Guangzhou is a very old city in China. Some evidence has been found of people living there as far back as the 11th century BCE [1]. The city has some folklore about its creation. They used to believe that five gods ascended from heaven with five goats and five ears of corn to save the […]
Category: Asia
Antalya
The city of Antalya has passed through numerous empires. Once part of the Byzantine Empire, Antalya was conquered by the Seljuk Turks in the 13th century. By the 14th century the Ottomans were starting to take control of current day Turkey, seizing Antalya and the surrounding areas. It was not until the 15th century that […]
Delhi
India has a history that dates back to 2000 BCE, and Delhi was not always an important city. Due to its central location, it became an important city for all of central Asia. India and, therefore, Delhi was home to many different religions. The two major religions were Hinduism and Islam (although there were also […]
Constantinople
Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul are three different names for one city. Founded nearly 3 millenia ago, the city was known as Byzantium by the 7th century B.C.E. Then, during the Roman Empire, the emperor Constantine revived the city and named it after himself, Constantinople. It was then named the capital of the Roman Empire. After the […]
Calicut
Originally named Velapuram, Calicut was renamed after the word calico, the finely woven cloth that originated from this city. In 1498, the Portuguese discovered the trading route through Calicut, which made Calicut important in the west, especially in Europe. However, Calicut had been an important port in India for centuries before its discovery by the […]
Baghdad
The city of Baghdad dates back to Babylonian times, but only gained large importance after the creation of Islam. During the Abbasid Caliphate, Baghdad transformed from a tiny Persian city into a bustling capital. During this time, Baghdad was not only a political center, but also a hub of education, medicine, arts, and science. One […]
Mecca
Mecca is the holiest city in all of Islam. Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca, and they are obliged to do the pilgrimage or al-Hajj once in their life. This includes an extensive ceremony of rituals based upon the father of all Abrahamic faiths, Abraham. There are many rituals that go along with the […]
Al-Najaf
After the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 CE there was a disagreement as to who should be in charge of the Islamic state. Most believed it ought to be Abu Bakr,Muhammad’s closest friend. Indeed, this was the case, and Abu Bakr became the first caliph of the “Rashidun,” or the ‘rightly-guided.’ However, a minority believed […]
Medina, Saudi Arabia
Medina is the second holiest city in all of Islam because this is the city where the Prophet Muhammad led his followers in order to create the Islamic state and to escape religious persecution from the Meccans. Medina was formerly called Yathrib. Muhammad converted many of the people of Medina to Islam, but had trouble […]
Damascus
The second most important city in the Mamluk dynasty was Damascus, and it was their capital in Asia. Damascus was a beautiful city that was thought of as the “earthly equivalent of Paradise” [1]. Ross Dunn notes in his book The Adventures of Ibn Battuta that there had been a time when Damascus had suffered […]
