DK Great Cities 2021

GREAT
C I T I ES
THE STORIES BEHIND THE WORLD’S
MOST FASCINATING PLACES
DK LONDON DK DELHI First published in Great Britain in 2021 by
Dorling Kindersley Limited
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CONSULTANTS CONTRIBUTORS
Peter Chrisp is a historian with a particular interest in the ancient world. Andrew Humphreys
He has written more than 90 books, many for DK, including Ancient Greece, Tharik Hussain
Ancient Rome, and Alexander the Great: Legend of a Warrior King. Anirban Mahapatra
Rebecca Milner
Amy Fuller is a historian of colonial Mexico and senior lecturer at Brendan Sainsbury
Nottingham Trent University. Her research interests include narratives Philip Parker
of conquest and conversion, religious drama, festivals, and folklore. Her Phillip Tang
first book was on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and she has written and Philip Wilkinson
presented for both academic and popular audiences; appearing at history Nicola Williams
festivals and on the radio.
Philip Parker is a historian with wide-ranging interests, from the late
Roman city, to the Viking establishment of trading settlements, and the
history of world trade. He has been a contributor and consultant for
numerous DK titles and is the author of The A–Z History of London.
Reza Masoudi Nejad is a research associate at SOAS University of London
(The School of Oriental and African Studies). He is an urbanist with a cross-
disciplinary background focused on urban history and transformation,
crowds and protests, urban violence and conciliation, and religious rituals
in urban context. He received his PhD from the Bartlett School of Built
Environment, UCL. He is the author of The Rite of Urban Passage.
8 Introduction
CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2
CENTRES OF GREAT RIVER

ANCIENT AND LOST CITIES
CIVILIZATIONS
16 Rome 86 London
24 Athens 94 Paris
30 Istanbul 102 Florence
36 Jerusalem 108 Prague
44 Persepolis 114 Vienna
48 Delhi 118 Berlin
56 Hampi 124 Moscow
60 Xi’an 130 Cairo
66 Mexico City 136 Varanasi
74 Tikal 140 Bangkok
78 Cusco 146 Québec City
82 More Great Cities 150 New Orleans

Ephesus • Luxor • Petra •
Damascus • Babylon • 154 More Great Cities
Leptis Magna • Timbuktu • Oxford • Bordeaux •
Lalibela • Great Zimbabwe • Seville • Munich • Bratislava •
Bagan • Angkor Budapest • Kraków • Hanoi •
Melbourne • Montréal
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5
MARITIME CITIES CITIES BY DESIGN MODERN

METROPOLISES
158 Dublin 236 St Petersburg 272 Dubai

162 Amsterdam 242 Isfahan 276 Beijing
168 Stockholm 246 Singapore 284 Hong Kong
172 Lisbon 252 Kyoto 288 Seoul
178 Barcelona 258 Washington, DC 294 Tokyo
184 Venice 264 Brasília 300 Los Angeles
192 Cape Town 268 More Great Cities 306 More Great Cities
Edinburgh • Palmanova • Rotterdam • Baku • Doha •
198 Shanghai Valletta • Baghdad • Abu Dhabi • Nur-Sultan •
Alexandria • Chandigarh • Kuala Lumpur • Seattle •
204 Sydney Jaipur • Canberra • Chicago • Toronto • São Paulo
Philadelphia • La Plata
210 San Francisco
214 New York City 308 Index
222 Havana 318 Acknowledgments
226 Buenos Aires
232 More Great Cities

Page 1 Map of Paris showing the city walls, 1580
Belfast • Liverpool • Page 2 The ancient ruins of the Acropolis, Athens,
Copenhagen • Marseille • including the Parthenon and the Theatre of Dionysus
Naples • Lagos • Osaka • Pages 4–5 Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
Vancouver • Cartagena • Page 6 (left) Poster for Trans World Airlines featuring
Valparaíso • Rio de Janeiro San Francisco’s cable cars, 1950s
8 INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Cities have been at the heart of human life since their first appearance
7,000 years ago. These centres of political, economic, and cultural
power continue to shape the world we live in today.
Cities are the engines of human history. Within them, of agricultural produce and jewellery from bone, wood,
great buildings and artistic movements have arisen, stone, or horn for the richer classes who were emerging
vital scientific discoveries and fortunes have been made, in the increasingly sophisticated villages.
and political leaders have emerged who went on to By around 7000 bce, the villages had begun to turn into
wage wars and win empires. All these achievements towns, such as Çatalhöyük, in what is now southern Turkey.
have been fuelled by the labour, grit, and ingenuity of Its population of around 5,000 lived in tightly packed
the ever-growing ranks of city-dwellers. mud-brick houses, followed a religion that centred on
Today, around 55 per cent of us live in urban areas. a bull cult and the veneration of the dead, and made a
The very largest, such as Tokyo, New Delhi, and Shanghai, living from growing wheat and barley, herding sheep,
have over 20 million inhabitants, more than the entire global and trading in obsidian obtained from a nearby volcano.
population in 5000 bce. At that point, humanity had only just Some 1,500 km (930 miles) to the east, by around
started its journey from small, widely dispersed groups of 4500 bce, true cities were emerging. The fertile land of
hunter-gatherers to the global megacities of today. Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
in modern-day Iraq, supported a thriving agricultural
Agriculture and the first cities population. The need to construct irrigation ditches to
Agriculture first developed in a crescent of fertile land transport water from the great rivers and their tributaries
centred on Mesopotamia around 10,000 bce. People in to the fields encouraged large-scale cooperation. Some
South Asia, China, parts of Africa, and the Americas places, particularly those that were the centres of cults for
subsequently discovered this transformative practice, local gods, became the bases for rulers who came to
which allowed areas to support larger populations and monopolize the distribution of the agricultural surplus.
△ LAW CODE OF UR-NAMMU
This cuneiform tablet from Ur dates to
communities to produce a surplus of food beyond their
around 2100 bce, and contains the world’s immediate needs. It also made the Neolithic peoples who
oldest surviving law code. Clauses dealing practised it less mobile, as they were now tied to tending ▽ ROYAL STANDARD OF UR
with escaped slaves and disputes over This panel, called “Peace”, shows the wealth of a king (top row,
irrigation demonstrate the preoccupations and defending their fields. Specialists began to appear, third from left) as he receives fish and other agricultural goods,
of first cities’ rulers. such as craftsmen, who made pottery for the storage while lyre-players entertain him. It was made around 2500 bce.
INTRODUCTION 9
Specialist warriors defended the surplus and preyed on They reached as far as Dilmun (modern Bahrain) and may
neighbouring groups. Over time, the rulers grew powerful have made contact with another early centre of urban
enough to erect the first monumental buildings – temples civilization, the Indus Valley culture, whose cities lay in Ur was the world’s
and palaces – and the latter became centres for the modern-day Pakistan and northwest India. Unlike their
increasingly complex business of civic administration. Mesopotamian counterparts, Indus Valley cities such as largest city for about
Scribes employed the newly invented technique of writing Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, founded around 2500 bCE, did 1,000 years, until it was
to create archives documenting royal decrees. They also not appear to build lavish palaces or wage war upon each
overtaken by Mari in
recorded the transactions that brought goods to an urban other, but they did possess sophisticated sewage systems,
population that no longer farmed the land. the earliest known example of such sanitation, and a sign Syria around 2500 bce.
Uruk, established around 4500 bCE, was the first of the that rulers were for the first time becoming concerned
Mesopotamian cities, but it was surpassed by Ur, founded about the health of their subjects.
about five centuries later, which grew to be the most
powerful of a network of city-states. Ur’s 50,000 people
were ruled by dynasties whose sway extended as far as ▽ THE GREAT ENCLOSURE
This monumental structure was the centrepiece of Great Zimbabwe,
modern Syria and Iran. Its merchants sailed to the south in one of sub-Saharan Africa’s greatest pre-modern cities. Between
search of wood and copper for the growing city’s needs. the 11th and 15th centuries CE, its rulers grew rich on gold and ivory.
10 INTRODUCTION
◁ This postcard shows

Timgad’s decumanus
maximus, with the
triumphal Arch of Trajan
at its western end.
The very earliest cities were largely unplanned, their shape

dictated by chance, royal whim, or the contours of the land. Regular
grid patterns of rectangular blocks were developed first by the
Grid-plan cities
Greek city-states, and were reputedly invented by the architect

