- published: 12 Jan 2013
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- author: ActuelNewsChannel
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- 14 July Revolution
- Abbasid
- Abbasid Caliphate
- Abbasid Palace
- Abbasids
- Abbassi architecture
- Abdul Karim Kassem
- Abu Dhabi
- Abu Disher
- Abu Hanifa
- Abu Nuwas Street
- Adhamiyah
- Adhān
- Afghanistan
- AFN Iraq
- Al Jamhuriah Street
- Al Khadhraa
- Al Mansur
- Al Nidhal Street
- Al Qanat Street
- Al Quwa Al Jawiya
- Al Rasheed Street
- Al Rashid, Baghdad
- Al Shaab Stadium
- Al Shaheed Monument
- Al Shurta
- Al Talaba
- Al Zawra
- Al-A'amiriya
- Al-Adel
- Al-Awashosh
- Al-Fathel
- Al-Hebnaa
- Al-Horaya
- Al-Jadriya
- Al-Kadhimiya Mosque
- Al-Kāżimiyyah
- Al-Mahmudiyah
- Al-Mansur
- Al-Musta'sim
- Al-Mutanabbi
- Al-Naser Airlines
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- Algeria
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- Ancient civilization
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- Arab
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- Arbil Province
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- Astana
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- Babylon
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- Daylight saving time
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- Geography of Iraq
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-
14 July Revolution
The 14 July Revolution was a coup which took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq, marking the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy established by King Faisal I in 1932 under the auspices of the British. In 1958, the coup overthrew King Faisal II, the regent and Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, all of whom were perceived as cooperating with the British. The coup established an Iraqi Republic and was a result of a number of different grievances with Hashemite Iraqi policies. One of the most salient themes that the Free Officers, the group that engineered and executed the coup, represented was anger at Western imperialist control of Iraq through its monarchic mediators.
During World War II, Iraq housed a growing presence of Arab nationalist sympathizers. The Arab nationalists aimed, in part, to remove British imperial influence in Iraq. This sentiment grew from a politicized educational system in Iraq and an increasingly assertive and educated middle class. Schools served as instruments to internalize Pan-Arab nationalist identity because the leaders and the designers of the Iraqi educational system in the 1920s and 1930s were Pan-Arab nationalists who made a significant contribution in the expansion of that ideology in Iraq as well as the rest of the Arab world. The nationalist directors (Sami Shawkat and Fadhil al-Jamal) of the educational system in Iraq employed teachers who were political refugees from Palestine and Syria. These exiles fled to Iraq because of their roles in the anti-British and anti-French contentions, and subsequently fostered nationalist consciousness in their Iraqi students. Institutions like school added to the general awareness of Arab identity and generated criticism of imperialism.
wn.com/14_July_Revolution -
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 -
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 -
Al Khadhraa
Al Khadhraa is a neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq.
wn.com/Al_Khadhraa -
Al Rasheed Street
Al Rasheed Street or Al Rashid Street (Arabic: شارع الرشيد) is located in Downtown Baghdad and is one of the city's main streets, stretching from North Gate to South Gate.
The origin of Al Rasheed Street goes back to the Ottomans who ruled Iraq from 1534 to 1918. During that time, the only known public street in Baghdad was Al Naher Street (Shari al-Naher). Al Naher means River - the street stretches a few kilometers along the east banks of the river Tigris, so this may be the reasoning behind its name.
The British were defeated by the Ottomans on the 29th of April 1916 in Kut (south of Baghdad), where tens of thousands of Anglo-Indian troops died or were wounded, and thousands more were taken prisoner, including their commander Sir Charles Townshend. The military governor of Baghdad, Khalil Pasha (1864–1923), decided to honor this victory by giving orders to build the first ever "real" street in Baghdad. Work began in May 1916, after the head of Baghdad’s municipality, Ra'ouf Al Chadirchy, met with local landlords to pay them compensations for the demolition of their property.
wn.com/Al_Rasheed_Street -
Al Shaheed Monument
The al-Shaheed Monument (Arabic: نُصب الشهيد), also known as the Martyr's Memorial, is a monument in the Iraqi capital Baghdad dedicated to the Iraqi soldiers who died in the Iran-Iraq war. The Monument was opened in 1983, and was designed by Ismail Fattah al-Turki. During the 1970s and 1980s, Saddam Hussein's government spent a lot of money on new monuments, which included the al-Shaheed Monument.
The monument consists of a circular platform 190 meters in diameter in the center of an artificial lake. On the platform sits an enormous 40 meter tall split turquoise dome, which resembles the domes of the Abbasid era. The two halves of the split dome are offset, with an eternal flame in the middle. The shells are constructed of a galvanized steel frame with glazed turquoise ceramic tile cladding which was pre-cast in carbon fiber reinforced concrete. The rest of the site consists of parks, a playground, parking lots, walkways, bridges, and the lake.
The monument is located on the East side of the Tigris river, near the Army Canal which separates Sadr city from the rest of Baghdad. A museum, library, cafeteria, lecture hall and exhibition gallery are located in two levels underneath the domes.
wn.com/Al_Shaheed_Monument -
Algeria
Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2
Algeriai/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash-Shaʿbiyyah), also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a large country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.
When referring to its land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa, Maghreb and the Arab World. It is also the largest of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; it is also the tenth-largest country in the world. The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 2,400,000 square kilometres (926,645 sq mi) with an estimated population of 37.1 million as of 2012. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC and the United Nations. The country is also a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union.
wn.com/Algeria -
Algiers
Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā’ir; Algerian Arabic: دزاير, Berber: Dzayer / ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population at about 3,574,000 as of 2010.
Called El-Behdja (البهجة) or alternatively Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea. The modern part of the city is built on the level ground by the seashore; the old part, the ancient city of the deys, climbs the steep hill behind the modern town and is crowned by the casbah or citadel, 122 metres (400 ft) above the sea. The casbah and the two quays form a triangle.
The city name is derived (via French Alger and Catalan Alger) from the Arabic name الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, which translates as "The Islands", referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Jazā’ir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزائر بني مازغان Jazā’ir Banī Mazghannā, "The Islands of the Sons of Mazghanna", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.
wn.com/Algiers -
Amarah
Amarah (Arabic: العمارة; BGN: Al ‘Amārah; also spelled Amara), is a city in southeastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates.
Predominantly Shia Muslim, it had a population of about 340,000 as of 2002 and about 420,000 as of 2005. It is the administrative capital of the Maysan province. A major trading center for the surrounding agricultural area, it is known for woven goods and silverware.
The city was founded in the 1860s as an Ottoman military outpost from which the empire tried to control the warring Banu Lam and Al Bu Muhammad tribes.
In 1915 Amarah was captured by the British. Before the revolution in 1958 Amarah was known for its feudal system with local estate-holders maintaining private militias.
During the eight year Iran–Iraq War, Amarah and the surrounding province became the sight of several battles, notably Operation Before the Dawn launched by Iran. Since the Baghdad-Basra highway cut through the province, Iran targeted the area due to its strategic significance to the Iraqis.
wn.com/Amarah -
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.
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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 -
Arbil Province
Erbil Province or Governorate (Arabic: أربيل Arbīl, Kurdish: Hawler, Syriac: ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbel, Turkmen: Erbil) is one of the provinces of Iraq, located in the autonomous Kurdistan Region. It derives its name from the city of Erbil, which is also its capital.
The province of Erbil covers an area of 15,074 square kilometres (5,820 sq mi) in the north of Iraq, with an estimated population (in 2003) of 1,314,000 people. It is largely populated by Kurds but has minority populations of Assyrians, Iraqi Arabs, and Iraqi Turkmen
There are many national and international banks operating in Erbil offering citizens and visitors services, including but not limited to:
wn.com/Arbil_Province -
Armenia
Armeniai/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 -
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 -
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.
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Babylon
Coordinates: 32°32′11″N 44°25′15″E / 32.53639°N 44.42083°E / 32.53639; 44.42083
Babylon (Arabic: بابل, Babil; Akkadian: Bābili(m);Sumerian logogram: KÁ.DINGIR.RAKI;Hebrew: בָּבֶל, Bābel;Greek: Βαβυλών, Babylōn) was an Akkadian city-state (founded in 1867 BC by an Amorite dynasty) of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babylon Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.
Available historical resources suggest that Babylon was at first a small town which had sprung up by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The town flourished and attained independence with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Claiming to be the successor of the ancient Eridu, Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the "holy city" of Mesopotamia around the time an Amorite king named Hammurabi first created the short lived Babylonian Empire; this quickly dissolved upon his death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. Babylon again became the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 612 to 539 BC which was founded by Chaldeans and whose last king was an Assyrian. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of Babylon it came under the rules of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid empires.
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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.
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Baghdad Tower
Baghdad Tower (Arabic: برج بغداد) (previously called International Saddam Tower) is a 205 m (673 ft) TV tower in Baghdad, Iraq. The tower opened in 1994 and replaced a communications tower destroyed in the Gulf War. A revolving restaurant and observation deck are located on the top floor. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the tower was occupied by American soldiers and was renamed.
The Baghdad Tower, on the right.
Baghdad Tower, July 2007.
Rebuilding the tower and its surroundings.
Tower Center, December 2010
Tower Center, December 2010
Coordinates: 33°18′12″N 44°21′15″E / 33.30333°N 44.35417°E / 33.30333; 44.35417
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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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Bandung
Bandung (pronounced [banˈduŋ]) (Indonesian: Kota Bandung) is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, the country's third largest city, and second largest metropolitan area in Indonesia with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 meters (2,520 ft) above sea level, approximately 140 km south eastern of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler temperatures year-round than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin surrounded by volcanic mountains. This topography provides a good natural defense system, which was the primary reason for the Dutch East Indies government's plan to move the colony capital from Batavia to Bandung.
The Dutch colonials first established tea plantations around the mountains in the eighteenth century, and a road was constructed to connect the plantation area to the capital (180 km or 112 miles to the northwest). The Dutch inhabitants of the city demanded establishment of a municipality (gemeente), which was granted in 1906, and Bandung gradually developed itself into a resort city for plantation owners. Luxurious hotels, restaurants, cafes and European boutiques were opened, hence the city was nicknamed Parijs van Java (Dutch: "The Paris of Java").
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Bangalore
Bangalore /ˈbæŋɡəlɔər/, also rendered Bengaluru,[needs IPA] is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City for its gardens and parks and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration. Bangalore is well known as a hub for India's information technology sector. It is among the top 10 preferred entrepreneurial locations in the world.
A succession of South Indian dynasties ruled the region of Bangalore until in 1537 AD Kempe Gowda—a feudatory ruler under the Vijayanagara Empire—established a mud fort considered to be the foundation of modern Bangalore. Following transitory occupation by Maratha and Mughal, the city remained under the Mysore kingdom. Bangalore continued to be a cantonment of the British and a major city of the Princely State of Mysore which existed as a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj. Following the independence of India in 1947, Bangalore became the capital of Mysore state, and later Karnataka.
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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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Basra
Basra (Arabic: البصرة; BGN: Al Baṣrah) is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr.
The city is part of the historic location of Sumer, the home of Sinbad the Sailor, and a proposed location of the Garden of Eden. It also played an important role in early Islamic history, being built in 636 CE, or 14 AH. It is Iraq's second largest and most populous city after Baghdad.
The city was called by many names throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. Although some Chaldean Christians argue that the name has Akkadian roots, other sources claim that the name is derived from the Persian word Bas-rah, which means "where many paths meet". During the pre-Islamic era, the area was known to the Arabs as al-Khariba due to the existence of an ancient city called al-Kharba. After the present city was built, it was called by many names, including "the mother of Iraq", "the reservoir of Arabs", "the prosperous city", and "al-Faiha".
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Basra Province
Basra Province (Arabic: البصرة Al Baṣra) (or Basra Governorate) is a province in southern Iraq, bordering Kuwait to the south and Iran to the east. The provincial capital is the city of Basra. Other districts of Basra include Al-Qurnah, Az Zubayr, Al Mudaynah, Shatt Al Arab, Abu Al Khaseeb and Al Faw located on the Persian Gulf.
In 1920, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the United Kingdom took over the former Ottoman vilayets of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul which had together formed the historical region of Irak Arabi or Irak Babeli, and called it the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The mandate was succeeded by the Kingdom of Iraq in 1932.
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Batman River
The Batman River is a major tributary of the Tigris, joining it near the source of Tigris called Dicle River in southeast Turkey. It originates in the Anti-Taurus Mountains (at the Sason and Genç mountains) and flows approximately from north to south, passing near the city of Batman and forming a natural border between the Batman Province and Diyarbakır Province. The historic Malabadi Bridge (built in 1146–1147) crosses the river near the town of Silvan. The region along the Batman River is known for its oil fields. The Batman Dam (Turkish: Batman Baraji, B. de Batman on the map) was built in 1999 in the upstream (38°09′36″N 41°12′06″E / 38.160088°N 41.201574°E / 38.160088; 41.201574), together with the associated reservoir and hydroelectric power plant.
The river is widest at about 100 m right after exiting the dam, but then narrows to about 50 metres and forms numerous splits along its way to the Tigris. Its riverbed is irregular in many places that promotes flooding. A tributary of Batman, the Iluh River, originates in the Raman Mountain on the south of the Batman city and flows north-west through the city into the Batman River. Despite being a small river, absent on most maps, Iluh plays an important role for the province because its spring floods affect the provincial capital. The floods of Iluh and Batman rivers occur between March and May and sometimes in October–November. Major floods occurred in 1969 (April, 60 buildings damaged), 1972 (April and May, 210 buildings damaged), 1991 (November, 500 buildings flooded), 1995 (March, nearly 1000 buildings submerged and 450 damaged) and 2006 (October, 11 people died and 20 injured).
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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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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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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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Bismil
Bismil is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The population is 56,887 (as of 2010) and most of the people are Kurds. The mayor is Cemile Eminoğlu (BDP).
Historians have established that, in order to settle the influx of migrants from Konya in 1936, the sixth district of Diyarbakir was established It is a South-Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and is located on the east of the Diyarbakir province. The area of this district is 1748 sq.km. Geographically it is situated 550 meters above the sea level.
The town features numerous parks. The population is 56,887 (as of 2010). The mayor is Mr. Cemile Eminoğlu who belongs to the Peace and Democratic Party (BDP) of Turkey.
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Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital (Spanish pronunciation: [boɣoˈta] ( listen)), from 1991 to 2000 called Santafé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district and no longer belongs administratively to that department. Bogotá is the most populous city in the country, with 7.363.782 inhabitants as of 2010. Bogotá and its metropolitan area, which includes municipalities such as Chía, Cota, Soacha, Cajicá and La Calera, had a population of 7,881,156 in 2005.
In terms of land area, Bogotá is the largest city in Colombia, and one of the biggest of Latin America. It figures amongst the thirty largest cities of the world and it is the third-highest capital city in South America (after La Paz and Quito) at 2,625 metres (8,612 ft) above sea level. With its many universities and libraries, Bogotá has become known as "The Athens of South America". Bogotá owns the largest moorland of the world, which is located in the Sumapaz Locality. The city ranked 54th in the 2010 Global Cities Index and is listed as global city of the Beta+ kind by the GaWC.
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Botan River
The Botan River (Turkish: Botan Çayı, Botan Suyu aka Uluçay) is a tributary of the Tigris River in Siirt Province of southeastern Turkey.
It originates in the high mountains west of the Nordüz Plateau, which form the border of Siirt Province to Hakkari and Van, and flows eastwards before it turns to the northwest. The river has shaped a canyon on its way. The altitude difference between the valley and the top of the mountains reaches about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
The rivers Çatak and Büyükdere join it at Çukurca in Hakkari Province, after which it is named Botan Suyu (Uluçay). Running westwards by east of Aydınlar and Siirt, it reaches Bostancık locality. Here, the rivers Zorava and Bitlis join the Botan. Finally at Çattepe in Siirt Province, it joins the Tigris River, after which the Tigris sharply turns southwards.
The discharge of Botan River from spring to mid-summer averages about 100–300 m³/s (3,500–11,000 cu ft/s), while it reaches in April and June about 400–600 m³/s (14,000–21,000 cu ft/s, and in May it peaks at about 700–1,000 m³/s (25,000–35,000 cu ft/s and sometimes more. At this time, it looks much bigger than the Tigris River. At the end of summer or in the fall, its depth is not less than 1 metre (3.3 ft), and its outflow not less than around 60–80 m³/s (2,100–2,800 cu ft/s).
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Brunei
Bruneii/bruːˈnaɪ/, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: نڬارا بروني دارالسلام), is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and it is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 401,890 in July 2011.
The official national history claims that Brunei can trace its beginnings to the 7th century, when it was a subject state of the Srivijayan empire under the name P'o-li. It later became a vassal state of Majapahit empire before converting to Islam in the 15th century. At the peak of its empire, the sultanate had control that extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The thalassocracy was visited by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and fought the Castille War in 1578 against Spain. Its empire began to decline with the forced ceding of Sarawak to James Brooke and the ceding of Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. After the loss of Limbang, Brunei finally became a British protectorate in 1888, receiving a resident in 1906. In the years after the Japanese wartime occupation during World War II, it formalised a constitution and fought an armed rebellion. Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984. Economic growth during the 1970s and 1990s, averaging 56% from 1999 to 2008, has transformed Brunei Darussalam into a newly industrialised country.
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Burma
Burmai/ˈbɜrmə/ BUR-mə, also known as Myanmar i/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ MYAHN--MAR, is a country in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km2 (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Burma is also the 24th most populous country in the world with over 60.28 million people.
Burma is home to some of the early civilizations of Southeast Asia including the Pyu and the Mon. In the 9th century, the Burmans of the Kingdom of Nanzhao, entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Empire in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture slowly became dominant in the country. During this period, Theravada Buddhism gradually became the predominant religion of the country. The Pagan Empire fell due to the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and several warring states emerged. In the second half of the 16th century, the country was reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty which for a brief period was the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Burma as well as Manipur and Assam. The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885).
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Cairo
Cairo ( /ˈkaɪroʊ/ KYE-roh; Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhira, literally "The Vanquisher" or "The Conqueror"), is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Located near the Nile Delta, it was founded in the year 969 A.D. making it 1,043 years old. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life. Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century AD.; but the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the ancient cities of Memphis, Giza and Fustat which are nearby to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as Maṣr (Arabic: مصر), the Arabic pronunciation of the name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role in Egyptian influence. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence.
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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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Chennai
Chennai /ˈtʃɛnaɪ/, formerly Madras /məˈdræs/, is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is a major commercial, cultural, and educational centre in South India, while the port of Chennai is the second largest port in India. As of the 2011 census, the city had 4.68 million residents making it the sixth most populous city in India; the urban agglomeration, which comprises the city and its suburbs, was home to approximately 8.9 million, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the country.
Although the area has been part of successive South Indian kingdoms through centuries, the recorded history of the city began in the colonial times, specifically with the arrival of British East India Company and the establishment in 1644 of Fort St George, an English settlement. The British defended several attacks from the French colonial forces, and from the kingdom of Mysore, on Chennai's way to become a major naval port and presidency city by late eighteenth century. Following the independence of India, Chennai became the capital of Tamil Nadu and a hotbed of regional politics that tended to bank on Dravidian identity of the populace. Chennai had become a bustling metropolis with beautiful classical and colonial European styled buildings, lining the city’s thoroughfares.
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Chicago
Chicago (i/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.
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Cizre
Cizre (pronounced [dʒizˈɾe]; Kurdish: Botan or Cizîr, Classical Syriac: ܓܙܝܼܪܵܐ Gzira/Gziro) is a town and district of Şırnak Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, located at the border to Syria, just to the north-west of the Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi tripoint. It is populated by a majority of Kurds and Assyrian/Syriac people in addition to Arabs.[citation needed] It is surrounded by the Tigris from the North, East and South, which has given it its name, which means island in Arabic.
Cizre is historical Jazīrat ibn ʿUmar (or Jezira ibn Umar or Gazarta) Arabic: جزيرة ابن عمر, an important town during the Abbasid period and the Crusades as a gateway connecting Upper Mesopotamia to Armenia. During the Early Iron Age, Cizre was in the kingdom of Kumme, north of Assyria. In classical antiquity, it was located in Corduene (Kardu). In 19th century scholarship, it was often named as the location of Alexander's crossing of the Tigris in 331 BC, further identified with the Roman stronghold of Bezabde although Stein (1942) is sceptical of this.
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Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is an American private Ivy League research university located in New York City, New York, United States. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution. Today the university operates seven Columbia Global Centers overseas in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, Mumbai, Santiago and Nairobi.
The university was founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of George II of Great Britain. After the American Revolutionary War, King's College briefly became a state entity, and was renamed Columbia College in 1784. The University now operates under a 1787 charter that places the institution under a private board of trustees, and in 1896 it was further renamed Columbia University. That same year, the university's campus was moved from Madison Avenue to its location in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, where it occupies more than six city blocks, or 32 acres (0.13 km2). The university encompasses twenty schools and is affiliated with numerous institutions, including Teachers College, Barnard College, and the Union Theological Seminary, with joint undergraduate programs available through the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as well as the Juilliard School.
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Comoros
The Comorosi/ˈkɒməroʊz/ (Arabic: جزر القمر, Ǧuzur al-Qumur/Qamar), officially the Union of the Comoros (Comorian: Udzima wa Komori, French: Union des Comores, Arabic: الاتحاد القمري al-Ittiḥād al-Qumurī/Qamarī) is a sovereign, archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. Other countries near to the Comoros are Tanzania to the northwest and the Seychelles to the northeast. The capital is Moroni on Grande Comore.
At 1,862 km2 (719 sq mi) (excluding Mayotte), the Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area. The population (excluding Mayotte) is estimated at 798,000. Its name derives from the Arabic word قمر qamar ("moon"). The archipelago is notable for its diverse culture and history, as a nation formed at the crossroads of many civilizations. It is the southernmost member state of the Arab League. Though in the contested island of Mayotte the sole official language is French, the "Union of the Comoros" has three official languages: Comorian, Arabic, and French.
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Ctesiphon
Coordinates: 33°05′37″N 44°34′50″E / 33.09361°N 44.58056°E / 33.09361; 44.58056 Ctesiphon /tɛsɨfɒn/, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.
The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Today, the remains of the city lies in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, approximately 35 km south of the city of Baghdad.
The Latin name Ctesiphon or Ctesifon derives from Greek Ktēsiphōn (Κτησιφῶν), a Hellenized form of a local name that has been reconstructed as Tosfōn or Tosbōn. In Iranian sources of the Sassanid period it is attested in Manichean Parthian, in Sassanid Middle Persian and in Christian Sogdian as Pahlavi tyspwn, continuing in New Persian as Tisfun (تيسفون). Syriac sources mention it as ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ Qṭēsfōn, and in medieval Arabic texts the name is usually Ṭaysafūn (طيسفون) or Qaṭaysfūn (قطيسفون), in Modern Arabic al-Mada'in (المدائن). "According to Yāqūt [...], quoting Ḥamza, the original form was Ṭūsfūn or Tūsfūn, which was arabicized as Ṭaysafūn." The Armenian name of the city was Tizbon (Տիզբոն). Ctesiphon is first mentioned in the Book of Ezra of the Old Testament as Kasfia/Casphia (a derivative of the ethnic name, Cas, and a cognate of Caspian and Qazvin).
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Cyprus
Cyprusi/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
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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.
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Delhi
Delhi (/ˈdɛli/; locally pronounced Dillee or Dehli), officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest metropolis by population in India. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16.7 million inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census. The region has been given special status of National Capital Region under The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991. There are nearly 22.2 million residents in the greater National Capital Region urban area (which also includes the cities Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon,Sonepat and Faridabad along with other smaller nearby towns).
Delhi is known to have been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BCE, though human habitation is believed to have existed since the second millennium BCE. Delhi is also widely believed to have been the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas during the times of the Mahabharata. Delhi re-emerged as a major political, cultural and commercial city along the trade routes between northwest India and the Gangetic plain after the rise of the Delhi sultanates. It is the site of many ancient and medieval monuments, archaeological sites and remains.
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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.
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Dhi Qar Province
Dhi Qar Province (Arabic: ذي قار Dhī Qār) (or Dhi Qar Governorate) is a province in southern Iraq. The provincial capital is Nasiriyah. Prior to 1976 the province was known as Muntafiq Province. Dhi Qar was the heartland of the ancient Iraqi civilization of Sumer and the ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash, Larsa, Girsu, Umma, and Bad-tibira are located here.
Dhi Qar governorate includes the towns of al-Rifai, Qalat Sukkar, Ash Shatrah, al-Gharraf, Suq al-Shuyouk, Khamisiyah and al-Chibayish
In the mid 1990s the governor was Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, who later became police chief of the country, and in 1999, director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.
