sometimes seen as part of the Southeast region.
  The region has traditionally been one of the main gateways to neighbouring Central Highlands. It has a complex geography with mountain ranges extending up to the coast, making transport and infrastructure development challenging but favouring tourism in some places, most notable around Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, and Da Nang. Tourism also benefits from Cham cultural heritage, including architecture, performances, and museums. It is generally much less industrialized and developed than the region around Ho Chi Minh City or the Red River Delta, but it has some regional industrial centers in Da Nang, around Nha Trang and Quy Nhon.
  The region was inhabited by people of the Sa Huỳnh culture between around 1000 BC and 200 AD. Remains of this ancient civilization were found in Sa Huỳnh, Quảng Ngãi Province. It was succeeded by a kingdom called Lin-yi (林邑) by the Chinese or Lâm Ấp in Vietnamese that was in existence from 192 AD. Its political center was just north of the South Central Coast near Huế. Lin-yi was culturally influenced by India. According to Chinese sources, it repeatedly raided Jiaozhi, which was one factor that contributed to several wars between Jiaozhi and their Chinese colonizers against Lin-yi in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th century.
  
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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 Vietnam
  South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the State of Vietnam (1949–55) and later as the Republic of Vietnam (1955–75). Its capital was Saigon. The terms South Vietnam and North Vietnam became common usage in 1954 at the time of the Geneva Conference, which partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist zones at the 17th parallel. The United States was an ally of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
  South Vietnam's origins can be traced to the French colony of Cochinchina, which consisted of the southern third of Vietnam and was a subdivision of French Indochina. After World War II, the Vietminh, led by Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed the establishment of a Communist nation in Hanoi. In 1949, non-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bao Dai. Bao Dai was deposed by Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem in 1955, who proclaimed himself president after a referendum. After Diem was deposed in a military coup in 1963, there was a series of short-lived military governments. General Nguyen Van Thieu led the country from 1967 until 1975. The Vietnam War began in 1959 with an uprising by Viet Cong forces supplied by North Vietnam. Fighting climaxed during the Tet Offensive of 1968, when there were over 1.5 million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam. Despite a peace treaty concluded in January 1973, fighting continued until the North Vietnamese army overran Saigon on 30 April 1975.
  
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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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  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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  Taipei
  Taipei City (/ˌtaɪˈpeɪ/; [tʰǎipèi]; Chinese: 臺北市 or 台北市; pinyin: Táiběi Shì) is the capital of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Situated at the northern tip of the island of Taiwan, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River; it is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, a port city on the Pacific Ocean. It lies in the two relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung (基隆河) and Xindian (新店溪) rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border. The city proper (Taipei City) is home to an estimated 2,618,772 people. Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung together form the Taipei metropolitan area with a population of 6,900,273. However, they are administered under different local governing bodies. "Taipei" sometimes refers to the whole metropolitan area, while "Taipei City" refers to the city proper. Taipei City proper is surrounded on all sides by New Taipei.
  Taipei is the political, economic, and cultural center of Taiwan. The National Palace Museum which has one of the largest collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks in the world is located in Taipei. Considered to be a global city, Taipei is part of a major industrial area. Railways, high speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports – Taipei Songshan and Taiwan Taoyuan.
  
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  Taiwan
  Taiwan (ⁱ/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ TY-WAHN; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a state in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China now governs the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa), which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taipei is the capital city and economic and cultural centre of the country, and New Taipei is the most populous city.
  The earliest evidence of inhabitation of Taiwan dates back to the late Paleolithic era. The island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before being colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and the Spanish Empire. The first Han Chinese polity on Taiwan began when Koxinga's troops defeated Dutch forces and established the Kingdom of Tungning. The island was subsequently ruled by the Qing Dynasty after the kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Penghu in 1683, a period that lasted for over 200 years. Following Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty in the first Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.
  
