Place explorer
Places
166 locations
Abu Simbel
Egypt · 22.34, 31.63
Ramesses II cut two colossal temples into a Nubian cliff, aligned so sunlight reaches the inner sanctuary twice a year.
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Accra
Ghana · 5.60, -0.19
Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana free, the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence and a beacon for the continent.
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Adwa
Ethiopia · 14.16, 38.90
Ethiopian forces under Menelik II defeated an Italian army, securing Ethiopia's independence through the scramble for Africa.
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Agra
Uttar Pradesh, India · 27.18, 78.04
Mughal city of the Taj Mahal.
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Aigai — Vergina
Greece · 40.49, 22.32
Macedonia’s royal burial ground preserves remarkable evidence of court life in the age of Philip II.
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Akrotiri
Greece · 36.35, 25.40
Volcanic ash preserved a Bronze Age town on Santorini, including multistory houses and vivid wall paintings.
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Aksum
Tigray, Ethiopia · 14.12, 38.72
Capital of a Red Sea trading empire.
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Alexandria
Egypt · 31.20, 29.92
Hellenistic port and seat of the ancient world's most famous library.
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Ancient Corinth
Greece · 37.91, 22.88
The defeat of the Achaean League brought destruction to a major Greek city.
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Angkor
Siem Reap, Cambodia · 13.41, 103.87
Temple city of the Khmer Empire.
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Anyang
China · 36.10, 114.39
Shang kings carved questions to their ancestors on bones and shells — the earliest Chinese writing.
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Arkadi Monastery
Greece · 35.31, 24.63
A monastery sheltering insurgents and civilians became a symbol of the Cretan revolt against Ottoman rule.
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Arkaim
Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia · 52.65, 59.57
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Athens
Greece · 37.98, 23.73
The Attic city whose reforms of 508 BCE gave the world the word democracy.
4 linked events
Babylon
Iraq · 32.54, 44.42
Mesopotamian capital of Hammurabi's law and Nebuchadnezzar's walls.
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Badaling
China · 40.36, 116.02
The first emperor linked older border walls into a defence against the northern steppe.
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Baghdad
Iraq · 33.32, 44.37
Round City of the Abbasid caliphs.
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Baikonur
Kazakhstan · 45.96, 63.31
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Ballarat
Australia · -37.56, 143.85
Gold miners rebelled against licence fees; though crushed, the revolt became a founding story of Australian democracy.
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Bayeux
France · 49.28, -0.70
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Beijing
China · 39.90, 116.41
Seat of Ming and Qing emperors.
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Benin City
Edo, Nigeria · 6.33, 5.60
Royal city of the Benin bronzes.
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Berlin
Germany · 52.52, 13.40
City divided and reunited.
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Bethel
United States · 41.70, -74.87
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Bilbao
Spain · 43.26, -2.94
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Borobudur
Central Java, Indonesia · -7.61, 110.20
The largest Buddhist monument on earth.
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Borodino
Moscow Oblast, Russia · 55.52, 35.82
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Botany Bay
Australia · -34.00, 151.20
James Cook's Endeavour anchored at Kamay, a first encounter with the Gweagal people that foreshadowed colonisation.
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Budj Bim
Australia · -38.08, 141.92
The Gunditjmara built stone channels to farm eels, one of the oldest aquaculture systems in the world.
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Buenos Aires
Argentina · -34.60, -58.38
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Cahokia
Illinois, USA · 38.66, -90.06
Largest city north of Mexico before Columbus.
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Canberra
Australia · -35.28, 149.13
The first Anzac Day marked the Gallipoli landings, creating a national rite of remembrance.
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Cannes
France · 43.55, 7.02
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Cape Canaveral
United States · 28.39, -80.61
Launch coast of the twentieth century's exit from Earth.
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Cape Town
South Africa · -33.92, 18.42
Port at the tip of Africa.
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Carthage
Tunis, Tunisia · 36.85, 10.32
Phoenician sea power and Rome's great rival.
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Chang'an
Xi'an, China · 34.34, 108.94
Eastern terminus of the Silk Road and Tang imperial capital.
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Chichén Itzá
Yucatán, Mexico · 20.68, -88.57
Maya city of the feathered serpent.
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Constantinople
Istanbul, Türkiye · 41.01, 28.98
The Queen of Cities, guarded by the Theodosian Walls for a thousand years.
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Córdoba
Andalusia, Spain · 37.89, -4.78
Jewel of al-Andalus.