An Nasiriyah witnessed some of the heaviest fighting and some of the stiffest resistance against invading U.S. forces in 2003.[citation needed]
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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.
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Diyala Province
Diyala Province (Arabic: ديالى Diyālā) (or Diyala Governorate) is a province in eastern Iraq.
Diyala Governorate extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baqubah. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometres (6,828 sq mi).
A large portion of the province is drained by the Diyala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diyala's main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large groves. The province also contains one of the largest olive groves in the Middle East. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. The Hamrin Mountains pass through the governorate.
In 2003, it had an estimated population of some 1,224,000 people. Iraqi Arabs comprise about 82 percent of the governorate, Iraqi Kurds about 16 percent (predominantly in the Khanaquin and Kifri Districts), and Iraqi Turkmen about 2 percent. Around 75% of the population live in the major cities: Baqubah, Muqdadiyah and Khanaqin.
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Diyala River
The Diyala River after Darban-e Khan Dam:Kurdish: Sirwan, سيروان, Arabic: نهر ديالى, Persian: سیروان دیاله, is a river and tributary of the Tigris that runs mainly through Eastern Iraq but also Western Iran. It covers a total distance of 445 km (277 mi).
It rises near Sanandaj, in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. It then descends through the mountains, where for some 32 km it forms the border between the two countries. It finally feeds into the Tigris below Baghdad.
Its origin in Kurdish and Persian is called "Sirwan", meaning 'roaring sea' or 'shouting river', as well as being the name of an ancient city near Ilam city in Iran.
Navigation of the upper reaches of the Diyala is not possible because of its narrow defiles, but the river's valley provides an important trade route between Iran and Iraq.
The river is controlled by the Diyala Weir on the lower Diyala valley, which controls floods and irrigates the area northeast of Baghdad.
The Diyala Governorate in Iraq is named after the river.
Coordinates: 33°13′15″N 44°30′23″E / 33.2208°N 44.5064°E / 33.2208; 44.5064
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Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır (Ottoman Turkish دیاربکر, Diyâr-ı Bekr; Armenian: Դիարբեքիր, Diarbeqir; Kurdish ئامهد, Amed; anc. Amida; Syriac: ܐܡܝܕ, Amid ) is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey. Situated on the banks of the River Tigris, it is the administrative capital of the Diyarbakır Province and with a population of about 843,460 it is the second largest city in Turkey's South-eastern Anatolia region, after Gaziantep. Within Turkey.
The name of the city is inscribed as Amid on the sheath of a sword from the Assyrian period, and the same name was used in other contemporary Syriac and Arabic works. The Romans and Byzantines called the city Amida. Among the Artukid and Akkoyunlu it was known as "Black Amid" (Kara Amid) for the dark color of its walls, while in the Zafername, or eulogies in praise of military victories, it is called "Black Fortress" (Kara Kale). In the Book of Dede Korkut and some other Turkish works it appears as Kara Hamid.
Following the Arab conquests in the 7th century, the Arab Bekr tribe occupied this region, which became known as became known as the Diyar-ı Bekir (landholdings of the Bekr tribe). In 1937, Atatürk had the city renamed Diyarbakır, which remains its current name.
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Djibouti
Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, French: Djibouti, Somali: Jabuuti, Afar: Gabuuti), officially the Republic of Djibouti (Arabic: جمهورية جيبوتي Jumhūriyyat Jībūtī, French: République de Djibouti, Afar: Gabuutih Ummuuno, Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti), is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti, which had a population of 818,159 at the 2009 census, is one of the least populous countries in Africa.Islam is the largest religion in the country, practiced by 94% of the population. The land was known as Obock and French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) in the 19th century; in 1967, it changed its name to Afars and Issas after new treaties with France. The territory was declared an independent nation in 1977 and changed its name to the "Republic of Djibouti" after its principal city. Djibouti joined the United Nations on September 20, 1977. While Djibouti is an independent sovereign state, it maintains deep French relations, and through various military and economic agreements with France, it receives continued security and economic assistance.
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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.
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Dongguan
Dongguan (simplified Chinese: 东莞; traditional Chinese: 東莞; pinyin: Dōngguǎn, Mandarin pronunciation: [tʊ́ŋkwàn]; Cantonese: Dung1 gun2; Postal Map Spelling: Tungkuan) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.
An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to the west.
It is also home to the world's largest, though mostly empty, shopping mall, New South China Mall. City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment. The three neighboring municipalities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen are home to over 25 million residents, accounting for a large proportion of the Pearl River Delta Region's population.
Dongguan ranks behind only Shenzhen, Shanghai and Suzhou in exports among Chinese cities, with $65.54bn in shipment.
Dongguan has no intermediate county level; instead it is divided into:
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Dubai
Dubai (/duːˈbaɪ/ doo-BY; Arabic: دبيّ Dubeii; IPA: [du'beii]) is an emirate within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A city within the emirate is also named Dubai. The emirate is located south east of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature. Dubai City is located on the emirate's northern coastline.
The earliest mention of Dubai is in 1095, and the earliest settlement known as Dubai town dates from 1799. Dubai was formally established in 1833 by Sheikh Maktoum bin Buti al Maktoum when he persuaded 800 members of the Bani Yas tribe, living in what is now part of Saudi Arabia, to follow him to the Dubai Creek by the Al Abu Falasa clan of Bani Yas. It remained under clan control when the United Kingdom assumed the protection of Dubai in 1892. Its geographical location made it an important trading hub and by the beginning of the 20th century, it was an important port.
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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.
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East Rand
Coordinates: 26°10′38″S 28°13′19″E / 26.17722°S 28.22194°E / -26.17722; 28.22194
The East Rand (known in Afrikaans as the Oos-Rand) is the name of the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold rush that gave rise to the establishment of Johannesburg.
The large black townships of the East Rand were the scene of heavy clashes between the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party before the end of Apartheid.
The region extends from Germiston in the west to Springs in the east, and south down to Nigel, and includes the towns of Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan, Kempton Park, Edenvale, and Bedfordview.
As part of the restructuring of municipalities in South Africa at the time, the local governments of the East Rand were merged into a single municipality in 1999, called the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, meaning "place of peace."
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East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (tiˈmɔr ˈlɛʃteɪ), commonly known as East Timori/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.
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Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
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Fars Province
Coordinates: 29°37′N 52°32′E / 29.617°N 52.533°E / 29.617; 52.533
Fars Province (Persian: استان فارس Ostān-e Fārs pronounced [fɑː(r)s]), originally spelled Pars (پارس), is one of the 31 provinces and known as Cultural Capital of Iran. It is in the south of the country and its center is Shiraz. It has an area of 122,400 km². In 2006, this province had a population of 4.57 million people, of which 61.2% were registered as urban dwellers, 38.1% villagers, and 0.7% nomad tribes. The etymology of the word "Persian" (Pārs-ian : پارسیان) is derived from the cultural capital of Iran and found in many ancient names associated with Iran.
Fars or Pars is the original homeland of the Persian people. The native name of the Persian language is Fârsi or Pârsi. Persia and Persian both derive from the Hellenized form Πέρσις Persis of the root word Pârs. The Old Persian word was Pârsâ.
The word Fars is derived from 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 Pârsa, the Old Persian name for Persia and its capital, Persepolis. Fars is the Arabized version of Pârs, as Arabic has no [p] phoneme.
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Firdos Square
Firdaus Square, or Firdos Square (Arabic: ساحة الفردوس; transliterated: Sahat al-Firdaus), is a public open space in Baghdad, Iraq. It is named after the Arabic word Firdows, which literally means "paradise". It is the location of two of the best-known hotels, the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Ishtar, which are the two tallest buildings in Baghdad. The square was the site of the statue of Saddam Hussein that was torn down by U.S. coalition forces in a widely-televised event during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A green, abstract sculpture by Bassem Hamad al-Dawiri now stands on the site of the former statue.
In April 2002, a 12-metre (39 ft) statue was erected in honour of the 65th birthday of Saddam Hussein.
The statue was pulled down by American forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq in front of a crowd of around a hundred Iraqis. The event was widely televised, and some of this footage was criticized for exaggerating the size of the crowd.Robert Fisk described it as "the most staged photo opportunity since Iwo Jima".
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Foshan
Foshan (Chinese: 佛山; pinyin: Fóshān, pronounced [fwɔ̌ ʂán]), is a city in central Guangdong province in southern China. The prefectural area under the city's jurisdiction over an area of about 3,840 km² and a population of 5.4 million of which 1.1 million reside in the city proper (year 2000 figures).
It is shown on some older maps as 'Fatshan', which is a phonetic spelling of the city's Cantonese name. Today many areas of Foshan city are occupied mostly by Chinese migrants coming from different provinces of China and speak only Mandarin, while its native dialect is a Foshan variant of Cantonese.
The town of Foshan is many centuries old, and was famous for its porcelain industry. Now, the third largest city in Guangdong, it has become relatively affluent compared to other Chinese cities, and is home to many large private enterprises. Foshan has recently seen a transformation brought by China's booming economy. Foshan is also famous for its martial arts. It contains numerous Wing Chun schools where many come to train and spar.
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Geography of Iraq
The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into four main regions: the desert (west of the Euphrates), Upper Mesopotamia (between the upper Tigris and Euphratesh rivers), the northern highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Lower Mesopotamia, the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf.
The mountains in the northeast are an extension of the alpine system that runs eastward from the Balkans through southern Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, eventually reaching the Himalayas. The desert is in the southwest and central provinces along the borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan and geographically belongs with the Arabian Peninsula.
Iraq holds a special distinction in the history of geography: a clay tablet generally accepted as "the earliest known map" was unearthed in 1930 during the excavation of Ga-Sur at Nuzi Yorghan Tepe, near the towns of Harran and Kirkuk, 200 miles (322 km) north of the site of Babylon. The tablet, measuring 6.8 × 7.6 in (173 × 193 mm), is usually dated from the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad between 2500-2300 BC; an even earlier date for the tablet was promulgated by archeologist Leo Bagrow, placing it in the Agade Period (3800 BC).
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Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires (Gran Buenos Aires, GBA, in Spanish) is the generic denomination to refer to the urban agglomeration comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative unit. The conurbation spreads to the south, west and north of Buenos Aires; to the east the River Plate serves as a natural boundary.
Urban sprawl, especially between 1945 and 1980, created a vast conurbation of 9,910,282 inhabitants in the 24 conurbated partidos, as of 2010, and a total of 12,801,365 including the City of Buenos Aires, a third of the total population of Argentina.
The term "Greater Buenos Aires" is related with other expressions not necessarily well-defined: the "Buenos Aires' conurbation" (Conurbano Bonaerense), the "Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration" (Aglomerado Gran Buenos Aires), and the "Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires" (Área Metropolitana Buenos Aires, AMBA).
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Guangzhou
Guangzhou (Chinese: 广州; Mandarin pronunciation: [kwɑ̀ŋʈʂóʊ̯]), known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about 120 km (75 mi) north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port. One of the five National Central Cities, it holds sub-provincial administrative status.
Guangzhou is the third largest city in China and southern China's largest city. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 12.78 million. Some estimates place the population of the entire Pearl River Delta Mega City built up area as high as 40 million including Shenzhen (10.36 million), Dongguan (8.22 million) and most parts of Foshan (7.19 million), Jiangmen (4.45 million), Zhongshan (3.12 million) and a small part of Huizhou adjoining Dongguan and Shenzhen, with an area of about 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) (about the size of US state of New Jersey). In 2008 Guangzhou was identified as a Beta World City by the global city index produced by GaWC.
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Haifa Street
Coordinates: 33°20′11.4″N 44°22′53.4″E / 33.3365°N 44.3815°E / 33.3365; 44.3815 Haifa Street (or Hayfa Street) (Arabic: شارع حيفا) is a two mile long street in Baghdad, Iraq. Along with Yafa Street (named after the port city of Jaffa), it runs southeast to the Assassin's Gate, an archway that served as the main entrance to the American-run Green Zone during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, paralleling the Tigris river. It was named "Haifa" in the 1980s by Saddam Hussein in honor of the port city of Haifa. The street is lined with many high-rise buildings. Prior to the 1990-1991 gulf war, the British Embassy in Iraq was located on Haifa Street.
Haifa Steet was the location of the June 2004 Operation Haifa Street, and the September 2004 Haifa Street helicopter incident, in which a helicopter fired on a burning American Bradley Fighting Vehicle and killed 12 civilians, including journalist Mazen al-Tumeizi. Two days later a massive car bombing on Haifa Street killed 47. American troops stationed in Baghdad at the time, C Company, 1/153 IN of the Arkansas Army National Guard, which was attached to Task Force 1/9, dubbed the street "Purple Heart Boulevard". On December 24, 2004 U.S. Soldiers from B Co. 3/325th AIR of the 82d Airborne Division in taking over a palace, later dubbed Predator Palace, and made it the 3/325th A.I.R. home for 4 months. During this time the paratroopers performed combat missions to assist weeding out the enemy. Ultimately the efforts of B Co. 3/325 AIR, made Haifa Street a safer place. By mid-2005 there were reports that conditions on Haifa Street had calmed, and control of the street was turned over to Iraqi forces in February 2006 but as of early 2007 the street remained riddled with insurgent hideouts. Fifty people were killed in a US-led operation there on January 9, 2007 and another thirty were killed on January 24.
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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").
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Hasankeyf
Hasankeyf (Kurdish: Heskîf, Greek: Kiphas, Turkish: Hasankeyf, Latin: Cepha, from Syriac: ܚܨܢ ܟܐܦܐ Ḥéṣn Kayfa) is an ancient town and district located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. Predominantly Armenian and Arab before, a steady and significant Kurdish immigration from surrounding villages in the last 20-30 years - combined with the effects of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide - has shifted the ethnic balance. Kurdish people form the majority of the city centre today.
Much of the city and its archeological sites are at risk of being flooded with the completion of the Ilisu Dam.
Hasankeyf is an ancient city, and has been identified with the Ilanṣura of the Mari Tablet (c. 1800 BC). The Romans had built the Cephe fortress on the site and the city became the Kiphas fortress and a bishopric under the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Arabs, in ca. 640, renamed Hisn Kayf. In the 12th century, the city was successively captured by the Artukids as their capital. During this period, Hasankeyf's golden age, the Artukids and Ayyubids built the Old Tigris Bridge, the Small Palace and the Great Palace. The infrastructure, location and significance of the city helped increase trade and made Hasankeyf a staging post on the Silk Road. The Ayyubids (descendants of Saladin) captured the city in 1232 and built the mosques that made Hasankeyf an important Islamic center.
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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.
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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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Incheon
Coordinates: 37°29′N 126°38′E / 37.483°N 126.633°E / 37.483; 126.633
The Incheon Metropolitan City (인천, 仁川, literally 'wise river' - formerly Inchon; named Jinsen during the time of Japanese rule) is located in northwestern South Korea. The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.76 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan Metropolitan City. While people have inhabited the area from the New Stone Age, the city’s growth was assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city.
Incheon has since led the economic development of Korea by opening its port to the outside world, issuing in the modernization of Korea as a center of industrialization. In 2003, the city was designated as Korea’s first free economic zone. Since then, large local companies and global enterprises have increasingly invested in Incheon Free Economic Zone, including Samsung which chose Songdo International City as its new investment destination for its bio industry.
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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/ ori/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: 
جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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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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Istanbul
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.
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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
Japani/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
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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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Johannesburg
Johannesburg (/dʒoʊˈhænɪsbɜrɡ/; Afrikaans: [joˈhɑnəsbʏrx]) also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or eGoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa. The city is one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and is also the world's largest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline. It claims to be the lightning capital of the world, though this title is also claimed by others.
While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court, which has the final word on interpretation of South Africa's new post-Apartheid constitution. The city is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills. Johannesburg is served by O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of Southern Africa. More recently Lanseria International Airport has started international flights, and is situated conveniently on the opposite side of the metropolis.
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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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Kadhimiya
al-Kāżimiyyah (Arabic: الكاظمية al-Kāżimiyyah; alternatively, Arabic: الكاظمين al-Kāżimayn), is a town located in what is now a northern neighbourhood of Baghdad, Iraq about five kilometres from the city center. Al-Kāżimiyyah is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.
Al-Kāżimayn is regarded as a holy city in Shī‘ah Islām. It received its name (lit. "the Two Kāżims" or "the Two who swallow their anger"), for the two Shī‘ah Imāms buried there: Mūsā al-Kādhim and his grandson and successor Shī‘ah Imām Muhammad at-Taqī. A shrine was first built over their tombs, and subsequently the al-Kadhimiya Mosque.
The area that now constitutes al-Kāżimiyyah was originally the location of a graveyard reserved for members of the Quraish tribe. This land was set aside for this purpose by the Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid.
In its early history, the town was an important center of Shia learning, perhaps the main center, but over time the town declined, and other cities rose to prominence. The location of the city has lent it to numerous plunders, that have resulted in damage to its shrines at different times in history. Among the most damage ever experienced by the town was after the Mongol sack of Baghdad where the shrine of the Shia Imams was burnt down. The area was also an important center of resistance against the British after World War I.
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Karachi
Karachi ( Karācī (help·info), Urdu: کراچی; Sindhi: ڪراچي) is the largest city, main seaport and financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 13 million. Results in April 2012 of Pakistan's latest census initial tabulations show that the district is home to over 21 million people, at a density of nearly 6,000 people per square kilometer (15,500 per square mile). Karachi is the most populous city in the country, one of the world's largest cities in terms of population and also the 10th largest urban agglomeration in the world. It is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, economic activity and trade and is home to Pakistan's largest corporations, including those involved in textiles, shipping, automotive industry, entertainment, the arts, fashion, advertising, publishing, software development and medical research. The city is a major hub of higher education in South Asia and the wider Muslim world.
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Karbala Province
Karbala Province (Arabic: كربلاء Karbalāʾ) (or Karbala Governorate) is a province in central Iraq. The provincial capital is the city of Karbala, a holy city for Shi'ah Muslims, which houses the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS), a greatly revered figure in Shia Islam.
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Karkh
Karkh or Al-Karkh (Arabic: الكرخ) is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the river Tigris as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa.
Its name is derived from the Syriac (ܟܪܟܐ) Karkha; citadel.
Today, it is also a neighborhood between the international zone and the Tigris. Karkh is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.
Coordinates: 33°19′N 44°24′E / 33.317°N 44.4°E / 33.317; 44.4
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Karrada
Karrada (Arabic: كرّادة) is a major affluent district of the city Baghdad, Iraq. It is of a mixed population but it is noted for having majority of Shia population. The presence of Christians are notable in the area. It is considered one of the most integrated areas of the city since its residences in general have roots in the area.
Karrada as a land is part of a peninsula created by the Tigris river significant turn, which gives this part of the city a remarkable character. The area has the river running on both sides. Although the peninsula created by the river is not all Karrada, the latter represents the major portion of it. The other significant part of the peninsula, though not as big as Karrada, is Al-Jadriya. It is a small district which lies at the south tip of the peninsula where Tigris river makes its major turn and heads to the north-east. Its significance comes from the quality of life style of the neighborhood. The real estate is the most expensive of all Baghdad. The design and the building of the University of Baghdad Campus in 1958 in this area added to its value since this project had become one of the important cultural centers of the city. The University of Baghdad campus was designed by Walter Gropius, AIA, Louis Mcmillen and Robert McMillan of The Architects Collaborative.[citation needed]
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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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Khan Murjan
Coordinates: 33°20′19″N 44°23′33″E / 33.3386°N 44.3925°E / 33.3386; 44.3925
The Khan Murjan (Arabic: خان مرجان) originally designed as an inn for travelling merchants in Baghdad, and the dwelling place of many university scholars, this was built in the 14th century, and has a central hall more than 45 feet (14 m) high. The crenellated arches of brick and perforated windows make this a fascinating piece of architecture.
The building was reputedly in a state of disrepair for over two centuries, with waist-high flood water from the Tigris standing in the famous hallway. By the mid-1980s, the building had been restored and was in use as a restaurant.
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Khartoum
Khartoum (Arabic: الخرطوم al Ḫarṭūm) is the capital and second largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran", meaning the Confluence. The main Nile continues to flow north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Divided by the Niles, Khartoum is a tripartite metropolis with an estimated overall population of over five million people consisting of Khartoum proper[clarification needed], and linked by bridges to Khartoum North called (al-Khartūm Bahrī) and Omdurman (Umm Durmān) to the west.
The origin of the word is uncertain. One tradition is that khartoum derives from Arabic kartūm الخرطوم meaning 'end of an elephant’s trunk', probably referring to the narrow strip of land extending between the Blue and White Niles. Captain J. A. Grant, who reached Khartoum in 1863 with Captain Speke’s expedition, thought that the derivation was most probably from the Arabic qurtum, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), which was cultivated extensively in Egypt for its oil, used in burning.[citation needed]
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Kinshasa
Kinshasa (formerly French Léopoldville, and Dutch Leopoldstad (help·info)) is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River.
Once a site of fishing villages, Kinshasa is now an urban area with a population of nearly 10 million inhabitants. It faces the capital of the neighbouring Republic of Congo, Brazzaville which can be seen in the distance across the wide Congo River. Because the administrative boundaries cover such a vast area, over 60% of the city's land is rural in nature, and the urban area only occupies a small section in the far western end of the province.
Kinshasa holds the status of the second largest city in Africa, after Cairo.
Residents of Kinshasa are known as Kinois (in French and sometimes in English) or Kinshasans (English).
The city was founded as a trading post by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881 and named Léopoldville in honor of King Leopold II of Belgium, who controlled the vast territory that is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, not as a colony but as a private property. The post flourished as the first navigable port on the Congo River above Livingstone Falls, a series of rapids over 300 kilometres (190 mi) below Leopoldville. At first, all goods arriving by sea or being sent by sea had to be carried by porters between Léopoldville and Matadi, the port below the rapids and 150 km (93 mi) from the coast. The completion of the Matadi-Kinshasa portage railway in 1898 provided a faster and more efficient alternative route around the rapids and sparked the rapid development of Léopoldville. By 1920, the city was elevated to capital of the Belgian Congo, replacing the town of Boma in the Congo estuary.
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Kirkuk Province
Kirkuk Province (Arabic: كركوك Karkūk, Kurdish: Kerkûk, Syriac: ܟܪܟ ܣܠܘܟ Karḵ Sloḵ, Turkish: Kerkük) (or Kirkuk Governorate) is a province in northern Iraq. The province has an area of 9,679 square kilometres (3,737 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population was 848,000 people. The provincial capital is the city of Kirkuk. It is divided into four districts.
From 1976 to 2006, it was named At-Ta'mim Province which means "Nationalisation Province" and refers to the national ownership of the regional oil and natural gas reserves. Prior to 1976 it had been named Kirkuk Province.
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Kobe
Kobe (神戸市, Kōbe-shi?, Japanese pronunciation: [koːbe]), is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately 30 km (19 mi) west of Osaka. With a population of about 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin (Keihanshin) metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto.
The earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201. For most of its history the area was never a single political entity, even during the Tokugawa Period, when the port was controlled directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889. Its name comes from "kanbe" (神戸?), an archaic title for supporters of the city's Ikuta Shrine. Kobe became one of Japan's 17 designated cities in 1956.
Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city. While the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake diminished much of Kobe's prominence as a port city, it remains Japan's fourth busiest container port. Companies headquartered in Kobe include ASICS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Kobe Steel, as well as over 100 international corporations with Asia or Japan headquarters in the city such as Procter & Gamble, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Nestlé. The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef as well as the site of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen.
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Kolkata
Kolkata /kɒlˈkætə/, or Calcutta /kælˈkʌtə/, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it is the principal commercial, cultural, and educational centre of East India, while the Port of Kolkata is India's oldest port as well as its sole major riverine port. As of 2011, the city had 4.5 million residents; the urban agglomeration, which comprises the city and its suburbs, was home to approximately 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. As of 2008, its economic output as measured by gross domestic product ranked third among South Asian cities, behind Mumbai and Delhi. As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Kolkata confronts substantial urban pollution, traffic congestion, poverty, overpopulation, and other logistic and socioeconomic problems.
In the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Kolkata were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading license in 1690, the area was developed by the Company into an increasingly fortified mercantile base. Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Kolkata in 1756, and the East India Company retook it in the following year and by 1772 assumed full sovereignty. Under East India Company and later under the British Raj, Kolkata served as the capital of India until 1911, when its perceived geographical disadvantages, combined with growing nationalism in Bengal, led to a shift of the capital to New Delhi. The city was a centre of the Indian independence movement; it remains a hotbed of contemporary state politics. Following Indian independence in 1947, Kolkata—which was once the centre of modern Indian education, science, culture, and politics—witnessed several decades of relative economic stagnation. Since the early 2000s, an economic rejuvenation has led to accelerated growth.
