THE CAPITAL OF JAPAN, Tokyo is one of the world’s largest, most densely populated, and most influential cities, with a population of more than 12 million (2003).
TASHKENT (ALSO TOSHKENT) is the capital of the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan, which gained its independence when the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.
SHANGHAI IS CHINA’s “second city,” and is a leader in the economic transformation of 21st-century China. Developed in the 19th century as imperial China’s main outlet to the West, the city became one of the world’s greatest marketplaces, as well as a sophisticated cultural center known as the Paris of the east.
AS THE MODERN capital of South Korea, Seoul has a varied and vibrant character that reflects an ancient heritage as well as rebuilding and urban development in the post-World War II period.
SÃO PAULO IS THE largest city in Brazil and serves as the capital of the state of São Paulo. With a metropolitan area population nearing 20 million at the start of the 21st century...
SAMARKAND (SAMARQAND), the second-largest city in Uzbekistan, is known as the mirror of the world, the garden of the soul, the jewel of ISLAM, the pearl of the East, the center of the universe, and the city of famous shadows.
ONE OF THE MOST magnificent cities of the ancient world, Persepolis was the political, cultural, and religious center of the Achaemenian Persian Empire for over 200 years before its complete destruction at the hands of Alexander the Great in 330 B.C.E.
NEW DELHI, by current estimates, has a population of about 300,000 persons, although Greater Delhi’s population is estimated to be between 12 and 14 million, making it the third-largest urban settlement in India.
MOSCOW IS THE capital city of the Russian Federation, and although superseded as the official capital during the 18th and 19th centuries, it has dominated Russian politics, culture, and economics since the 14th century.
MEXICO CITY IS THE capital of the country of Mexico. The city is located in the Valley of Mexico on the central Mexican plateau. The core of the city is comprised of the Federal District. However, the Mexico City metropolitan area goes well beyond the boundaries of the Federal District into the surrounding states.
CONSIDERED TO BE the best harbor in the Far East, known as the “Pearl of the Orient,” Manila has been a commercial and cultural hub of the Philippines, and of Southeast Asia, for over four centuries. Ferdinand Magellan claimed the island of Luzon for Spain in 1521, as a strategic point of access to the Spice Islands of the Far East.
WITH A POPULATION of 3,092,759 and crossed by the Manzanares River, Madrid is the capital and largest city in Spain. Located approximately at the center of the Iberian Peninsula, at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid has a dry continental climate, with hot summers and cool winters.
LUXOR IS LOCATED on the banks of the middle reaches of the Nile River, in Qena governorate, eastcentral Egypt. Approximately, 440 mi (700 km) south of Cairo, it is a bustling city with a population of about 150,000. As a modern city, it caters to tourists who are attracted to the famous archaeological sites that attest to Egypt’s rich history.
LOS ANGELES, California, is the second most populous city in the United States with an estimated 2002 population of approximately 3.8 million. Los Angeles (also known as L.A.) is the principal city of a metropolitan region with a population of over 12 million.
LOCATED ON THE Thames River in southwestern England in the British Isles, London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. The history of London can be traced back nearly 2,000 years to its founding as Londinium in 50 C.E. by the Romans. Much debate has occurred as to the exact type of Roman settlement that originated at the site, civilian or military.
WITH A metropolitan-area population of 2,682,687, Lisbon is the capital and largest city in Portugal. It is located on the right bank of the Tagus River, where it forms a large estuary providing a natural safe harbor close to the Atlantic Ocean. The city evolves over a series of hills and enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with mild winters and warm dry summers.
CALCUTTA, RECENTLY renamed Kolkata after its original village site of Kolikata and an on-site temple of goddess Kali, was founded by Job Charnock in 1690 on behalf of the British East India Company. The same location in northwestern India was also a Portuguese and Dutch encampment site during the mid-17th century.
KHARTOUM IS THE capital city and administrative region of the Republic of the Sudan, located at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. Khartoum is the second-largest city in North Africa, with an estimated population of 2.5 million in the city proper, and up to 7 million in the Greater Khartoum district, which includes Khartoum General, Khartoum North, and Omdurman, each city linked by bridges.
AFTER PAKISTAN’S independence, Karachi was the national capital for 13 years (1947–60). In 2004, it was the capital of the Province of Sind. With a population of a little over 11 million, Karachi is the 16th largest metropolis of the world. Karachi has a semidesert climate with a summer mean temperature of 80 degrees F (26.7 degrees C).