Facts city Fun Facts and Trivia

 Angkor Wat Alternative name Nokor Wat Location Siem Reap, Cambodia Coordinates 13°24′45″N 103°52′01″E Altitude 65 m (213 ft) History Builder Started by Suryavarman II Founded Early 12th century Cultures Khmer Empire Architectural styles Khmer (Angkor Wat style) Angkor Wat, temple complex at Angkor, near Siĕmréab, Cambodia, that was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II (reigned 1113–c. 1150). The vast religious complex of Angkor Wat comprises more than a thousand buildings, and it is one of the great cultural wonders of the world. Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious structure, covering some 400 acres (160 hectares), and marks the high point of Khmer architecture. The city of Angkor served as the royal centre from which a dynasty of Khmer kings ruled one of the largest, most prosperous, and most sophisticated kingdoms in the history of Southeast Asia. From the end of the 9th century until early in the 13th century, numerous construction projects were undertaken, ...

Neolithic Period Period Final period of Stone Age Dates 10,000–4,500 BC Preceded by Mesolithic, Epipalaeolithic Followed by Chalcolithic The term Neolithic Period refers to the last stage of the Stone Age - a term coined in the late 19th century CE by scholars which covers three different periods: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic. The Neolithic period is significant for its megalithic architecture, the spread of agricultural practices, and the use of polished stone tools. Chronology The term Neolithic or New Stone Age is most frequently used in connection with agriculture, which is the time when cereal cultivation and animal domestication was introduced. Because agriculture developed at different times in different regions of the world, there is no single date for the beginning of the Neolithic. In the Near East, agriculture was developed around 9,000 BCE, in Southeast Europe around 7,000 BCE, and later in other regions. Even within a specific region, agriculture developed durin...

 Parthenon General information Type Temple Architectural style Classical Location Athens, Greece Construction started 447 BC Completed 432 BC Destroyed Partially on 26 September 1687 Height 13.72 m (45.0 ft) Other dimensions Cella: 29.8 by 19.2 m (98 by 63 ft) Technical details Material Pentelic Marble Size 69.5 by 30.9 m (228 by 101 ft) Floor area 238 ft. long by 111 ft. wide  Design and construction Architect Iktinos, Callicrates Other designers Phidias (sculptor) Parthenon, temple that dominates the hill of the Acropolis at Athens. It was built in the mid-5th century bce and dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena Parthenos (“Athena the Virgin”). The temple is generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order, the simplest of the three Classical Greek architectural orders. The Acropolis The Parthenon was part of a magnificent rebuilding program directed by the Athenian statesman Pericles, following the sack of the Acropolis during the Greco-Pers...

 The Battle of Ain Jalut Date 3 September 1260 Location  Near Ayn Jalut, Galilee, Israel Result  Mamluk victory Mongol invasion of Mamluk Sultanate is halted. Territorial changes Territories captured by the Mongols are returned to the Mamluks. Belligerents  Mamluk Sultanate  Ayyubid emirs of Kerak and Hamah   Ilkhanate of the Mongol Empire  Kingdom of Georgia  Cilician Armenia  Ayyubid emirs of Homs and Banias Commanders and leaders  Saif ad-Din Qutuz  Baibars  Al-Mansur of Hamah  Kitbuga †  Al-Ashraf of Homs  Al-Said of Banias Units involved Light cavalry and horse archers, heavy cavalry, infantry Mongol lancers and horse archers, Cilician Armenian troops, Georgian contingent, local Ayyubid contingents Strength 15,000–20,000 10,000–20,000 Casualties and losses Unknown most of the army The Battle of Ain Jalut (or Ayn Jalut, in Arabic: عين جالوت, the "Spring of Goliath") took place on 3 September 1260 between Mus...

 Florence Florence , Italian Firenze, Latin Florentia, city, capital of Firenze provincia (province) and Toscana (Tuscany) regione (region), central Italy. The city, located about 145 miles (230 km) northwest of Rome, is surrounded by gently rolling hills that are covered with villas and farms, vineyards, and orchards. Florence was founded as a Roman military colony about the 1st century bce, and during its long history it has been a republic, a seat of the duchy of Tuscany, and a capital (1865–70) of Italy. During the 14th–16th century Florence achieved preeminence in commerce and finance, learning, and especially the arts. History of Florence The early period Florentia (“The Flourishing Town”) was founded in 59 bce as a colony for soldiers of the armies of Rome and was laid out as a rectangular garrison town (castrum) below the hilltop Etruscan town of Faesulae. Its streets formed a pattern of rectangular blocks, with a central forum, a temple to Mars, an amphitheatre, and public...

 History of Paris Paris, city and capital of France, situated in the north-central part of the country. People were living on the site of the present-day city, located along the Seine River some 233 miles (375 km) upstream from the river’s mouth on the English Channel (La Manche), by about 7600 BCE. The modern city has spread from the island (the Île de la Cité) and far beyond both banks of the Seine. Paris occupies a central position in the rich agricultural region known as the Paris Basin, and it constitutes one of eight départements of the Île-de-France administrative region. It is by far the country’s most important centre of commerce and culture. Area city, 41 square miles (105 square km); metropolitan area, 890 square miles (2,300 square km). Pop. (2012) city, 2,265,886; (2015 est.) urban agglomeration, 10,858,000. History Foundation and early growth (c. 7600 bce to 12th century ce) The earliest evidence for human habitation in what is now the city of Paris dates from about 7...

 Paleolithic Period Hunting a glyptodon. Painting by Heinrich Harder c. 1920. Glyptodons were hunted to extinction within two millennia after humans' arrival in South America. Paleolithic Period , also spelled Palaeolithic Period, also called Old Stone Age, ancient cultural stage, or level, of human development, characterized by the use of rudimentary chipped stone tools.  The onset of the Paleolithic Period has traditionally coincided with the first evidence of tool construction and use by Homo some 2.58 million years ago, near the beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago). In 2015, however, researchers excavating a dry riverbed near Kenya’s Lake Turkana discovered primitive stone tools embedded in rocks dating to 3.3 million years ago—the middle of the Pliocene Epoch (some 5.3 million to 2.58 million years ago). Those tools predate the oldest confirmed specimens of Homo by almost 1 million years, which raises the possibility that toolmaking ...