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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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  Tam Ky
  Tam Kỳ ( listen) is the capital city of Quang Nam province, in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. Tam Ky city has a history of more than 105 years. The town was established in 1906 under the Nguyen dynasty. During the Vietnam war, the city was the main base of US military in Quangnam province. It was also a place which engraved many memorial moment of the province citizen in the struggle against the invasion. The communists captured the city on 24 March 1975.
  In 1997, the local government made it became the capital of Quang Nam province. Since then, there is a substantial development in the city history.
  Tamky city is famous for Tamky chicken rice, which is recognised nationally and many beaches.
  The city has a train station which is connected to all routes from the North to South of Vietnam.
  It is 70km which takes 1 hour travelling from Da Nang international airport to the city.
  It is 30km from Chu Lai national airport, which provides free bus route between the airpot and city center every day.
  
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  Tashkent
  Tashkent (/ˌtæʃˈkɛnt/; Uzbek: Toshkent, Тошкент; Russian: Ташкент, [tɐʂˈkʲent]; literally "Stone City") is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.
  During its long history, Tashkent has had various changes in names and political and religious affiliations.
  Tashkent started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the foothills of the West Tian Shan Mountains. In ancient times, this area contained Beitian, probably the summer "capital" of the Kangju confederacy.
  In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times the town and the province were known as "Chach". The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi also refers to the city as Chach. Later the town came to be known as Chachkand/Chashkand, meaning "Chach City".^{[citation needed]} The principality of Chach, whose main town had a square citadel built around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of the Syr Darya River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had over 30 towns and a network of over 50 canals, forming a trade center between the Sogdians and Turkic nomads. The Buddhist monk Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602/603? – 664 CE), who travelled from China to India through Central Asia, mentioned the name of the city as Zhěshí 赭時. The Chinese chronicles Suí shū 隋書 (Book of Suí), Běi shǐ 北史 (History of Northern Dynasties) and Táng shū 唐書 (Book of Táng) mention a possession called Shí 石 or Zhěshí 赭時 with a capital of the same name since the fifth century AD [Bichurin, 1950. v. II]. The region came under the sway of Islam in the early parts of the 8th century.
  
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  Tay Ho District
  Tây Hồ is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi the capital city of Vietnam, named after the West Lake nearby. VietJet AirAsia, a planned airline, has its headquarters on the fourth floor of the Flower Mansion in Tay Ho.Air Mekong maintains its Hanoi branch on the third floor of the Syrena Tower (Tòa nhà Syrena) in Tay Ho.
  (Vietnamese)
  
  
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  Tay Ninh province
  Tây Ninh ( listen) is a province in the southeastern part of Vietnam. Its capital is the town of Tay Ninh. Tay Ninh province has a population of 989,800 and an area of 4,028 km². It is the birthplace of Trinh Minh The, a nationalist and military leader during the end of the First Indochina War. As a former Khmer territory, the province is called Raung Damrei.
  Tây Ninh is home to the Cao Đài religion.
  The province has eight districts:
  The town of Tây Ninh represents its own municipality.
  
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  Tbilisi
  Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი [tʰb̥ilisi] ( listen)) is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi (ტფილისი) and it was officially known as Tpilisi (in Georgian) or Tiflis (in Russian) until 1936. The city covers an area of 726 km² (280 sq mi) and has 1,480,000 inhabitants.
  Founded in the 5th century by Vakhtang Gorgasali, the monarch of Georgia's precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has served, with various intervals, as Georgia's capital for nearly 1500 years and represents a significant industrial, social, and cultural center of the country. Located near the southeastern edge of Europe, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, and Soviet structures.
  
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  Tehran
  Tehran ( pronunciation (help·info)) (Persian: تهران‎ Tehrān; pronounced [tehˈɾɒːn]), sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, the largest city in Western Asia, one of the largest in Southern Asia, and the 19th-largest city globally.
  In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to mass-migration of people from all around Iran. The city is home to many historic mosques, churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian fire temples. Contemporary Tehran is a modern city featuring many structures, of which the Azadi (Freedom) Tower and the Milad Tower have come to be symbols of Tehran itself. In 2008 Tehran was the least expensive capital in the world and the second-least expensive city globally based on the cost-of-living index presenting the best value for money in the world. Globally it stands 19th by city population, 56th by the size of its GDP and 29th by the population of its metropolitan area. Throughout Iran's history, the capital city has been relocated many times, with Tehran being the 32nd national capital of Iran. Persian is the city's native tongue, with roughly 98% of the population able to speak and understand it. The majority of people in Tehran identify themselves as Persians. In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Tehran was called Ray (which in the Avesta occurs in the form of Ragha)^{[citation needed]}.
  