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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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Kufa
Kufa (Arabic,الكوفة al-Kūfah) is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres (110 mi) south of Baghdad, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, Kufa is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shia Muslims. The city was the final capital of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and was founded within the first hundred years of the 622 Hijra[citation needed].
The city contains the Great Mosque of Kufa, one of the earliest mosques in Islam, built in the 7th century.
File:Kufa masjid.pdf
See Ancient Mesopotamia.
Ruled by Sassanian Empire as part of Suristan province. See Middle Bih-Kavad.
The Arabs, led by Caliph ʻUmar ibn Khattāb, conquer Iraq and begin ruling Suristan around 637.
ʻUmar ibn Khattāb became the second caliph in 634. After the Arab victory against the East Roman Empire at Battle of Yarmouk in 636, Kūfah was founded and given its name in 637–638 CE, about the same time as Basra. The Companion of the Prophet Saʻd ibn Abī Waqqas founded it as an encampment adjacent to the Lakhmid Arab city of al-Hīrah, and incorporated it as a city of seven divisions. The city was alternately known to non-Arabs as Hīrah and Aqulah before the consolidations of ʻAbdu l-Mālik in 691.
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Kut
Al-Kūt (Arabic: الكوت; BGN: Al Kūt; also spelled Kut-Al-Imara or Kut El Amara, Kurdish: Kût) is a kurdish city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) south east of Baghdad. As of 2003[update] the estimated population is about 374,000 people. It is the capital of the province long known as Al Kut, but since the 1960s renamed Wasit.
The old town of Kut is within a sharp "U" bend of the river, almost making it an island but for a narrow connection to the shore. For centuries Kut was a regional center of the carpet trade. The area around Kut is a fertile cereal grain growing region. The Kut Barrage was constructed in the city in the 1930s to provide irrigation water for the surrounding area. The Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility, looted following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is located near Kut.
The Kut Barrage is a barrage on the Tigris river, located in the modern town of Kut in Wasit Governorate, Iraq. It is 516 metres (1,693 ft) long, 10.5 metres (34 ft) high and consists of 56 gates, each 6 metres (20 ft) wide. The maximum discharge of the barrage is 6,000 cubic metres (7,800 cu yd), but actual discharge has not exceeded 2,000 cubic metres (2,600 cu yd) in the last 10 years. The barrage supports a road and includes a lock for boats passing up and down the Tigris. Its purpose is to maintain a sufficiently high water level in the Tigris to provide water for the Gharraf irrigation canal, which branches off the Tigris just upstream from the Kut Barrage. Before the construction of the Kut Barrage, the Gharraf canal only received water during periods of flood in the Tigris. The water level in the canal is maintained by the Gharraf Head Regulator, which was constructed at the same time as the Kut Barrage.
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Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwaiti/kuːˈweɪt/ (Arabic: دولة الكويت, Dawlat al-Kuwayt) is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The country covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.5 million.
Historically, the region was the site of Characene, a major Parthian port for trade between Mesopotamia and India. The Bani Utbah tribe were the first permanent Arab settlers in the region, and laid the foundation of the modern emirate. By the 19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, it emerged as an independent sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields were discovered in the late 1930s.
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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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Kyoto
Kyoto (京都市, Kyōto-shi?, "Capital City") (Japanese pronunciation: [kʲoːto] ( listen)) is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area.
Although archaeological evidence places the first human settlement on the islands of Japan to approximately 10,000 BC, relatively little is known about human activity in the area before the 6th century AD, around which time the Shimogamo Shrine is believed to have been established. During the 8th century, when powerful Buddhist clergy became involved in the affairs of the Imperial government, the Emperor chose to relocate the capital to a region far from the Buddhist influence. Emperor Kammu selected the village of Uda, at the time in the Kadono district of Yamashiro Province, for this honor.
The new city, Heian-kyō (平安京, "tranquility and peace capital"), a scaled replica of the then Tang capital Chang'an, became the seat of Japan's imperial court in 794, beginning the Heian period of Japanese history. Although military rulers established their governments either in Kyoto (Muromachi shogunate) or in other cities such as Kamakura (Kamakura shogunate) and Edo (Tokugawa shogunate), Kyoto remained Japan's capital until the transfer of the imperial court to Tokyo in 1869 at the time of the Imperial Restoration. (Some believe that it is still a legal capital: see Capital of Japan.)
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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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Lagos
Lagos (/ˈleɪɡɒs/ LAY-gos) is a port city and the most populous city in Nigeria. Officially, the population of Lagos was last recorded at 7,937,932. Lagos is the second fastest growing city in Africa and the 7th fastest in the world. Lagos was originally inhabited by the Awori subgroup of the Yoruba people. Under the leadership of their Olofin, the Awori moved to an island now called Iddo and then to the larger Lagos Island. In the 15th century, the Awori settlement was attacked by the Benin Empire following a quarrel, and the island became a Benin war-camp called "Eko" under Oba Orhogba, the Oba of Benin at the time.
Lagos is a huge metropolis which originated on islands separated by creeks, such as Lagos Island, fringing the southwest mouth of Lagos Lagoon whilst protected from the Atlantic Ocean by long sand spits such as Bar Beach, which stretch up to 100 km east and west of the mouth. From the beginning, Lagos has expanded on the mainland west of the lagoon and the conurbation, including Ikeja and Agege, now reaches more than 40 km north-west of Lagos Island. Some suburbs include Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry, and more local councils have recently been created, bringing the total number of local governments in Lagos to 57.
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Lahore
Lahore (Punjabi: لہور, Urdu: لاہور) is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich history dating back over a millennium, Lahore is a main cultural centre of Pakistan. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains an economic, political, transportation, entertainment, and educational hub.
Lahore successively served as regional capital of the empires of the Shahi kingdoms in the 11th century, the Ghaznavids in the 12th century, the Ghurid State in the 12th and 13th centuries the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, the Sikh expansion in the early 19th century, and it was the capital of the Punjab region under the British Raj in the mid 19th and early 20th century. The traditional capital of Punjab for a thousand years, Lahore was the cultural center of the northern Indian subcontinent which extends from the eastern banks of the Indus River to New Delhi. Mughal structures such as the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens, and the mausolea of Jehangir and Nur Jehan are tourist attractions. Lahore is also home to many British colonial structures built in the Indo-Saracenic style, such as the Lahore High Court, the General Post Office, Lahore Museum and many older universities including the University of the Punjab. The Lahore Zoo, thought to be the fourth oldest in the world, is also situated here.
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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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Libya
Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībyā), Berber: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.
With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the third largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The largest city, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica.
In 2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production.
As a result of the Libyan civil war, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which had at that time been in existence for 34 years, collapsed and Libya entered a period of governance by a transitional administration called the National Transitional Council. The NTC has stated its intention to oversee the first phase of a transition to constitutional democracy, after which it claims it will dissolve in favor of a representative legislature.
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Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population approaching 9 million, Lima is the fifth largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Lima is home to one of the largest financial hubs in Latin America. It has been defined as a beta world city by GaWC international ranking.
Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as la Ciudad de los Reyes, or "the City of Kings". It became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Today, around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area.
Lima is home to one of the oldest higher learning institutions in the New World. The National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12, 1551 during Spanish colonial regime, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas.
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles (i/lɒs ˈændʒələs/ loss-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], which is written Los Ángeles; British pronounciation /lɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ loss-AN-jə-leez) with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of 468.67 square miles (1,213.8 km2), and is located in Southern California. Often known by its initials L.A., the city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 12,828,837 and nearly 18 million people respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world and the second largest in the United States. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation's largest cities. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos".
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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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Mauritania
Mauritaniai/mɔrɪˈteɪniə/ (Arabic: موريتانيا Mūrītānyā; Berber: Muritanya / Agawej; Wolof: Gànnaar; Soninke: Murutaane; Pulaar: Moritani; French: Mauritanie), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in West Africa and in the Maghreb. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber kingdom that had no relation with it. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.
The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.
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Maysan Province
Maysan Province (Arabic: ميسان Maysān) (or Maysan Governorate) is a province in southeastern Iraq, bordering Iran. The provincial capital, located beside the Tigris, is Amarah. The second settlement is Majar Al-Kabir. Prior to 1976 the province was known as Amara Province.
Maysan is a majority Shia province. Its population suffered greatly during the Iran–Iraq War, during which it was a major battlefield, and subsequently post the 1991 Shia Uprising. The province is traditionally home to many Marsh Arabs.
This region is called Μεσήνη by Strabo, Mays̲h̲an in Syriac. Mēs̲h̲ān in Middle Persian, Mēs̲h̲un in Armenian, Maysān in Arabic, and T’iao-tche (Chaldaea) in the Han sources. The earliest references are from the first century AD.
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Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila (Filipino: Kalakhang Maynila, Kamaynilaan), the National Capital Region (NCR) (Filipino: Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), or simply Metro Manila, is the metropolitan region encompassing the City of Manila and its surrounding areas in the Philippines. It is composed of 16 cities, namely City of Manila, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Pasay, Pasig, Parañaque, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, plus the smaller Municipality of Pateros.
The region is the political, economic, social, cultural, and educational center of the Philippines. As proclaimed by Presidential Decree No. 940, Metro Manila as a whole is the Philippines' seat of government but the City of Manila is the capital. The largest city in the metropolis is Quezon City, while the largest business district is the Makati Central Business District.
Metro Manila is the most populous of the twelve defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines and the 11th most populous in the world. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 11,855,975, comprising 13% of the national population. The sum total population of provinces with a provincial density above 700 people per square kilometer (more than double the national average) in a contiguous zone with Metro Manila is 25.5 million people as of the 2007 census, one way to refer to the conurbation around Metro Manila is Greater Manila.
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Mexico City
Mexico City ( /ˈmɛksɨkoʊ ˈsɪti/; Spanish: Ciudad de México [sjuˈðað ðe ˈmexiko], also known as México D.F., or simply D.F.) is the Federal District (Distrito Federal), capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole. Mexico City is the country's largest city as well as its most important political, cultural, educational and financial center.
As an "alpha" global city Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in North America. It is located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres (7,350 ft). The city consists of sixteen boroughs.
The 2009 estimated population for the city proper was around 8.84 million people, and has a land area of 1,485 square kilometres (573 sq mi). According to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, the Mexico City metropolitan area population is 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the fifth largest agglomeration in the world.
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Mogadishu
Mogadishu ( /ˌmɒɡəˈdɪʃuː/; Somali: Muqdisho; Arabic: مقديشو Maqadīshū; Italian: Mogadiscio, literally "The Seat of the Shah"), popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries.
Tradition and old records assert that southern Somalia, including the Mogadishu area, was historically inhabited by hunter-gatherers of Bushman physical stock. These were later joined by Cushitic agro-pastoralists, who would go on to establish local aristocracies. Starting in the late 9th or 10th centuries, Arab and Persian traders also began to settle in the region.
During its medieval Golden Age, Mogadishu was ruled by the Somali-Arab Muzaffar dynasty, a vassal of the Ajuuraan State. It subsequently fell under the control of an assortment of local Sultanates and polities, most notably the Gobroon Dynasty. The city later became the capital of Italian Somaliland in the colonial period.
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Mongolia
Mongoliai/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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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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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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Mosul
Coordinates: 36°20′N 43°08′E / 36.34°N 43.13°E / 36.34; 43.13
Mosul (Arabic: الموصل al-Mawṣil; North Mesopotamian Arabic: el-Mōṣul; Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nînwe; Kurdish: Mûsil/Nînewe; Turkish: Musul), is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Nineveh Province, some 400 km (250 mi) northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. The majority of its population is Arab (with Assyrians, Turcoman and Kurdish minorities). It is Iraq's third largest city after Baghdad and Basra.
The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named after this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.
In 1987, the city's population was 664,221 people; the 2002 population estimate was 1,740,000, and by 2008 was estimated to be 1,800,000. People from Mosul are called Maslawis.
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Mumbai
Mumbai /mʊmˈbaɪ/, also known as Bombay /bɒmˈbeɪ/, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. Along with the neighbouring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2009, Mumbai was named an Alpha world city. Mumbai is also the richest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia.
The seven islands that came to constitute Mumbai were home to communities of fishing colonies. For centuries, the islands were under the control of successive indigenous empires before being ceded to the Portuguese and subsequently to the British East India Company. During the mid-18th century, Mumbai was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook the reclamation of the area between the seven constituent islands from the sea. Completed by 1845, the project along with construction of major roads and railways transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Economic and educational development characterised the city during the 19th century. It became a strong base for the Indian independence movement during the early 20th century. When India became independent in 1947, the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as capital. The city was renamed Mumbai in 1996.
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Mutanabbi Street
Mutanabbi Street (Arabic: شارع المتنبي) is located in Baghdad, Iraq, near the old quarter of Baghdad; at Al Rasheed Street. It is the historic center of Baghdad bookselling, a street filled with bookstores and outdoor book stalls. It was named after the 10th century classical Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi. This street is well established for bookselling and has often been referred to as the heart and soul of the Baghdad literacy and intellectual community.
A car bomb exploded and killed 26 people on Mutanabbi Street on March 5, 2007, leaving the area litered and unsafe for shoppers, and destroying many businesses.
On December 18, 2008, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki officially reopened the street after a long period of cleanup and repair.
Coordinates: 33°20′27″N 44°23′20″E / 33.340954°N 44.388843°E / 33.340954; 44.388843
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Muthanna Province
Muthanna Province (Arabic: المثنى Al Muthannā) (or Al Muthanna Governorate) is a province in Iraq. It is in the south of the country, bordering Saudi Arabia. Its capital is the city of Samawah, which is located very close to the ancient city of Uruk. Prior to 1976 it was part of the Diwaniya Province, which also included present day Najaf Governorate and Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate.
It also includes the ancient Sumerian-Babylonian city of Uruk (Aramaic: Erech), which is possibly the source of the name Iraq.
After the decline of Babylon following the Seleucid founding of Seleucia, Uruk became the largest city in southern Babylonia, and its name (Erech in Aramaic) came to replace Babili (Babylonia), as the city long outlived the former capital, surviving into the 7th century AD.
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Nagoya
Nagoya (名古屋市, Nagoya-shi?) is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan. (Tokyo is not a single incorporated city - see Tokyo for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.)
Located on the Pacific coast on central Honshu, it is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Kitakyushu. It is also the center of Japan's third largest metropolitan region, known as the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area. As of 2000, Chūkyō Metropolitan Area has 8.74 million people, of which 2.27 million live in the city of Nagoya.
The city's name was historically written as 那古野 or 名護屋 (both read as Nagoya). One possible etymology for the city's name is the adjective なごやか (nagoyaka), meaning 'peaceful'. [2]
The name Chūkyō (中京) is also used (chū (middle) + kyō (capital)), since it is the main city of the central Chūbu region. Various things are named after Chūkyō, for example the Chūkyō Industrial Area, Chūkyō Metropolitan Area, Chūkyō Television Broadcasting, Chukyo University and the Chukyo Racecourse.
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Najaf Province
Najaf Province (Arabic: النجف An Najaf) (or Najaf Governorate) is a province in southern Iraq. The capital is the city of Najaf. The other major city is Al Kufah. Both cities are holy to Shi'ah Muslims, who form the majority of the population. Prior to 1976 it was part of the Diwaniya Province, which also included present day Al Muthanna Governorate and Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate.
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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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Nazi Germany
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.
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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 Baghdad
New Baghdad or Baghdad Al-Jidida (Arabic,بغداد الجديدة) is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad, Iraq. This district has nine Neighborhood Advisory Councils (NAC) and a District Advisory Council. It is located east of the city center.
This district was renamed, 9 Nissan or Tisa Nissan was the new name Nissan is the word for April, although most Iraqis do not yet use that name (9 Nissan). It is also known as 7 Nissan.
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New Delhi
New Delhii/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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New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. As a global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world.
Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km2), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km2), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census.
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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.
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Nineveh Province
Nineveh Province (Arabic: نینوى Nīnawā, Kurdish: Neynewa, Syriac-Aramaic: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nīnwē) is a province in northern Iraq, which contains the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. It has an area of 37,323 square kilometres (14,410 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient Nineveh. Tal Afar is also a major city within the region. Prior to 1976, it was called Mosul Province and also included the present-day Dohuk Governorate.
Its two main cities endured the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and emerged relatively unscathed. In 2004, however, Mosul and Tal Afar were the scenes of fierce battles between US-led troops and the Iraqi insurgency. The insurgents had moved to Nineveh after the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
After the US invasion in 2003, the military government of the province was led initially by (then Lieutenant General) David Petraeus as commander of the 101st Airborne Division and later by BG Carter Ham as commander of the multi-national brigade for northern Iraq. During the American occupation, the civil government was under Herro Mustafa, the head of the local office of the Coalition Provisional Authority. She was a US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the United States. Mustafa administered the province through her nominees on the provincial council and through various members of the Kashmoula family. In June 2004, Osama Kashmoula became the interim Governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor by Duraid Kashmoula, who was elected governor in January 2005. Duraid Kashmoula resigned in 2009, and in April 2009, Atheel Najafi, a hardline Arab nationalist and member of Al-Hadba, became governor.
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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.
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Nouakchott
Nouakchott (Arabic: نواكشوط or انواكشوط (believed translation from Berber "The place of the winds", Nawākšūṭ) is the capital and by far the largest city of Mauritania. It is one of the largest cities in the Sahara. The city is the administrative and economic centre of Mauritania.
A tiny fishing town until 1958, Nouakchott was little mentioned during pre-colonial and colonial history. It is possible that the Berber Muslim Almoravids were originally from the area. Despite its name, based on a Berber expression meaning "place of the winds", the city was selected as the capital city for its moderate climate and central location within the country. It did, however, sit on one of the most valuable trade routes to West Africa.
Mauritania was part of the larger French colony of French West Africa, and as such had no capital during the colonial period: Saint-Louis, in Senegal, held that position. In 1957, this small port town was chosen to be the capital of the new country, and an ambitious building program was begun to increase its population to 15,000, starting a year later. In 1958, Mauritania was formed as an autonomous republic in the French Community, and in 1960 it became an independent country, with Nouakchott as its capital.
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Oman
Oman (i/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.
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Osaka
Osaka (大阪, Ōsaka?) listen (help·info) is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, Osaka is the third largest city by population after Tokyo (special wards) and Yokohama.
Keihanshin is the second largest area in Japan by population and one of the largest metropolitan areas highly ranked in the world, with nearly 18 million people, and by GDP the second largest area in Japan and the seventh largest area in the world.
Historically the commercial centre of Japan, Osaka functions as one of the command centers for the Japanese economy. The ratio between daytime and night time population is 141%, the highest in Japan, highlighting its status as an economic center. Its nighttime population is 2.6 million, the third in the country, but in daytime the population surges to 3.7 million, second only after Tokyo (combining the Special wards of Tokyo, which is not a single incorporated city, for statistical purposes. See the Tokyo article for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.) Osaka used to be referred to as the "nation's kitchen" (天下の台所, tenka no daidokoro?) in feudal Edo period because it was the centre of trading for rice, creating the first modern futures exchange market in the world.
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Pakistan
Pakistan (i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers. . (A detailed series of language maps of Papua New Guinea may be found at Ethnologue) There may be at least as many traditional societies,out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.
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Paris
Coordinates: 48°51′24″N 2°21′03″E / 48.8567°N 2.3508°E / 48.8567; 2.3508
Paris (i/ˈpærɨs/; French: [paʁi] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). As of January 2008 the city of Paris, within its administrative limits (the 20 arrondissements) largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,211,297 and a metropolitan population of 12,089,098, and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe. Paris was the largest city in the Western world for about 1,000 years, prior to the 19th century, and the largest in the entire world between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. It hosts the headquarters of many international organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce or the European Space Agency. Paris is considered one of the greenest and most liveable cities in Europe. It is also one of the most expensive.
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Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf is located in Western Asia between Iran (Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula. It is an extension of the Indian Ocean.
The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers. In 1991, the Persian Gulf again was the background for what was called the "Persian Gulf War" or the "Gulf War" when Iraq invaded Kuwait and was subsequently pushed back, despite the fact that this conflict was primarily a land conflict.
The Persian Gulf has many good fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, but its ecology has come under pressure from industrialization, and in particular, oil and petroleum spillages during wars in the region.
Historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf or simply The Gulf by most Arab states, although neither of the latter two terms are recognized internationally. The name Gulf of Iran (Persian Gulf) is used by the International Hydrographic Organization.
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Philippines
The Philippinesi/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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 ".
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Qatar
Qatar (i/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or i/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.
Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.
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Rabat
Rabat (Arabic الرباط; Amazigh ⵕⴱⴰⵟ, transliterated ar-Rabāṭ or ar-Ribāṭ or Rbat, literally "Fortified Place"; French Ville de Rabat; Spanish Ciudad de Rabat), is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000 (2010). It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region.
The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg. On the facing shore of the river lies Salé, the city's main commuter town. Together with Temara the cities account for a combined metropolitan population of 1.8 million. Silting problems have diminished the Rabat's role as a port; however, Rabat and Salé still maintain important textile, food processing and construction industries. In addition, tourism and the presence of all foreign embassies in Morocco serve to make Rabat one of the most important cities in the country. Controversy surrounds sweatshop labour by major multinational corporations in the area (see Salé).
Rabat is accessible by train through the ONCF system and by plane through the nearby Rabat-Salé Airport.
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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.
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Republican Palace
Coordinates: 33°18′15″N 44°24′31″E / 33.30417°N 44.40861°E / 33.30417; 44.40861
The Republican Palace (Arabic: القصر الجمهوري al-Qaṣr al-Ǧumhūriy) is a palace in Baghdad, Iraq, constructed on the orders of King Faisal II. It was Saddam Hussein's preferred place to meet visiting heads of state. The United States spared the palace during its shock and awe raid during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the belief that it might hold valuable documents. The Green Zone developed around it. The palace itself served as the headquarters of the American occupation of Iraq and continues to serve as a primary base of operations for the American diplomatic mission in Iraq pending the construction of the new US Embassy in Baghdad.
The Palace was commissioned by King Faisal II of Iraq in the 1950s as the new official royal residence following his planned wedding to Egyptian Princess Sabiha Fazila Khanim Sultan. It was built by Harold A. Claridge, a major of New Zealand origin in the British Army, and architect to the Armed Forces. He had also overseen construction of the Parliament Houses in Baghdad, and several war memorials in Egypt. The King would never live in the palace, as he was assassinated before his wedding in the 1958 coup. The palace was thus renamed the Republican Palace.
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Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( /ˈriːoʊ deɪ ʒəˈnɛəroʊ/ or /ˈriːoʊ deɪ dʒəˈnɛəroʊ/; Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈʁi.u dʒi ʒaˈnejɾu],River of January), commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th largest in the Americas, and 26th in the world.
The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1815 during the Portuguese colonial era, 1815 to 1821 as the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, and 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. Rio is nicknamed the Cidade Maravilhosa or "Marvelous City."
Rio de Janeiro represents the second largest GDP in the country (and 30th largest in the world in 2008), estimated at about R$ 343 billion (IBGE/2008) (nearly US$ 201 billion), and is the headquarters of two major Brazilian companies – Petrobras and Vale, and major oil companies and telephony in Brazil, besides the largest conglomerate of media and communications companies in Latin America, the Globo Organizations. The home of many universities and institutes, it is the second largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific production – according to 2005 data.
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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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Ruhr
The Ruhr (German Ruhrgebiet, colloquial Ruhrpott, Kohlenpott, Pott or Revier), is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 7100/km² and a population of some 7.3 million, it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany. It consists of several large, formerly industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. In the Southwest it borders to the Bergisches Land. It is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 12 million people.
Since the Ruhr is polycentric, coordinates shown are general in nature and so can be used to focus on the entire region of the Ruhr: 51°30′N 7°30′E / 51.5°N 7.5°E / 51.5; 7.5.
From west to east, the region includes the cities of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hagen, Dortmund, and Hamm, as well as parts of the more "rural" districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. Historically, the western Ruhr towns, such as Duisburg and Essen, belonged to the historic region of the Rhineland, whereas the eastern part of the Ruhr, including Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Dortmund and Hamm, were part of the region of Westphalia. Since the 19th century, these districts have grown together into a large complex with a vast industrial landscape, inhabited by some 7.3 million people (when including Düsseldorf and Wuppertal). It is the fifth largest urban area in Europe after Istanbul, Moscow, London and Paris.
