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First Crusade (1096-1099): The crusader armies crossed over into Asia Minor during the first half of 1097. The first objective of their campaign was Nicaea, previously a city under Byzantine rule, but which had become the capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rüm under Kilij Arslan I. On the Crusaders' arrival, the city was subjected to a lengthy siege, and when Arslan had word of it he rushed back to Nicaea and attacked the crusader army on 16 May.<br/><br/> He was driven back by the unexpectedly large crusader force, with heavy losses being suffered on both sides in the ensuing battle. The siege continued, but the crusaders had little success as they found they could not blockade the lake upon which the city was situated, and from which it could be provisioned. In order to break the city, Alexios sent the Crusaders ships rolled over land on logs, and at the sight of them the Turkish garrison finally surrendered on 18 June.
Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini, born between 1895 and 1897; died July 4, 1974) was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the Mandatory Palestine.<br/><br/> Al-Husseini was an Arab nationalist and following the end of the First World War positioned himself in Damascus, as a supporter of the Arab Kingdom of Syria. However, following the fiasco of the Franco-Syrian War, his positions on pan-Arabism shifted to a form of local nationalism for the Arabs of Palestine and he moved back to Jerusalem. From 1921 to 1937 al-Husseini was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, using the position to promote Islam and rally Arab nationalism against Zionism.<br/><br/> During the 1948 Palestine War, Husseini represented the Arab Higher Committee and opposed both the 1947 UN Partition Plan and King Abdullah's entente with Zionists to annex the Arab part of British Mandatory Palestine to Jordan. In September 1948, he participated in the establishment of an All-Palestine Government. Seated in Egyptian ruled Gaza, this government won a limited recognition of Arab states, but was eventually dissolved by Gamal Nasser in 1959.
The Great Mosque of Xian, founded in 742 CE, is the oldest mosque in China. The original structure was built during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) although much of the present day mosque was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).<br/><br/> The mosque is completely Chinese in its construction and architectural style, except for some Arabic lettering and decorations. There are no domes or traditional-style minarets.
In 1875, Siamese (Thai) forces crossed the Mekong River at Nong Khai, northeastern Thailand, in the first miltary expedition of what would become known as the 'Haw Wars'. The expedition's goal was to capture the Haw base at Thung Chiang Kham in Laos.
In 1875, Siamese (Thai) forces crossed the Mekong River at Nong Khai, northeastern Thailand, in the first miltary expedition of what would become known as the 'Haw Wars'. The expedition's goal was to capture the Haw base at Thung Chiang Kham in Laos.
In 1875, Siamese (Thai) forces crossed the Mekong River at Nong Khai, northeastern Thailand, in the first miltary expedition of what would become known as the 'Haw Wars'. The expedition's goal was to capture the Haw base at Thung Chiang Kham in Laos.
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين‎ Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn; Greek: Παλαιστίνη, Palaistinē; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: פלשתינה Palestina) is a name given to the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The region is also known as the Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ־ישראל Eretz-Yisra'el), the Holy Land and the Southern Levant.<br/><br/> In 1832 Palestine was conquered by Muhammad Ali's Egypt, but in 1840 Britain intervened and returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans in return for further capitulations. The end of the 19th century saw the beginning of Zionist immigration and the Revival of the Hebrew language. The movement was publicly supported by Great Britain during World War I with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The British captured Jerusalem a month later, and were formally awarded a mandate in 1922.<br/><br/> In 1947, following World War II and the Holocaust, the British Government announced their desire to terminate the Mandate, and the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition the territory into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jewish leadership accepted the proposal but the Arab Higher Committee rejected it; a civil war began immediately, and the State of Israel was declared in 1948.<br/><br/> The 1948 Palestinian exodus, known in Arabic as the Nakba (Arabic: النكبة‎, an-Nakbah, 'The Catastrophe') occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War during which Israel captured and incorporated a further 26% of Palestinian territory.<br/><br/> In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the remainder of historic Palestine and began a continuing policy of Israeli settlement and annexation.
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين‎ Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn; Greek: Παλαιστίνη, Palaistinē; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: פלשתינה Palestina) is a name given to the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The region is also known as the Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ־ישראל Eretz-Yisra'el), the Holy Land and the Southern Levant.<br/><br/> In 1832 Palestine was conquered by Muhammad Ali's Egypt, but in 1840 Britain intervened and returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans in return for further capitulations. The end of the 19th century saw the beginning of Zionist immigration and the Revival of the Hebrew language. The movement was publicly supported by Great Britain during World War I with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The British captured Jerusalem a month later, and were formally awarded a mandate in 1922.<br/><br/> In 1947, following World War II and the Holocaust, the British Government announced their desire to terminate the Mandate, and the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition the territory into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jewish leadership accepted the proposal but the Arab Higher Committee rejected it; a civil war began immediately, and the State of Israel was declared in 1948.<br/><br/> The 1948 Palestinian exodus, known in Arabic as the Nakba (Arabic: النكبة‎, an-Nakbah, 'The Catastrophe') occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War during which Israel captured and incorporated a further 26% of Palestinian territory.<br/><br/> In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the remainder of historic Palestine and began a continuing policy of Israeli settlement and annexation.