Hippodamus of Miletus in the 5th century ce. The Romans laid out
new settlements throughout their empire based on Hippodamus’s
△ Founded as a military colony by Trajan around 100 ce, Timgad, in modern Algeria, principles and on the regular grid plan of the camps made by
has a classic Roman grid, its cardo and decumanus forming a clear T (centre). legionaries each night, with two central spines, the decumanus
maximus (running east–west) and the cardo maximus (north–south).
Grid patterns were also common in Chinese cities such as Xi’an,
and, though they fell into disuse in the chaotic sprawl of medieval
European cities, they were revived in the modern era. Major North
American cities such as New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC
were laid out on a grid, while in planned cities such as Brasília,
grids helped zone cities in an orderly fashion into business, retail,
leisure, and residential districts. Such arrangements often helped
the freer flow of traffic, but sometimes lacked the aesthetic
appeal of older, less regular centres.
◁ Urban grids were less common in the Middle Ages but, as this
1720 plan of Turin by German cartographer Matthaeus Seutter
shows, some northern Italian cities retained their Roman pattern.
A world of ancient cities almost a millennium old. They owed their existence, just as
Although cities provided protection for their inhabitants, in Mesopotamia, China, and the Indus Valley, to a great river.
and an environment in which crafts could flourish and The “gift of the Nile” allowed the cities of the pharaohs, such
goods be traded, not all areas of the world were suitable as Memphis and Karnak, to prosper. More ceremonial
for early urban growth. In some, the climate was too complexes than population centres – dotted with temples
harsh, or the soil not fertile enough to permit the such as the pillared Hypostyle Hall of Amun-Re at Karnak
agriculture necessary to support a higher population; in – Egypt’s cities found an echo in those of Mesoamerica,
others, there was a lack of building materials. Even where such as Teotihuacan, with its massive pyramids of the Sun
cities did take root, other qualities were needed for them and Moon at either end of a vast ceremonial way.
to truly thrive: an advantageous position astride trade By the 1st century ce, urbanization had spread to
routes, strong rulers who could guarantee stability, and most regions of the globe: the history of South America’s
protection from marauders were all prerequisites. cities began with the Caral-Supe complex in modern-day
Such advantages enabled the rise of China’s first cities, in Peru around 3500 bce, while Crete became the site of
the fertile Yellow River Valley, first at Erlitou around 2000 bce Minoan palace-cities around 2000 bce. A thousand years
and then, by 1500 bce, at larger urban centres such as later, new city-states appeared on the mainland. One of
Anyang and Luoyang, which became the capitals of the these, Athens, developed the concept of citizenship and
earliest Chinese dynasties. By then, Egypt’s first cities were became the earliest functioning democracy.
INTRODUCTION 11
Imperial cities
As city-states grew into kingdoms, and then empires, a new Every seaman... is not only a navigator,
age of larger urban centres began. The city of Rome, whose
empire stretched from Europe’s far north to the deserts of but a merchant and also a soldier.
North Africa, reached a population of around a million at the
SIR WILLIAM PETTY, ENGLISH ECONOMIST, MID-17TH CENTURY
height of its power in the 1st century ce. The taxation
revenues it extracted funded huge building projects such as
the Colosseum, while its main port at Ostia brought in vast
quantities of grain and wine for its people. ▽ HANSEATIC PORT
Rome was a maritime city, a military hub, and a cultural This late-15th-century manuscript shows merchants waiting to receive
ships docking in the harbour of Hamburg. The city was a leading member of
and scientific powerhouse. Its poets, playwrights, orators, the Hanseatic League, which united ports around the Baltic Sea in a mutually
and doctors would be remembered for centuries, and it supporting network that traded in fish, grain, textiles, and luxury goods.
endures as a modern capital. Other imperial cities fared
less well. The Maya cities of Mesoamerica, such as Tikal
and Palenque, were abandoned in the 9th century, probably
because their growing populations had stretched the
fragile rainforest environment beyond its capacity to
regenerate. The trading port of Palmyra in modern-day
Syria, with its marble colonnaded streets, dwindled into
insignificance from the 4th century, while the temple-city
of Angkor in Cambodia, which was largely abandoned in
the 15th century, fell victim to shifts in political power and
outside raiders. These magnificent metropolises became
“lost cities”, rediscovered by outsiders centuries later, their
brooding ruins testament to once-mighty civilizations.
Trade and the Middle Ages

The collapse of a series of great empires – the Roman, Han
Chinese, Sassanian Persian, and Indian Gupta – between
the 3rd and 7th centuries did not lead to an end of
urbanism. Although cities diminished in size or in some
cases disappeared, the 9th and 10th centuries witnessed
a fresh urban age, particularly in Europe, as new states
began to consolidate and trade revived. Trading cities that
escaped the stifling clutch of ambitious monarchs
experimented with developing their own political
institutions and ploughed the profits from their trade back
into the city. The Italian maritime republics of Pisa, Genoa,
and above all Venice, were most successful, and by the
13th century the Venetians had acquired an extensive
maritime empire in the eastern Mediterranean.
Royal and imperial capitals, such as Paris, Stockholm,
Xi’an, and Kyoto prospered, too. The immense wealth
brought in by taxation and trade allowed the building of
new palaces and public buildings such as temples and
theatres, so that they began to rival the great monumental
cities of the ancient world. By 1650, the population of
China’s capital, Beijing, stood at 500,000, exceeding those
of its nearest European rivals, Paris and London. But both
those cities, and Amsterdam, were on the cusp of
acquiring large maritime empires, fuelled by trade across
the Atlantic and into Asia, in spices, textiles, and slaves.
◁ BRIDGE TOWER, 1929
Glenn Coleman’s oil painting shows John
Roebling’s innovative Brooklyn Bridge, whose
opening in 1883 linked Manhattan and Brooklyn
across New York’s East River.
New facilities for growing cities

Yet such helter-skelter development was not without cost.
Growth gave rise to health and social problems as labourers
crowded into unsanitary slums and crime rates increased.
Diseases such as cholera became rife, with outbreaks
sweeping across London, Tokyo, Chicago, and many other
cities during the 19th century. City authorities began to
provide public facilities such as sewage systems, street
lighting, and transport systems (the London Underground
opened in 1863, the New York Subway in 1904).
The social structure of cities changed too, with
a rising middle class demanding better housing
and a share in political power. Workers
organized into labour unions and lobbied
for improved conditions in factories,
education for their children, and the right
to vote. Historically, cities’ growth had often
been held back by high death rates. Better
conditions meant lower mortality, and as
migrants flocked to cities such as New York
and Buenos Aires, further expansion ensued.
The rise of the megacity

The skyscraper and the 20th century are The first third of the 20th century saw a
golden age of urban architecture in which
synonymous; the tall building is the landmark planners such as the Swiss-French Le
Corbusier sought to reinvent the city in the
of our age. age of Modernism (see box). New civic
and corporate buildings in the geometric
ADA LOUISE HUXTABLE, ARCHITECTURE CRITIC, 1982 Art Deco style exemplified by New York’s
Empire State Building appeared in Napier
in New Zealand, Shanghai, and Moscow.
The great age of trading cities gathered pace in the 18th Cities grew upwards, too. New York’s
century, with maritime empires supplying produce that the Flatiron Building had been erected in
cities could not provide for themselves. A European 1902, and skyscrapers soon became
agricultural revolution, with the discovery of new forms a familiar feature of many urban
of crop rotation, increased productivity, but it was the skylines, breaching 400 m (1,300 ft) by
Industrial Revolution that really accelerated progress. the 1970s. Yet cities were not utopias.
Factories powered by James Watts’ steam engines (first After World War II, problems of
patented in 1769) provided work for rural labourers, who pollution, overcrowding, and ageing
streamed into cities. London’s population reached a million infrastructure led to a flight from the
in 1801, and three million by 1860. Areas with access to
commodities such as iron or coal, or which could be linked ▷ WORLD’S TALLEST
by canals or the newly invented railways, became At 828 m (2,717 ft), the Burj Khalifa has
attractive sites for cities. Those on steamship routes, like been the world’s tallest building since its
2009 completion. Its 160 storeys tower
Cape Town, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, or Hong Kong, became over a surging city: Dubai’s population
part of a new network of global cities. has increased tenfold since 1980.
INTRODUCTION 13
People have long dreamt of the ideal city. Greek philosophers such as Plato
wrote about how it might be governed, while Chinese and Southeast Asian
rulers laid out their capitals to mirror the heavens. In 1516, the English
statesman Sir Thomas More’s book Utopia provided a blueprint for a perfect
city, and in 1593 the Venetian state constructed Palmanova, an elegant,
star-shaped town in northeast Italy. Philanthropic ideals of equal opportunity
for all citizens gave new vigour to the idea in the 19th century, leading to the
construction of Garden Cities such as Letchworth, in England, and the laying
out of Adelaide in Australia in 1836 on a grid plan surrounded by parkland.
The theories of Modernist architects such as Le Corbusier that cities should
be organized in a practical manner were implemented in places such as
Chandigarh in India in the 1950s, which was divided into 47 self-contained
The ideal city
sectors, each with its own educational, health, and retail facilities, separated
by green spaces. Since then, planned capitals such as Abuja in Nigeria
and Abu Dhabi in the UAE have risen, as the search for an ideal city that will
combine beauty, utility, and liveability continues. So far, none has quite
reached the perfection its designers imagined.
△ Walter Burley Griffin’s 1913 plan for Canberra incorporated
a string of lakes, with geometrically laid out districts.
The problem… is this: how to make

our Garden City experiment the
◁ Le Corbusier, here stepping stone to a higher and
examining a city model,
championed an urban
vision in which high-rise better form of industrial life.
blocks combined with
abundant green space. EBENEZER HOWARD, THE GARDEN CITIES OF TO-MORROW, 1902
centre and the hollowing out of some cities in Europe and centres; and others still, such as Xi’an and Mumbai,
North America, as their centres decayed. By contrast, in have seen their populations soar as industry has
industrializing countries, many of them newly independent replaced agriculture as the primary driver of prosperity.
It is predicted that
nations in Africa and Asia, rapid levels of population growth
led to a drift into cities from agricultural areas. By 2020, The future of the city by 2030, there will
the population of Lagos in Nigeria had reached 14 million. Cities continue to reinvent themselves. In the last few be 43 megacities
While urban areas such as London and Los Angeles decades, many have worked to reduce pollution and create
retain their role as 21st-century global cities, plugged into appealing modern spaces by restricting polluting vehicles, with populations
an increasingly interconnected world, they face new rivals. encouraging energy-efficient buildings, and planting trees. over 10 million.
Some, such as Singapore or Beijing, enjoy the benefits of In 2020, another impetus for change came in the form of
modern infrastructure. Other cities, like the DRC’s capital COVID-19, which saw retail centres empty, businesses send
of Kinshasa, have grown so fast that the residents of the workers home, and some question whether crowded cities
informal, often poorly planned settlements that have sprung were a safe environment. Yet cities have responded to
up in the suburbs far outnumber those in the official core. changing circumstances in the past. Through the first
Contemporary cities are as diverse as their predecessors. kingdoms of Mesopotamia, global expansion, and the
They are places of pilgrimage, entertainment hubs, Industrial Revolution, they have evolved to remain at the
industrial centres, and shipping ports. Cities like newly heart of politics, economics, and culture. The history of the
built Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital since 2005, have an world is very much a history of great cities, and whatever
air of the ancient ceremonial complexes; others, such as future we build, these sites of trade, creativity, and
Frankfurt and New York, serve as dynamic financial transformation are likely to be at the heart of it.
Rome p.16 Athens p.24 Istanbul p.30
Damascus
Babylon
Leptis Magna
Tikal p.74
Timbuktu
Ephesus
Luxor
Mexico City p.66

Petra
Great Zimbabwe
Lalibela
Cusco p.78 Jerusalem p.36 Persepolis p.44

Delhi p.48
Hampi p.56
Bagan
Angkor
Xi’an p.60
CHAPTER 1
CENTRES OF ANCIENT
AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS
16 CENTRES OF ANCIENT AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS
Rome
ETERNAL CITY
From a tiny hilltop settlement, Rome evolved to
be capital of a great empire, seat of the Catholic
Church, and a treasure trove of Western art.
Roman mythology credits the founding of Rome to the twin sons of Mars,
Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf after being discovered at
the foot of the Palatine Hill. One of a group of seven hills, the Palatine was the
site of a small settlement from around 1000 bce. Myth notwithstanding, the
location had clear advantages, being close to the sea and lying alongside
the navigable Tiber river. Legend has it that Romulus became the first of seven
kings, under whose rule local neighbouring tribes gradually merged. Many of
Rome’s most venerable institutions were introduced under these kings, such
as the Senate – the city’s governing assembly, initially comprising 100 men –
and the Cloaca Maxima, one of the world’s first sewer systems.
Despite its diminutive size, ancient Rome became a powerful force, but was
riven by social disputes. The last king, the Etruscan Tarquinius Superbus, was
driven out in 509 bce and a republic established, governed by two annually
elected consuls. By the 2nd century bce, Rome’s armies had conquered the
whole of Italy and territory beyond, while the city weathered a sack by the Gauls
and came close to conquest by the Carthaginian General Hannibal. Wealth from
territorial expansion funded public works, such as stone temples and baths,
while housing for the growing populace colonized the hillsides and valleys.
VIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM, 1735 ▷

This painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini shows the
Colosseum and the nearby Forum, including the Arch of
Constantine, which was built in 312 ce to celebrate
Emperor Constantine’s victory over his rival Maxentius.
753 bce According to 509 bce King Tarquinius

legend, Rome is founded Superbus is overthrown
on one of seven hills on and Rome becomes
21 April by Romulus, who a republic.
becomes its first king.
The Capitoline Wolf sculpture,

with twins Romulus and Remus
c. 650 bce The Curia Hostilia is 390 bce Rome is sacked

built – the first meeting place by invading Gauls of the
for the Senate, the council Senones tribe; when geese alert
of elders that supervises the soldiers, the garrison on the
Rome’s government. Capitoline Hill is saved.
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls – the World. 44 bce Having won the civil war,
Julius Caesar becomes
dictator of Rome, but is
LORD BYRON, CHILDE HAROLD’S PILGRIMAGE, 1818
killed by assassins who
In 45 bce, fear he might declare
himself king.
Julius Caesar gave a
feast in the Forum which
was said to have been
attended by 22,000
guests.
287 bce The final secession of 60–53 bce The first triumvirate
the plebeians, when Rome’s between Julius Caesar, Gnaeus
poorer citizens threaten to Pompeius, and Marcus
abandon the city, leads to more Crassus takes power in Rome,
political influence for them. but breaks down into civil war.
△ GLADIATORS Rise of the Roman Empire During the imperial period, Rome’s political turmoil was
This 4th-century mosaic shows combat As a republic, Rome’s population reached a million in the tamed, but to keep its teeming population in check the
between a variety of types of gladiator,
including the retiarius, who fought with 1st century bce, making it the largest city in the world. Its emperors instituted the annona, a grain dole handed out to
a net and trident, and the murmillo, who richer citizens dwelt in lavish villas on the surrounding 200,000 poorer residents. They also held extravagant
carried a short sword and shield, and hills, staffed by slaves and adorned with mosaics and games in the Colosseum, an arena where up to 50,000
wore a helmet with a grille.
frescoes. The poor lived in insulae, rickety apartment spectators could watch gladiatorial combats and organized
blocks, which were susceptible to frequent fires. Their hunts of wild beasts. In terms of disposition and aptitude,
ground floors housed merchants’ stalls or thermopolia, the emperors varied considerably. Caligula, who ruled from
taverns selling hot food and wine. 37 to 41 ce, was capricious and cruel – fond of dressing up
Rome’s political scene was rumbustious, with elections as a god, he executed or exiled many of those close to
for the consulship sparking street battles. Eventually, the him – while Nero famously did nothing as Rome blazed in
conflict degenerated into civil war, but the assassination a great fire in 64 ce, pleased at the prospect of rebuilding its
of the victor, Julius Caesar, on the steps of the centre. Trajan, by contrast, conquered Dacia (encompassing
Senate House in 44 bce led to another spasm parts of present-day Romania, Hungary, and Serbia) and
of violence. Caesar’s great-nephew Octavian won used the spoils to build a new forum and triumphal column.
this second civil war and put an end to both the In the late 3rd century, Emperor Aurelian built a wall to
bloodbath and the republic, having himself protect Rome from the threat of barbarian invasion. By this
declared Emperor Augustus. The Roman Empire point, the city’s population had dwindled, while civil wars
was born, with Rome as its capital. Augustus had raged once again and Mediolanum (Milan) took precedence
grandiose ambitions, building a new forum, over Rome. Emperor Constantine gave new hope, reuniting
temples, and baths. the empire and ending the persecution of Christians.
64 ce A fire destroys much 110 Trajan’s conquest of Dacia is 125 The Pantheon temple,
27 bce Octavian, of central Rome. Emperor celebrated with a huge column in which still boasts the world’s
great-nephew Nero blames the Christians his forum showing episodes largest unsupported concrete
of Julius Caesar, and builds the Domus from the campaign. dome, is remodelled under
becomes the first Aurea (“golden house”) Emperor Hadrian.
Roman emperor, palace amid the ruins.
taking the name
Augustus.
Statue of Emperor Panel from

Augustus Trajan’s Column
80 Emperor Titus
completes the Colosseum,
which is inaugurated with
gladiatorial games lasting
over 100 days.
ROME 19
I found Rome a city of bricks and left it

a city of marble.
EMPEROR AUGUSTUS, QUOTED IN THE TWELVE CAESARS, 121 ce
△ Situated in the Forum, the Umbilicus Urbis Romae

was the symbolic centre of ancient Rome, from and
to which all distances were measured. It was also
said to mark an entrance into the Underworld.
The Roman Forum
Serving as market, meeting place, and administrative,

legal, and political centre, the Forum was the heart of
Rome from its first development in the 6th century bce.
The oldest part, the Forum Romanum, which lay
between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, contained the
Curia or Senate House, the Temple of Saturn (which
acted as the state treasury), and the House of the Vestal
Virgins. During the late republic, new buildings were
added, including several basilicas (aisled meeting halls)
and the tabularium (record office). Later rulers made
more additions – Emperor Augustus, for example, built
a temple in 29 bce to mark the spot where Julius Caesar
was cremated. At the Forum’s edges, the emperors △ This 19th-century scene presents
Titus, Constantine, and Septimius Severus constructed an idealized view of the temples,
basilicas, and statues of the Forum.
triumphal arches to celebrate their victories in battle.
During the Middle Ages, several structures survived by
being converted into churches, but the rebuilding of ▷ A postcard showing the
ruins of the 5th-century bce
Rome during the Renaissance led to the Forum being Temple of Saturn, which
used as a stone quarry and much of it fell into ruins. served as the state treasury.
410 Rome is sacked by

the Gothic chieftain
Alaric (and then in
313 Having defeated 455 by the Vandal
Maxentius at the Milvian King Gaiseric),
Bridge outside Rome, sealing its decline.
Emperor Constantine I
legalizes Christianity.
Remains of the 4th-century

Colossus of Constantine statue
271 In response to a barbarian 402 Emperor Honorius

invasion of Italy, Emperor Aurelian moves the imperial
orders the building of a 19-km capital from Rome
(12-mile) wall to defend Rome. to Ravenna.
Emperors in the Byzantine Empire – the remaining,

eastern half of the Roman Empire – tried to re-establish
Roman control in the West, but the results were often
disastrous for Rome, with the city coming under siege
repeatedly during the 6th century. It was the Roman
Catholic Church that held most authority over Rome for
the next 200 years, with Pope Gregory I paving the way by
feeding the hungry and repairing the city’s water supply.
The threat of foreign invasion still lingered, leading the
papacy to forge an alliance with the Franks. Large swathes
of central Italy were granted to the papacy by the Franks
and, in Rome in 800 ce, Frankish ruler Charlemagne was
crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III.
Struggles between these two new powers – the Holy
Roman Empire and the Papal States – defined life in Rome
for centuries to come, with both aristocratic feuds and
military clashes. Rome acquired its first university in 1303,
but the transfer of the papal seat for nearly 70 years to
Avignon, and a subsequent schism between rival popes,
sapped the city’s vitality. An earthquake in 1348 wrought so
much destruction that it seemed that Rome was doomed.
Renaissance revival
The city’s prospects changed during the Renaissance,
from the 15th century. Trade had revived and patrons,
both in the Roman Catholic Church and among rich nobles,
△ SAN PAOLO FUORI LE MURA APSE Fall of the empire – Rome’s dark ages sponsored artists and scholars. Old Roman manuscripts
The 13th-century mosaic in San Paolo Yet this new dawn proved a twilight, as Rome was sacked were unearthed and studied, and new artistic techniques
fuori le Mura, which survived a disastrous
fire in 1823, shows Jesus Christ flanked successively by Goths and then Vandals. Most of its flourished. Churches were restored and popes such as
by apostles. A diminutive figure of Pope Christian churches (built under Emperor Constantine’s Julius II funded grand ecclesiastical buildings and artworks,
Honorius III, who commissioned the
patronage), however, were spared damage. The deposition notably a new St Peter’s Basilica and the frescoes of the
work, crouches at Christ’s feet.
of the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, by his Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo over four back-
Germanic army-chief in 476 ce left the city much- breaking years. The city’s jumbled maze of medieval streets
diminished. Italy’s new Ostrogothic rulers used Ravenna was replaced by impressive avenues, such as the Via Giulia.
as their capital. Crumbling, malaria-ridden, and depleted, Religious and dynastic wars broke out in the early 16th
Rome was saved only by the recognition of the bishops century and ravaged Italy. In 1527, an army in the employ of
of Rome as popes, leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sacked Rome, the first
800 The Frankish ruler 1144 Rome becomes an

Charlemagne is independent commune,
crowned Holy Roman beginning a period of
536 The Eastern Roman Emperor in St Peter’s dominance by rival
General Belisarius Basilica. aristocratic families.
recaptures Rome for the
Roman Empire, ending
rule by the Ostrogoths.
A fleet of Arab pirates

managed to sail up the
Ostrogothic brooch, c. 500 Tiber in 846 ce and plunder
St Peter’s Basilica and San
1108 The basilica of
Paolo fuori le Mura. San Clemente is
590–604 Pope Gregory I rebuilt on the site of
strengthens the papacy an early medieval
and establishes its political church and a Roman
control over Rome. temple to Mithras.
ROME 21
◁ SISTINE CHAPEL
Michelangelo’s fresco on
the Sistine Chapel ceiling
shows God stretching
out to touch the hand of
the newly created Adam.
▽ ST PETER’S PLAN
This 1569 engraving by
Etienne Dupérac shows
Michelangelo’s design
for a hemispherical
dome for St Peter’s.
No one who has not seen the Sistine Chapel can have
a clear idea of what a human being can achieve.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, 1786
time the city had suffered such a fate for nearly a thousand Despite the political and religious turmoil of the preceding
years. The Counter-Reformation saw ecclesiastical reforms two centuries, Rome entered the 1700s in a more
and Rome adorned with buildings in the lavish and dramatic confident mode. The Baroque style evolved in its final The original St Peter’s
Baroque style. Particularly innovative were master architect flourish into Rococo, which featured ornate decoration, Basilica was built
Borromini and architect and sculptor Bernini, who designed as displayed in the extravagant, curved frontage of the
around the shrine
the spectacular baldacchino, a bronze canopy that is the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena near the Pantheon.
centrepiece of St Peter’s Basilica. Under Pope Sixtus V in Rome welcomed magnificent new secular monuments, marking the burial place
the 1580s, streets were cleaned, old aqueducts restored, such as the throng of marble sea creatures in the Trevi
of the apostle Peter.
and monumental Egyptian obelisks erected in public Fountain, completed in the 1760s and later beloved of
spaces, including St Peter’s Square. gelato-eating and coin-tossing tourists.
1347 A revolution led 1527 Rome is sacked by the 1600 The philosopher and former Dominican
by Cola di Rienzo troops of Holy Roman Emperor friar Giordano Bruno is convicted of heresy
overthrows papal Charles V. and burnt alive in the Campo dei Fiori.
power but fails in its
attempt to unify Italy.
The Sack of Rome

by Pieter Bruegel
1506 Work begins on the Elder, 16th
the new basilica of century
St Peter’s, designed by
Donato Bramante, but
only finally completed
and consecrated in 1626.
◁ BRITISH GENTLEMEN IN ROME, C. 1750

This painting of the English School shows six
aristocratic visitors resting in the shadow of
the Colosseum, a customary stop on the Grand
Tour, undertaken to enhance their education.
uprising in 1849, resulting in an independent Roman

Republic being declared. It lasted barely a year before being
ousted by the French – their own monarchy restored –
leaving liberals and nationalists to plot fruitlessly in
establishments such as the Caffè Greco on Via dei Condotti.
In the final years of papal rule, Rome slowly modernized,
as street lighting arrived and the first train left the central
station in 1860. Yet the popes stubbornly refused to come
to terms with the movement campaigning for the
unification of Italy, the Risorgimento. When a united
Kingdom of Italy was declared in 1861, under King Vittorio
Emmanuele II, most of the Papal States were included, but
not Rome. Garibaldi led two unsuccessful attempts to
capture the city before troops of the royal government
The Spanish Steps, another gathering place for the breached the Aurelian Walls in 1870. After a token
fashionable and rootless, was opened in 1725 and admired resistance by the Swiss Guard, the papacy’s diminutive
The Capitoline by a new breed of visitors. “Grand Tourists” – young men army, a white flag was hauled up to the cupola of St Peter’s
Museums, opened by from northern Europe, such as the Scottish diarist James and the Pope surrendered.
Boswell – came to admire the remains of the classical past Italy was now free from papal rule, though the popes
Pope Clement XII in and the newer trove of artistic and architectural riches continued to occupy the tiny enclave of the Vatican. To
1734, hold the world’s that the Renaissance had bequeathed to Rome. The city house the army of bureaucrats who descended on the new
even acquired its own Protestant cemetery to receive the capital, the government sequestered palaces for its offices.
oldest public art
mortal remains of foreigners who expired there, such as It also commissioned the Vittoriano, an extravagant,
collection. the English Romantic poet John Keats. white-marble homage to the royal liberator of Italy – now
a busy traffic island in the Piazza Venezia. Meanwhile,
Rome and the Risorgimento interest in the past was on the rise, with the first scientific
Yet beneath Rome’s ever-more gilded facade, resentment excavations of the Colosseum conducted in the 1870s.
seethed against the papacy’s millennium-long rule.
Occupation by Revolutionary France between 1798 and The Fascist era
1814 inspired a generation of Italian nationalists such as Rome’s population tripled in its first half-century of freedom
Giuseppe Mazzini and the flamboyant Giuseppe Garibaldi, to 650,000 in 1921. The rural poor who came in search of a
whose red-coated troops took to the barricades during an better life, but found instead only poverty and urban squalor,
1762 The Trevi Fountain 1871 Rome is taken 1893 Babington’s Tea
is completed by by the forces of Room opens near
Giuseppe Panini, 30 newly unified Italy and the Spanish Steps
years after Nicola Salvi becomes its capital. to cater for Rome’s
began work on it. British visitors.
Caffè Greco counted

among its clientele
artistic and intellectual
1849 A nationalist uprising centred grandees such as Charles
on Rome, jointly led by Giuseppe
Garibaldi, declares a republic, Dickens, Franz Listz, and
but papal rule is soon restored. Henry James.
1798 The French
under Napoleon
capture Rome and
declare it a republic.
LA DOLCE VITA, 1960 ▷
In this famous scene from Federico
Fellini’s masterpiece of Roman life,
actors Marcello Mastroianni and
Anita Ekberg wade into the
moonlit Trevi Fountain.
There is no end. There is no beginning.

There is only the infinite passion of life.
FEDERICO FELLINI, DIRECTOR OF LA DOLCE VITA, 1976
proved a captive audience for Benito Mussolini’s Fascist and provided money for its reconstruction. These were the
movement, which promised a return to the glory days of years of la dolce vita (“the good life”), as locals and foreign
ancient Rome. His March on Rome, flanked by black- tourists rediscovered Rome’s delights and the city became
shirted supporters, began a 20-year experiment that the backdrop to iconic films, such as Roman Holiday and
ended in the disaster of World War II. Known as Il Duce La Dolce Vita, as well as being a playground for stars like
(“the leader”), Mussolini planned to sweep away Rome’s Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren.
medieval centre and replace it with a streetscape of In 1957, the foundation treaty of the European Economic
modern skyscrapers. Fortunately his rhetoric outpaced Community, the predecessor of the European Union, was
reality and he confined himself to draining the outlying signed in Rome. Three years later, the coming of the
Pontine marshes, finally solving Rome’s malaria problem, Olympic Games, which were held in historic venues such
and gifting the city a collection of muscular architecture, as the Roman Baths of Caracalla, set the seal on the city’s
including EUR, a new suburb which featured Fascist takes second renaissance.
on Classical style, including the Palazzo della Civiltà Rome’s reinvention continues. Although over four million
Italiana, a bizarrely square version of the Colosseum. tourists descend each year to wonder at the Colosseum,
St Peter’s, and the Vatican Museums, many of them also
La Dolce Vita detour to admire its contemporary architecture, such as
Rome was declared an “open city” in 1943 and so escaped the cantilevered curves of MAXXI, the national museum △ ROMAN HOLIDAY POSTER
The 1953 romantic comedy starred
the wholesale destruction wrought on other European of modern art, designed by Zaha Hadid. Over 2,500 years
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck,
urban centres in the war’s closing stages. In the 1950s, it since its foundation, Rome is proving that it really is an with many of the key sights of Rome
bounced back as Italy’s economic miracle raised morale eternal city. taking a supporting role.
1922 Fascist leader 1960 Rome hosts the 2021 Plans are
Benito Mussolini Olympic Games, during announced for
makes his March on which Italy wins 13 the restoration of
Rome, after which gold medals. the Colosseum.
he is appointed
prime minister.
1938–43 Building of the

Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana,
centrepiece of Mussolini’s
new EUR business district.
1981 Pope John Paul II
is subject to an
assassination attempt
in St Peter’s Square.
ATHENS 25
Athens
CITY OF THE VIOLET CROWN
The birthplace of theatre, democracy, and Western philosophy, the
city-state of Athens was ruled by successive empires before winning
independence, leaving Europe's most ancient capital with a rich legacy.
Athens’ situation on Greece’s Attica peninsula, within easy

reach of the Aegean Sea, made it a magnet for settlers. Athens, the eye of Greece,
Its craggy Acropolis – meaning “high city” in Greek – had a
supply of drinkable water, and provided a defensible position mother of arts and eloquence.
on which chieftains from the warlike Mycenaean culture
built a fortified palace around 1250 bce. Its construction is JOHN MILTON, PARADISE REGAINED, 1671
traditionally ascribed to heroes such as the minotaur-slaying
Theseus, but Athenians also trace their origins to Athena, the
city’s patron goddess, who was said to have gifted it an olive A reforming city-state
tree as a promise of its future peace and prosperity. In the mid-7th century bce, a nobleman named Cylon sought
By the 8th century bce, power had shifted from kings to to become the city's sole ruler. His attempt at tyranny
aristocratic polemarchs, or war-leaders, and archons, who prompted reforms. The legislator Draco drew up Athens' first
administered the city’s life. The first agora, or communal code of law, written on public tablets so any literate Athenian
marketplace, was built northwest of the Acropolis and, could consult it – its severe penalties gave us the term
with its control spreading out to the Attic countryside, “draconian”. Meanwhile, a prosperity born of trade saw new
Athens became one of the leading Greek city-states. stone temples replace wooden shrines.
KORE ▷
◁ ACROPOLIS PANORAMA This statue of a kore (young woman)
The Classical heritage of Athens still looms large, with the hill of from around 530 bce was found on the
the Acropolis and its ancient ruins, notably the Parthenon (centre) Acropolis, where it was buried after
and Theatre of Dionysus (bottom), dominating its skyline. the Persian destruction of the city.
594 bce Solon revises the 534 bce Modern drama is created
Athenian law code to when Thespis becomes the
abolish the scourge of debt first actor to play an individual
bondage – in which debtors role during a festival of the
could be enslaved in exchange god Dionysus.
for the money they owed.
547 bce Peisistratos

becomes tyrant
(non-royal sole ruler) of
c. 1250 bce The Mycenaeans Athens. He is succeeded 530s bce The red-figure style of
fortify the Acropolis by his sons; one is pottery, which allows for greater
with Cyclopean (huge assassinated, the other detailing than the older black-
unmortared stone) walls. driven from office. figure style, is invented in Athens.
◁ PORCH OF THE ERECHTHEION TEMPLE

These caryatids (female figures acting as
pillars) probably represent priestesses of
Artemis. The temple was built around 406 bce.
migrants from the rest of Greece, and

slaves were excluded. To spread power
more widely, office-holders and trial juries
were chosen by lot.
Athens' prosperity was threatened when
the Persian Empire invaded Greece in
492 and 480 bce. A stunning naval victory
at Salamis helped a Greek alliance push
the Persians back, but not before the
Athenians had to evacuate their city and
watch while the Persians burnt Athens and
destroyed the buildings of the Acropolis.
The golden age

A victorious Athens established the Delian
League, which began as an alliance of
city-states but became an Athenian empire.
Tribute from the states enabled the general
and statesman Pericles to rebuild the city.
The confident city built a grand new temple to Athena Polias Spaces for worship and performance were erected and
(“the protector”) on the Acropolis, its pediments carved with Athens' theatre – the world's first – hosted the work of great
The word “ostracize”
scenes of battles between gods and giants. Yet Athens was playwrights such as Aeschylus, Euripides, and Aristophanes.
comes from the ostraka, fearful of a return to tyranny, and tensions over the The Parthenon, a glorious temple to Athena, was completed
or broken pottery, on exclusion of the poor from political power threatened to in 433 bce. Built of white marble, its soaring columns were
tear the city apart. Finally, at the end of the 6th century bce, capped with a frieze showing mythological scenes, and its
which Athenians wrote a new archon, Cleisthenes, established the world’s first interior held a great gold and ivory statue of the goddess.
the names of politicians democracy. He set up a council, elected by 10 tribes drawn This was the golden age of a creative, cosmopolitan
from geographical districts called demes. The council's city. Merchants brought goods from across the eastern
they wanted to exile.
agenda was set by an ecclesia, a broader assembly that Mediterranean, and the agora bustled with market-goers.
also made key military and civic decisions. All free Life was not luxurious: many citizens lived in small houses,
Athenian men, regardless of wealth, could their diets confined to such staples as bread, olives, cheese,
attend the ecclesia – women, figs, and beans. But poorer men at least could participate in
480 bce The Athenian

fleet defeats the
490 bce Athenian hoplites second Persian
(heavily armoured invasion of Greece
citizen infantry) defeat at Salamis, but the
the Persians at Acropolis is burnt. 447–433 bce The Parthenon is
Marathon, ending the built on the urging of the
first Persian invasion. Athenian statesman Pericles.
Detail from a Greek cup

depicting a hoplite soldier
508 bce During his
archonship, Cleisthenes
introduces reforms that 478 bce Themistocles
lead to rule by the people, orders the building
making Athens the of a new defensive
birthplace of democracy. wall around Athens.
ATHENS 27
the assembly alongside their richer peers. Athens’ riches An occupied city △ AGORA OF ATHENS
and ambition attracted the jealousy of rivals and entangled In the 4th century BCE, Athens fell into the hands of the The agora, built in the 5th century BCE
below the Acropolis, included a circular
it in the 27-year Peloponnesian War with Sparta in 431 BCE. Macedonian conquerors Philip II and Alexander the Great. tholos, the residence of the council
Orators gave rousing speeches and poor citizens took their Yet it remained an intellectual powerhouse. Plato established president, and the stoa, or colonnades,
turns at the oars of the Athenian triremes (warships), but the Academy, in an olive grove west of the city, while his which encircled the marketplace.
Sparta won, occupied the city, and demolished its walls. Rule pupil Aristotle founded the rival Lyceum school. However,
by pro-Spartan cliques ensued, and even when democracy by the time the Roman General Sulla captured Athens in
returned, Athens was a shadow of its former self. 86 BCE, the city was a provincial, if revered, backwater.
404 bce Sparta defeats 100-50 bce The octagonal

Athens and installs a Tower of the Winds
pro-Spartan regime. monument, which acts
as a sundial and
weathervane, is built.
399 bce Socrates is tried on

429 bce Pericles dies of the charge of corrupting
the plague, weakening the youth of Athens and 338 bce The
Athens’ leadership executed by being made Macedonian King
and contributing to to drink hemlock. Philip II conquers
its eventual defeat Athens, beginning
against Sparta in the a long period of
Peloponnesian War. foreign domination.
28
Time and envy have dealt with

Athens more barbarously
than ever the Persians did.
MICHAEL CHONIATES, ARCHBISHOP OF ATHENS, LETTERS, c. 1185
Byzantines, and the Acropolis became the fortress of

a succession of Western European dukes. Poverty and
insecurity drove out much of the population.
When the Ottoman Turks took the city in 1458, they
converted the Parthenon into a mosque. Even the agora
was outside the reduced city, and sheep grazed in the
sanctuaries of Olympian gods.
As the Ottomans in turn came under threat, they sited a
gunpowder store on the Acropolis, where in 1687 besieging
BYZANTINE CHURCH ▷
The 10th-century Church Venetian artillery scored a direct hit, reducing much of the
of the Holy Apostles, Parthenon to rubble. The British diplomat Lord Elgin
with its dramatic setting transported around half of the Parthenon's frieze back to
in the ancient agora, is
among Athens’ earliest Britain, beginning with 50 large pieces in 1801. He was one
Christian buildings. of many foreign visitors to Athens, increasing sympathy for
the Greeks. When they revolted in 1821, their struggle was
supported by the European powers.
The Romans were great admirers of Greek culture, and
built new structures – the Emperor Hadrian completed the Independence and renewal
The Tower of the Winds temple of Olympian Zeus in 131 CE and constructed a new During the Greek War of Independence, the city see-sawed
library. Athens survived the fall of the Western Empire between Ottoman and Greek control. When it became capital
was used as a Christian
in the 5th century CE and became part of the Byzantine of an independent Greece in 1833, the population had been
church in Byzantine Empire, but ravages by Goths and Slavs impoverished it, reduced to just 2,000 people. But a determined renewal,
times; the Ottomans and the coming of Christianity dented the prestige of its helped by a resilience bred of centuries of occupation, saw
pagan philosophical schools. the National University built in 1837 and a royal palace five
believed it was the Some prosperity returned in the 10th and 11th centuries, years later, all in a lavish Neoclassical style. A grand new
tomb of Socrates. when exquisite churches such as the Kapnikarea and the square, Syntagma, was joined by broad avenues, bringing a
Church of the Holy Apostles were built. But in 1204, the sense of space to the city's medieval jumble. In 1896, a new
army of the Fourth Crusade wrested Athens from the stadium was built for the first modern Olympics, a revival of
124–132 ce Roman Emperor 1311–1402 Athens is occupied

Hadrian visits Athens successively by Catalans,
three times, restoring Florentines, and Venetians.
temples and building a
new library, gymnasium, Irene, the first
and aqueduct.
female Byzantine emperor,
who reigned from 797 to
802 ce before being exiled to
the island of Lesbos, was
born in Athens.
1458 The Ottoman Turks
capture Athens. The
Parthenon becomes a
529 Byzantine Emperor mosque and the Tower of
Justinian shuts down 1205 After the Fourth Crusade the Winds (pictured) is used
Plato's Academy and captures Constantinople, the as a meeting house by the
bans the teaching of Burgundian Crusader Otto de la Mevlevi dervish order.
pagan philosophy. Roche becomes Duke of Athens.
ATHENS 29
an ancient tradition which brought glory when Greek athlete △ ACROPOLIS MUSEUM ◁ ALEXANDER
Spyridon Louis won the marathon. By the 1920s, Athens was The Acropolis Museum includes a gallery for the THE GREAT
Parthenon Marbles removed by Lord Elgin (and This marble head of
a lively city, reverberating to the sound of bouzouki (Greek currently in the British Museum in London), Alexander, one of
lute) players in the tavernas of the Plaka district. should they be returned to Greece. Athens' conquerors,
There were more trials to come: Athens was occupied by now sits in the city's
Acropolis Museum.
the Germans during World War II, then ravaged by post- and joined up with its port, Piraeus. Through it
war street fighting between government forces and all, Athenians retained a pride in their heritage,
communist insurgents, while democracy was disrupted by a sense reinforced when Athens again played
military rule in the 1960s and 70s. But economic growth host to the Olympics in 2006. The city that has
continued. Old districts were flattened and new quarters given the world democracy, philosophy, and
built, while open spaces disappeared as the city spread graceful architecture still hums with life.
1687 Much of the Parthenon 1833 The Ottomans 2004 The 28th
is destroyed after a evacuate Athens and Olympic Games are
Venetian bombardment it becomes the capital held in Athens;
strikes an Ottoman of an independent Greece wins six
gunpowder store. Greece. 1896 Baron Pierre de gold medals.
Coubertin organizes the
first modern Olympic
Games, held in Athens.
2009 The Acropolis

Museum opens just
1801 The Parthenon 1940–44 Athens is below the Acropolis. It
Marbles are removed occupied by the contains over 4,000
from Athens, after Lord German army during objects from the ancient
Elgin gains access to World War II, bringing Greek, Roman, and
the Acropolis. appalling suffering. Byzantine eras.
ISTANBUL 31
Istanbul
THE NEW ROME
For over two millennia, Greek, Roman, Turkish, Christian, and Muslim
cultures have met and mingled in a melting-pot metropolis that
borders two seas and straddles two continents.
The Bosphorus, a strait linking the Black Sea with the Sea councils took place in the city. The presence of many
of Marmara and the Mediterranean, was one of the world’s educated churchmen made Constantinople an intellectual
great trade routes by the start of the first millennium bce. centre as well as a political and commercial one, and rulers
Colonists from Megara and other Greek cities saw an continued to develop the city with churches, aqueducts,
opportunity to control this trade, and founded a city on its and fortifications. Its cosmopolitan, stone-paved streets
western shore around 667 bce. They called it Byzantium, rang with Aramaic, Coptic, Armenian, and Latin, though the
after one of their leaders, Byzas, and it prospered. language of the ruling and educated classes was Greek.
When the empire was divided in two in the 4th century, the
Romans and Christians city became capital of its eastern half. The west declined,
In the 1st century ce, the Romans took over Byzantium, but the Eastern Roman Empire, which became known as
which grew to become one of the richest cities in the the Byzantine Empire, endured for over 1,000 years.
empire. Although it was badly damaged in a war between
rival emperors in 195 ce, it recovered and the Emperor
Constantine, recognizing its wealth and strategic site,
made it his capital, Constantinople, in 330 ce. Constantine
converted to Christianity, and several early ecclesiastical
If the Earth were a
single state, Istanbul
◁ ISTANBUL’S WATERSIDE SETTING, C. 1840
Hubert Sattler’s 19th-century view of Istanbul shows the city’s would be its capital.
elegant mosques and imposing site on the Bosphorus, which
separates Europe from Asia. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
c. 667 bce The settlement of 203 Septimius Severus 330 Constantine refounds
Byzantium (also known rebuilds Byzantium, the city as Constantinople
by its Greek name, Byzantion) improving structures and starts work on its
is founded, probably by such as the hippodrome Great Palace.
Greeks from Megara. (racetrack).
196 ce The city is virtually 381 Christian bishops

destroyed by Roman meet at the First Council 395 The Roman
troops loyal to Septimius of Constantinople to agree Empire divides in two;
Severus in his battle for a creed and other matters Constantinople becomes
the throne. of belief and doctrine. the eastern capital.
The emperor, disregarding all questions of

Justinian’s Byzantine city
expense, eagerly pressed on to begin the work

of construction, and began to gather all the
artisans from the whole world.
△ Hagia Sophia, before its conversion to a mosque. PROCOPIUS, ON JUSTINIAN’S REBUILDING OF THE CITY, c. 550 CE
When Justinian became emperor in 527 ce, his ambition was to recreate the
old Roman Empire in all its glory, and he soon took over Italy and parts of
North Africa. The growing kingdom needed a great capital, and Justinian set
about beautifying Constantinople. He improved the city’s water supply by
building a vast underground reservoir held up by a forest of stone columns
(known today as the Basilica Cistern), made the imperial palace grander
and more luxurious, and strengthened the city walls.
But Justinian was not always a popular ruler. His advisers were often
controversial and his wife, the former actress Theodora, was criticized for
her reforming instincts and alleged past as a prostitute. In 532 ce, a crowd
of protesters started a revolt against him and threatened to overwhelm
the city. Theodora advised him to use an army of mercenaries to quell the
disturbance. Their response was ruthless: some 30,000 people were
slaughtered and the area around the Hippodrome suffered severe
damage. However, in the next 30 years of his reign, Justinian continued to
build and improve the city, leaving its buildings more lavish, and creating a
suitably grand home for the officials, merchants, and travellers who came
to the city from all over the empire. One of the casualties of the revolt had
been the church of Hagia Sophia (“divine wisdom”), and Justinian rebuilt it
△ The Emperor Justinian (left) offers a model of the Hagia Sophia to Mary in 537 ce, embellishing it with a vast dome and stunning mosaics. Now a
and the infant Christ in this 10th-century mosaic from its south entrance. mosque, it remains one of the world’s most awe-inspiring buildings.
527 Justinian becomes emperor and 537 The new church

begins to plan a grand new church, to of Hagia Sophia
designs by architects Anthemius is completed and
of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. dedicated by Justinian.
730 Emperor Leo III bans the
veneration of religious icons,
increasing tension between the
Orthodox and Catholic churches.
Gold coin depicting

Emperor Leo III
532 The palace is
besieged during 843 A church
the Nika Revolt, and council held at
Justinian and Theodora Hagia Sophia
turn to mercenaries reverses the ban
to crush the rioters. on icons.
At its height, the Byzantine Empire was vast, encompassing its massive walls and strong navy. In the 11th century, the △ FRESCOES IN THE CHORA CHURCH
southern Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, the Seljuk Turks had more success, launching fierce attacks Theodore Metochites, a 14th-century
imperial adviser, commissioned a
eastern Mediterranean, and parts of North Africa. Its that drove the Byzantines out of Anatolia (Asian Turkey), lavish set of frescoes and mosaics for
capital was suitably grand: under Justinian (see box), reducing the empire’s size and wealth. It proved a turning this remarkable church. Their vivid
Constantinople was probably the world’s most populous point: while the city recovered under a series of talented portrayals of saints and biblical scenes
make them some of the best examples of
city. Its libraries were centres of learning, and its markets emperors, an attack by a Crusader army in the early 1200s the Palaeologan Renaissance.
traded goods from all over the world. left it in ruins. Constantinople suffered a slow decline,
although the creative arts flowered under Emperor
A city under threat Michael VIII Palaeologus and his family. The Palaeologi
With its enviable wealth and influence, Constantinople was attracted many foreign artists and scholars, restoring
a frequent target for attacks. Slavs, Russians, Arabs, and some of the once-vibrant atmosphere, but the days of
Persians all failed in bids to conquer the city, largely due to Roman rule were numbered.
1176 In the Battle of 1362 After further conquests,

Myriokephalon, Seljuk Turks the Ottomans control large
destroy the Byzantine army parts of the Byzantine Empire,
and end the city’s control leaving only Constantinople
of most of Anatolia. After the Crusaders’ and a few outposts.
sack, buildings were
stripped and many locals left,
reducing the city to a few
scattered communities.
1204 Constantinople
suffers major damage 1261 Emperor Michael VIII
during the Fourth Palaeologus recaptures the
Crusade, beginning a city, and begins a revival of
period of rule by art and scholarship known as This double-headed eagle symbolizes the
Western invaders. the Palaeologan Renaissance. Byzantine emperors’ dominion of east and west
△ BLUE MOSQUE
The Sultan Ahmet Mosque is widely known as the Blue
Mosque because of the thousands of predominantly blue
tiles that cover its interior. It can hold up to 10,000 people,
and contains Ahmet I’s tomb.
The Ottoman capital

In 1453, Ottoman forces under Sultan Mehmet II laid
siege to Constantinople. The Turks were hampered by a
great iron chain that the defenders had laid across the
Golden Horn estuary to block enemy ships. Undeterred,
Mehmet had his ships dragged over land on greased logs,
bringing them into the Golden Horn, within reach of the
city’s sea walls. After weeks of fighting, the city was
finally taken by the Ottomans.
Many people were killed, buildings were destroyed, and
the pillage continued after the Ottoman victory. The sultan
soon began a major rebuilding programme, however.
Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque and adorned with
four minarets; the construction of the vast imperial
TopkapI Palace was begun; the city walls were rebuilt; and
mosques and a vast Grand Bazaar, which would grow to
accommodate some 4,000 shops, were established.
The sultan declared Constantinople his capital, and
allowed many of the Greek-speaking people who had fled
the city to return. It soon bustled with merchants again.
△ AHMET I AND HIS MOSQUE, 17TH CENTURY They brought trade to a newly prosperous market, where
This illustrated manuscript shows Ahmet I standing with his there were plenty of rich Ottomans eager to buy imported
followers next to the Blue Mosque, with Hagia Sophia behind it.
The city’s mosques, with their towering minarets and gorgeous silks and spices, as well as locally made carpets,
interiors, showcase the wealth and creativity of a great empire. ceramics, and metalware. Janissaries, traditionally
1478 TopkapI Palace is 1616 The Sultan Ahmet Mosque, 1871 The construction of a
completed as the home of also known as the Blue tram network, initially with
the ruler and his family, the Mosque, is completed to a horse-drawn trams, greatly
centre of government, and a design by Sedefkâr Mehmet improves city transport.
meeting place for key officials. Ağa, a pupil of Sinan.
1520 Süleyman I (“the

Magnificent”) becomes 1807 The janissaries rebel,
1453 Ottoman Sultan emperor, enlarges the destroying much of the city,
Mehmet II conquers the city Ottoman Empire, and after Sultan Selim III tries to
and begins to transform it commissions the architect reorganize the army along
into his capital. Sinan to build new mosques. Western lines.
ISTANBUL 35
Islam flourished; mosques... were erected

and a peak of glory was reached under the
great Süleyman the Magnificent.
DAVID TALBOT RICE, CONSTANTINOPLE, 1965
captive Christian boys who were converted to Islam and Osman. Other sultans and their viziers had more success
given elite training, formed the imperial guard, Europe’s restoring Constantinople’s stability, building grand Baroque
first standing army. palaces in the 18th and 19th centuries. But the city
Hagia Sophia was a
A golden age for the city had begun, and continued into became unstable and backward-looking. Trade declined,
the reign of Süleyman I, who extended the empire in the the city’s once-magnificent wooden houses began to look church until 1453,
16th century. Süleyman was a noted patron of the arts, dishevelled, and Constantinople found itself capital of an a mosque to 1935, and a
encouraging painters and craftsmen to beautify the impoverished empire dubbed “the sick man of Europe”.
TopkapI Palace and the homes of his officials, and
museum until 2020. It is
employing the empire’s greatest architect, Mimar Sinan, New beginnings now a mosque again.
on projects across the city. Süleyman also promoted World War I wiped out the remains of the Ottoman Empire,
education, making his capital home to a highly literate but Turkey secured its independence under the command
population, where poetry flourished and calligraphy, used of former soldier Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who became
to create stunning copies of the Qur’an, reached a peak. president in 1923. He modernized the new nation, making
Turkey a secular state and Ankara his new capital. The old
A slow decline capital, renamed Istanbul (from the Greek for “to
The Ottoman rulers after Süleyman were less able, and the city”), thrived. New rail links and bridges
the reins of power were often held by Grand Viziers improved access, and districts such as
(ministers), the women of the court, or the janissaries. Ümraniye filled with new apartments, shopping
There was also corruption and sometimes terrifying malls, and mosques. The rolling back of religious
violence. In 1621, a hard winter was followed by a famine. strictures also gave more freedom to citizens,
Discontent flared, and to assert his authority Sultan especially women, although conservative
Osman II threatened to abolish the powerful janissaries. In President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has restricted
response, they rebelled, took over the palace, and killed media in recent years. This historic melting pot
still bubbles with energy, mixing elegant palaces
with glass-hewn skyscrapers, and combining a
love of life’s finer things with a beguiling bustle.
1922–23 Atatürk abolishes 1973 The Bosphorus

the Sultanate and separates suspension bridge,
religion and state. Ankara the first permanent
replaces Constantinople crossing of the strait,
as capital of the is completed.
Turkish Republic.
2004 The Yeşilvadi

1888 The Orient mosque, designed by
Express establishes Adnan Kazmaoğlu,
a luxury rail link is constructed in
between Paris and 1930 The city is Ümraniye, on the Asian
Constantinople. renamed Istanbul. side of the Bosphorus.
JERUSALEM 37
Jerusalem
THE HOLY CITY
Jerusalem has been a sacred place for three major world faiths
for thousands of years, its ancient streets witness to a turbulent
history of religious rivalry and division.
Situated on the slopes of a hill-ringed plateau west of Lavishly constructed from Lebanese cedarwood, the
the Jordan river, Jerusalem is one of the world’s most temple became a sacred centre of the Jewish religion,
ancient cities. It was established around 3200 bce by and an enduring focus of its rituals and law.
Canaanite tribes who named it Rushalimum (“Shalem Solomon’s achievements were short-lived, though.
has founded it”), after one of their gods. The kingdom’s unity fractured under his successor and
Jerusalem, now capital of Judah (the southern part of
The City of David Palestine), became a vassal of the Assyrians. It was
According to Biblical tradition, the Israelites arrived in eventually destroyed in 586 bce after a revolt against the
Canaan after fleeing oppression in Egypt. At first, they new Babylonian overlord Nebuchadnezzar, and its people
were just one small group in a region that had been were deported to Babylon.
bitterly contested between Hittites and Egyptians, but
around 1000 bce their king, David, captured Jerusalem Jerusalem after the exile
from its Canaanite rulers. His successor, Solomon, built That exile lasted 50 years until the Persian King Cyrus
the First Temple to house the Ark of the Covenant, which took Babylon and permitted the Jews to return home. A
contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Second Temple was built, but Jerusalem suffered a series
of foreign overlords, first Alexander the Great, then the
Ptolemies and Seleucids. The Jews re-established their
◁ SUNSET OVER JERUSALEM independence after the Jewish priest Judas Maccabaeus
The Temple Mount, surrounded by the old city walls, repelled Seleucid attempts to suppress Judaism, but in
dominates Jerusalem, just as it has done since ancient times,
with the golden cupola of the 7th-century Dome of the Rock 63 bce the Roman General Pompey took Jerusalem, after
its most visible feature from afar. intervening in a dispute between two religious factions.
An 8th-century
account of the taking
of Jerusalem by
c. 1000 bce King David Nebuchadnezzar
captures Jerusalem from
the Canaanite King Araunah
and moves the Ark of the
Covenant to the city.
586 bce Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon captures
Jerusalem, destroying
the First Temple and
removing Jerusalem’s
population to Babylon.
167–160 bce The

Maccabean revolt 63 bce Roman General
c. 970 bce King drives out the Seleucids Pompey the Great
Solomon builds the and leads to the enters Jerusalem,
First Temple on the establishment of the beginning the period of
Temple Mount. Hasmonaean Kingdom. Roman dominance.
◁ SITE OF THE RESURRECTION
The Rotunda in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is said to mark
the site of the tomb where Christ was buried after the crucifixion,
and of his subsequent resurrection from the dead, giving the
church its original name of Anastasis (Greek for “resurrection”).
named Jesus Christ. Jewish discontent exploded in 66 ce

after a Roman attack on the temple treasury. The revolt
ended in tragedy with the slaughter of 6,000 Jewish Zealots
and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 ce. Another
revolt in 135 ce led Emperor Hadrian to expel the Jewish
population and refound Jerusalem as a pagan city.
When religious life returned, it was Christian, not Jewish,
after the decree in 313 ce by Emperor Constantine
tolerating Christianity. Pilgrims started to visit, following the
example of Constantine’s mother Helena, who claimed to
have discovered the True Cross on which Jesus was
crucified. She founded the first version of the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, accelerating the transformation of
Jerusalem into a Christian landscape.
The Muslim conquest

Tensions between rival forms of Christianity weakened the
Roman Empire’s hold, and when a Muslim army captured
Jerusalem in 638 ce, resistance was muted. Caliph Umar
ordered the conversion of churches to mosques and
Initially, the Romans exercised control through Jewish monasteries to madrasas. In 688 ce the Umayyad Caliph
rulers, the most effective of whom was Herod the Great. Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan built the Dome of the Rock on the
To rebuild the Second In 19 bce, Herod remodelled the Second Temple in grand site of the Second Temple, its great golden cupola
style, cladding its walls in red- and blue-veined marble. dominating the Haram ash-Sharif (“the noble sanctuary”),
Temple, Herod used At the edge of the plateau that became known as the the Muslim term for the Temple Mount. But by the 9th
1,000 priests trained as Temple Mount, he also built a massive fortress called the century, the new Abbasid caliphs began to neglect the city
Antonia, chiefly to protect the temple. and its population shrank. The unstable Caliph al-Hakim
craftsmen so as not to
When Herod died, the Romans imposed direct rule and ordered the destruction of remaining Christian churches.
violate its sanctity. installed the prefect Pontius Pilate to govern the region. After the Seljuq Turks cut off Christian pilgrimage routes,
In 30 ce, he was forced to give way to Jewish traditionalist the Christian rulers of Europe formed a crusade in 1096 to
demands for the execution of a troublesome preacher rescue the Holy City (see box).
70 ce Following 326 Empress Helena 688 Caliph Abd al-Malik

a Jewish revolt, orders the construction builds the Dome of the
the Romans destroy of the Church of the Rock shrine and expands
Jerusalem, including Holy Sepulchre. the prayer house into the
the Second Temple. al-Aqsa Mosque
(completed in 705).
638 Caliph Umar captures

135 Emperor Hadrian Jerusalem after a
remodels Jerusalem as a short siege. He builds
pagan city, and proscribes a small prayer house on
the Jewish religion. the Temple Mount.
JERUSALEM 39
In the Temple and the Porch

of Solomon, men rode in
blood up to their knees and
The Crusader kingdom
bridle reins.
RAYMOND OF AGUILERS, HISTORIA FRANCORUM, c. 1100
The armies of the First Crusade took three years to complete the
long overland journey from Europe to Palestine, but after a five-week
siege they finally stormed Jerusalem on 15 July 1099, slaughtering
Muslims, