Historically Important Cities

It is known as the gateway to the desert, and grew around trans-Saharan trade. Gradually, it became the most important city for the Tuareg people.

It served as the capital of the ... Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute Myanmar. It is home to about 2000 Buddhist temples.

Founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th century B.C. on the coast of the Mediterranean. Due to its location and impressive harbour, it became an important trading city.

One of the most important cities on the silk road. Founded in the 7th century BC, making it one of the oldest cities in Central Asia.

It evolved from a small settlement on an island in the western swamps of Lake Texcoco into the powerful political, economic, and religious center of the Aztecs.

It was once one of the largest and most important cities in Central Asia, positioned as it is on the crossroads of the main north-south and east-west trade routes that cross Central Asia. Locals called the city 'half of the world' due to its importance and beauty.

It is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus. Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, its early history is that of the first Aryan settlement in the middle Ganges valley.

It was the capital of the Khmer empire from the 9th to the 15th century, a period that is considered the classical era of Cambodian history.

Capital and national religious centre of Tibet. Former home of the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

It was the principle city of the kingdom with the same name. Eventually, it was destroyed by the British, who attacked after a previous British expedition was assaulted after entering the city without consent during a religious festival.

The city was founded in 762 as the capital of the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs. For the next 500 years it was the most significant cultural centre of Arab and Islamic civilisation and one of the greatest cities of the world.

It was an important cultural and commercial centre because of its location between the orient and the occident. It is considered to be among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Historical capital of the Inca empire. One, if not the, oldest still inhabited cities in the Americas.

Its location at the meeting point of desert and water made it an ideal trading centre. In the late 13th or early 14th century it was incorporated into the Mali empire.

Capital of China during various dynasties, with former names like Chang'an. Home of the famous Terracotta Warriors.