The Black Flag Army (Chinese: Heiqi Jun) was a remnant of a bandit group that may have been former Taiping rebels that crossed the border from Guangxi province in China into Upper Tonkin, in the Empire of Annam (Vietnam) in 1865. They became known mainly for their fights against French forces in cooperation with both Vietnamese and Chinese authorities. The Black Flag Army is so named because of the preference of its commander, Liu Yongfu, for using black command flags. <br/><br/> Pha That Luang, the 'Great Sacred Stupa' of Vientiane, is the most important religious edifice in Laos. It also has great spiritual significance for the Lao people, having been considered the symbol of Lao independence and sovereignty since the time of Lan Xang, the Kingdom of the Million Elephants, in the mid-sixteenth century.<br/><br/> According to legend, That Luang was first established in the year 236 of the Buddhist Era, corresponding to 307 BC, when five Lao monks who had been studying in India, returned home bearing a breastbone of the Buddha. The five pilgrims persuaded Phaya Chanthaburi Pasithisak, then Lord of Vientiane, to build a stupa over the sacred relic 'for those who wished to pray and worship'.<br/><br/> The second, historic establishment of Pha That Luang was undertaken by King Setthathirat the Great, who moved the Lao capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in the mid-sixteenth century. Construction of the great stupa began in 1566.
Panglong in the Wa regions near the China border is a town founded by Chinese Muslim settlers in the trans-Salween Wa States. It became an important Hui (Chinese Muslim) settlement after the collapse of the Yunnan Muslim rebellion (1856 - 1873).<br/><br/> Chinese muleteers were known to the Burmese as Panthay, and to the Thai and Lao as Haw or Chin Haw. They were - and to some extent still are - the masters of the Golden Triangle.<br/><br/> Yunnanese Chinese muleteers have for several centuries been the traders of the 'Golden Triangle' formed by the junction between Burma, China, Laos and Thailand. Travelling as far afield as Moulmein in Burma, Chengdu in China, Luang Prabang in Laos, Chiang Mai in Thailand and Lhasa in Tibet, they have long been indomitable caravan masters and today continue to thrive in motorized long distance commerce.
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi castle (Arabic: قصر الحير الغربي‎), located 80 km south-west of Palmyra on the Damascus road, is a twin palace with Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, built by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 727 CE.<br/><br/> It was used as an eye of the king during the Umayyad era, to control the movement of the desert tribes and to be a barrier against them, as well as being a hunting chalet. Later it was utilized by the Ayyubids and the Mamelukes but was abandoned permanently after the Mongol invasions.<br/><br/> The castle is quadrangular in outline with 70-meter sides. The central doorway to the castle is very attractive, and has been moved to the National Museum of Damascus to be used as the entrance. Its semi-cylindrical towers on the sides of the doorway, columns, and the geometric shapes mirrored a blend of Persian, Byzantine and Arab architecture.<br/><br/> Not much remains from the castle. All that is visible is a reservoir to collect waters from Harbaka dam, a bath and a khan. The gateway is presently preserved as a façade in the National Museum of Damascus.
This illustration by Louis Delaporte is one of dozens he produced during his two-year venture (1866-68) with the Mekong Exploration Commission sponsored by the French Ministry of the Navy, the intention of which was to lay the groundwork for the expansion of French colonies in Indochina. Traveling the Mekong by boat, the small French delegation voyaged from Saigon to Phnom Penh to Luang Prabang, then farther north into the uncharted waters of Upper Laos and China's Yunnan province, before returning to Hanoi in 1868 by foot, accompanied by porters and elephants.
The Catholic Monarchs (Spanish: los Reyes Católicos) is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with consanguinity by Sixtus IV. The title of ‘Catholic King and Queen’ was bestowed on them by the Pope Alexander VI in 1496. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Their marriage united both crowns under the same family.
The Black Flag Army (Chinese: Heiqi Jun) was a remnant of a bandit group that may have been former Taiping rebels that crossed the border from Guangxi province in China into Upper Tonkin, in the Empire of Annam (Vietnam) in 1865. They became known mainly for their fights against French forces in cooperation with both Vietnamese and Chinese authorities. The Black Flag Army is so named because of the preference of its commander, Liu Yongfu, for using black command flags. <br/><br/> Pha That Luang, the 'Great Sacred Stupa' of Vientiane, is the most important religious edifice in Laos. It also has great spiritual significance for the Lao people, having been considered the symbol of Lao independence and sovereignty since the time of Lan Xang, the Kingdom of the Million Elephants, in the mid-sixteenth century.<br/><br/> According to legend, That Luang was first established in the year 236 of the Buddhist Era, corresponding to 307 BC, when five Lao monks who had been studying in India, returned home bearing a breastbone of the Buddha. The five pilgrims persuaded Phaya Chanthaburi Pasithisak, then Lord of Vientiane, to build a stupa over the sacred relic 'for those who wished to pray and worship'.<br/><br/> The second, historic establishment of Pha That Luang was undertaken by King Setthathirat the Great, who moved the Lao capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in the mid-sixteenth century. Construction of the great stupa began in 1566.
First Crusade (1096-1099): The crusader armies crossed over into Asia Minor during the first half of 1097. The first objective of their campaign was Nicaea, previously a city under Byzantine rule, but which had become the capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rüm under Kilij Arslan I. On the Crusaders' arrival, the city was subjected to a lengthy siege, and when Arslan had word of it he rushed back to Nicaea and attacked the crusader army on 16 May. He was driven back by the unexpectedly large crusader force, with heavy losses being suffered on both sides in the ensuing battle. The siege continued, but the crusaders had little success as they found they could not blockade the lake upon which the city was situated, and from which it could be provisioned. In order to break the city, Alexios sent the Crusaders ships rolled over land on logs, and at the sight of them the Turkish garrison finally surrendered on 18 June.