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Rusafa
Al Rusafa (Arabic: الرصافة) or Rasafa is the east-bank settlement of Baghdad, Iraq, or the eastern shore of the river Tigris. It is also one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad. When referring to Al Rusafa as a district, it refers to the older area in the Rasafa side of Baghdad; its central commercial area, a center of markets considered one of the four old CBDs of Baghdad (Karkh, Rasafa, A'dhamyya and Kadhmyya).
The west side of the river is Al Karkh (الكرخ).
Coordinates: 33°19′54″N 44°24′55″E / 33.331604°N 44.415236°E / 33.331604; 44.415236
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Sadr City
Sadr City (Arabic: مدينة الصدر - Madinat aṣ-Ṣadr) is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It was built in 1959 by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim and later unofficially renamed Sadr City after deceased Shia leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
Sadr City (or more accurately Thawra District — Arabic: حيّ الثورة - ħayy ath-Thawra) is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad. A public housing project neglected by Saddam Hussein, Sadr City holds more than 3 millions Shiite residents.
Sadr City was built in Iraq in 1959 by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim in response to grave housing shortages in Baghdad. At the time named Revolution City (مدينة ألثورة "Al-Thawra"), it provided housing for Baghdad's urban poor, many of whom had come from the countryside and who had until then lived in appalling conditions. It quickly became a stronghold of the Iraqi Communist Party, and resistance to the Baathist-led coup of 1963 was strong there.
In 1982, following the Saddam Hussein coup, the district was renamed Saddam City, in honor of Saddam Hussein, the Baath Party leader. After the foreign occupation of Baghdad in April 2003, the district was unofficially renamed Sadr City after deceased shiite leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
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Saladin Province
Saladin Province (Arabic: صلاح الدين Salāh ad Dīn) (or Salah ad Din Governorate) is a province in Iraq, north of Baghdad. The governorate has an area of 24,363 square kilometres (9,407 sq mi). The estimated population for 2003 was 1,042,200 people. The capital is Tikrit; the governorate also contains the significantly larger city of Samarra. Before 1976 the governorate was part of Baghdad Governorate.
The province is named after Saladin (written Salah ad-Din in modern Arabic Latin transcription), a Muslim leader who defeated the Crusaders at Hattin, who hailed from the province. Salah ad Din was the home province of Saddam Hussein; he was born in Al-Awja, a town near Tikrit.
In October 2011, the government in Salahuddin governorate declared itself a semi-autonomous region within Iraq. The government explained that the declaration was in response to the central government's "domination over the provincial council authorities". Salahuddin, which is a largely Sunni governorate, is also hoping that by declaring themselves an autonomous region within Iraq, that it will entail them to a larger portion of government funding. The council cited "article 119 of Iraq's constitution" in its call for autonomy, which states that "one or more governorates [provinces] shall have the right to organize into a region" if one third of the Provincial Council members or one tenth of the voters request to form a region".
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Salman Pak
Salman Pak (Arabic: سلمان باك ) is a city approximately 15 miles south of Baghdad near a peninsula formed by a broad eastward bend of the Tigris River. It is named after Salman the Persian, a companion of Muhammad who is buried there.
It is quite close to the Salman Pak facility, an Iraqi military installation which was a key center of Saddam Hussein's biological and chemical weapons programs. It is also alleged to have been the site of a training facility used by Iraqi intelligence to train militia groups.
Salman Pak is also site of the Arch of Ctesiphon, the remains of the once majestic Persian Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon, one of the largest and oldest freestanding arches in the world.
Coordinates: 33°06′N 44°35′E / 33.1°N 44.583°E / 33.1; 44.583
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Samarra
Sāmarrā (Arabic: سامَرّاء) is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, 125 kilometers (78 mi) north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700.
Medieval Islamic writers believed that the name “Samarra” is derived from the Arabic phrase “Sarra man ra’a” (Arabic: سر من رأى), which translates to “A joy for all who see”. Later when the city declined the name changed to “Sa'a man ra’a” (Arabic: ساء من رأى), which translates to “A sadness for all who see”. Eventually the two names merged to its current form Samarra' (Arabic: سامَرّاء).
In 2007, UNESCO named Samarra one of its World Heritage Sites.
The remains of ancient Samarra were first excavated between 1911 and 1914 by the German Archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld. Since 1946, the notebooks, letters, unpublished excavation reports and photographs have been in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Though the present archaeological site covered by mudbrick ruins is vast, the site of Samarra was only lightly occupied in ancient times, apart from the Chalcolithic Samarran Culture (ca 5500–4800 BC) identified at the rich site of Tell Sawwan, where evidence of irrigation—including flax— establishes the presence of a prosperous settled culture with a highly organized social structure. The culture is primarily known by its finely-made pottery decorated against dark-fired backgrounds with stylized figures of animals and birds and geometric designs. This widely-exported type of pottery, one of the first widespread, relatively uniform pottery styles in the Ancient Near East, was first recognized at Samarra. The Samarran Culture was the precursor to the Mesopotamian culture of the Ubaid period.
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Santiago
Santiago (Spanish: Santiago de Chile (help·info)), also Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation (Greater Santiago). It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m (1,706.04 ft) above mean sea level. Although Santiago is the capital, the National Congress of Chile meets in the coastal town of Valparaíso, 120 km to the west.
Chile's steady economic growth has transformed Santiago into Latin America's most modern metropolitan area, with extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping centers, and impressive high-rise architecture. It has a very modern transport infrastructure, including the steadily growing underground Santiago Metro, an effort at modernizing public bus transport and a free flow toll-based ring road and inner city highway system, part of which is tunneled underneath a large section of the city's main river Mapocho connecting the Eastern and Western end of the city in a 25-minute drive. Santiago is the regional headquarters to many multinationals and a financial center.
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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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Seleucia
Coordinates: 33°05′40″N 44°31′20″E / 33.09444°N 44.52222°E / 33.09444; 44.52222
Seleucia (Greek: Σελεύκεια), also known as Seleucia on the Tigris, was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Ctesiphon, in present day Babil Governorate, Iraq.
Seleucia, as such, was founded in about 305 BC, when an earlier city was enlarged and dedicated as the first capital of the Seleucid Empire by Seleucus I Nicator. Seleucus was one of the generals of Alexander the Great who, after Alexander's death, divided his empire among themselves.[1] Although Seleucus soon moved his main capital to Antioch, in northern Syria, Seleucia became an important center of trade, Hellenistic culture, and regional government under the Seleucids. The city was populated by Greeks, Syrians and Jews. Standing at the confluence of the Tigris River with a major canal from the Euphrates, Seleucia was placed to receive traffic from both great waterways. During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, it was one of the great Hellenistic cities, comparable to Alexandria in Egypt, and greater than Syrian Antioch.
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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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Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the largest city proper by population in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities of the PRC, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010. It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center and the busiest container port in the world.
Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.
Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to European recognition of its favorable port location and economic potential. The city was one of several opened to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the first opium war and the subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking which allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement. The city then flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became the undisputed financial hub of the Asia Pacific in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, the city's international influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.
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Shenzhen
Shenzhen (Mandarin pronunciation: [ʂə́ntʂə̂n]) is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones (SEZs). It currently also holds sub-provincial administrative status, with powers slightly less than a province.
Shenzhen's modern cityscape is the result of the vibrant economy made possible by rapid foreign investment since the institution of the policy of "reform and opening" establishment of the SEZ in the late 1979, before which it was only a small village. Both Chinese and foreign nationals have invested enormous amount of money in the Shenzhen SEZ. More than US$30 billion in foreign investment has gone into both foreign-owned and joint ventures, at first mainly in manufacturing but more recently in the service industries as well. Shenzhen is now reputedly considered as one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.
Being southern mainland China's major financial centre, Shenzhen is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies. Shenzhen is also the third-busiest container port in China, after Shanghai and Hong Kong.
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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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Somalia
Somalia ( /soʊˈmɑːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory. The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country. Somalia has been characterized as a failed state and is one of the poorest and most violent states in the world.
Somalia lies in the easternmost part of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. It has the longest coastline on the continent, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
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South 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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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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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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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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São Paulo
São Paulo (/ˌsaʊ ˈpaʊloʊ/; Portuguese pronunciation: [sɐ̃w ˈpawlu] ( listen); Saint Paul;), popularly known as Sampa, is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and Americas, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among the five largest metropolitan areas on the planet. São Paulo is the capital of the state of São Paulo, which is the most populous Brazilian state, and exerts strong regional influence in commerce and finance as well as arts and entertainment. São Paulo maintains strong international influence and is considered an Alpha- World City. The name of the city honors Saint Paul.
The metropolis has significant cultural, economic and political influence both nationally and internationally. It houses several important monuments, parks and museums such as the Latin American Memorial, the Museum of the Portuguese Language, São Paulo Museum of Art and the Ibirapuera Park. The Paulista Avenue is the most important financial center of São Paulo. The city holds many high profile events, like the São Paulo Art Biennial, the Brazil Grand Prix Formula 1 Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo Fashion Week, ATP Brasil Open, and the São Paulo Indy 300.
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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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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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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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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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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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Tianjin
Tianjin (help·info) (Chinese: 天津; pinyin: Tiānjīn; Mandarin pronunciation: [tʰjɛ́ntɕín]; Tianjinese: /tʰiɛn˨˩tɕin˨˩/~[tʰjɛ̃̀ɦɪ̀ŋ]; Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government. Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea.
As a dual-core city, Tianjin is divided into the old city and the Binhai New Area. Binhai New Area is a new growth pole in China, and it maintains an annual growth rate of nearly 30% of the GDP. As of the end of 2010, 285 Fortune Global 500 companies have established branch offices in Binhai. It is a base of China's advanced industry, financial reform, and innovation.
In terms of urban population, it is the sixth-largest city of the People's Republic of China, and its urban land area (Binhai New Area is not included) ranks fifth in the nation after Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou. Tianjin's urban area is located along the Hai River, which connects to the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers via the Grand Canal in Tianjin. Tianjin was once home to foreign concessions in the late Qing Dynasty and early Kuomintang (KMT) era. The municipality incorporates the coastal region of Tanggu, home to the Binhai New Area and the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA).
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Tigris
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.
The Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris.
Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
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Tikrit
Tikrit (Arabic: تكريت, Tikrīt also transliterated as Takrit or Tekrit) is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river (at 34.61°N, 43.68°E). The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 260,000 is the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate.
As a fort along the Tigris (Akkadian: Idiqlat), the town is first mentioned in the Fall of Assyria Chronicle as being a refuge for the Babylonian king Nabopolassar during his attack on the city of Assur in 615 BC.
Tikrit is usually identified with the Hellenistic settlement Birtha. As Tagrit, it was the seat of the Maphrian of the Monophysites.
Over a thousand years ago, it possessed a fortress and a large Christian monastery. It was renowned as a centre for the production of woolen textiles. The Arab Uqaylid Dynasty took hold of Tikrit in 1036.
Around 1138, the legendary leader Saladin was born there; his many achievements include defending Egypt against the Christian Crusaders and recapturing Jerusalem in 1187. The modern province of which Tikrit is the capital is named after him.
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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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Toronto
Toronto (/təˈrɒntoʊ/, colloquially /ˈtrɒnoʊ/) is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from the Mississaugas of the New Credit. The settlement was later established as the Town of York and proclaimed as the new capital of Upper Canada by its lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe. In 1834, York was incorporated as a city and renamed to its present name. The city was ransacked in the Battle of York during the War of 1812 and damaged in two great fires in 1849 and in 1904. Since its incorporation, Toronto has repeatedly expanded its borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities, most recently in 1998.
With over 2.6 million residents, it is the fifth most populous city in North America. Its metropolitan area has over 5.5 million residents. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe, which has a population of nearly 9 million people as of 2011. The census metropolitan area (CMA) had a population of 5,583,064, and the Greater Toronto Area had a population of 6,054,191 in the 2011 Census. Its cosmopolitan and international population reflects its role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, with about 49% of the population born outside Canada. Toronto is also consistently rated as one of the world's most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.
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Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Tripoli-of-the-West (Arabic: طرابلس الغرب Ṭarābulus al-Gharb), to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean (Arabic: عروسة البحر ʼarūsat el-baḥr; lit: "bride of the sea"), describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli (English pronunciation: /ˈtrɪpɵli/) is a Greek name that means "Three Cities", introduced in Western European languages through the Italian Tripoli. In Arabic: طرابلس it is called Ṭarābulus ( pronunciation (help·info), Libyan Arabic: Ṭrābləs pronunciation (help·info), Berber: Ṭrables, from Ancient Greek: Τρίπολις Trípolis). As of 2011, the Tripoli metropolitan area (district area) had a population of 2.2 million. The city is located in the northwest part of the country on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean and forming a bay.
The city includes the Port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing centre. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli. The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks, which includes the former family compound of Muammar Gaddafi, is also located in the city; Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks.
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Tunis
Tunis (Arabic: تونس Tūnis) is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants.
Situated on a large Mediterranean Sea gulf (the Gulf of Tunis), behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette (Halq al Wadi), the city extends along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. At the centre of more modern development (from the colonial era and later) lies the old medina. Beyond this district lie the suburbs of Carthage, La Marsa, and Sidi Bou Said.
The medina is found at the centre of the city: a dense agglomeration of alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and colours, boisterous and active trade, and a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, tin to the finest filigree, tourist souvenirs to the works of tiny crafts shops.
Just through the Sea Gate (also known as the Bab el Bahr and the Porte de France) begins the modern city, or Ville Nouvelle, transversed by the grand Avenue Habib Bourguiba (often referred to by popular press and travel guides as "the Tunisian Champs-Élysées"), where the colonial-era buildings provide a clear contrast to smaller, older structures. As the capital city of the country, Tunis is the focus of Tunisian political and administrative life; it is also the centre of the country's commercial activity. The expansion of the Tunisian economy in recent decades is reflected in the booming development of the outer city where one can see clearly the social challenges brought about by rapid modernization in Tunisia.
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Tunisia
Tunisia (USi/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan (i/tɜrkˈmɛnɨstæn/ or i/tɜrkmɛnɨˈstɑːn/; Turkmen: Türkmenistan), formerly also known as Turkmenia (Russian: Туркмения), is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
Turkmenistan's GDP growth rate of 11% in 2010[update] ranks 4th in the world, but these figures are subject to wide margins of error. It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Although it is wealthy in natural resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert.
The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens") until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.
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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 Emiratesi/juːˌnaɪtɨd ˌærəb ˈɛmɪrɨts/ (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al Imārāt al ‘Arabīyah al Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
Prior to independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the local sheikhs, hereditary rulers of the territories, and the United Kingdom. The term Pirate Coast was also used by some to refer to the emirates from the 18th to the early 20th century, owing to the preponderance of pirates operating from Emirati ports.
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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistani/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).
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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.
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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.
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Wasit Province
Wasit Province (Arabic: واسط Wāsit) (or Wasit Governorate) is a province in eastern Iraq. Its name comes from the Arabic word meaning "middle," as it lies along the Tigris about midway between Baghdad and Basra. Its major cities include the capital Al Kut, Al-Hai, and the city Wasit. Prior to 1976 it was known as Kut Province.
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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemeni/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.
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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.
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Yokohama
Yokohama (横浜市, Yokohama-shi?, "Side Shore") ( listen (help·info)) is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area.
Yokohama's population of 3.7 million makes it Japan's largest incorporated city.
Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's relative isolation in the mid-19th century, and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo, and Chiba.
Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal Edo period, when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with foreigners. A major turning point in Japanese history happened in 1853–54, when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived just south of Yokohama with a fleet of American warships, demanding that Japan open several ports for commerce, and the Tokugawa shogunate agreed by signing the Treaty of Peace and Amity.
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Al Mansur
Al-Mansur or Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (95 AH – 158 AH (714 AD – 775 AD);Arabic: أبو جعفر عبدالله بن محمد المنصور) was the second Abbasid Caliph from 136 AH to 158 AH (754 AD – 775 AD).
Al-Mansur was born at the home of the 'Abbasid family after their emigration from the Hejaz in 95 AH (714 AD). "His father, Muhammad, was reputedly a great-grandson of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the youngest uncle of Mohammad; his mother, as described in the 14th century Moorish historian Ali Ibn-Abd Allah's Rawd al-Qirtas was a "Berber woman given to his father." He reigned from Dhu al-Hijjah 136 AH until Dhu al-Hijjah 158 AH (754 AD – 775 AD). In 762 he founded as new imperial residence and palace city Madinat as-Salam(the city of peace), which became the core of the Imperial capital Baghdad.
Al-Mansur was concerned with the solidity of his regime after the death of his brother, Abu'l `Abbas, who later become known as-Saffah (the blood spreader = bloody). In 755 he arranged the assassination of Abu Muslim. Abu Muslim was a loyal freed man from the eastern Iranian province of Khorasan who had led the Abbasid forces to victory over the Umayyads during the Third Islamic Civil War in 749-750. At the time of al-Mansur he was the subordinate, but undisputed ruler of Iran and Transoxiana. The assassination seems to have been made to preclude a power struggle in the empire. Though some findings suggest the Abu Muslim became incredulous and paranoid, thus assassination was necessary and arranged[citation needed].
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Barmakids
The Barmakids (Persian: برمکیان Barmakīyān; Arabic: البرامكة - al-Barāmikah, also called Barmecides) were a noble Persian family from Balkh that came to great political power under the Abbasid caliphs. Khalid, the son of Barmak became the Prime Minister or Wazir of Al Saffah, the first Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. His son Yahya aided Harun Al-Rashid in capturing the throne and rose to power as the most powerful man in the Empire. The Barmakids were remarkable for their majesty, splendor and hospitality. They are mentioned in some stories of the Arabian Nights.
The family has its origin in a line of Pramukhs (hereditary Buddhist) priests from Balkh. Traditionally, Islamic historians considered the Barmakids to be Zoroastrian priests before converting to Islam. They converted during the invasion of the Buddhist and Zoroastrian city of Balkh. They were highly educated and respected intelligentsia in Central Asia and the Levant. In Baghdad, the Barmakid court became a centre of patronage for the Ulema, poets, scholars alike.[citation needed]
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Fairuz
Nouhad Wadi Haddad (Arabic: نهاد حداد) (born November 21, 1935), known as Fairuz (Arabic: فيروز, also spelled Fairouz or Fayrouz, meaning "Turquoise" in Arabic) is a Lebanese singer who is among the most widely admired and deeply respected living singers in the Arab world. Her songs are constantly heard throughout the region, and still spark Lebanese national pride.
She was first noticed at the International Festival of Baalbek, where she performed many of her songs. She became famous after appearing on the "Lebanese Nights" part of the festival for many successive years. Fairuz is commonly known as "Ambassador to the Stars", "Neighbor to the Moon" (for her famous song about the moon of Machgara), and the "Jewel of Lebanon".
Nouhad Haddad was born on 21 November 1935 in Jabal al Arz[citation needed],[dubious – discuss] Lebanon into a Syriac-Maronite family. The family later moved into a home in cobblestone alley called 'Zuqaq el Blatt' in Beirut. Living in a single room of a typical Lebanese stone house facing Beirut's Patriarchate school, they shared a kitchen with the neighbours. Her father Wadīʿ was from Mardin and of the Syriac Orthodox faith, and worked as a typesetter in a print shop. Lisa, her mother, stayed home and took care of her four children, Nouhad, Youssef, Hoda and Amal.
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Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan (/ˈɡɛŋɡɪs ˈkɑːn/ or /ˈdʒɛŋɡɪs ˈkɑːn/,Mongol: [tʃiŋɡɪs xaːŋ] ( listen); 1162? – August 1227), born Temujin, was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.
He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed "Genghis Khan", he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These included raids or invasions of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, Caucasus, Khwarezmid Empire, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in Khwarezmia. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.
Before Genghis Khan died, he assigned Ögedei Khan as his successor and split his empire into khanates among his sons and grandsons. He died in 1227 after defeating the Western Xia. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia at an unknown location. His descendants went on to stretch the Mongol Empire across most of Eurasia by conquering or creating vassal states out of all of modern-day China, Korea, the Caucasus, Central Asian countries, and substantial portions of modern Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Many of these invasions resulted in the large-scale slaughter of local populations, which have given Genghis Khan and his empire a fearsome reputation in local histories.
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George Modelski
George Modelski (born 1926, Poznan, as Jerzy Modelski) is Professor of Political science Emeritus in the University of Washington. Modelski has done work on long-term processes in global politics and economics, as well as the world urban macrodynamics and world system evolution.
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Lawrence Anthony
Lawrence Anthony (17 September 1950 – 2 March 2012) was an international conservationist, environmentalist, explorer, and bestselling author.
Anthony was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in rural Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe), Zambia, and Malawi. He was the long-standing head of conservation at the Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand South Africa and the Founder of The Earth Organization, a privately registered, independent, international conservation and environmental group with a strong scientific orientation. He was an international member of the esteemed Explorers Club of New York and a member of the National Council of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, South Africa’s oldest scientific association.
Anthony had a reputation for bold conservation initiatives, including the rescue of the Baghdad zoo at the height of the US lead Coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, and negotiations with the infamous Lord's Resistance Army rebel army in Southern Sudan, to raise awareness of the environment and protect endangered species, including the last of the Northern White Rhinoceros
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Martin Gilbert
Sir Martin John Gilbert, CBE, PC (born 25 October 1936) is a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford. He is the author of over eighty books, including works on the Holocaust and Jewish history. Gilbert is a leading historian of the modern world, and is known as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill.
Gilbert was born in London to Peter and Miriam Gilbert. Nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War, he was evacuated to Canada as part of the British efforts to safeguard children. Vivid memories of the transatlantic crossing from Liverpool to Quebec sparked his curiosity about the war in later years. After the war he attended Highgate School, and then completed two years of National Service in the Intelligence Corps before going on to study at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1960 with a first-class BA in modern history. One of his tutors at Oxford was A.J.P. Taylor. After his graduation, Gilbert undertook postgraduate research at St Antony's College, Oxford. In 1963, he married Helen Constance Robinson, with whom he had a daughter. He had two sons with his second wife, Susan Sacher, whom he married in 1974. Since 2005, he has been married to the Holocaust historian Esther Gilbert, née Goldberg. Gilbert describes himself as a proud practising Jew and a Zionist.
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Mashallah ibn Athari
Masha'allah ibn Atharī (c.740–815 AD) was an eighth-century Persian Jewishastrologer and astronomer from the city of Basra (now located in modern day Iraq) who became the leading astrologer of the late 8th century. The Arabic phrase ma sha`a allah indicates acceptance of what God has ordained in terms of good or ill fortune that may befall a believer. His real name was probably Manasseh or Jethro[citation needed], and Latin translators named him Messahala (with many variants, as Messahalla, Messala, Macellama, Macelarma, Messahalah). The crater Messala on the Moon is named after him. Science historian Donald Hill writes that Mashallah was originally from Khorasan.
As a young man he participated in the founding of Baghdad in 762 by working with a group of astrologers led by Naubakht the Persian to pick an electional horoscope for the founding of the city. He wrote over twenty works on astrology, which became authoritative in later centuries at first in the Middle East, and then in the West when horoscopic astrology was transmitted back to Europe beginning in the 12th century.
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Mehmed Namık Pasha
Mushir (Marshal) Mehmed Emin Namık Pasha (Istanbul, 1804 – Istanbul, 1892) was a major Ottoman statesman of the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. He served under five sultans and acted as counsellor to at least four of them. He founded the Mekteb-i Harbiye (The Ottoman Military Academy), was twice viceroy of the province of Bagdad, was the first ambassador of the Sublime Porte at Saint-James's Court, was appointed Serasker (Commander-in-chief / Minister of War), became a Cabinet minister, and was conferred the title of Şeyh-ül Vüzera (Head of Imperial Ministers). During a long career that spanned a long lifetime (he lived to be eighty-eight), he was one of the personalities who shaped, as well as were themselves shaped by what historian İlber Ortaylı called “the longest century” of the Ottoman state (see his İmparatorluğun En Uzun Yüzyılı, 1983).
Namık was born in Istanbul, the son of Halil Ramis Agha, an instructor at the Ottoman Court, whose grandfather, Ümmeti Konevî (Ümmet from Konya) had migrated from Konya. He was taught privately by his father until the age of fourteen, when, in 1816, he was appointed (as şakird - student apprentice) to the secretariat of the Divanı Hümayun (Imperial Cabinet) where he polished his education with courses in Arabic, Persian, grammar, Turkish elocution, and religious studies, as well as in French and English. He was sent to Paris when Sultan Mahmud II (1785-1839, reign 1808-1839). selected him as one of the Divanı Hümayun şakirds to be sent to study in Europe, and attended the École Militaire there, improving at the same time the French he had already acquired.