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  Thai Binh province
  Thái Bình ( listen) is a coastal eastern province in the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam, named after the Vietnamese name for the Pacific Ocean: Thái Bình Dương.^{[citation needed]} It is about 18 km from Nam Dinh, 70 km from Haiphong, and 110 km from Hanoi.
  Thai Binh is divided into one city (Thái Bình city) and seven districts:
  Although situated in the centre of the Red River Delta, in the past, Thai Binh was considered an island bounded by three larger rivers, and is the only province never to have been merged or separated. This position gives the people of Thai Binh a quite distinct culture. Thai Binh is the homeland of hát chèo opera (in Khuốc village, Phong Châu commune, Đông Hưng district ) and water puppet (in Nguyên Xá commune, Đông Hưng district ). Thai Binh people are noted for their practical and clever character.
  Thai Binh is the homeland of the most prolific and famous Vietnamese savant in the Middle Ages: Lê Quý Đôn. Tran Thu Do, the founder of the Trần Dynasty, was born in Hưng Hà district. Bùi Viện, the founder of Haiphong city, was a famous reformer in the 19th century. He was the first Vietnamese known to have visited the United States and also served as ambassador to the United States under the Nguyễn Dynasty.
  
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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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  Thanh Hoa
  Thanh Hóa ( listen) is the capital city of Vietnam's Thanh Hóa Province. The population is more than 197,000 inside an area of 57.9 square kilometers. The city is located south of the Pink River (Sông Hồng) delta region, about 137 km south of Hanoi, on a small tributary of the Ma River (Sông Mã).
  Thanh Hóa is linked with Hanoi by road and railway and considered to be a growing trade and industrial center. Agriculture, forestry and fishery are being developed here. During the Vietnam War, US strategic bombing destroyed much of the buildings and infrastructure, the whole city has been totally rebuilt since then. Thanh Hóa has the Hoang Long Antique Museum, and the large Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception with active services.^{[citation needed]}
  Media related to Thanh Hoa at Wikimedia Commons
  Coordinates: 19°48′27″N 105°46′35″E / 19.8075°N 105.77639°E / 19.8075; 105.77639
  
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  Thanh Hoa province
  Thanh Hóa ( listen) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam. Its capital and largest city is Thanh Hóa City with a population of 176,400. The province has a seaside resort called Sầm Sơn, which is situated about 15 km from the provincial capital. The largest towns are Bỉm Son (pop. 53,000) and Sầm Sơn (pop. 52,000).
  Thanh Hoa province consists of 27 administrative units, including one city (Thanh Hóa), two towns (thị xã) (Sầm Sơn, Bỉm Son), and 24 districts (huyện):
  The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Tự: 清化).
  
  
  
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• Thanh Tri District
  Thanh Trì is a district (huyện) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Thanh Tri is located on the southeastern side of Hanoi, on the western bank of the Red River. It is adjacent to Thanh Xuan District in the northwest, Hoang Mai District in the north, Ha Dong District in the west, Gia Lam District in the east (across the Red River), and Thanh Oai and Thuong Tin Districts in the south.
  Thanh Tri's terrain is mostly low-lying, gradually descending towards the southeast in the direction of flow of the Red River. The To Lich River flows into the Red River within the district, and the many ponds, lakes and swamps nearby no doubt influenced the district's name; "Thanh Tri" means "blue", and the district's historical name, Thanh Dam, means "Blue Lagoon".
  Thanh Tri District is composed of one town (Van Dien) and 15 communes: Thanh Liet, Dong My, Yen My, Duyen Ha, Tam Hiep, Tu Hiep, Ngu Hiep, Ngoc Hoi, Vinh Quynh, Ta Thanh Oai Dai Ang, Van Phuc, Lien Ninh, Huu Hoa, and Tan Trieu.
  On April 8, 2008, an Antonov An-26 aircraft on a training mission crashed into a field in Thanh Tri, killing five Vietnamese military pilots. It had taken off from Gia Lam Airport, and crashed on its way back. The cause of the accident was unknown. A Vietnamese military official who declined to be named said the plane belonged to Vietnam's 918 Air Transport Regiment.
  