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Dakar
Senegal · 14.72, -17.47
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Delhi
India · 28.61, 77.21
Capital of independent India.
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Delos
Greece · 37.40, 25.27
A sacred island became an international trading hub after Rome changed its political and commercial status.
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Delphi
Greece · 38.48, 22.50
A sanctuary on Mount Parnassus became a meeting place for pilgrims, city-states and questions about the future.
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Derbent
Russia · 42.05, 48.29
Sasanian Persians built walls across the Caspian pass, guarding one of the oldest cities in Russia.
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Djenné
Mali · 13.90, -4.55
The world's largest mud-brick building was rebuilt on medieval foundations and is replastered by the whole town every year.
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Dujiangyan
China · 31.00, 103.60
Li Bing split the Min River without a dam, an irrigation system still watering the Chengdu plain.
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Dunhuang
China · 40.04, 94.81
Monks began carving Buddhist cave shrines on the Silk Road; they grew into a thousand-year gallery of art.
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Edinburgh
Scotland · 55.95, -3.19
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Epidaurus
Greece · 37.60, 23.08
A theatre took shape beside a sanctuary where pilgrims sought healing from Asclepius.
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Fez
Morocco · 34.02, -5.01
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Florence
Italy · 43.77, 11.26
Banking republic that financed the Italian Renaissance.
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Giza
Egypt · 29.98, 31.13
The Old Kingdom necropolis and its three great pyramids.
2 linked events
Granada
Andalusia, Spain · 37.18, -3.60
Last Nasrid kingdom of al-Andalus.
1 linked events
Great Zimbabwe
Masvingo, Zimbabwe · -20.27, 30.93
Stone-walled capital of a gold-trading kingdom.
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Guangzhou
China · 23.13, 113.26
Britain went to war to force the opium trade on China, beginning a century of humiliation.
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Hastings
East Sussex, England · 50.91, 0.49
Where Norman England began.
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Havana
Cuba · 23.11, -82.37
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Hiroshima
Japan · 34.39, 132.46
City of the first atomic attack.
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Hong Kong
China · 22.30, 114.17
Britain returned Hong Kong to China under the promise of 'one country, two systems'.
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Isandlwana
South Africa · -28.36, 30.65
The Zulu army inflicted a stunning defeat on British forces, the opening of the Anglo-Zulu War.
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Jerusalem
Jerusalem · 31.77, 35.21
Holy city of three faiths.
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Kaifeng
China · 34.80, 114.31
With perhaps a million people, paper money and printing, Kaifeng was among the world's great cities.
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Kairouan
Tunisia · 35.68, 10.10
Founded by Uqba ibn Nafi, the mosque became a centre of Islamic learning across North Africa.
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Kamchatka
Russia · 56.00, 160.00
Vitus Bering sailed from Kamchatka through the strait between Asia and America that bears his name.
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Karakorum
Övörkhangai, Mongolia · 47.20, 102.82
Capital of the Mongol Empire.
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Kazan
Tatarstan, Russia · 55.80, 49.11
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Kerma
Sudan · 19.60, 30.41
The kingdom of Kush raised vast mud-brick temples at Kerma, one of Africa's earliest urban centres.
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Kilwa Kisiwani
Tanzania · -8.96, 39.52
Ibn Battuta praised Kilwa as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a Swahili hub of the Indian Ocean gold trade.
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Kitty Hawk
North Carolina, USA · 36.02, -75.67
Dunes of the first powered flight.
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Kizhi
Karelia, Russia · 62.07, 35.22
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Knossos
Greece · 35.30, 25.16
Knossos became a major center of Minoan civilization, with a palace linking ceremonial life, storage and administration on Crete.
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Konya
Türkiye · 37.87, 32.49
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Kulikovo Field
Tula Oblast, Russia · 53.67, 38.67
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Kyiv
Ukraine · 50.45, 30.52
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Kyoto
Japan · 35.01, 135.77
Imperial capital of Japan for a millennium.
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Lake Baikal
Russia · 53.50, 108.00
Scientific expeditions described the world's deepest and oldest lake, home to unique seals and fish.
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Lake Mungo
Australia · -33.70, 143.10
One of the oldest known human burials outside Africa, evidence of Aboriginal ritual life tens of thousands of years ago.
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Lalibela
Amhara, Ethiopia · 12.03, 39.05
Churches carved from living rock.
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Lascaux
Dordogne, France · 45.05, 1.17
Painted caves of the Upper Palaeolithic.
