Historical Places

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La Paz (Bolivia): The highest capital in the world (3631m).

Lappland (Arctic region of Europe): Extends over Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola peninsula.

Lausanne ( Switzerland): On the northern shore of Lake Geneva. Tourist resort, convention centre. International Olympic committee hq.

Leeds (UK): This West Yorkshire city was famous in 18th c. for its textile manufacturing.


Industrial, cultural centre. Leeds Music festival, international pianoforte competition, etc.

Leningrad (Russia): Founded by Peter the Great in 1703. Called St. Petersburg, it was the capital of Russia of 200 years until 1918. For some time it was known as Petrograd. Russia’s second largest city. The Hermitage Museum is here.

Leshan (China): World’s tallest Buddha statue (71 meters) is here. It has a unique 24 hour ‘electronic bodyguard’.

Lhasa(Tibet): At 3684 m., it was the highest capital in the world before domination of Tibet by China.

Libreville (Gabon): Capital. The name was given in 1848 after freed slaves were settled there.

Liechtenstein (Central Europe): A small principality of 157 sq.km, with very high per capita income.

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Liittle Rock (USA): Capital of Arkansas. US Supreme court enforced a ruling against racial discrimination in schools in 1957.

Liverpool (UK): Sixth largest city in England and the principal Atlantic port. The Beatles belonged to Liverpool.

Locarno (Switzerland): Locarno Pact of 1925, resolving the status of the Rhineland and guaranteeing French – German and Belgian-German borders.

London (UK): Capital. A major trade, financial, cultural, political centre. Buckingham palace, West minister Abbey, Tower of London, Big Ben, Hyde Park, St.Paul’s, British Museum, Downing Street, etc are landmarks.

Lopburl: East of Bankok, famous for the thousands of monkeys that live with human beings in the town.

Lord’s (London, UK) Cricket grounded; hq of M.C.C

Lusatia (Germany): The home of the Sorbs, an ancient Slav people.

Maastricht (Netherlands): European Union conference of 1991 was held in this city. Maastricht Treaty was the agreement o Europe’s political, economic and monetary union.

Maceon (SE Europe) Ancient country (roughly the modern Macedonia). City of Thessaloniki founded of Alexander the Great.

Machu Picchu (Peru): Ruined Inca city, discovered in 1911. A world heritage site.

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Madagascar (Indian Ocean): World’s fourth largest island, settled by Indonesians in 1st c. AD.

Madrid (Spain): Capital. Highest capital city in Europe (attitude 655 m).

Malaga (Spain): Port ancient Malaca. Founded by Phoenicians in 12th C.B.C Birthplace of Picasso.

Mali (Africa): A republic in West Africa. A mediaeval state which reached its peak in 14th c. Rules by France 1881-95, territory of French Sudan until 1959.

Manchuria (China): Sparsely populated mountainous area. The last Chinese emperors were Manchus. Under Russian control for long.

Maramba (Zambia): Capital of N.Rhodesia 1911-1935. City first named ‘Livingstone’ after the first explorer David Livingstone’ .

Marrakesh (Morocco): One of Morocco’s four imperial cities (founded 1062). Former capital. Islamic, commercial, tourist centre.

Masada (Israel): The desert fortress famous as the scene of a mass suicide 2,000 years ago.

Mashhad (Iran): The holy city that attracts the most number of pilgrims (over 20m.) a year who come to the holy shrine of the 85h Shiite Imam.

Matterhorn (Switzerland): 4477 m. high mountain in the Pennine Alps on Swiss Italian border. Mont Cerein in French and Monte Cervino in Italian..

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Medina (Saudi Arabia): Islamic holy city that contains the tomb of Probhet Mohammed.

Mekong Delta (S.E Asia): Mekong river’s lower course has 1/3 of the population of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. In 1957, UN’s Mekong river development project again.

Memphis (USA): In Tennessee. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated here (1968).

Mexico City (Mexico): Capital largest city in the world. Olympic games (1968) . About 20,000 killed in an earthquake (1985).

Mohanjo-Daro (Pakistan): A great site of the Indus valley civilization. The excavation in 1920’s brought to light extensive brick-built remains.

Mombasa (Kenya): Chief port, Industrial centre. It was the capital of east Africa protectorate, 1888-1907. A British naval base in WWII.

Monaco (France-Italy border): Independent principality, 1.95 Sq.km. A luxurious resort known for Monte Carlo gambling centre, car races and beaches.