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Mongols
Mongols (Mongolian: Монголчууд (help·info)), Mongolchuud) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. Owing to wars and migrations, Mongols are also found in some Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia (a smaller number of Mongols can also be found in Xinjiang in northwest China). The Buryat branch of the Mongol ethnic group can be found in the autonomous republic of Buryatia, Russia. Ethnic Mongols are bound together by a common language and culture. They speak languages belonging to the Mongolic languages. The contiguous territories inhabited by ethnic Mongols is also known as Greater Mongolia[disambiguation needed 
]. There are approximately 10 million ethnic Mongols in total.
A definition includes the Mongols proper, who can be approximately divided into the eastern Mongols (the Khalkha Mongols, the Inner Mongolians, the Buryats), and the Oirats. In a wider sense, the Mongol people includes all people who speak a Mongolic language, such as the Kalmyks of eastern Europe.
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Muhammad
Muhammad (c. 26 April 570 – 8 June 632; also transliterated as Mohammad, Mohammed, or Muhammed; Arabic: محمد), full name: Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib (Arabic: محمد بن عبدالله بن عبد المطلب ) was a leader from Mecca who unified the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. He is believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God. Muslims believe that Islam was not his own invention but was revealed by God, and most consider him to be the last prophet of God Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.
Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of meditation and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40, that he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.
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Naubakht
Nobakht Ahvazi (Persian: نوبخت اهوازى, (or Naubakht Ahvaz) also transliterated 'Naubakht') and his sons were astrologers from Ahvaz (in the present-day Khuzestan Province of Iran).
Nobakht was particularly famous for having led a group of astrologers who picked an auspicious electional chart for the founding of Baghdad. His family also helped design the city. Originally Zoroastrians, Nobakht and his sons converted to Islam and were employed as Pahlavi translators of the Abbasid court.
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Nizar Qabbani
Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani (Arabic: نزار توفيق قباني, Nizār Tawfīq Qabbānī) (21 March 1923 – 30 April 1998) was a Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. He is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world.
Nizar Qabbani was born in the Syrian capital of Damascus to a middle class merchant family. Qabbani was raised in Mi'thnah Al-Shahm, one of the neighborhoods of Old Damascus. Qabbani studied at the national Scientific College School in Damascus between 1930 and 1941. The school was owned and run by his father's friend, Ahmad Munif al-Aidi. He later studied law at the Damascus University, which was called Syrian University until 1958. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in law in 1945.
While a student in college he wrote his first collection of poems entitled The Brunette Told Me. It was a collection of romantic verses that made several startling references to a woman's body, sending shock waves throughout the conservative society in Damascus. To make it more acceptable, Qabbani showed it to Munir al-Ajlani, the minister of education who was also a friend of his father and a leading nationalist leader in Syria. Ajlani liked the poems and endorsed them by writing the preface for Nizar's first book.
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Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks (a linguistic term designating the Western Turkic or Oghuz languages from the Oghur languages) were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion. The name Oghuz is just the Common Turkic word for "tribe". They are referred to as "Western Turks" because they moved west from other Turkic peoples after the Göktürk empire collapsed, and because the majority of the areas in which they inhabit today (except Turkmenistan and the Turkmen Sahra) are west of the Caspian Sea, while those referred to as "Eastern Turks" live east of the Caspian Sea. The founders of the Ottoman Empire were also Oghuz Turks.
In the 9th century, the Oghuz Turks from the Aral steppes drove the Pecheneg Turks, of the Emba region and the Ural River, toward the west. In the 10th century they inhabited the steppe of the rivers Sari-su, Turgai, and Emba to the north of Lake Balkhash of modern day Kazakhstan. A clan of this nation, the Seljuks, embraced Islam and in the 11th century entered Persia, where they founded the Great Seljuk Empire. Similarly, in the 11th century a Tengriist Oghuz clan—referred to as Uzes or Torks in the Russian chronicles—overthrew Pecheneg supremacy in the Russian steppe. Harried by another Turkic horde, the Kipchaks—a branch of the Kimaks of the middle Irtysh or of the Ob—these Oghuz penetrated as far as the lower Danube, crossed it and invaded the Balkans, where they were either crushed or struck down by an outbreak of plague, causing the survivors either to flee or to join the Byzantine imperial forces as mercenaries (1065).
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Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
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Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Maǧīd al-Tikrītī; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup, later referred to as the 17 July Revolution, that brought the party to long-term power of Iraq.
As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries. The state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraq's economy to grow at a rapid pace. Positions of power in the country were filled with Sunnis, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population.
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Sassoon Eskell
Sir Sassoon Eskell, KBE (17 March 1860 – 31 August 1932) was an Iraqi statesman and financier. Also known as Sassoon Effendi (from Turkish Effendi, a title meaning Lord). Regarded in Iraq as the Father of Parliament, Sir Sassoon (Arabic: ساسون حسقيل or ساسون حزقيال) was the first Minister of Finance in the Kingdom and a permanent Member of Parliament until his death. Along with Gertrude Bell and T. E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia), he was instrumental in the creation and the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq post Ottoman rule and it was he himself, who founded the nascent Iraqi government’s laws and financial structure.
He was knighted by His Britannic Majesty King George V in 1923. His Majesty King Faisal I conferred on him the Civil Rafidain Medal Grade II, His Imperial Majesty the Shahinshah awarded him the Shirokhorshid Medal and the Ottoman Empire decorated him with the Al-Moutamayez Medal.
Scion of an ancient, distinguished and aristocratic Jewish family of great affluence, the Shlomo-David’s, Sir Sassoon was born on 17 March 1860 in Baghdad, Iraq. He was a cousin of the celebrated English war poet and author Siegfried Sassoon, through their common ancestor, Heskel Elkebir (1740–1816). His father was Hakham Heskel, Shalma, Ezra, Shlomo-David, a student of Hakham Abdallah Somekh. In 1873, Hakham Heskel travelled to India to become the Chief Rabbi and Shohet of the thriving Baghdadi Jewish Community there. In 1885 he returned to Baghdad as the leading rabbinical authority and a great philanthropist. A wealthy man, in 1906 he built Slat Hakham Heskel which was one of the most prominent synagogues in Baghdad.
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Timur
Timur (Turkish: Demir "iron", Persian: تمور Timūr, Chagatai: Temür "iron"; 8 April 1336 – 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane (from Persian: تيمور لنگ, Timūr-i Lang, Aksak Timur "Timur the Lame" in Turkish), was a Turkic, who conquered West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty. He was the grandfather of Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled South Asia for centuries.
Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. Unlike his predecessors Timur was also a devout Muslim and referred to himself as the Sword of Islam. His armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and multicultural. During his lifetime Timur would emerge as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the formidable Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the declining Sultanate of Delhi; Timur had also decisively defeated the Knights Hospitaler at Smyrna and since then referred to himself as a Ghazi. By the end of his reign Timur had also gained complete suzerainty over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, Golden Horde and even the Yuan Khanate.
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Umm Kulthum
Umm Kulthum (Arabic: أم كلثوم ʾUmm Kulṯūm; Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [omme kælˈsuːm]; born فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي Fātimah ʾIbrāhīm as-Sayyid al-Biltāǧī, [ˈfɑtˤmɑ (ʔe)bɾˤɑˈhiːm esˈsæjjed elbelˈtæːɡi]; see Kunya) (December 30, 1898[citation needed]–February 3, 1975) was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Tamay ez-Zahayra village, which belongs to El Senbellawein, she is known as "the star of the East" (kawkab el-sharq). More than three decades after her death, she is widely regarded as the greatest female singer in Arab music history.
Umm Kulthum was born in Tamay ez-Zahayra village in El Senbellawein, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt, in Dakahlia, in the Nile Delta, near the Mediterranean Sea. Her birth date is unconfirmed, as birth registration was not enforced throughout the Arab world. The Egyptian Ministry of Information seems to have given either December 31, 1898, or December 31, 1904. She was likely born some time between these two dates.
At a young age, she showed exceptional singing talent. Her father, an Imam, taught her to recite the Qur'an, and she is said to have memorized the entire book. When she was 12 years old, her father disguised her as a young boy and entered her in a small performing troupe that he directed. At the age of 16, she was noticed by Mohamed Aboul Ela, a modestly famous singer, who taught her the old classical repertoire. A few years later, she met the famous composer and oudist Zakariyya Ahmad, who invited her to come to Cairo. Although she made several visits to Cairo in the early 1920s, she waited until 1923 before permanently moving there. She was invited on several occasions to the house of Amin Beh Al Mahdy, who taught her how to play the oud, a type of lute. She developed a very close relationship to Rawheya Al Mahdi, daughter of Amin, and became her closest friend. Kulthum even attended Rawheya's daughter's wedding, although she always tried to avoid public appearances.
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World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
wn.com/World_War_I
In your plane int he blue sky
you roam again
words that echo in your mind
make your heart beat faster
this is no vietnam
we will win in Iraq
The president said said, "let it ride"
islam be damned
make your last stand
in Baghdad
Warrior, the time bomb's about to go
what will you feel
will you ever wonder
if that man that's in your sights
ever kissed his girlfriend goodbye
the captain said, "kill or die"
islam be damned
make your last stand
in Baghdad
Great satan, our flags are burning
Now america has fond its young men
in the sand
where their casualty
is just another number
in iraq
the president said, "let it ride"
you will be damned
make your last stand
Quickening of the Elder
Knowledge of the Otherside
Deepweed sets emotion
Hardening of the Warrior
The burning
That will never die
Melding of the Riffchild
From wall to the Universe
Weed priest stoned arrival
Sharpening of the weapons
The skill inside the endless mind
Celestial King walks water
Hear words foretell destruction
Hear words expose corruption
Generation darkening
Echoes from the mountain
A warning to behold the times
Insight saved the blind man
Covenant with the Father
The burning that will never die
Supersonic psalmist project
Reveals astro child
Windows of the Riffian
Nameless masses cower
From horse and carriage
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Maliki supporters march in Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:07
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
Supporters of the Iraqi Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki march in Baghdad, responding to three weeks of Sunni protests. Adam Brauner reports.
http://wn.com/Maliki_supporters_march_in_Baghdad
Supporters of the Iraqi Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki march in Baghdad, responding to three weeks of Sunni protests. Adam Brauner reports.
Angelina Jolie visits iraqi families in Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:52
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
As a part of her humanitarian activities Angelina Jolie visits iraqi families in Baghdad , and those families can be describes as poor families.
http://wn.com/Angelina_Jolie_visits_iraqi_families_in_Baghdad
As a part of her humanitarian activities Angelina Jolie visits iraqi families in Baghdad , and those families can be describes as poor families.
- published: 17 Sep 2012
- views: 5018
- author: Goodman84Sweden
Baghdad orphan makes Paralympics
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:38
- Updated: 01 Jan 2013
Former Baghdad orphan Ahmed Kelly's amazing journey has taken another remarkable turn after he was named in Australia's Paralympic swimming team.
http://wn.com/Baghdad_orphan_makes_Paralympics
Former Baghdad orphan Ahmed Kelly's amazing journey has taken another remarkable turn after he was named in Australia's Paralympic swimming team.
- published: 10 Jul 2012
- views: 11870
- author: 7NEWS
Witness - In My Mother's Arms
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 46:37
- Updated: 13 Jan 2013
In one of Baghdad's most dangerous districts, one man is struggling to rebuild the lives of 32 boys orphaned by the war. Witness follows the residents of the orphanage over the course of several months as they take uncertain steps on the road back to a normal future with humour, resilience and unwavering determination.
http://wn.com/Witness_In_My_Mother's_Arms
In one of Baghdad's most dangerous districts, one man is struggling to rebuild the lives of 32 boys orphaned by the war. Witness follows the residents of the orphanage over the course of several months as they take uncertain steps on the road back to a normal future with humour, resilience and unwavering determination.
- published: 27 Jul 2012
- views: 6949
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
"The Vicar of Baghdad" -- Canon Andrew White
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:59
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
Canon Andrew White is known as "The Vicar of Baghdad." He's Pastor, at St George's Church - Baghdad, Iraq. Canon Andrew White has an extraordinary ministry of reconciliation and conflict mediation in the Middle East. Having worked for many years in Israel and Palestine, including negotiating the end of the Bethlehem siege in 2002, Canon White now works almost exclusively in Iraq, earning him the nickname 'The Vicar of Baghdad.' Contact: Foundation for Relief & Reconciliation in the Middle East & England frrme.org
http://wn.com/The_Vicar_of_Baghdad_-_Canon_Andrew_White
Canon Andrew White is known as "The Vicar of Baghdad." He's Pastor, at St George's Church - Baghdad, Iraq. Canon Andrew White has an extraordinary ministry of reconciliation and conflict mediation in the Middle East. Having worked for many years in Israel and Palestine, including negotiating the end of the Bethlehem siege in 2002, Canon White now works almost exclusively in Iraq, earning him the nickname 'The Vicar of Baghdad.' Contact: Foundation for Relief & Reconciliation in the Middle East & England frrme.org
- published: 16 Jan 2012
- views: 5181
- author: 100huntley
Raw Video At Least 20 Killed in Baghdad Blasts AssociatedPress
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:46
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/Raw_Video_At_Least_20_Killed_in_Baghdad_Blasts_AssociatedPress
Baghdad's Bomb Squad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:57
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
As Iraq continues to face almost daily bomb attacks, Dateline goes onto the streets with the team risking their lives to stop them. For more on Krishnan Guru-Murthy's report, go to the SBS Dateline website... bit.ly
http://wn.com/Baghdad's_Bomb_Squad
As Iraq continues to face almost daily bomb attacks, Dateline goes onto the streets with the team risking their lives to stop them. For more on Krishnan Guru-Murthy's report, go to the SBS Dateline website... bit.ly
- published: 23 May 2012
- views: 3529
- author: DatelineSBS
Fifteen killed in Baghdad bank siege officials AFP
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:36
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/Fifteen_killed_in_Baghdad_bank_siege_officials_AFP
Witness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:00
- Updated: 06 Jul 2012
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist, returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating Sunni and Shia. Ghaith's ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.
http://wn.com/Witness_Baghdad_City_of_Walls_5_April_09_Part_1
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist, returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating Sunni and Shia. Ghaith's ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.
- published: 05 Apr 2009
- views: 11431
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Addis Ababa as Baghdad!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 22:52
- Updated: 21 Dec 2012
Eritrea's one man regime obsession with terror: Addis Ababa like Baghdad!
http://wn.com/Addis_Ababa_as_Baghdad!
Eritrea's one man regime obsession with terror: Addis Ababa like Baghdad!
- published: 13 Jun 2011
- views: 5544
- author: awe feki
Al Qaeda behind Baghdad church hostage-taking - F24 101101
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:54
- Updated: 06 Jun 2012
www.france24.com
http://wn.com/Al_Qaeda_behind_Baghdad_church_hostage-taking_F24_101101
INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD - 2012 Academy Award Nominee - Best Short Doc
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:00
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
(WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE) In this scene from my documentary INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD, Iraq War veteran Ethan McCord recalls his experiences on the morning of July 12, 2007, when he was summoned to the scene of a nearby American helicopter attack in a suburb of Baghdad. This film recently won the Best Documentary Short Award at the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL in NYC, and the Grand Prize for Documentary Short at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. More info at www.incidentinnewbaghdad.com.
http://wn.com/INCIDENT_IN_NEW_BAGHDAD_2012_Academy_Award_Nominee_Best_Short_Doc
(WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE) In this scene from my documentary INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD, Iraq War veteran Ethan McCord recalls his experiences on the morning of July 12, 2007, when he was summoned to the scene of a nearby American helicopter attack in a suburb of Baghdad. This film recently won the Best Documentary Short Award at the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL in NYC, and the Grand Prize for Documentary Short at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. More info at www.incidentinnewbaghdad.com.
- published: 22 Oct 2010
- views: 31017
- author: jspione
Basra Sports City Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:52
- Updated: 14 Nov 2012
www.baghdadinvest.com Basra Sports City is almost ready to welcome major sporting events. It has to be said, Basra is taking massive steps ahead of the rest of Iraq. Best of luck to Basra.
http://wn.com/Basra_Sports_City_Iraq
www.baghdadinvest.com Basra Sports City is almost ready to welcome major sporting events. It has to be said, Basra is taking massive steps ahead of the rest of Iraq. Best of luck to Basra.
- published: 25 Feb 2012
- views: 7320
- author: baghdadinvest
Baghdad Street Stories - Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:35
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
September sees 110 die in violence? To see more go to www.youtube.com Follow us on Facebook (goo.gl or Twitter (www.twitter.com Ten years after the beginning of American payback following 911 Iraq looks back with confusion. They had no truck with Al Qaeda but today their country is ruined, one repressive regime gone and another in its place. Just a few brief encounters with the real people in Baghdad illustrates that this fledgling democracy has failed to achieve any substantial development. In fact, it's dubious whether democracy has bettered life at all, as factions and political parties follow their own violent agendas. "The significant capital is with the militias, who establish civil organisations that cause destruction: they build organisations that destroy." Yet a few resolute citizens remain confident that change will ensue: "there is a space for democracy, it might be small but it is being established". A Film By SBS Distributed By Journeyman Pictures October 2011
http://wn.com/Baghdad_Street_Stories_Iraq
September sees 110 die in violence? To see more go to www.youtube.com Follow us on Facebook (goo.gl or Twitter (www.twitter.com Ten years after the beginning of American payback following 911 Iraq looks back with confusion. They had no truck with Al Qaeda but today their country is ruined, one repressive regime gone and another in its place. Just a few brief encounters with the real people in Baghdad illustrates that this fledgling democracy has failed to achieve any substantial development. In fact, it's dubious whether democracy has bettered life at all, as factions and political parties follow their own violent agendas. "The significant capital is with the militias, who establish civil organisations that cause destruction: they build organisations that destroy." Yet a few resolute citizens remain confident that change will ensue: "there is a space for democracy, it might be small but it is being established". A Film By SBS Distributed By Journeyman Pictures October 2011
- published: 16 Sep 2011
- views: 4047
- author: journeymanpictures
Witness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:50
- Updated: 02 Jun 2012
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist, returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating Sunni and Shia. Ghaith's ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.
http://wn.com/Witness_Baghdad_City_of_Walls_5_April_09_Part_3
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist, returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating Sunni and Shia. Ghaith's ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.
- published: 05 Apr 2009
- views: 5815
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Witness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:12
- Updated: 19 May 2012
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist, returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating Sunni and Shia. Ghaith's ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.
http://wn.com/Witness_Baghdad_City_of_Walls_5_April_09_Part_4
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist, returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating Sunni and Shia. Ghaith's ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.
- published: 05 Apr 2009
- views: 4744
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Tareq al-Hashemi, former Iraqi VP reactions after being sentenced to death in absentia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:12
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on Monday rejected the death sentence handed to him by a Baghdad court on charges of running death squads. Hashemi earlier described the trial as a political vendetta against him. Al-Hashemi fled to Turkey after Iraq's Shiite-led government issued the terror charges against him in December, the day after US troops withdrew from the country. He would receive a retrial if he agrees to return to Baghdad, but al-Hashemi has refused, saying he will never get a fair hearing in a Baghdad court. He reacts on FRANCE 24. An interview with a French or international personality from the world of economics, politics, culture or diplomacy. An interview with a French or international personality from the world of economics, politics, culture or diplomacy. All shows: www.france24.com FRANCE 24 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 24/7 www.france24.com
http://wn.com/Tareq_al-Hashemi,_former_Iraqi_VP_reactions_after_being_sentenced_to_death_in_absentia
Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on Monday rejected the death sentence handed to him by a Baghdad court on charges of running death squads. Hashemi earlier described the trial as a political vendetta against him. Al-Hashemi fled to Turkey after Iraq's Shiite-led government issued the terror charges against him in December, the day after US troops withdrew from the country. He would receive a retrial if he agrees to return to Baghdad, but al-Hashemi has refused, saying he will never get a fair hearing in a Baghdad court. He reacts on FRANCE 24. An interview with a French or international personality from the world of economics, politics, culture or diplomacy. An interview with a French or international personality from the world of economics, politics, culture or diplomacy. All shows: www.france24.com FRANCE 24 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 24/7 www.france24.com
- published: 12 Sep 2012
- views: 1091
- author: france24english
British Troops in Baghdad: 1917 - 1920 -Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:00
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
It is the last phase of The Great Game. The Anglo-Russian Alliance has been signed, and British colonialists assert their control over Afghanistan with a heavy military presence.
http://wn.com/British_Troops_in_Baghdad_1917_1920_-Iraq
It is the last phase of The Great Game. The Anglo-Russian Alliance has been signed, and British colonialists assert their control over Afghanistan with a heavy military presence.
- published: 23 Feb 2009
- views: 13192
- author: journeymanpictures
INSIDE BAGHDAD ER - THE WOUNDS OF WAR
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:44
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
( www.vawatchdog.org ) From NBC Nightly News, Friday, September 14, 2007.
http://wn.com/INSIDE_BAGHDAD_ER_THE_WOUNDS_OF_WAR
( www.vawatchdog.org ) From NBC Nightly News, Friday, September 14, 2007.
- published: 15 Sep 2007
- views: 33089
- author: lscott7224
International news - (17/01/2013)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:04
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar late on Wednesday night suggested that she and her Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid hold talks to defuse the tension. In a 30 minute advertisement US President Barack Obama was questioned, "Are the President's kids more important than yours?'' the ad asks. Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?
http://wn.com/International_news_17_01_2013
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar late on Wednesday night suggested that she and her Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid hold talks to defuse the tension. In a 30 minute advertisement US President Barack Obama was questioned, "Are the President's kids more important than yours?'' the ad asks. Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?
- published: 17 Jan 2013
- author: newsexpressonline
RAW VIDEO! Caught on tape. Iraq shootout outside Baghdad caught on camera
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:07
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
While on deployment, we took on small arms fire from Iraqi Insurgents outside Baghdad, while on convoy support.
http://wn.com/RAW_VIDEO!_Caught_on_tape_Iraq_shootout_outside_Baghdad_caught_on_camera
While on deployment, we took on small arms fire from Iraqi Insurgents outside Baghdad, while on convoy support.
- published: 30 Aug 2011
- views: 13114
- author: dirttruck22k
Kate Bush - Kashka From Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:00
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
Yet another beautiful song from the "Lionheart" album. Lyrics: Kashka from Baghdad Lives in sin, they say, With another man, But no one knows who. Old friends never call there. Some wonder if life's Inside at all-- If there's life inside at all. But we know the lady who rents the room. She catches them calling a la lune. At night They're seen Laughing, Loving. They know The way To be Happy. They never go for walks. Maybe it's because The moon's not bright enough. There's light in love, you see. I watch their shadows, Tall and slim, In the window opposite. I long to be with them. 'Cause when all the alley-cats come out, I can hear music from Kashka's house. At night They're seen Laughing, Loving. They know The way To be Happy. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh? Let me in your love. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh? Let me in your love. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh? Let me in your love. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh?"
http://wn.com/Kate_Bush_Kashka_From_Baghdad
Yet another beautiful song from the "Lionheart" album. Lyrics: Kashka from Baghdad Lives in sin, they say, With another man, But no one knows who. Old friends never call there. Some wonder if life's Inside at all-- If there's life inside at all. But we know the lady who rents the room. She catches them calling a la lune. At night They're seen Laughing, Loving. They know The way To be Happy. They never go for walks. Maybe it's because The moon's not bright enough. There's light in love, you see. I watch their shadows, Tall and slim, In the window opposite. I long to be with them. 'Cause when all the alley-cats come out, I can hear music from Kashka's house. At night They're seen Laughing, Loving. They know The way To be Happy. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh? Let me in your love. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh? Let me in your love. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh? Let me in your love. "Watching every night. Don't you know they're seen? Won't you let me laugh?"
