Category: BP Geographic History
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The Mystery Of Time

The Terracotta Army was discovered in 1974 by coincidence when farmers tried to dig a hole for a well. It is supposed to display the army of the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi, and protect his grave. Not all warriors are uncovered yet, it has to be done carefully.…
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Home Of Diplomacy

Although the site has been continuously inhabited since the 2nd century BCE, the world “Kremlin” was first mentioned in the year 1331. It contained the Tsar palace, was later the seat of the Soviet government and nowadays of the President and government of the Russian Federation. The word “Kremlin” means…
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The Natural Gas Company

The Ruhrgas AG, later E.ON Ruhrgas, was Germany’s largest natural gas company. It was founded in 1926 and bought by the energy company E.ON in 2003. For a while Ruhrgas was a shareholder of Gazprom. The Russian company has always been a reliable partner and even compensated losses when certain…
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One Event And Two Decades

The unthinkable happened at 8:46 am local time on 11 September 2001, an airplane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, and all who can remember the event know that this alone was shocking and unbelievable enough, but at 9:03 am another plane…
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Protests in Almaty

The Akimat Residence under restoration after it was damaged during the unrest that happened from 2 till 11 January 2022. It is one of the government buildings of Almaty which had been the capital of Kazakhstan until 1997 when it was relocated to Astana. Also visible on the picture is…
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Bishkek Protests

From the train station it is advisable to walk to the city centre of Bishkek via the Erkindik Boulevard which is like a long park. In the past a fence surrounded the White House of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek. It was removed as a symbol for more openness after the protests…
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City On The Hills

Not only Kigali was built on several hills. The city Byzantium was founded on seven hills on a peninsula at the Bosporus in the 7th century BCE. In 330 CE it was renamed Constantinople, later Stambul and in 1930 Istanbul. The Süleymaniye Mosque was built on the third hill and…
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Mussa Bin Bique

View towards the Indian Ocean from Baia in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The coastal area is actually a better place to stay than the city centre, it is safer and more developed. The name of the country derived from the Arab trader Mussa Bin Bique who first visited the…
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Colonial Maputo

Maputo was established in 1781 under the name Lourenço Marques on the northern bank of Espírito Santo Estuary of Delagoa Bay. It was named after a Portuguese navigator who was sent in 1544 by the governor of Mozambique on a voyage of exploration. In 1876 Lourenço Marques was elevated to…
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History of Bishkek

Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Its history goes back to 1825 when a fortress named Pishpek was established to control local caravan routes and to collect tribute from Kyrgyz tribes, it existed until 1860. Eight years later a Russian settlement was founded on the site. It grew into a…
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Akimat Residence

The Akimat Residence, one of the government buildings of Almaty which had been the capital of Kazakhstan until 1997 when it was relocated to Astana, at the time known as Akmola. The building was damaged during the unrest that happened from 2 till 11 January 2022 and is currently being…
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Former Presidential Palace

At that time it was still possible to see the former Presidential Palace in the background of Republic Square in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. It existed until the unrest that happened from 2 till 11 January 2022 during which it burned down and was subsequently demolished