Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Burma / Myanmar: Monks shave each others heads at the Buddhist temple of Wat Par Lyeng, Kyaing Tong (Kengtung), Shan State. Located in the northeast of the country, Shan State covers one-quarter of Burma’s land mass. It was traditionally separated into principalities and is mostly comprised of ethnic Shan, Burman Pa-O, Intha, Taungyo, Danu, Palaung and Kachin peoples.<br/><br/> The Shan have inhabited the Shan Plateau and other parts of modern-day Myanmar as far back as the 10th century.
In the classic tale from the Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, Samson is an Israelite of great physical strength. He confides in his lover, Delilah, that the secret of his strength is his long hair, which has never been cut since the day he was born. Delilah—perhaps one of history’s first ‘femmes fatales’—betrays Samson by informing his enemies.<br/><br/> In this famous scene, Samson is asleep in the lap of his mistress who urges two accomplices to cut Samson’s hair with the scissors she wields.<br/><br/> His hair cut and strength diminished, Samson is overpowered and arrested by the soldiers at the door. But when he is taken in chains to a temple feast, Samson pushes over two great pillars causing the entire temple to fall down, killing everyone inside, including himself.
In the classic tale from the Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, Samson is an Israelite of great physical strength. He confides in his lover, Delilah, that the secret of his strength is his long hair, which has never been cut since the day he was born. Delilah betrays Samson by informing his enemies.<br/><br/> In this famous scene, Samson is asleep in the lap of his mistress who urges an accomplice to cut Samson’s hair with the scissors she wields. He is hesitant and afraid.<br/><br/> Eventually, the servant cuts Samson’s hair. Samson is overpowered and arrested. But when he is taken in chains to a temple feast, Samson pushes over two great pillars causing the entire temple to fall down, killing everyone inside, including himself.
Sri Lanka had always been an important port and trading post in the ancient world, and was increasingly frequented by merchant ships from the Middle East, Persia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia. The islands were known to the first European explorers of South Asia and settled by many groups of Arab and Malay merchants.<br/><br/> A Portuguese colonial mission arrived on the island in 1505 headed by Lourenço de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida. At that point the island consisted of three kingdoms, namely Kandy in the central hills, Kotte at the Western coast, and Yarlpanam (Anglicised Jaffna) in the north. The Dutch arrived in the 17th century. The British East India Company took over the coastal regions controlled by the Dutch in 1796, and in 1802 these provinces were declared a crown colony under direct rule of the British government, therefore the island was not part of the British Raj. The annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 by the Kandyan convention, unified the island under British rule.<br/><br/> European colonists established a series of cinnamon, sugar, coffee, indigo cultivation followed by tea and rubber plantations and graphite mining. The British also brought a large number of indentured workers from Tamil Nadu to work in the plantation economy. The city of Colombo was developed as the administrative centre and commercial heart with its harbor, and the British established modern schools, colleges, roads and churches that introduced Western culture.<br/><br/> On 4 February 1948 the country gained its independence as the Dominion of Ceylon. It changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.