- published: 10 May 2008
- views: 113583
- author: Symphonyofflowers
Bush Dodges Shoes Thrown by Iraqi Journalist
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:40
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
President George W. Bush dodges shoes thrown at him by Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi from Al-Baghdadia television network, during press conference in Baghdad, December 14, 2008
http://wn.com/Bush_Dodges_Shoes_Thrown_by_Iraqi_Journalist
President George W. Bush dodges shoes thrown at him by Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi from Al-Baghdadia television network, during press conference in Baghdad, December 14, 2008
- published: 14 Dec 2008
- views: 2317536
- author: tpmtv
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When Baghdad Was Beautiful
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:55
- Updated: 14 Jan 2013
A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad, 1912-1941 www.memoriesofeden.com http Imagine a world with no running water or electricity, scorching heat and the constant fear of cholera. Imagine a warren of alleys no wider than a cart. Cows are being milked on doorsteps, street barbers are giving shaves, pulling teeth and lancing boils. Barefoot water-sellers are bent double under their heavy goatskins. It is 1912 and we are in old Baghdad. To us it sounds like hell. Yet Violette Shamash, born into an affluent family, adored its positive side: sleeping under the stars, hearing the call of the nightingale, smelling scents of gardenias and spices, riding to school on donkey-back. For her it was a kind of Eden. Violette was a privileged witness to a time when nearly 40% of Baghdad was Jewish and Jews, Moslems and Christians embraced each other's differences. Her insights into domestic life, and a society coming to terms with the 20th century, are candid, entertaining, and often very amusing. However, in 1941, disaster struck the oldest community in the Diaspora. A brutal massacre took place over two days of rioting and sounded the death-knell for the Jews of Babylon. This slideshow contains images from Violette's book, MEMORIES OF EDEN, which not only provides a unique insight into the culture and customs of the Jews of Iraq but also shows everyday life as experienced by everyone at a time when Baghdadis lived together side by side, in mutual respect, irrespective of religion. William ...
http://wn.com/When_Baghdad_Was_Beautiful
A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad, 1912-1941 www.memoriesofeden.com http Imagine a world with no running water or electricity, scorching heat and the constant fear of cholera. Imagine a warren of alleys no wider than a cart. Cows are being milked on doorsteps, street barbers are giving shaves, pulling teeth and lancing boils. Barefoot water-sellers are bent double under their heavy goatskins. It is 1912 and we are in old Baghdad. To us it sounds like hell. Yet Violette Shamash, born into an affluent family, adored its positive side: sleeping under the stars, hearing the call of the nightingale, smelling scents of gardenias and spices, riding to school on donkey-back. For her it was a kind of Eden. Violette was a privileged witness to a time when nearly 40% of Baghdad was Jewish and Jews, Moslems and Christians embraced each other's differences. Her insights into domestic life, and a society coming to terms with the 20th century, are candid, entertaining, and often very amusing. However, in 1941, disaster struck the oldest community in the Diaspora. A brutal massacre took place over two days of rioting and sounded the death-knell for the Jews of Babylon. This slideshow contains images from Violette's book, MEMORIES OF EDEN, which not only provides a unique insight into the culture and customs of the Jews of Iraq but also shows everyday life as experienced by everyone at a time when Baghdadis lived together side by side, in mutual respect, irrespective of religion. William ...
- published: 27 May 2012
- views: 23187
- author: Tony Rocca
Streets of Baghdad 2012 شوارع بغداد
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 33:21
- Updated: 10 Jan 2013
Baghdad From A Bulletproof Window.
http://wn.com/Streets_of_Baghdad_2012_شوارع_بغداد
BAGHDAD MESSI - OFFICIAL TEASER - UK SUBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:12
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
OFFICIAL PAGE: www.facebook.com PLEASE DO NOT REUPLOAD THIS TEASER. Link to this one. thanks. Iraq 2009. Ten-year-old Hamoudi has only one leg, but is totally obsessed with football. He and his friends - like the rest of the world - are looking forward to the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester (Messi versus Ronaldo). But then Hamoudi's television breaks down! www.ateamproductions.be
http://wn.com/BAGHDAD_MESSI_OFFICIAL_TEASER_UK_SUBS
OFFICIAL PAGE: www.facebook.com PLEASE DO NOT REUPLOAD THIS TEASER. Link to this one. thanks. Iraq 2009. Ten-year-old Hamoudi has only one leg, but is totally obsessed with football. He and his friends - like the rest of the world - are looking forward to the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester (Messi versus Ronaldo). But then Hamoudi's television breaks down! www.ateamproductions.be
- published: 05 Dec 2012
- views: 308847
- author: ateamproductions01
IRAQI PRO AND ANTI GOVERNMENT MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IN BAGHDAD; KSA, QATAR seek return to SADDAM ERA
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:01
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
A political analyst tells Press TV that Saudi Arabia and Qatar ultimate goal is to dismantle the whole political process and the democratic establishment in Iraq because they do not want to see a democratic Iraq in the region. The comments came after Iraqis once again staged a mass pro-government rally in the capital Baghdad to throw their weight behind Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd al-Isa, Middle East expert, to further discuss the issue.
http://wn.com/IRAQI_PRO_AND_ANTI_GOVERNMENT_MASS_DEMONSTRATIONS_IN_BAGHDAD;_KSA,_QATAR_seek_return_to_SADDAM_ERA
A political analyst tells Press TV that Saudi Arabia and Qatar ultimate goal is to dismantle the whole political process and the democratic establishment in Iraq because they do not want to see a democratic Iraq in the region. The comments came after Iraqis once again staged a mass pro-government rally in the capital Baghdad to throw their weight behind Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd al-Isa, Middle East expert, to further discuss the issue.
- published: 14 Jan 2013
- views: 25
- author: WorldConflictReport
How to have Fun in Baghdad Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:37
- Updated: 11 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/How_to_have_Fun_in_Baghdad_Iraq
King Camil-Made In Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:51
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
THIS SONG ON ITUNES @itunes.apple.com DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM @ www.cdbaby.com www.kingcamilmusic.net SUBSCRIBE http FOLLOW www.twitter.com BUY www.reverbnation.com BUY www.itunes.com LIKE www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/King_Camil-Made_In_Baghdad
THIS SONG ON ITUNES @itunes.apple.com DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM @ www.cdbaby.com www.kingcamilmusic.net SUBSCRIBE http FOLLOW www.twitter.com BUY www.reverbnation.com BUY www.itunes.com LIKE www.facebook.com
- published: 08 Jan 2013
- views: 58570
- author: str8biness
DIFF 2012 - Baghdad Messi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:12
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
Don't miss the Dubai International Film Festival DIFF. Download our app for Android, Apple and Blackberry "DIFF2012"
http://wn.com/DIFF_2012_Baghdad_Messi
Don't miss the Dubai International Film Festival DIFF. Download our app for Android, Apple and Blackberry "DIFF2012"
- published: 28 Nov 2012
- views: 163453
- author: DubaiFilmFestival
AirBattle - Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:05
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Purchase this song here: itunes.apple.com Airbattle: youtube.com facebook.com soundcloud.com Picture: img.shendu.com Sharestep: sharestep.spreadshirt.com facebook.com If you would like to see your EDM song on Sharestep please send a high quality download link to sharesteppromotional@gmail.com
http://wn.com/AirBattle_Baghdad
Purchase this song here: itunes.apple.com Airbattle: youtube.com facebook.com soundcloud.com Picture: img.shendu.com Sharestep: sharestep.spreadshirt.com facebook.com If you would like to see your EDM song on Sharestep please send a high quality download link to sharesteppromotional@gmail.com
- published: 08 Dec 2012
- views: 691
- author: Sharestep
The Thief Of Baghdad 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:21
- Updated: 06 Jan 2013
Ahmad (John Justin), the naive King of Bagdad, is convinced by his evil Grand Vizier, Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), to go out into the city disguised as a poor man to get to know his subjects (in the manner of his grandfather Harun al-Rashid). Jaffar then has Ahmad thrown into a dungeon, where he is joined by Abu the thief (Sabu), son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief. Abu arranges their escape.
http://wn.com/The_Thief_Of_Baghdad_1
Ahmad (John Justin), the naive King of Bagdad, is convinced by his evil Grand Vizier, Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), to go out into the city disguised as a poor man to get to know his subjects (in the manner of his grandfather Harun al-Rashid). Jaffar then has Ahmad thrown into a dungeon, where he is joined by Abu the thief (Sabu), son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief. Abu arranges their escape.
- published: 22 Jan 2011
- views: 43279
- author: mrussellmovie
OutKast - BOB
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:24
- Updated: 18 Jan 2013
Music video by OutKast performing BOB. (C) 2000 LaFace Records LLC
http://wn.com/OutKast_BOB
Music video by OutKast performing BOB. (C) 2000 LaFace Records LLC
- published: 25 Oct 2009
- views: 7350732
- author: OutkastVEVO
Nah Youn Sun - Breakfast In Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:57
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
Upload mp3s @ www.mp32tube.com This is track 3 of Nah Youn Sun's (나윤선) 2010 album titled "Some Girl"
http://wn.com/Nah_Youn_Sun_Breakfast_In_Baghdad
Upload mp3s @ www.mp32tube.com This is track 3 of Nah Youn Sun's (나윤선) 2010 album titled "Some Girl"
- published: 27 Sep 2010
- views: 79511
- author: catreroth
Baghdad With G Strings!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:13
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
Max Payne 3 - Baghdad With G Strings! Check out the CHANNEL ★ www.youtube.com ★ Subscribe: www.youtube.com Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com Our live stream: www.twitch.tv Senior Director / Partnered / Full Time director at TGN Tell us what you think in the comments below. Click "Like and "Add to... Favorites" if you enjoyed this video! More information on VMRP.tv and TGN below! =-=-=-= ★ VMRPtv on Twitter www.twitter.com ★ VMRPtv Live Stream on Twitch www.twitch.tv =-=-=-= ★ TGN Social tgn.tv ★ What is TGN? http ★ TGN on Facebook www.facebook.com ★ TGN on Twitter twitter.com ★ We Are YouTube - WAY! way.tgn.tv
http://wn.com/Baghdad_With_G_Strings!
Max Payne 3 - Baghdad With G Strings! Check out the CHANNEL ★ www.youtube.com ★ Subscribe: www.youtube.com Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com Our live stream: www.twitch.tv Senior Director / Partnered / Full Time director at TGN Tell us what you think in the comments below. Click "Like and "Add to... Favorites" if you enjoyed this video! More information on VMRP.tv and TGN below! =-=-=-= ★ VMRPtv on Twitter www.twitter.com ★ VMRPtv Live Stream on Twitch www.twitch.tv =-=-=-= ★ TGN Social tgn.tv ★ What is TGN? http ★ TGN on Facebook www.facebook.com ★ TGN on Twitter twitter.com ★ We Are YouTube - WAY! way.tgn.tv
- published: 29 Jun 2012
- views: 448
- author: VMRPtv
Empire Total War - Russian Campaign Part 12: Assaulting Baghdad!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 17:01
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
Thanks for every Like and Favorite! They really help! Join ColdMeat's Army! tinyurl.com TWITCH.TV | www.twitch.tv FACEBOOK | on.fb.me TWITTER | www.twitter.com GOOGLE+ | goo.gl Subscribe to the Best Empire: Total War Show on Youtube! ► www.youtube.com ★Visit GameFanShop for some GREAT DEALS on Games! www.gamefanshop.com __________________________________________________ Playlists: www.youtube.com Main Channel: www.youtube.com ColdMeat's 24/7 ARCADE on STEAM! steamcommunity.com Tags: "Empire Total War" "Total War Empire" Gameplay Campaign Battle Machinima ColdMeat247
http://wn.com/Empire_Total_War_Russian_Campaign_Part_12_Assaulting_Baghdad!
Thanks for every Like and Favorite! They really help! Join ColdMeat's Army! tinyurl.com TWITCH.TV | www.twitch.tv FACEBOOK | on.fb.me TWITTER | www.twitter.com GOOGLE+ | goo.gl Subscribe to the Best Empire: Total War Show on Youtube! ► www.youtube.com ★Visit GameFanShop for some GREAT DEALS on Games! www.gamefanshop.com __________________________________________________ Playlists: www.youtube.com Main Channel: www.youtube.com ColdMeat's 24/7 ARCADE on STEAM! steamcommunity.com Tags: "Empire Total War" "Total War Empire" Gameplay Campaign Battle Machinima ColdMeat247
- published: 07 Sep 2012
- views: 2359
- author: ColdMeat247
Jesse Cook - Baghdad (Live)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:20
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
One of my most favourite oriental compositions in Jesse Cook's "One night in Metropolis" concert. This music video features Samba Squad, violinist Chris Church and others. Feel free to comment ;-) Background for Samba Squad and Jesse Cook: www.youtube.com
http://wn.com/Jesse_Cook_Baghdad_Live
One of my most favourite oriental compositions in Jesse Cook's "One night in Metropolis" concert. This music video features Samba Squad, violinist Chris Church and others. Feel free to comment ;-) Background for Samba Squad and Jesse Cook: www.youtube.com
- published: 24 Jul 2009
- views: 247507
- author: Vitaly Kogan
Live From Baghdad 2002
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 104:19
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War.
http://wn.com/Live_From_Baghdad_2002
A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War.
- published: 04 Aug 2012
- views: 8836
- author: BellatrixForever97
Shootout! Battle for Baghdad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 44:48
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Shootout! Battle for Baghdad Season 1 Episode 5
http://wn.com/Shootout!_Battle_for_Baghdad
Tere dar se hai mangton ka guzara ya shah e baghdad 13 01 2013
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:52
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Kindly share this Video to as many people as you can and post your Comments about this Video. It will be sadqa-e-jaria for us. For further informations or Queries, Please visit under mentioned websites or click on the link Upload by Muhammad Kamran Qadri ●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ...
http://wn.com/Tere_dar_se_hai_mangton_ka_guzara_ya_shah_e_baghdad_13_01_2013
Kindly share this Video to as many people as you can and post your Comments about this Video. It will be sadqa-e-jaria for us. For further informations or Queries, Please visit under mentioned websites or click on the link Upload by Muhammad Kamran Qadri ●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ...
- published: 17 Jan 2013
- author: Attari Tiger
Heavy Metal In Baghdad Documentary (Part 1)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:53
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Documentary on the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda. Part 1.
http://wn.com/Heavy_Metal_In_Baghdad_Documentary_Part_1
Documentary on the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda. Part 1.
- published: 19 Jul 2008
- views: 62327
- author: MetalHeadISR
![Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough - Mission 6 - Battle For Baghdad [No Commentary]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130118055837im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/w2DD6W2GrOI/default.jpg "Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough - Mission 6 - Battle For Baghdad [No Commentary]")
Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough - Mission 6 - Battle For Baghdad [No Commentary]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 21:39
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
Check out this video walkthrough of Anomaly: Warzone Earth. Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough (Xbox 360 / PS3 / PC) Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough - Mission 6 - Battle For Baghdad [No Commentary]
http://wn.com/Anomaly_Warzone_Earth_Walkthrough_Mission_6_Battle_For_Baghdad_No_Commentary_
Check out this video walkthrough of Anomaly: Warzone Earth. Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough (Xbox 360 / PS3 / PC) Anomaly: Warzone Earth Walkthrough - Mission 6 - Battle For Baghdad [No Commentary]
- published: 12 Jan 2013
- views: 8
- author: mkkopytko
للعراقيين فقط .. بغداد الحلم Baghdad The dream Christmas
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:06
- Updated: 18 Jan 2013
للعراقيين فقط .. من زمان من جنت ادخن اسبين واني يراودني حلم بان اشوف بغداد وهي احلى واروع واجمل مدينة بالعالم واكثركم هسه يكول هذا الشي مستحيييييييييييييييييل...
http://wn.com/للعراقيين_فقط_بغداد_الحلم_Baghdad_The_dream_Christmas
للعراقيين فقط .. من زمان من جنت ادخن اسبين واني يراودني حلم بان اشوف بغداد وهي احلى واروع واجمل مدينة بالعالم واكثركم هسه يكول هذا الشي مستحيييييييييييييييييل...
- published: 26 Dec 2012
- views: 104410
- author: onlyforiraqis
Mohammed Saïd al-Sahaf
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:54
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Al-Sahaf is known for his daily press briefings in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War. His colorful appearances caused him to be nicknamed Baghdad Bob (in the style of previous propagandists with alliterative aliases such as "Hanoi Hannah" and "Seoul City Sue") by commentators in the United States and Comical Ali (an allusion to Chemical Ali, the nickname of former Iraqi Defence Minister Ali Hassan al-Majid) by commentators in the United Kingdom.
http://wn.com/Mohammed_Saïd_al-Sahaf
Al-Sahaf is known for his daily press briefings in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War. His colorful appearances caused him to be nicknamed Baghdad Bob (in the style of previous propagandists with alliterative aliases such as "Hanoi Hannah" and "Seoul City Sue") by commentators in the United States and Comical Ali (an allusion to Chemical Ali, the nickname of former Iraqi Defence Minister Ali Hassan al-Majid) by commentators in the United Kingdom.
- published: 04 May 2007
- views: 520252
- author: wilcootje
Hamid Baroudi - Caravan to Baghdad "Version 100% Originale"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:24
- Updated: 17 Jan 2013
Le clip des Clips : The best video clip of the 90th in Africa & Orient. Inégalé. originale, icone, la référence inconteste´des clip et musique moderne maghrébine des années 90. Bled Music a marqué une jeunesse avide de repéres et Caravan to Baghdad marquera á jamais son époque et surtout la décénnie noire de l'Algérie...sans oubliez bien-sûr la guerre du golf. Hamid Baroudi le Targui citadin qui a rénové les sons du maghreb il restera notre " City No Mad"
http://wn.com/Hamid_Baroudi_Caravan_to_Baghdad_Version_100_Originale
Le clip des Clips : The best video clip of the 90th in Africa & Orient. Inégalé. originale, icone, la référence inconteste´des clip et musique moderne maghrébine des années 90. Bled Music a marqué une jeunesse avide de repéres et Caravan to Baghdad marquera á jamais son époque et surtout la décénnie noire de l'Algérie...sans oubliez bien-sûr la guerre du golf. Hamid Baroudi le Targui citadin qui a rénové les sons du maghreb il restera notre " City No Mad"
- published: 10 Jun 2011
- views: 74124
- author: Algerianfanclub
Baghdad, 5 years on (part 1 of 3): City of walls
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:38
- Updated: 04 Jan 2013
US claims that the military surge is bringing stability to Iraq. By traveling through the heart of Baghdad its easy to see by enclosing the Sunni and Shia populations behind 12ft walls, the surge has left the city more divided and desperate than ever. Video by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.
http://wn.com/Baghdad,_5_years_on_part_1_of_3_City_of_walls
US claims that the military surge is bringing stability to Iraq. By traveling through the heart of Baghdad its easy to see by enclosing the Sunni and Shia populations behind 12ft walls, the surge has left the city more divided and desperate than ever. Video by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.
- published: 18 Mar 2008
- views: 158613
- author: msvf2
9:55
When Baghdad Was Beautiful
A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad, 1912-1941 www.memoriesofeden.com http Imagine a world wi...
published: 27 May 2012
author: Tony Rocca
When Baghdad Was Beautiful
A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad, 1912-1941 www.memoriesofeden.com http Imagine a world with no running water or electricity, scorching heat and the constant fear of cholera. Imagine a warren of alleys no wider than a cart. Cows are being milked on doorsteps, street barbers are giving shaves, pulling teeth and lancing boils. Barefoot water-sellers are bent double under their heavy goatskins. It is 1912 and we are in old Baghdad. To us it sounds like hell. Yet Violette Shamash, born into an affluent family, adored its positive side: sleeping under the stars, hearing the call of the nightingale, smelling scents of gardenias and spices, riding to school on donkey-back. For her it was a kind of Eden. Violette was a privileged witness to a time when nearly 40% of Baghdad was Jewish and Jews, Moslems and Christians embraced each other's differences. Her insights into domestic life, and a society coming to terms with the 20th century, are candid, entertaining, and often very amusing. However, in 1941, disaster struck the oldest community in the Diaspora. A brutal massacre took place over two days of rioting and sounded the death-knell for the Jews of Babylon. This slideshow contains images from Violette's book, MEMORIES OF EDEN, which not only provides a unique insight into the culture and customs of the Jews of Iraq but also shows everyday life as experienced by everyone at a time when Baghdadis lived together side by side, in mutual respect, irrespective of religion. William ...
- published: 27 May 2012
- views: 23187
- author: Tony Rocca
2:12
BAGHDAD MESSI - OFFICIAL TEASER - UK SUBS
OFFICIAL PAGE: www.facebook.com PLEASE DO NOT REUPLOAD THIS TEASER. Link to this one. than...
published: 05 Dec 2012
author: ateamproductions01
BAGHDAD MESSI - OFFICIAL TEASER - UK SUBS
OFFICIAL PAGE: www.facebook.com PLEASE DO NOT REUPLOAD THIS TEASER. Link to this one. thanks. Iraq 2009. Ten-year-old Hamoudi has only one leg, but is totally obsessed with football. He and his friends - like the rest of the world - are looking forward to the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester (Messi versus Ronaldo). But then Hamoudi's television breaks down! www.ateamproductions.be
- published: 05 Dec 2012
- views: 308847
- author: ateamproductions01
6:01
IRAQI PRO AND ANTI GOVERNMENT MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IN BAGHDAD; KSA, QATAR seek return to SADDAM ERA
A political analyst tells Press TV that Saudi Arabia and Qatar ultimate goal is to dismant...
published: 14 Jan 2013
author: WorldConflictReport
IRAQI PRO AND ANTI GOVERNMENT MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IN BAGHDAD; KSA, QATAR seek return to SADDAM ERA
A political analyst tells Press TV that Saudi Arabia and Qatar ultimate goal is to dismantle the whole political process and the democratic establishment in Iraq because they do not want to see a democratic Iraq in the region. The comments came after Iraqis once again staged a mass pro-government rally in the capital Baghdad to throw their weight behind Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd al-Isa, Middle East expert, to further discuss the issue.
- published: 14 Jan 2013
- views: 25
- author: WorldConflictReport
11:37
How to have Fun in Baghdad Iraq
...
published: 11 Jan 2013
author: kevin schi
How to have Fun in Baghdad Iraq
- published: 11 Jan 2013
- views: 7
- author: kevin schi
3:51
King Camil-Made In Baghdad
THIS SONG ON ITUNES @itunes.apple.com DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM @ www.cdbaby.com www.kingcamilmus...
published: 08 Jan 2013
author: str8biness
King Camil-Made In Baghdad
THIS SONG ON ITUNES @itunes.apple.com DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM @ www.cdbaby.com www.kingcamilmusic.net SUBSCRIBE http FOLLOW www.twitter.com BUY www.reverbnation.com BUY www.itunes.com LIKE www.facebook.com
- published: 08 Jan 2013
- views: 58570
- author: str8biness
2:12
DIFF 2012 - Baghdad Messi
Don't miss the Dubai International Film Festival DIFF. Download our app for Android, Apple...
published: 28 Nov 2012
author: DubaiFilmFestival
DIFF 2012 - Baghdad Messi
Don't miss the Dubai International Film Festival DIFF. Download our app for Android, Apple and Blackberry "DIFF2012"
- published: 28 Nov 2012
- views: 163453
- author: DubaiFilmFestival
4:05
AirBattle - Baghdad
Purchase this song here: itunes.apple.com Airbattle: youtube.com facebook.com soundcloud.c...
published: 08 Dec 2012
author: Sharestep
AirBattle - Baghdad
Purchase this song here: itunes.apple.com Airbattle: youtube.com facebook.com soundcloud.com Picture: img.shendu.com Sharestep: sharestep.spreadshirt.com facebook.com If you would like to see your EDM song on Sharestep please send a high quality download link to sharesteppromotional@gmail.com
- published: 08 Dec 2012
- views: 691
- author: Sharestep
14:21
The Thief Of Baghdad 1
Ahmad (John Justin), the naive King of Bagdad, is convinced by his evil Grand Vizier, Jaff...
published: 22 Jan 2011
author: mrussellmovie
The Thief Of Baghdad 1
Ahmad (John Justin), the naive King of Bagdad, is convinced by his evil Grand Vizier, Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), to go out into the city disguised as a poor man to get to know his subjects (in the manner of his grandfather Harun al-Rashid). Jaffar then has Ahmad thrown into a dungeon, where he is joined by Abu the thief (Sabu), son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief. Abu arranges their escape.
- published: 22 Jan 2011
- views: 43279
- author: mrussellmovie
4:24
OutKast - BOB
Music video by OutKast performing BOB. (C) 2000 LaFace Records LLC...
published: 25 Oct 2009
author: OutkastVEVO
OutKast - BOB
Music video by OutKast performing BOB. (C) 2000 LaFace Records LLC
- published: 25 Oct 2009
- views: 7350732
- author: OutkastVEVO
5:57
Nah Youn Sun - Breakfast In Baghdad
Upload mp3s @ www.mp32tube.com This is track 3 of Nah Youn Sun's (나윤선) 2010 album titled "...
published: 27 Sep 2010
author: catreroth
Nah Youn Sun - Breakfast In Baghdad
Upload mp3s @ www.mp32tube.com This is track 3 of Nah Youn Sun's (나윤선) 2010 album titled "Some Girl"
- published: 27 Sep 2010
- views: 79511
- author: catreroth
23:13
Baghdad With G Strings!