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  Thimphu
  Thimphu (Tibetan alphabet: ཐིམ་ཕུག་, Dzongkha: ཐིམ་ཕུ་) also spelt Thimpu, is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's dzongkhags, the Thimphu District. The city became the capital of Bhutan in 1961. As of 2005 it had a population of 79,185, with 98,676 people living in the entire Thimphu district.
  The city is spread out longitudinally in a north-south direction on the west bank of the valley formed by the Wang Chuu, also known as the Thimphu Chuu River. Thimphu is located at 27°28′00″N 89°38′30″E / 27.4666667°N 89.64167°E / 27.4666667; 89.64167Coordinates: 27°28′00″N 89°38′30″E / 27.4666667°N 89.64167°E / 27.4666667; 89.64167 and is spread over an altitudinal range between 2,248 metres (7,375 ft) and 2,648 metres (8,688 ft). Unusually for a capital city, Thimphu is not served by an airport, but relies on the airport at Paro, connected by road some 54 kilometres (34 mi) away.
  Thimphu, as the political and economic centre of Bhutan, has a dominant agricultural and livestock base, which contributes to 45% of the country's GNP. Tourism, though a contributor to the economy, is strictly regulated, maintaining a balance between the traditional and development and modernization. Thimphu contains most of the important political buildings in Bhutan, including the National Assembly of the newly formed parliamentary democracy and Dechencholing Palace, the official residence of the King, located to the north of the city. As a metropolis and capital city, Thimphu is coordinated by the "Thimphu Structure Plan", an Urban Development Plan which evolved in 1998 with the objective of protecting the fragile ecology of the valley. This development is ongoing with financial assistance from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
  
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  Tokyo
  Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō^?, "Eastern Capital") [toːkʲoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/; officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to^?), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of the world. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu^?) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?).
  The Tokyo Metropolitan government administers the 23 special wards of Tokyo (each governed as a city), which cover the area that was the city of Tokyo, as well as 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 8 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity in 2008, ahead of New York City metropolitan area, which ranks second on the list. The city hosts 47 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest amount of any city.
  
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  Toulouse
  Coordinates: 43°36′16″N 1°26′38″E / 43.6045°N 1.444°E / 43.6045; 1.444
  Toulouse (French pronunciation: [tuluz] ( listen), locally: [tuˈluzə] ( listen); Occitan: Tolosa [tuˈluzɔ], medieval Tholoza) is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and 590 km (366 mi) away from Paris. With 1,202,889 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008, the Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in France, after Paris (12.1 million), Lyon (2.1 million), and Marseille (1.7 million).
  Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe.Thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites, EADS's satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. Its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 97,000 students, is with Lille the third-largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon.
  
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  Tra Vinh province
  Trà Vinh ( listen) is a province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The capital is Trà Vinh Town.
  Tra Vinh province comprises one town (Trà Vinh) and seven districts:
  Besides having mostly Vietnamese, Trà Vinh is populated with many members of the Khmer Krom ethnic group. They are partly members of the old Khmer Empire, later divided under political and historical turmoil. Trà Vinh also has one of the largest ethnic Hoa (Chinese) communities in Vietnam.
  Although the name is believed to derive from the Khmer language, it was formerly written in Hán tự characters in official Vietnamese records as 茶榮. The Khmer name for this province is Preah Trapeang (Khmer: ព្រះត្រពាំង).
  