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Leningrad
Russia · 59.93, 30.34
For 872 days the city endured blockade and famine; the ice 'Road of Life' kept it alive.
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Leptis Magna
Libya · 32.64, 14.29
Emperor Septimius Severus lavished his home city with a forum, basilica and harbour that made it a jewel of Roman Africa.
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Leshan
China · 29.55, 103.77
A 71-metre Buddha was carved from a cliff where three rivers meet, meant to calm the waters.
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Lhasa
China · 29.66, 91.12
The Fifth Dalai Lama raised the vast palace above Lhasa, seat of Tibetan rule for three centuries.
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Lindisfarne
Northumberland, England · 55.68, -1.80
Holy island of Northumbrian monks.
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Lisbon
Portugal · 38.72, -9.14
Atlantic port of the age of navigation.
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London
England · 51.51, -0.13
Capital of the industrial world.
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Machu Picchu
Cusco, Peru · -13.16, -72.55
Inca royal estate in the clouds.
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Madrid
Spain · 40.42, -3.70
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Mainz
Germany · 49.99, 8.25
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Manchester
United Kingdom · 53.48, -2.24
Cottonopolis — the first industrial city of the modern world.
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Mapungubwe
South Africa · -22.19, 29.39
An early southern African kingdom traded ivory and gold to the coast; its golden rhinoceros is a national treasure.
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Marathon
Greece · 38.12, 23.98
Athenians and Plataeans defeated a Persian expedition on the coastal plain of Marathon.
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Melbourne
Australia · -37.81, 144.96
Six colonies united as the Commonwealth of Australia, with the first parliament opening in Melbourne.
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Mer (Murray Island)
Australia · -9.92, 144.05
The High Court recognised native title, overturning the doctrine that Australia had been nobody's land.
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Meroë
Sudan · 16.94, 33.75
Kushite rulers were buried under more than two hundred steep pyramids near the Nile, in a kingdom famed for iron working.
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Meteora
Greece · 39.73, 21.63
Monastic communities established houses of prayer on the towering rock pillars of Thessaly.
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Mexico City
Mexico · 19.43, -99.13
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Milan
Italy · 45.46, 9.19
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Missolonghi
Greece · 38.37, 21.43
Besieged defenders and civilians attempted a desperate breakout during the Greek War of Independence.
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Mohenjo-daro
Sindh, Pakistan · 27.33, 68.14
Planned brick city of the Indus civilisation.
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Montevideo
Uruguay · -34.90, -56.16
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Moscow
Russia · 55.76, 37.62
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Mumbai
India · 19.08, 72.88
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Munich
Germany · 48.14, 11.58
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Murujuga
Australia · -20.60, 116.80
The Burrup Peninsula holds perhaps a million engravings, among the largest rock art collections on Earth.
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Mycenae
Greece · 37.73, 22.76
A monumental gateway guarded one of the most powerful citadels of Bronze Age Greece.
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Mystras
Greece · 37.07, 22.37
A fortress above Sparta grew into a major center of late Byzantine government and culture.
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Nafplio
Greece · 37.57, 22.80
A fortified port became the seat of government as an independent Greek state took shape.
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Nanjing
China · 32.06, 118.79
Admiral Zheng He led giant junks across the Indian Ocean as far as East Africa.
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Navarino Bay — Pylos
Greece · 36.94, 21.67
British, French and Russian squadrons destroyed much of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in Navarino Bay.
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Nazca
Ica, Peru · -14.74, -75.13
Desert of giant geoglyphs.
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New Orleans
United States · 29.95, -90.07
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New York
United States · 40.71, -74.01
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Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod, Russia · 58.52, 31.28
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Olduvai Gorge
Tanzania · -2.99, 35.35
Cradle of early human tool-making.
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Olympia
Greece · 37.64, 21.63
Sanctuary of Zeus and site of the quadrennial games from 776 BCE.
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Paris
France · 48.86, 2.35
Capital of revolution, barricades, and the modern political vocabulary.
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Persepolis
Fars, Iran · 29.93, 52.89
Ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid kings.
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Petra
Ma'an, Jordan · 30.33, 35.44
Rock-cut caravan city of the Nabataeans.
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Philadelphia
Pennsylvania, USA · 39.95, -75.17
Birthplace of American independence.
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Pompeii
Campania, Italy · 40.75, 14.48
Roman town preserved under volcanic ash.
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Port Arthur
Australia · -43.15, 147.85
A notorious convict prison in Tasmania, now one of the best-preserved relics of the transportation era.
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Potosí
Bolivia · -19.58, -65.75
Silver mountain that financed an empire.
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Prayagraj
India · 25.44, 81.85
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Pskov
Russia · 57.82, 28.33
Pskov broke from Novgorod to become a city republic ruled by its veche assembly behind a mighty kremlin.
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Qufu
China · 35.60, 116.99
The teacher of Lu gathered disciples whose recorded sayings shaped Chinese ethics for two millennia.
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Rapa Nui
Chile · -27.11, -109.35
Remote island of the moai.
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Rio de Janeiro
Brazil · -22.91, -43.17
Former imperial capital of Brazil.
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Rome
Italy · 41.90, 12.50
From hilltop settlement to the administrative heart of a Mediterranean empire.
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Runnymede
Surrey, England · 51.44, -0.56
Meadow of the Great Charter.
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Salamis Strait
Greece · 37.95, 23.55
Greek warships fought the Persian fleet in the narrow waters beside Salamis.
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Salzburg
Austria · 47.81, 13.05
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Samarkand
Uzbekistan · 39.63, 66.97
Oasis city at the crossroads of the Eurasian trade routes.
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Senate Square
Russia · 59.94, 30.30
Officers demanded a constitution in St Petersburg; their defeat inspired generations of reformers.
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Seville
Spain · 37.39, -5.98
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Solovetsky Islands
Russia · 65.02, 35.71
Monks founded a fortress-monastery on White Sea islands; centuries later it became the first Gulag camp.
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St Petersburg
Russia · 59.93, 30.36
Peter the Great's window on Europe.
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Stalingrad
Volgograd, Russia · 48.71, 44.51
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Stonehenge
Wiltshire, England · 51.18, -1.83
Neolithic stone circle aligned to the solstices.
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Suez
Egypt · 30.59, 32.27
A 164-kilometre canal joined the Mediterranean and Red Sea, reshaping world trade routes overnight.
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Sydney
Australia · -33.87, 151.21
Harbour where the First Fleet anchored.
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Tassili n'Ajjer
Algeria · 25.50, 9.00
Thousands of paintings record a green Sahara of cattle herders, hunters and swimmers before the desert came.
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Tenochtitlan
Mexico City, Mexico · 19.43, -99.13
Island capital of the Mexica, laid out on causeways across Lake Texcoco.
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Teotihuacan
State of Mexico · 19.69, -98.84
Vast Mesoamerican city of pyramids.
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Thermopylae
Greece · 38.80, 22.54
A Greek coalition defended a narrow pass against Xerxes’ invading army.
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Thessaloniki
Greece · 40.64, 22.94
Cassander founded a new Macedonian city that would become a crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean.
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Tiananmen
China · 39.91, 116.40
Students protested in Beijing, sparking a movement for science, democracy and a new literature.
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Timbuktu
Mali · 16.77, -3.00
Saharan city of scholars and manuscripts.
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Tobolsk
Russia · 58.20, 68.25
The Cossack Yermak defeated the Khanate of Sibir, opening the conquest of Siberia.
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Tunguska
Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia · 60.89, 101.89
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Uluru
Australia · -25.34, 131.04
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Ur
Dhi Qar, Iraq · 30.96, 46.10
Sumerian city of ziggurats and royal tombs.
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Vatican City
Vatican City · 41.90, 12.45
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Venice
Italy · 45.44, 12.32
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Vienna
Austria · 48.21, 16.37
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Vladimir
Russia · 56.13, 40.41
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Vladivostok
Russia · 43.12, 131.89
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Winter Palace
Russia · 59.94, 30.31
Catherine the Great bought her first paintings, founding one of the world's greatest museums.
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Winter Palace
Russia · 59.94, 30.32
Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace and seized power, founding the Soviet state.
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Wittenberg
Germany · 51.87, 12.65
University town where the Reformation found its printing press.
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Yan'an
China · 36.59, 109.49
Communist forces retreated 10,000 kilometres to Yan'an, a journey that made Mao Zedong their leader.
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Yangzhou
China · 32.39, 119.42
The Sui dynasty linked the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, the longest canal in the world.
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Yasnaya Polyana
Tula Oblast, Russia · 54.07, 37.52
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Yekaterinburg
Russia · 56.84, 60.61
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Zanzibar
Tanzania · -6.16, 39.19
Omani sultans made Zanzibar the capital of a spice and trade empire, leaving carved doors and coral-stone streets.
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