Max Payne 3 - Baghdad With G Strings! Check out the CHANNEL ★ www.youtube.com ★ Subscribe:...
published: 29 Jun 2012
author: VMRPtv
Baghdad With G Strings!
Max Payne 3 - Baghdad With G Strings! Check out the CHANNEL ★ www.youtube.com ★ Subscribe: www.youtube.com Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com Our live stream: www.twitch.tv Senior Director / Partnered / Full Time director at TGN Tell us what you think in the comments below. Click "Like and "Add to... Favorites" if you enjoyed this video! More information on VMRP.tv and TGN below! =-=-=-= ★ VMRPtv on Twitter www.twitter.com ★ VMRPtv Live Stream on Twitch www.twitch.tv =-=-=-= ★ TGN Social tgn.tv ★ What is TGN? http ★ TGN on Facebook www.facebook.com ★ TGN on Twitter twitter.com ★ We Are YouTube - WAY! way.tgn.tv
- published: 29 Jun 2012
- views: 448
- author: VMRPtv
17:01
Empire Total War - Russian Campaign Part 12: Assaulting Baghdad!
Thanks for every Like and Favorite! They really help! Join ColdMeat's Army! tinyurl.com TW...
published: 07 Sep 2012
author: ColdMeat247
Empire Total War - Russian Campaign Part 12: Assaulting Baghdad!
Thanks for every Like and Favorite! They really help! Join ColdMeat's Army! tinyurl.com TWITCH.TV | www.twitch.tv FACEBOOK | on.fb.me TWITTER | www.twitter.com GOOGLE+ | goo.gl Subscribe to the Best Empire: Total War Show on Youtube! ► www.youtube.com ★Visit GameFanShop for some GREAT DEALS on Games! www.gamefanshop.com __________________________________________________ Playlists: www.youtube.com Main Channel: www.youtube.com ColdMeat's 24/7 ARCADE on STEAM! steamcommunity.com Tags: "Empire Total War" "Total War Empire" Gameplay Campaign Battle Machinima ColdMeat247
- published: 07 Sep 2012
- views: 2359
- author: ColdMeat247
5:20
Jesse Cook - Baghdad (Live)
One of my most favourite oriental compositions in Jesse Cook's "One night in Metropolis" c...
published: 24 Jul 2009
author: Vitaly Kogan
Jesse Cook - Baghdad (Live)
One of my most favourite oriental compositions in Jesse Cook's "One night in Metropolis" concert. This music video features Samba Squad, violinist Chris Church and others. Feel free to comment ;-) Background for Samba Squad and Jesse Cook: www.youtube.com
- published: 24 Jul 2009
- views: 247507
- author: Vitaly Kogan
Vimeo results:
0:19
Blackwater in Iraq (2 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazin...
published: 02 Apr 2012
author: Harper's Magazine
Blackwater in Iraq (2 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazine, April 2012).
1:02
Blackwater in Iraq (3 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazin...
published: 02 Apr 2012
author: Harper's Magazine
Blackwater in Iraq (3 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazine, April 2012).
0:29
Blackwater in Iraq (5 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazin...
published: 02 Apr 2012
author: Harper's Magazine
Blackwater in Iraq (5 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazine, April 2012).
0:17
Blackwater in Iraq (1 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazin...
published: 02 Apr 2012
author: Harper's Magazine
Blackwater in Iraq (1 of 5)
Blackwater in Iraq, as described by Charles Glass in “The Warrior Class” (Harper's Magazine, April 2012).
Youtube results:
104:19
Live From Baghdad 2002
A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of...
published: 04 Aug 2012
author: BellatrixForever97
Live From Baghdad 2002
A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War.
- published: 04 Aug 2012
- views: 8836
- author: BellatrixForever97
44:48
Shootout! Battle for Baghdad
Shootout! Battle for Baghdad Season 1 Episode 5...
published: 17 Jan 2013
author: VintageMilitary
Shootout! Battle for Baghdad
Shootout! Battle for Baghdad Season 1 Episode 5
- published: 17 Jan 2013
- author: VintageMilitary
5:52
Tere dar se hai mangton ka guzara ya shah e baghdad 13 01 2013
Kindly share this Video to as many people as you can and post your Comments about this Vid...
published: 17 Jan 2013
author: Attari Tiger
Tere dar se hai mangton ka guzara ya shah e baghdad 13 01 2013
Kindly share this Video to as many people as you can and post your Comments about this Video. It will be sadqa-e-jaria for us. For further informations or Queries, Please visit under mentioned websites or click on the link Upload by Muhammad Kamran Qadri ●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ...
- published: 17 Jan 2013
- author: Attari Tiger
9:53
Heavy Metal In Baghdad Documentary (Part 1)
Documentary on the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda. Part 1....
published: 19 Jul 2008
author: MetalHeadISR
Heavy Metal In Baghdad Documentary (Part 1)
Documentary on the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda. Part 1.
- published: 19 Jul 2008
- views: 62327
- author: MetalHeadISR
photo: White House / Pete Souza
17 Jan 2013
AMY TEIBEL. Associated Press= JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's premier on Wednesday dismissed President Barack Obama's reported displeasure with his hard-line policies toward the Palestinians, a sisgn that the two could be headed for a showdown. Polls suggest Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to win Israel's elections next week and continue in office ... could suffer in unprecedented ways if the Israeli government doesn't change its policies....(size: 10.2Kb)
photo: GFDL
17 Jan 2013
TOKYO. Aviation regulators on Thursday grounded most of the world's 787 Dreamliner fleet until a fire risk linked to the plane's batteries can been fixed, deepening a crisis for its US manufacturer Boeing. Regulators in Japan, India and Chile followed the lead of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in ordering an indefinite halt to all operations, after a Japanese Dreamliner on Wednesday was forced into an emergency landing ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: Creative Commons / INABA Tomoaki
16 Jan 2013
YURI KAGEYAMA. AP Business Writers= TOKYO (AP) — Boeing Co.'s 787 planes were grounded for safety checks Wednesday by two major Japanese airlines after one was forced to make an emergency landing in the latest blow for the new jet ... The 787, known as the Dreamliner, is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced jet, and the company is counting heavily on its success ... The grounding was done voluntarily by the airlines ... The U.S ... U.S....(size: 11.1Kb)
photo: French MoD photo
16 Jan 2013
BAMAKO, Mali -- After a punishing bombing campaign failed to halt the advance of al-Qaida-linked fighters, France pledged Tuesday to triple the size of its force in Mali, sending in hundreds more troops as it prepared for a land assault to dislodge the militants occupying the country's northern half ... On Tuesday, France announced that it was increasing the number of troops from 800 to 2,500 ... "We have one objective ... On Tuesday, U.S ... ....(size: 3.6Kb)
photo: AP / BP
16 Jan 2013
IN what could be the first spillover from France's intervention in Mali, Islamist militants attacked and occupied a natural gas complex partly operated by energy company BP in southern Algeria. Two foreigners were killed and dozens of others, including Americans, were taken hostage ... It said it was holding 41 foreigners, including seven Americans ... Recommended Coverage. Al-Qaeda seize hostages in Algeria. End of sidebar ... . ....(size: 7.4Kb)
Xinhua
18 Jan 2013
BAGHDAD, Jan ... The deadliest attack occurred in the morning in the central part of the town of al-Dujail, some 60 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, when twin car bombings struck Shiite pilgrims outside a mosque, killing up to nine people and wounding some 81 others, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity....(size: 3.4Kb)
Zeenews
18 Jan 2013
Baghdad ... The worst attack was near Dujail, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, where a pair of car bombs exploded near pilgrims who were walking to a shrine in the town of Samarra ... In the town of Qassim, 125 kilometres south of Baghdad, a bomb placed in a parked car exploded near a bus stop, killing seven people and wounding 28 ... In northeastern Baghdad, a ......(size: 3.3Kb)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
18 Jan 2013
With fragile peace talks to end three decades of armed insurgency just beginning, top Turkish and Kurdish officials called for calm, and none of the national television networks carried the event live ... U.S ... Mr ... BAGHDAD -- Iraq is considering a proposal for British oil giant BP PLC to begin work on a major oil field that lies in territory contested by Baghdad and the country's Kurdish minority, officials said Thursday ... ....(size: 3.7Kb)
Antiwar
18 Jan 2013
In what may be a response to yesterday’s massive strikes against Kurdish targets in the north, at least 47 people were killed and 145 more were wounded. Today, Shi’ite pilgrims were the main targets. Several of them were foreigners ... They were on their way to the al-Askari shrine in Samarra ... In Baghdad, a blast targeting a patrol instead struck a civilian car, killing two people and wounding two more ... Two soldiers were wounded....(size: 2.5Kb)
noodls
18 Jan 2013
(Source. Archdiocese of Sydney). Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,. 18 Jan 2013 ... The Syriac Catholic Church extends its roots back to the origins of Christianity ... Their churches have been burned or destroyed ... On 31 October 2010, 58 Syriac Catholics were killed by Islamist extremists after 100 of those attending Sunday evening Mass at Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church were taken hostage ... distributed by ... (noodl....(size: 5.0Kb)
Sacramento Bee
18 Jan 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD, Wash. -- Staff Sgt. Robert Bales could go to trial this year for allegedly murdering 16 Afghan civilians, if Army prosecutors get their way. Or his court martial could be delayed until 2014 or later, if defense attorneys are successful ... soil. They would like to go to trial by this summer ... He deferred his plea ... Rob Stelle said ... service members outside a mental health clinic at a military base in Baghdad in May 2009....(size: 5.4Kb)
Kansas City Star
18 Jan 2013
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales could go to trial this year for allegedly murdering 16 Afghan civilians, if Army prosecutors get their way. Or his court martial could be delayed until 2014 or later, if defense attorneys are successful ... soil. They’d like to go to trial by this summer ... Meanwhile, Bales’ attorneys want to slow down the case ... service members outside a mental health clinic at a military base in Baghdad in May 2009 ... ....(size: 5.4Kb)
noodls
18 Jan 2013
(Source. The United States Army). WASHINGTON (Jan. 17, 2013) -- After his battalion worked in Iraq with the U.S ... "This is the first place I';ve ever seen or heard of dedicated to peace,"said Sgt ... 1st Class Ebonie Washington ... In 2007, Washington's battalion, part of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), assisted with a peace-building initiative aimed at stabilizing the Mahmoudiyah district of Baghdad province ... Col ... )....(size: 6.1Kb)
Khaleej Times
18 Jan 2013
A stellar line-up featuring six of the world’s top ten men including world number one Novak Djokovic and reigning Dubai Champion Roger Federer will converge on Dubai next month to contest one of the most coveted titles in world tennis ... We can look forward to a wonderful week of sport from many of the most talented players ever to have played the game’ he added ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)
Stuff
18 Jan 2013
Fernando Alonso is confident Ferrari will fight for the Formula One world title right from the start this season and picks Lewis Hamilton as the man to beat, rather than triple champion Sebastian Vettel. Alonso lost out on the title in the final race of last season, finishing just three points behind Vettel as Ferrari's poor start to 2012 proved costly ... "It's also my personal goal, to lift the trophy in red would be the best ... - AP. ....(size: 2.6Kb)
noodls
18 Jan 2013
(Source. The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships). News Dubai, UAE. byPress Release . . 17.01.2013. A stellar line-up featuring six of the world's top ten men including world number one Novak Djokovic and reigning Dubai Champion Roger Federer will converge on Dubai next month to contest one of the most coveted titles in world tennis ... distributed by ... (noodl. 17240507) ....(size: 4.9Kb)
New Straits/Business Times
18 Jan 2013
BREACH. Taking back land by the State Authority for breach of conditions in the Title Deed or quit rent arrears is a reality check. KS Lee@Ipoh. The Perak state has alienated 2 hectares of land for me to develop four years ago. About six months ago, the Land Office informed me that they have cancelled the title. I have already spent hundreds of thousands on the land ... Answer ... . Events leading to forfeiture. ... ... ... ....(size: 6.1Kb)
noodls
18 Jan 2013
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This article is about the Iraqi capital. For other uses, see Baghdad (disambiguation).
| Baghdad | |
|---|---|
| — City — | |
| بغداد Baġdād | |
 |
|
 Baghdad
|
|
| Coordinates: 33°20′00″N 44°26′00″E / 33.3333333°N 44.4333333°E / 33.3333333; 44.4333333 | |
| Country |  Iraq |
| Province | Baghdad |
| Established | 762 AD. |
| Founder | Abu Jafar al-Mansour |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor-council |
| • Body | Baghdad City Advisory Council |
| • Mayor | Saber Nabet Al-Essawi |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2,260.2 km2 (872.7 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 34 m (112 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Estimate (2011) | 7,216,040 |
| • Rank | 1st |
| [1][2] | |
| Time zone | Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3) |
| • Summer (DST) | No DST (UTC) |
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,[1][2] 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.[3] 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.
In contemporary times the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the American-led foreign occupation in March 2003 that lasted until December 2011 and the subsequent sectarian violence. In recent years the city has been a frequent subject to insurgency activities and terrorist attacks.
Contents |
Toponym[link]
There have been several rival proposals as to the specific etymology of the name Baghdad. The most reliable and most widely accepted among these is that the name is a Middle Persian[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] compound of Bag "god" + dād "given", translating to "God-given" or "God's gift", whence comes Modern Persian Baɣdād. This in turn can be traced to Old Persian.[11] A less probable guess has been Persian compound Bāğ "garden" + dād "fair", translating to "The fair garden".[12][13] The name is pre-Islamic and the origins are unclear, but it is related to previous settlements, which did not have any political or commercial power, making it a virtually new foundation in the time of the Abbasids.[12][13]
However Baghdad, as a name, had been mentioned as Baghdadu on the Assyrian cuneiform records of the 9th century BC, and Babylonian bricks bearing the Royal Seal of King Nebuchadnezzar (6th century BC).[14]
The village of Baghdad importance increased rapidly by the time it was founded by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, who chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or "City of Peace" for his new foundation. This was the official name on coins, weights, and other official usage, although the common people continued to use the old name. By the 11th century, "Baghdad" had become almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis.
Education[link]
Universities[link]
- Al-Nahrain University
- Al-Mustansiriya University
- Iraqi University
- University of Baghdad
- University of Technology, Iraq
History[link]
Main article: History of Baghdad
Foundation[link]
On 30 July 762 the caliph Al Mansur commissioned the construction of the city and it was built under the supervision of the Barmakids.[15] Mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, "This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward".[16]
The city's growth was helped by its location, which gave it control over strategic and trading routes, along the Tigris. A reason why Baghdad provided an excellent location was the abundance of water and the dry climate. Water exists on both north and south ends of the city gates, allowing all households to have a plentiful supply, which was very uncommon during this time.
Baghdad eclipsed Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire, which was located some 30 km (19 mi) to the southeast. Today, all that remains of Ctesiphon is the shrine town of Salman Pak, just to the south of Greater Baghdad. Ctesiphon itself had replaced and absorbed Seleucia, the first capital of the Seleucid Empire. Seleucia had earlier replaced the city of Babylon.
In its early years the city was known as a deliberate reminder of an expression in the Qur'an, when it refers to Paradise.[17] Four years before Baghdad's foundation, in 758, Mansur assembled engineers, surveyors, and art constructionists from around the world to come together and draw up plans for the city. Over 100,000 construction workers came to survey the plans; many were distributed salaries to start the building of the city. July was chosen as the starting time because two astrologers, Naubakht Ahvaz and Mashallah, believed that the city should be built under the sign of the lion, Leo.[18] Leo is associated with fire and symbolises productivity, pride, and expansion.
The bricks used to make the city were 18 inches (460 mm) on all four sides. Abu Hanifa was the counter of the bricks and he developed a canal, which brought water to the work site for the use of both human consumption and the manufacturing of the bricks. Marble was also used to make buildings throughout the city, and marble steps led down to the river's edge.
The basic framework of the city consists of two large semicircles about 19 km (12 mi) in diameter. The city was designed as a circle about 2 km in diameter, leading it to be known as the "Round City". The original design shows as single ring of residential and commercial structures along the inside of the city walls, but the final construction added another ring inside the first.[19] Within the city there were many parks, gardens, villas, and promenades.[20] In the center of the city lay the mosque, as well as headquarters for guards. The purpose or use of the remaining space in the center is unknown. The circular design of the city was a direct reflection of the traditional Persian Sasanian urban design. The Sasanian city of Gur in Fars, built 500 years before Baghdad, is nearly identical in its general circular design, radiating avenues, and the government buildings and temples at the centre of the city. This style of urban planning contrasted with Ancient Greek and Roman urban planning, in which cities are designed as squares or rectangles with streets intersecting each other at right angles.
The surrounding walls[link]
The four surrounding walls of Baghdad were named Kufa, Basra, Khurasan, and Damascus; named because their gates pointed in the directions of these destinations. The distance between these gates was a little less than 1.5 miles (2.4 km). Each gate had double doors that were made of iron; the doors were so heavy it took several men to open and close them. The wall itself was about 44 m thick at the base and about 12 m thick at the top. Also, the wall was 30 m high, which included merlons, a solid part of an embattled parapet usually pierced by embrasures. This wall was surrounded by another wall with a thickness of 50 m. The second wall had towers and rounded merlons, which surrounded the towers. This outer wall was protected by solid glacis, which is made out of bricks and quicklime. Beyond the outer wall was a water-filled moat.
[edit] Golden Gate Palace
In the middle of Baghdad, in the central square was the Golden Gate Palace. The Palace was the residence of the caliph and his family. In the central part of the building was a green dome that was 39 m high. Surrounding the palace was an esplanade, a waterside building, in which only the caliph could come riding on horseback. In addition, the palace was near other mansions and officer's residences. Near the Gate of Syria a building served as the home for the guards. It was made of brick and marble. The palace governor lived in the latter part of the building and the commander of the guards in the front. In 813, after the death of caliph Al-Mansur the palace was no longer used as the home for the caliph and his family.[21] The roundness points to the fact that it was based on Arabic script.[22] The two designers who were hired by Al-Mansur to plan the city's design were Naubakht, a Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be astrologically auspicious, and Mashallah, a Jew from Khorasan, Iran.[23]
The Abbasids and the round city[link]
The Abbasid Caliphate was based on their being the descendants of the uncle of Muhammad and being part of the Quraysh tribe. They used Shi'a resentment, Khorasanian movement, and appeals to the ambitions and traditions of the newly conquered Persian aristocracy to overthrow the Umayyads.[24] The Abbasids sought to combine the hegemony of the Arabic tribes with the imperial, court, ceremonial, and administrative structures of the Persians. The Abbasids considered themselves the inheritors of two traditions: the Arabian-Islamic (bearers of the mantle of Muhammad) and the Persian (successors to the Sassanid monarchs).[25]
These two things are evident from the construction, which is modeled after Persian structures and the need of Mansur to place the capital in a place that was representative of Arab-Islamic identity by building the House of Wisdom, where ancient texts were translated from their original language, such as Greek, to Arabic. Mansur is credited with the "Translation Movement" for this. Further, Baghdad is also near the ancient Sassanid imperial seat of Ctesiphon on the Tigris River.
A centre of learning (8th to 13th centuries)[link]
Further information: Islamic Golden Age
Within a generation of its founding, Baghdad became a hub of learning and commerce. The House of Wisdom was an establishment dedicated to the translation of Greek, Middle Persian and Syriac works. Scholars headed to Baghdad from all over the Abbasid empire, facilitating the introduction of Greek and Indian science into the Arabic and Islamic world at that time. Baghdad was likely the largest city in the world from shortly after its foundation until the 930s, when it was tied by Córdoba.[26] Several estimates suggest that the city contained over a million inhabitants at its peak.[27] Many of the One Thousand and One Nights tales are set in Baghdad during this period.
The end of the Abbasids in Baghdad[link]
By the 10th century, the city's population was between 1.2 million[28] and 2 million.[29] Baghdad's early meteoric growth eventually slowed due to troubles within the Caliphate, including relocations of the capital to Samarra (during 808–819 and 836–892), the loss of the western and easternmost provinces, and periods of political domination by the Iranian Buwayhids (945–1055) and Seljuk Turks (1055–1135).
The Seljuks were a clan of the Oghuz Turks from the Siberian steppes that converted to the Sunni branch of Islam. In 1040, they destroyed the Ghaznavids, taking over their land and in 1055, Tughril Beg, the leader of the Seljuks, took over Baghdad. The Seljuks expelled the Buyids dynasty of Shiites that ruled for some time and took over power and control of Baghdad. They ruled as Sultans in the name of the Abbasid caliphs (they saw themselves as being part of the Abbasid regime) Tughril Beg saw himself as the protector of the Abbasid Caliphs.[30]
In 1058, Baghdad was captured by the Fatimids under the Turkish general Abu'l-Ḥārith Arslān al-Basasiri, an adherent of the Ismailis along with the 'Uqaylid Quraysh.[31] Not long before the arrival of the Saljuqs in Baghdad, al-Basasiri petitioned to the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mustansir to support him in conquering Baghdad on the Ismaili Imam's behalf. It has recently come to light that the famed Fatimid da'i al-Mu'ayyad al-Shirazi had a direct role in supporting al-Basasiri and helped the general to succeed in taking Mawṣil, Wāsit and Kufa. Soonafter,[32] By December 1058, a Shi'i adhān (call to prayer) was implemented in Baghdad and a khutba (sermon) was delivered in the name of the Fatimid Imam-Caliph.[32] Despite his Shi'i inclinations, Al-Basasiri received support from Sunnis and Shi'is alike, for whom opposition to the Saljuq power was a common factor.[33]
On February 10, 1258, Baghdad was captured by the Mongols led by Hulegu, a grandson of Chingiz Khan (Genghis Khan) during the sack of Baghdad.[34] Many quarters were ruined by fire, siege, or looting. The Mongols massacred most of the city's inhabitants, including the caliph Al-Musta'sim, and destroyed large sections of the city. The canals and dykes forming the city's irrigation system were also destroyed. The sack of Baghdad put an end to the Abbasid Caliphate, a blow from which the Islamic civilization never fully recovered.
At this point Baghdad was ruled by the Il-Khanids, the Mongol emperors of Iran. In 1401, Baghdad was again sacked, by Timur ("Tamerlane").[35] When his forces took Baghdad, he spared almost no one, and ordered that each of his soldiers bring back two severed human heads.[36] It became a provincial capital controlled by the Jalayirid (1400–1411), Kara Koyunlu (1411–1469), Ak Koyunlu (1469–1508), and the Iranian Safavid (1508–1534) dynasties.
Ottoman era (16th to 19th centuries)[link]
In 1534, Baghdad was captured by the Ottoman Turks. Under the Ottomans, Baghdad fell into a period of decline, partially as a result of the enmity between its rulers and Safavid Turks, which did not accept the Sunni control of the city. Between 1623 and 1638, it returned briefly to Iranian rule before falling back into Ottoman hands.
Baghdad has suffered severely from visitations of the plague and cholera,[37] and sometimes two-thirds of its population has been wiped out.[38]
For a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East. The city saw relative revival in the latter part of the 18th century under a Mamluk government. Direct Ottoman rule was reimposed by Ali Ridha Pasha in 1831. From 1851-1852 and from 1861–1867, Baghdad was governed, under the Ottoman Empire by Mehmed Namık Pasha.[39] The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000. Aside from ethnically Arab Iraqis, the city was also home to a substantial ancient Jewish community, which comprised over a quarter of the city's population (this proportion would grow in later years)[citation needed].
20th century[link]
Baghdad and southern Iraq remained under Ottoman rule until 1917, when captured by the British during World War I. From 1920, Baghdad became the capital of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia and, after 1932, Baghdad was the capital of the Kingdom of Iraq. Iraq was given formal independence in 1932 and increased autonomy in 1946. The city's population grew from an estimated 145,000 in 1900 to 580,000 in 1950 of which 140,000 (nearly a quarter) were Jewish. In the 1920s, Baghdad was 40 percent Jewish. Jews made up the largest single community in the city and controlled up to 95 percent of business.[40] Baghdad was also home to many prominent Jewish figures, such as Sassoon Eskell.