  wn.com/Tra_Vinh_province
• Trang Tien Plaza
  Trang Tien plaza is a shopping center located in the downtown of Hanoi, Vietnam. The complex's construction began on April 30, 2000 when Vietnamese people celebrated 25th anniversary of The liberation of the south of Vietnam. The complex was finished after 18 months of construction.
  Trang Tien plaza offers more than 215,000 square feet (20,000 square meters) space for offices, retail shops, coffee and food outlets.
  The plaza is currently (correct as of 1/9/11)undergoing renovation and is boarded up.
  Coordinates: 21°01′29″N 105°51′12″E / 21.02472°N 105.85333°E / 21.02472; 105.85333
  
  wn.com/Trang_Tien_Plaza
• Tu Liem District
  Từ Liêm is a rural district (huyện) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam.
  Coordinates: 21°02′22″N 105°46′03″E / 21.03944°N 105.7675°E / 21.03944; 105.7675
  
  wn.com/Tu_Liem_District
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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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  Turtle Tower
  Coordinates: 21°01′40″N 105°51′08″E / 21.0279°N 105.8523°E / 21.0279; 105.8523
  Turtle Tower (Vietnamese: Tháp Rùa), also called Tortoise Tower is a small tower in the middle of Sword Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam.
  The tower was erected on the Turtle islet, the former fishing site under king Le Thanh Tong. Under the Restored Le Dynasty (17th and 18th centuries), the Trinh Lords had Ta Vong Temple built on the islet, which disappeared during the Nguyen Dynasty.
  After the French conquered the Hanoi Citadel, most of the population around the lake fled away. Vietnamese officials also fled their offices. There stayed only Nguyen Ngoc Kim, who was the mediator between the French troops and the Vietnamese.
  Media related to Turtle Tower at Wikimedia Commons
  
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  Tuy Hoa
  Tuy Hòa ( listen) is the capital city of Phu Yen province in south-central Vietnam. The city has the total area of 107 km² and the population of 262 000 (in 2008).
  The city is formulated mainly from alluvial of the downstream of Đà Rằng River. There are two mountains in the center of the city: Chóp Chài Mountain and Nhạn Mountain.
  Đà Rằng River and Nhan Mountain create a poetic landscape. There is a Champa Temple on the top of Nhạn Mountain. Standing at this place, visitors easily enjoy a full view of Tuy Hoa city.
  Tuy Hoa has a fine white sand beach, which is a popular tourist destination.
  
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  Tuyen Quang
  Tuyên Quang ( listen) is a town in Vietnam, the capital of Tuyen Quang province.
  The French post at Tuyen Quang was defended for four months against 12,000 troops of the Yunnan Army and the Black Flag Army by two companies of the French Foreign Legion during the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The Siege of Tuyen Quang is still remembered as one of the Legion's most celebrated feats of arms, and is commemorated in the first verse of Le Boudin, its principal marching song.
  As a town in French Indochina, Tuyen Quang served as a garrison. During the First Indochina War (1946-1954), the Viet Minh made the Legionnaires surrender at the memorial to the Battle of Tuyen Quang.
  Phuong: Hưng Thành, Nông Tiến, Ỷ La, Minh Xuân, Phan Thiết, Tân Quang, Tân Hà. Communes: Tràng Đà, An Tường, Lưỡng Vượng, An Khang, Thái Long, Đội Cấn.
  Coordinates: 21°49′N 105°13′E / 21.817°N 105.217°E / 21.817; 105.217
  
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  Ulan Bator
  Ulan Bator  /ˌuːlɑːn ˈbɑːtər/ or Ulaanbaatar (Mongolian: Улаанбаатар, [ʊɮɑːŋ.bɑːtʰɑ̆r], ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ, Ulaγanbaγatur, literally "Red Hero") is the capital and by far the largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million.
  Located in north central Mongolia, the city lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial, and financial heart of the country. It is the center of Mongolia's road network, and is connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and the Chinese railway system.
  The city was founded in 1639 as a movable (nomadic) Buddhist monastic centre. In 1778 it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that it changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially. In the twentieth century, Ulan Bator grew into a major manufacturing centre.
  