Mont Blanc (French-Italian border): highest mountain in the Alps. There is a 12km road tunnel connecting the two countries.

Monte Cristo (Italy): Islet in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Association with the Duma novel the count of Monte Cristo.

Montego Bay (Jamica): Port and tourist capital of the country. Locally called Mobay.

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Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland): A pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain regarded as the best fossil record of marine life.

Montserrat (UK): Territory in the Caribbean. A 1997 volcanic eruption made two-thirds of the island uninhabitable.

Montreal (Canada): Second largest French-speaking city in the world. Venue of 1976 Olympics. Trade, finance centre.

Montreux (Switzerland): The 13th century chateau de Chillion. Figures in Byron’s poem prisoner of Chillion. Annual television festival awards the Golden Rose of Montreux.

Mount Ararat (Turkey): Extinct volcanic peak. Noah’s Ark is said to have come to rest here.

Mount Isa (Australia): World’s largest city in area-41, 225 sq.km.

Mount Kailas(Tibet): Also known as Mount Meru. The world’s highest altitude pilgrimage ends here.

Mount Li (China): A life-size army of about 7500 painted terracotta figures deployed in military formation underground was discovered here in 1974. First Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi buried here.

Munich (Germany): Capital of Bavaria. Swedes occupied it in 1632 and the French in 1800. In 1920’s it was the centre of the Nazi Party, Munich Putsch (Beer hall Putsch) was an attempted coup in 1923 by Hitler to overthrow the republican government. Munich agreement of 1938 was a pact signed by Britain, France, Italy and Germany to settle the German claims on Czechoslovakia.

Murmansk (Russia): The only major ice-free port in the former USSR.

Mycenae: Mycenaen civilization was a brilliant Bronze age culture which flourished in Greece and the Aegean in 2nd millennium.

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Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan): Azerbaijan’s autonomous region whose population is about 80% Armenian. Armenia claims to the area in 1988 led to riots. Fighting broke out in 1991. Ceasefire in 1994 but tension continues.

Namur (Belgium): The city’s strategic position at the confluence of two rivers caused fighting over it many times. Damaged in both world Wars.

Nancy (France): Former seat of the Dukes of Lorraine. France got it in 1766.

Naples (Italy): Seaport, industrial, cultural centre. In 6th BC, it was founded by Greeks. Capital of the Kingdom of Naples, 1270-1860.

Nauru ( Western Pacific): World’s smallest republic, area 21 sq.km. Independent in 1968. Known for phosphate deposits.

Nepal (Asia): Until 2006, the only official Hindu kingdom in the world.

New York City (USA): The country’s largest city. The Dutch who colonized it called it New Amsterdam (1625). In 1644, Britain captured it and named it New York after the king’s brother the Duke of York. Erie Canal opened in 1825, paving the way for rapid growth. George Washington was inaugurated here as the first president. UN is located here, World trade centre, until Sept. 2001. Largest American port.

Niagra (USA): Known for Niagra falls on the US-Canada border.

Nineveh (Assyria): Important city of Assytia in Upper Mesopotamia. In the area around the town of Asur on the Tigris, a vast empire was built up which was at its height in 9th-8th c.BC.

Normandy (France): Seat of William I who invaded England in 1066, French recovered in 1204. Site of the Normandy Campaign (June 6, 1944), the allied invasion if German-occupied France-the largest amphibious operation in history.

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Novogorod (Russia): One of the oldest Russian cities. On a major trade route of eastern Europe, it became commercially prosperous in the middle ages.

Nunavat (Canada): Eskimo territory. Created in 1999 after negotiations with lnuit leaders.

Nuremberg (Germany): The trials of Nazi criminals after WWWII (Nuremberg Trials) took place in this city, which was heavily bombed in the war.

Nyasa Lake or Malawi Lake (Africa): Africa’s third largest. Known as Calendar Lake, because it is 365 miles long and 52 across at its widest point.

Oberammergau (Germany): Passion lay is performed here every ten years following a vow made by the villagers when they were saved from the Plague in 1633.

Odessa (Ukraine): Black sea port. Centre of the battleship ‘Potermkin’ mutiny in the revolution of 1905.

Okinawa (Japan): Island taken by USA in WW II, returned to Japan, 1972.

Oklahoma City (USA): Terrorists bombed a government office building in 1904, killing 168 people.