On 1 April 1941 members of the "Golden Square" and Rashid Ali staged a coup in Baghdad. Rashid Ali installed a pro-German and pro-Italian government to replace the pro-British government of Regent Abdul Ilah. On 31 May, after the resulting Anglo-Iraqi War and after Rashid Ali and his government had fled, the Mayor of Baghdad surrendered to British and Commonwealth forces. After the collapse, a pogrom (Farhud) took place against the Jewish population of Baghdad, where around 175 Jews had been killed, one thousand injured, and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.[41]
On 14 July 1958, members of the Iraqi Army under Abdul Karim Kassem staged a coup to topple the Kingdom of Iraq. King Faisal II, former Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, former Regent Prince Abdul Ilah, members of the royal family, and others were brutally killed during the coup. Many of the victim's bodies were then dragged through the streets of Baghdad.
During the 1970s, Baghdad experienced a period of prosperity and growth because of a sharp increase in the price of petroleum, Iraq's main export. New infrastructure including modern sewerage, water, and highway facilities were built during this period. However, the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s was a difficult time for the city, as money was diverted by Saddam Hussein to the army and thousands of residents were killed. Iran launched a number of missile attacks against Baghdad.
In 1991 and 2003, the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq caused significant damage to Baghdad's transportation, power, and sanitary infrastructure as the US-led coalition forces launched massive aerial assaults in the city in the two wars.
Main sights[link]
Points of interest include the National Museum of Iraq whose priceless collection of artifacts was looted during the 2003 invasion, and the iconic Hands of Victory arches. Multiple Iraqi parties are in discussions as to whether the arches should remain as historical monuments or be dismantled. Thousands of ancient manuscripts in the National Library were destroyed when it was set alight by the library staff and looters before and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The Al Kadhimain Shrine in the northwest of Baghdad (in al-Kāżimiyyah) is one of the most important Shi'ite religious sites in Iraq. It was finished in 1515 and the 7th (Musa ibn Jafar al-Kathim) and the 9th Imams (Mohammed Al-Jawad) were buried there. One of the oldest buildings is the 12th century or 13th century Abbasid Palace. The palace is part of the central historical area of the city and close to other historically important buildings such as the Saray Building and Al-Mustansiriyah School (From the Abbasid Period). Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) is Iraq's largest airport located 16 km from Baghdad's central business district. It is the home of Iraq's national airline, Iraqi Airways.
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Other sights include:
- Baghdad Tower, now the Ma'amoon Telecommunication Center tower. The tower after extensive renovations has been re-opened. It features a revolving restaurant with panoramic views from the top.
- The Two Level Bridge in Jadriyah (Jisr Abul Tabqain). Even though planning for this bridge began before the Gulf War takeover, the bridge was not built until 1995. It connects Al-Doura area with the rest of Baghdad and complements the 14th of July Bridge.
- The National Museum of Iraq
- The Khan Murjan
- Sahat Al Tahrir (Liberation Square) in central Baghdad.
- Souq Saray (Saray Market)
- Baghdadi Museum (wax museum)
- Mustansiriya School, a 13th century Abbasid structure
- Al-Zawra'a Park in Al-Mansour Area and almost in a central location of Baghdad.
- Kahramana and the 40 Thieves Square.
- Al Jundi Al Majhool Monument (The Monument to the Unknown Soldier).
- Al Shaheed Monument. Monument to the Iraqi soldiers killed in the Iran–Iraq War, located on the east bank of the Tigris.
- A wide road built under Saddam as a parade route, and across it is the Hands of Victory, a pair of enormous crossed swords cast from weapons of soldiers who died in the Iran–Iraq War under Saddam's command.
Baghdad Zoo[link]
Main article: Baghdad Zoo
The Baghdad Zoo was the largest zoo in the Middle East. Within eight days following the 2003 invasion, however, only 35 of the 650 animals in the facility survived. This was a result of theft of some animals for human food, and starvation of caged animals that had no food or water.[42] Survivors included larger animals like lions, tigers, and bears.[42] Notwithstanding the chaos brought by the invasion, South African Lawrence Anthony and some of the zoo keepers cared for the animals and fed the carnivores with donkeys they had bought locally.[42][43] Eventually, L. Paul Bremer, Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from May 11, 2003 to June 28, 2004 ordered protection of the zoo and U.S. engineers helped to reopen the facility.[42]
Geography and climate[link]
The city is located on a vast plain bisected by the River Tigris. The Tigris splits Baghdad in half, with the eastern half being called 'Risafa' and the Western half known as 'Karkh'. The land on which the city is built is almost entirely flat and low-lying, being of alluvial origin due to the periodic large floods which have occurred on the river.
Baghdad has a subtropical arid climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) and is, in terms of maximum temperatures, one of the hottest cities in the world. In the summer from June to August, the average maximum temperature is as high as 44 °C (111 °F) accompanied by blazing sunshine: rainfall has in fact been recorded on fewer than half a dozen occasions at this time of year and has never exceeded 1 millimetre (0.04 in).[44] Temperatures exceeding 50 °C (122 °F) in the shade are by no means unheard of,[citation needed] and even at night temperatures in summer are seldom below 24 °C (75 °F). Because the humidity is very low (usually under 10%) due to Baghdad's distance from the marshy Persian Gulf, dust storms from the deserts to the west are a normal occurrence during the summer.
Winters boast mild days and variable nights. From December to February, Baghdad has maximum temperatures averaging 15.5 to 18.5 °C (60 to 65 °F), though highs above 70 °F (21 °C) are not unheard of. Morning temperatures can be chilly: the average January low is 3.8 °C (38.8 °F) but lows below freezing only occur a couple of times per year.[citation needed]
Annual rainfall, almost entirely confined to the period from November to March, averages around 150 mm (5.91 in), but has been as high as 338 mm (13.31 in) and as low as 37 mm (1.46 in).[45] On January 11, 2008, light snow fell across Baghdad for the first time in memory.[46]
| Climate data for Baghdad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 15.5 (59.9) |
18.5 (65.3) |
23.6 (74.5) |
29.9 (85.8) |
36.5 (97.7) |
41.3 (106.3) |
44.0 (111.2) |
43.5 (110.3) |
40.2 (104.4) |
33.4 (92.1) |
23.7 (74.7) |
17.2 (63.0) |
30.6 (87.1) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 3.8 (38.8) |
5.5 (41.9) |
9.6 (49.3) |
15.2 (59.4) |
20.1 (68.2) |
23.3 (73.9) |
25.5 (77.9) |
24.5 (76.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
15.9 (60.6) |
9.2 (48.6) |
5.1 (41.2) |
14.9 (58.8) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 26 (1.02) |
28 (1.1) |
28 (1.1) |
17 (0.67) |
7 (0.28) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
3 (0.12) |
21 (0.83) |
26 (1.02) |
156 (6.14) |
| % humidity | 71 | 61 | 53 | 43 | 30 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 26 | 34 | 54 | 71 | 42.3 |
| Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 29 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 192.2 | 203.3 | 244.9 | 255.0 | 300.7 | 348.0 | 347.2 | 353.4 | 315.0 | 272.8 | 213.0 | 195.3 | 3,240.8 |
| Source no. 1: Climate & Temperature[47] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: World Meteorological Organisation (UN)[48] | |||||||||||||
Administrative divisions[link]
The city of Baghdad has 89 official neighbourhoods within 9 districts. These official subdivisions of the city served as administrative centres for the delivery of municipal services but until 2003 had no political function. Beginning in April 2003, the U.S. controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) began the process of creating new functions for these. The process initially focused on the election of neighbourhood councils in the official neighbourhoods, elected by neighbourhood caucuses.
The CPA convened a series of meetings in each neighbourhood to explain local government, to describe the caucus election process and to encourage participants to spread the word and bring friends, relatives and neighbours to subsequent meetings. Each neighbourhood process ultimately ended with a final meeting where candidates for the new neighbourhood councils identified themselves and asked their neighbours to vote for them.
Once all 88 (later increased to 89) neighbourhood councils were in place, each neighbourhood council elected representatives from among their members to serve on one of the city's nine district councils. The number of neighbourhood representatives on a district council is based upon the neighbourhood's population. The next step was to have each of the nine district councils elect representatives from their membership to serve on the 37 member Baghdad City Council. This three tier system of local government connected the people of Baghdad to the central government through their representatives from the neighbourhood, through the district, and up to the city council.
The same process was used to provide representative councils for the other communities in Baghdad Province outside of the city itself. There, local councils were elected from 20 neighbourhoods (Nahia) and these councils elected representatives from their members to serve on six district councils (Qada). As within the city, the district councils then elected representatives from among their members to serve on the 35 member Baghdad Regional Council.
The first step in the establishment of the system of local government for Baghdad Province was the election of the Baghdad Provincial Council. As before, the representatives to the Provincial Council were elected by their peers from the lower councils in numbers proportional to the population of the districts they represent. The 41 member Provincial Council took office in February, 2004 and served until national elections held in January 2005, when a new Provincial Council was elected.
This system of 127 separate councils may seem overly cumbersome but Baghdad Province is home to approximately seven million people. At the lowest level, the neighbourhood councils, each council represents an average of 75,000 people.
The nine District Advisory Councils (DAC) are as follows:[49]
File:High residential rising buildings in Haifa street.jpg
A residential area on Haifa Street, Baghdad
- Adhamiyah
- Karkh[50]
- Karadah[51][52]
- Kadhimyah[53]
- Mansour
- Sadr City (Thawra)[54]
- Al Rashid[55]
- Rusafa
- New Baghdad (Tisaa Nissan) (9 April)[56]
The nine districts are subdivided into 89 smaller neighborhoods which may make up sectors of any of the districts above. The following is a selection (rather than a complete list) of these neighborhoods:
- Al-Ghazaliya
- Al-A'amiriya
- Dora
- Karrada
- Al-Jadriya
- Al-Hebnaa
- Zayouna
- Al-Saydiya
- Hurriya City
- Al-Sa'adoon
- Al-Shu'ala
- Al-Mahmudiyah
- Bab Al-Moatham
- Al-Za'franiya
- Hayy Ur
- Sha'ab
- Hayy Al-Jami'a
- Al-Adel
- Al Khadhraa
- Hayy Al-Jihad
- Hayy Al-A'amel
- Hayy Aoor
- Al-Horaya
- Hayy Al-Shurtta
- Yarmouk
- Jesr Diyala
- Abu Disher
- Raghiba Khatoun
- Arab Jijur
- Al-Awashosh
- Al-Fathel
- Al-Ubedy
- Al-Wazireya
Economy[link]
![[icon]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130118055837/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. |
Iraqi Airways, the national airline of Iraq, has its headquarters on the grounds of Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad.[57] Al-Naser Airlines has its head office in Karrada, Baghdad.[58]
Reconstruction efforts[link]
Further information: Investment in post-invasion Iraq
Most Iraqi reconstruction efforts have been devoted to the restoration and repair of badly damaged urban infrastructure. More visible efforts at reconstruction through private development, like architect and urban designer Hisham N. Ashkouri's Baghdad Renaissance Plan and the Sindbad Hotel Complex and Conference Center have also been made. [59]
There are also plans to build a giant Ferris wheel akin to the London Eye. Iraq's Tourism Board also is seeking investors to develop a "romantic" island on the River Tigris in Baghdad that was once a popular honeymoon spot for newlywed Iraqis. The project would include a six-star hotel, spa, an 18-hole golf course and a country club. In addition, the go-ahead has been given to build numerous architecturally unique skyscrapers along the Tigris that would develop the city's financial centre in Kadhehemiah.[60]
In October, 2008, the Baghdad Metro resumed service. It connects the center to the southern neighborhood of Dora. In 2010, a new residential and commercial project nicknamed Baghdad Gate was announced. This project not only addresses the urgent need for new residential units in Baghdad but also acts as a real symbol of progress in the war torn city, as Baghdad has not seen projects of this scale for decades.[61]
Culture[link]
See also: Baghdad Arabic and Culture of Iraq
Baghdad has always played an important role in Arab cultural life and has been the home of noted writers, musicians and visual artists. Famous Arab poets and singers such as Nizar Qabbani, Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Salah Al-Hamdani, Ilham al-Madfai and others wrote beautiful poems and sang for Baghdad.
The dialect of Arabic spoken in Baghdad today differs from that of other large urban centres in Iraq, having features more characteristic of nomadic Arabic dialects (Verseegh, The Arabic Language). It is possible that this was caused by the repopulating of the city with rural residents after the multiple sacks of the late Middle Ages.
Institutions[link]
Some of the important cultural institutions in the city include:
- Iraqi National Orchestra – Rehearsals and performances were briefly interrupted during the Second Gulf War, but have since returned to normal.
- National Theatre of Iraq – The theatre was looted during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, but efforts are underway to restore the theatre.[62]
The live theatre scene received a boost during the 1990s when UN sanctions limited the import of foreign films. As many as 30 movie theatres were reported to have been converted to live stages, producing a wide range of comedies and dramatic productions.[63]
Institutions offering cultural education in Baghdad include the Academy of Music, Institute of Fine Arts, and the Music and Ballet school Baghdad. Baghdad is also home to a number of museums which housed artifacts and relics of ancient civilization; many of these were stolen, and the museums looted, during the widespread chaos immediately after United States forces entered the city.
During the 2003 occupation of Iraq, AFN Iraq ("Freedom Radio") broadcast news and entertainment within Baghdad, among other locations. There is also a private radio station called "Dijlah" (named after the Arabic word for the Tigris River) that was created in 2004 as Iraq's first independent talk radio station. Radio Dijlah offices, in the Jamia neighborhood of Baghdad, have been attacked on several occasions.[64]
Sport[link]
Baghdad is home to some of the most successful football (soccer) teams in Iraq, the biggest being Al Quwa Al Jawiya (Airforce club), Al Zawra, Al Shurta (Police), and Al Talaba (Students). The largest stadium in Baghdad is Al Shaab Stadium which was opened in 1966. Another, but much larger stadium, is still in the opening stages of construction.
The city has also had a strong tradition of horse racing ever since World War I, known to Baghdadis simply as 'Races'. There are reports of pressures by the Islamists to stop this tradition due to the associated gambling.[citation needed]
Major streets[link]
Source: stripes.com[dead link]
- Haifa Street
- Salihiya Residential area - situated off Al Sinak bridge in central Baghdad,surrounded by Al- Mansur Hotel in the north and Al-Rasheed hotel in the south.
- Hilla Road – Runs from the south into Baghdad via Yarmouk (Baghdad)
- Caliphs Street – site of historical mosques and churches.
- Sadoun Street – stretching from Liberation Square to Masbah
- Mohammed Al-Qassim highway near Adhamiyah
- Abu Nuwas Street – runs along the Tigris from the from Jumhouriya Bridge to 14 July Suspended Bridge
- Damascus Street – goes from Damascus Square to the International Airport Road
- Mutanabbi Street – A street with numerous books, named after the 10th century Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi
- Rabia Street
- Arbataash Tamuz (14th July) Street (Mosul Road)
- Muthana al-Shaibani Street
- Bor Saeed (Port Said) Street
- Thawra Street
- Al Qanat Street – runs through Baghdad north-south
- Al Khat al Sare'a – Mohammed al Qasim (high speed lane) – runs through Bagdhad, north-south
- Al Sinaa Street (Industry Street) runs by the University of Technology – centre of computers trade in Baghdad.
- Al Nidhal Street
- Al Rasheed Street – city centre Baghdad
- Al Jamhuriah Street – city centre Baghdad
- Falastin (Palestine) Street
- Tariq el Muaskar – (Al Rasheed Camp Road)
- Baghdad Airport Road
Sister cities[link]
Amman, Jordan[citation needed]
Beirut, Lebanon[65]
Dubai, United Arab Emirates[citation needed]
Pyongyang, North Korea
Villages[link]
See also[link]
- Round city of Baghdad
- List of places in Iraq
- Firdos Square - is a public open space in Baghdad and the location of two of the best-known hotels, the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Ishtar, which are both also the tallest buildings in Baghdad. The square was the site of the statue of Saddam Hussein that was pulled down by U.S. coalition forces in a widely-televised event during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
- Operation Imposing Law Baghdad Security Plan
- 1950-1951 Baghdad bombings
References[link]
- ^ a b Estimates of total population differ substantially. The Encyclopædia Britannica gives a 2001 population of 4,950,000, the 2006 Lancet Report states a population of 7,216,050 in 2011.
- "Baghdad" Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 13 November 2006.
- "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey"[dead link]PDF (242 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, October 11, 2006
- Baghdad from GlobalSecurity.org
- ^ a b "Cities and urban areas in Iraq with population over 100,000", Mongabay.com
- ^ "List of largest cities throughout history". Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities_throughout_history#cite_note-27.
- ^ http://admin.iraqupdates.net/p_articles.php/article/35631
- ^ http://www.blackanthem.com/News/Fact_Sheets/Baghdad_Iraq10693.shtml
- ^ http://persiangulfstudies.com/en/index.asp?P=NEWS2&Nu=45
- ^ http://islam.about.com/cs/history/a/aa040703a.htm
- ^ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=rezD7rvuf9YC&pg=PA563&dq=%22Baghdad+name+middle+persian%22&hl=en&ei=eJ22Td_1OZSL4gaA_LTQDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CFQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=i-4WhilzYkQC&pg=PA33&dq=%22Baghdad+godgiven%22&hl=en&ei=Ep62TfPrM4i74QaMwsncDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ Guy Le Strange, "Baghdad During the Abbasid Caliphate from Contemporary Arabic and Persian", pg 10
- ^ a b "ما معنى اسم مدينة بغداد ومن سماه ؟". Seenjeem.maktoob.com. http://seenjeem.maktoob.com/question?category_id=4&level=L2&question_id=9510. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ a b "ما معنى (بغداد)؟ - تمت الإجابة عنه - Google إجابات". Egabat.google.com. http://egabat.google.com/ejabat/thread?tid=6981074380f32f74. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ http://www.atlastours.net/iraq/baghdad.html
- ^ Times History of the World. London: Times Books. 2000.
- ^ Wiet, Gastron (1971). Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate. Univ. of Oklahoma Press.
- ^ Wiet, pg. 13
- ^ Wiet, pg. 12
- ^ http://islamicceramics.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/Abbasid/baghdad.htm
- ^ "Yakut: Baghdad under the Abbasids, c. 1000CE"
- ^ Wiet, pg. 15
- ^ See:
- Hattstein, Markus; Peter Delius (2000). Islam Art and Architecture. Cologne: Könemann. p. 96. ISBN 3-8290-2558-0.
- Encyclopædia Iranica, Columbia University, p.413.
- ^ Hill, Donald R. (1994). Islamic Science and Engineering. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-7486-0457-X.
- ^ Atlas of the Medieval World pg. 78
- ^ Atlas of the Medieval World pg. 79
- ^ "Largest Cities Through History". Geography.about.com. 2009-11-02. http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ Matt T. Rosenberg, Largest Cities Through History.
- ^ George Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington, D.C.: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 978-0-9676230-1-6. See also Evolutionary World Politics Homepage.
- ^ Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, K. A. Berney, Paul E. Schellinger (1996). International dictionary of historic places, Volume 4: Middle East and Africa. Taylor and Francis. p. 116
- ^ Atlas of the Medieval World pg. 170
- ^ Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 6.
- ^ a b Daftary, Farhad. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 205-206.
- ^ Daftary, Farhad. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 206.
- ^ Central Asian world cities, George Modelski
- ^ Ian Frazier, Annals of history: Invaders: Destroying Baghdad, The New Yorker 25 April 2005. p.5
- ^ New Book Looks at Old-Style Central Asian Despotism, EurasiaNet Civil Society, Elizabeth Kiem, April 28, 2006
- ^ "The Fertile Crescent, 1800-1914: a documentary economic history". Charles Philip Issawi (1988). Oxford University Press US. p.99. ISBN 0-19-504951-9
- ^ Suraiya Faroqhi, Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert (1997). "An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire". Cambridge University Press. p.651. ISBN 0-521-57455-2
- ^ Cetinsaya, Gokhan. Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890-1908. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
- ^ The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus, Daily Telegraph, 28 April 2003
- ^ Martin Gilbert. The atlas of Jewish history, William Morrow and Company, 1993. pg. 114. ISBN 0-688-12264-7.
- ^ a b c d "The Choice, featuring Lawrence Anthony". BBC radio 4. 2007-09-04. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/thechoice/pip/sszoc/. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
- ^ Anthony, Lawrence; Spence Grayham (2007-06-03). Babylon's Ark; The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-35832-6.
- ^ Monthly rainfall for Baghdad (WMO #40650)
- ^ Annual Rainfall Statistics for Baghdad (WMO #40650)
- ^ (AFP) – Jan 11, 2008 (2008-01-11). "Afp.google.com, First snow for 100 years falls on Baghdad". Afp.google.com. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huPkYk4bGVvo1Sa1tWeH-tgENiFw. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Baghdad Climate Guide to the Average Weather & Temperatures, with Graphs Elucidating Sunshine and Rainfall Data & Information about Wind Speeds & Humidity:". Climate & Temperature. http://www.climatetemp.info/iraq/baghdad.html. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
- ^ "World Weather Information Service - Baghdad". http://worldweather.wmo.int/154/c01464.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
- ^ USA Today. http://images.usatoday.com/news/graphics/troop_surge/flash.swf.
- ^ "DefenseLink News Article: Soldier Helps to Form Democracy in Baghdad". Defenselink.mil. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=27637. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Zafaraniya Residents Get Water Project Update - DefendAmerica News Article". Defendamerica.mil. http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/june2005/a060105la2.html. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ Frank, Thomas (2006-03-26). "Basics of democracy in Iraq include frustration". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-26-councils-work_x.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ^ "DefendAmerica News - Article". Defendamerica.mil. http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/mar2004/a031804d.html. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Democracy from scratch". csmonitor.com. 2003-12-05. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1205/p01s04-woiq.html. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Leaders Highlight Successes of Baghdad Operation - DefendAmerica News Article". Defendamerica.mil. http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sept2006/a091906dg2.html. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ NBC 6 News - 1st Cav Headlines[dead link]
- ^ "Iraqi Airways." Arab Air Carriers Organization. Retrieved on October 19, 2009.
- ^ "Contact Us." Al-Naser Airlines. Retrieved on 13 February 2011. "Main Branch: Al-Karrada , Babil Region - Distrlct 929 [sic] - St21 - Home 46 - Beside Al Jadirya Private Hospital. [...] Iraq- Baghdad."
- ^ ARCADD[dead link]
- ^ 3:48 p.m. ET (2008-08-27). "Baghdad plans to build giant Ferris wheel". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26425911/. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Baghdad Investment: Creating (1824) housing units in Baghdad.". Baghdad Governorate Website. 2010. http://www.baghdadgov.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=178:baghdad-investment-createing-of-1824-housing-units-in-baghdad&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=95. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
- ^ Five women confront a new Iraq | csmonitor.com[dead link]
- ^ "In Baghdad, Art Thrives As War Hovers". Commondreams.org. 2003-01-02. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0102-04.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Gunmen storm independent radio station in latest attack against media in Iraq". International Herald Tribune. 2009-03-29. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/03/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Media-Attacked.php. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Twinning the Cities". City of Beirut. Archived from the original on 2008-02-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20080221055403/http://www.beirut.gov.lb/MCMSTest/Menu-Pages/SisterCitiesEN.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=/www.beirut.gov.lb/MCMSEN/Twinning+the+Cities/&NRNODEGUID=%7b18839037-0140-436E-A1AF-7F8F3693C3E6%7d&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest#. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
Further reading[link]
- By Desert Ways to Baghdad, by Louisa Jebb (Mrs. Roland Wilkins), 1908 (1909 ed) (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDFPDF (11.3 MB) format)
- A Dweller in Mesopotamia, being the adventures of an official artist in the Garden of Eden, by Donald Maxwell, 1921 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDFPDF (7.53 MB) format)
Books:
"Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-135" by Ibn Battuta. "Gertrude Bell: the Arabian diaries,1913-1914." by Bell Gertrude Lowthian, and O'Brien, Rosemary. "Historic cities of the Islamic world."by Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. "Ottoman administration of Iraq, 1890-1908." by Cetinsaya, Gokhan. "Naked in Baghdad." by Garrels, Anne, and Lawrence, Vint. "A memoir of Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson." by Rawlinson, George.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Baghdad |
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Look up Baghdad in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bagdad (city). |
Coordinates: 33°19′30″N 44°25′19″E / 33.325°N 44.422°E / 33.325; 44.422
- Map of Baghdad
- Iraq Image - Baghdad Satellite Observation
- National Commission for Investment in Iraq
- Interactive map
- Iraq - Urban Society
- Envisioning Reconstruction In Iraq
- Description of the original layout of Baghdad
- Ethnic and sectarian map of Baghdad - Healingiraq
- UAE Investors Keen On Taking Part In Baghdad Renaissance Project
- Man With A Plan: Hisham Ashkouri
- Behind Baghdad's 9/11
- Iraq Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit Reports, maps and assessments of Iraq from the UN Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit
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