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  United Arab Emirates
  The United Arab Emirates ⁱ/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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  Uzbekistan
  Uzbekistan ⁱ/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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  Vientiane
  Vientiane ( /vjɛnˈtjɑːn/ French pronunciation: [vjɛ̃'tjan]; Lao: ວຽງຈັນ Wiang-jun; Thai: เวียงจันทน์ Wiang-chan, IPA: [wíəŋ tɕàn]) is the capital and largest city of Laos, situated in the Mekong river. Vientiane became the capital in 1563 due to fears of a Burmese invasion. During French rule, Vientiane was the administrative capital and due to economic growth in recent times, it has become the economic centre of Laos.
  The estimated population of the city is 754,000 (2009). The city hosted the 25th Southeast Asian Games in December 2009 celebrating the 50 years of SEA Games.
  
  wn.com/Vientiane
• Viet Duc Hospital
  Viet Duc Hospital (aka. Viet Duc University Hospital, Vietnamese: Bệnh viện Việt Đức, literally "Vietnam - Germany Hospital") is the largest surgical center of Vietnam, situated at Trang Thi Street, Hanoi.
  The Hospital was founded in 1904 as a part of Indochina Medical College by the French colonial governor Paul Doumer.
  During its history it bore many names: Yersin Hospital (1943), Hospital of Vietnam - GDR (German Democratic Republic) Friendship (1958 - 1991), Viet Duc Hospital (from 1991 now on).
  The well known Vietnamese surgeon Ton That Tung more than 40 years conducted his research and operations here.
  At present, the Hospital has more than 500 beds for patients and 18 surgery rooms and able to perform over 800 open-heart operations annually. It has good cooperation in exchange and training programs with medical facilities in France, Germany, Australia and some other countries. In 1998, the Medicinal Laser Unit was established here to study and apply laser techniques in diagnosis and treatment of some diseases including cancer.
  
  wn.com/Viet_Duc_Hospital
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  Viet Tri
  Việt Trì is the capital city of Phú Thọ province in the northeastern region of Vietnam. As of 2010, the district had a population of 260,288. The district covers an area of 110 km².
  Việt Trì is also the economic centre of the province and contains many industrial firms and service industries. Vietnamese cities Việt Trì, Phu Tho province. Maintenance was established in Vietnam in 1962 and is grade 2 in Vietnam.
  +Geographical position: Maintenance of Hanoi Vietnam 70 kilometers northwest Located in "Nga Ba Crane" on the Red River, where the Red River Alluvial Sports confluence with the Lot river blue. So Vietnamese Tri is also known under the name City of Confluence. +Administrative boundaries: Tri City Vietnam on the east Lap Thach district, District Lot River, Vinh Tuong district (Vinh Phuc province), west of Lam Thao town or township Hung Son, Tien Kien Commune, Thach Son, Lam Thao District, Nam Cao Xa borders, Son Vi Commune, Lam Thao district (along the Phu Tho) and Ba Vi district, Hanoi, north of Phu Ninh commune, Vinh Phu, Phu Ninh district.
  
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  Vietnam
  Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam;  listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
  The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
  
  wn.com/Vietnam
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  Vinh
  Vinh ( listen) is a city in Vietnam. It is located in the northern half of the country, and is the capital of Nghệ An Province. Politically, Vinh is a municipality within Nghệ An Province. On September 5th, 2008, it was upgraded from Grade-II city to Grade-I city, the fifth Grade-I city of Vietnam after Hai Phong, Đà Nẵng, Can Tho and Huế. It is the important city in the North Central Coastal region.
  The population of Vinh was estimated in 2009 to be 435,208 people. The service sector comprises the largest part of Vinh's economy, with around 55% of the working population being employed in this area. This is followed by the industrial sector (around 30%) and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors (around 15%). Vinh is an important transportation hub, having a key position on the route between the northern and southern parts of the country, and is also a notable port.
  Vinh was originally known as Ke Van. Later, this successively became Ke Vinh, Vinh Giang, Vinh Doanh, and then Vinh Thi. Eventually, in 1789, the official name became simply Vinh, probably under European influence. The name has remained the same ever since. At various times, Vinh has been of considerable military and political significance. The Vietnamese nation began in the north, and only gradually expanded to cover its current territories – as such, Vinh was sometimes seen as a "gateway to the south". The Tây Sơn dynasty (1788–1802) is believed to have considered Vinh as a possible capital of Vietnam, but the short duration of the dynasty meant that any plans did not come to fruition. Tây Sơn interest in the city did, however, result in considerable construction and development there. Under French rule of Vietnam, Vinh was further developed as an industrial centre, and became well known for its factories.
  