Olduvai Gorge (Trazania): Rich archaeological site, where fossils and Paleolithic implements were found. ‘Homo habilis’ was discovered by the leakeys. Some ‘Homo erectus’ remains too found here.

Oxford (UK): City on the Thames. Oxford university, one of the oldest in Europe, dating from the 12th century.

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Palermo (Italy): Port, capital of Sicily/ Phoenicians founded it in 8th BC.

Palembang (Indonesia): Port. It was capital of a Hindu Sumatran kingdom of 8th c.

Pamplona (Spain): The celebration running of the bulls held here every year 200,000 tourists arrived in 2006.

Panama (Central American): Occupies the Isthmus of Panama, the strip of land that links North South America. USA built the Panama canal, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1903 US got sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone. Political turbulence tormented Panama for long. USA interfered on several occasions.

Paris (France): Capital, Treaty of Paris (1761-3) ended seven Year’s War. Paris Peace conference held after WWI. Hq.of UNESCO, etc. A main world tourist centre, centre of high fashion and luxury goods. Louvre, Eiffel tower, Elysee Palace, Paris university (1170) etc.

Patmos (Greece): Island. Apostle St. John lived here for two years.

Pearl Harbour (USA): Naval base was bombed by Japan on De.7, 1941. This brought USA into WW II.

Pedra Furada (Brazil): Rock shelter, believed to be the earliest human settlement in the Americas.

Penang (Malaysia): First British settlement in Malaya. Capital Pinang was formerly George Town.

Pentagon (USA): A huge five-sided building in Arlington. Hq of US defence Dept. It was world’s largest office building (34 acres) when completed. On Sept.11, 2001 part of the building was destroyed by terrorists who crashed an aircraft in to Pentagon.

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Perak (Malaysia): One of the wealthiest states, after tin was discovered in the 1840s.

Pergamum (Asia Minor): Ancient city, was capital of the Attalids.

Perspolis (Iran): Places and graves of the Achaemenid rulers if Persia are here in the mountains. Sacked by Alexander the Great (331BC).

Peter and Paul Fortress (Russia): A stronghold founded by peter the Great (1703) on an island. St. Petersburg sprang up around it. A museum.

Piltdown (UK): Fossilised skull fragments ‘discovered’ in 1912 in Piltdown, Sussex, were believed to be the earliest human remains found in Europe. ‘The Piltdown Man’ was a hoax it was known 40 years later.

Pitcairn Island (S.Pacific): One of a small group of islands, UK overseas territory. Area is 4.6 sq.km. and population only 48.

Pittsburgh (USA): The British took Fort Duquesne (built by the French) and renamed it Fort Pitt (1758). Third largest US corporate hq.

Plymouth (USA): Site of the first permanent European settlement in New England found by the pilgrims in 1620. A tourist destination.

Polish Corridor (Poland): A belt of land that separated Prussia from the rest of Germany and was granted to Poland the Treaty of Versailles (1919). Annexed by Germany (1939), returned to Poland (1945).

Pompeil (Italy): Ancient city at the foot of Vesuvius, which erupted in AD 79 covering the city with ashes and pumicestone 6-7. deep.

Potala palace, Lhssa founded in 7th century. Symbol of old Tibet.

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Prussia (Germany): The most powerful German state in 19th c. It disappeared when Germany was divided after 1945. Frederick William (the Great Elector) and Frederic William III, King of Prussia (1797-1840) were great personalities.

Pusan (Korea): Seaport, A UN supply base during Korean war.

Rhodesia (Africa): Modern states Zimbabwe and Zambia constitute the old Rhodesia named after Cecil Rhodes.

Riga (Latvia): Capital, seaport, under Germany in WWII.

Rijeka(Croatia): Croatia’s largest port, was naval base of Austro Hungarian empire until 1918, Ceded to Italy in 1924 and to Yugoslavia in 1947.

Ripon (UK): Reckoned to be England’s second oldest town.

Roanoke Island (USA): Off the coast of N. Carolina. Site of the first English colonies in North America.

Rome(Italy): Capital. It was the capital of the Roman empire, which extended to continental Europe. Reached the highest point of glory in 1st and 2nd centuries. Then cam the Holy Roman Empire. The seat of papacy, Vatican city is within Rome.

Salzburg (Austria): Birthplace of Mozart.

San Francisco (USA): Californian city. Formerly Yerba Buena, renamed in 1848, Golden gate bridge in one of longest single-span suspension bridges. Terminus of the first transcontinental railway (1869).