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Curated category

Capitals of caliphates

  • MeccaThe word Mecca appears in the 741 Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, placing the region midway between Ur and Harran rather than in the Hejaz.
  • Córdoba, SpainThe first traces of human presence in the area date to 35,000 BC. Neanderthal remains found near the Guadalquivir river mark the earliest known activity in…
  • BaghdadOn the 30th of July 762, Caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of a new city to serve as the capital of his Abbasid Empire.
  • CairoThe Nile River flows through Cairo, here contrasting ancient customs of daily life with the modern city of today. Areas of what would become Cairo were…
  • IstanbulGreek colonists from Megara established Byzantium on the Sarayburnu promontory around 657 BCE. These settlers built an acropolis adjacent to the Golden Horn…