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  Vinh Long
  Vĩnh Long ( listen) is the capital of the province of Vĩnh Long in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. The name was spelled 永隆 ("eternal prosperity") in the former Hán Tự writing system.
  Vĩnh Long is on the Cổ Chiên river, which branches out from the Mekong River at the narrows of Mỹ Thuận about 10 kilometers upstream, only to meet it later downstream. Across the Cổ Chiên river from Vĩnh Long are the An Binh and Bình Hòa Phước islands, some 15 kilometers across, with the Mekong River on the other side. A number of canals run through Vĩnh Long, with tall vehicular bridges crossing them. Transport by boat is possible, although parts of the town, particularly An Binh, become unreachable at low tide.
  Vĩnh Long is about two hours from the large city of Cần Thơ in the adjacent Hậu Giang province, and about three hours from Saigon. The floating market town of Cái Bèi is on the other side of the An Binh island and is the frequent destination for tourist boats from Vĩnh Long.
  Coordinates: 10°15′N 105°58′E / 10.25°N 105.967°E / 10.25; 105.967
  
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  Vĩnh Phúc Province
  Vĩnh Phúc ( listen) is a province in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is divided into one city (Vĩnh Yên), one town (Phúc Yên), and seven districts:
  The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Tự: 永福).
  
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  Warsaw
  Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa [varˈʂava] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most populous city proper in the European Union. The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres (199.6 sq mi), while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi).
  Warsaw is an Alpha- global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in Central Europe. It is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered from World War II, during which 80% of its buildings were destroyed. On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, for the Siege of Warsaw (1939).
  
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  Yemen
  The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemen ⁱ/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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  Yen Bai
  Yên Bái ( listen) is a city and urban district in Vietnam. It is the capital of the Yen Bai province, in northeastern Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 78,016. The district covers an area of 58 km².
  On 9 February 1930, part of the 4th Regiment of Tonkinese Rifles stationed at mutinied against their French officers in the Yen Bai mutiny. They were suppressed by loyal troops from the same unit. This incident led to widespread disturbances against French rule across northeastern Vietnam during 1930-31.
  Yen Bai Online Dien Dan Yen Bai
  Coordinates: 21°42′N 104°52′E / 21.7°N 104.867°E / 21.7; 104.867
  
  
  
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  Yen Bai province
  Yên Bái ( listen) is an agricultural-based province located in Tay Bac, the northern part of northern-central Vietnam. It shares borders with five provinces which are Lao Cai province, Lai Chau province, Son La province, Tuyen Quang province, and Phu Tho province. The province covers an area of 6899.5 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 750,200 people.
  Yen Bai's history is important under the French colony, particularly the subsequent "Yen Bai mutiny", an uprising of Vietnamese soldiers in the French colonial army on 10 February 1930 in collaboration with civilian supporters who were members of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang (VNQDD, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party).
  Forestry and farming are the main economic stay of the province. Thac Ba Lake is a natural asset of the country along with its Thac Ba Hydroelectric Plant. Dong Cuong Festival is an important festival of the province.
  The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Tự: 安沛).
  According to the General Statistics Office of the Government of Vietnam, the population of Yên Bái province as on 2008 was 750,200 with a density of 109 persons per sqkm over a total land area of 6,899.5 square kilometres (2,663.9 sq mi) of the province. The male population during this period was 372,000 with females accounting for 378,200. There are many ethnic groups in Yen Bai Province. Kin people who form the majority population of the country, settled here long time back and in unison with the local minority tribes established themselves in the region and developed cultivation practices. Kin people’s ancestry is traced to the Hai Duong Pham Ba Luc for nine generations till date and a monument erected in 1937 in Doc village in Hong Commune is highly revered as an ancestral home.
  
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  Yerevan
  Coordinates: 40°11′00″N 44°31′00″E / 40.183333°N 44.516667°E / 40.183333; 44.516667
  Yerevan (Armenian: Երևան, Armenian pronunciation: [jɛɾɛˈvɑn]) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia.
  The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by king Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide settled in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became one of the fifteen republics in the Soviet Union. In fifty years, Yerevan was transformed from a town of a few thousand residents within the Russian Empire, to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.
  
  wn.com/Yerevan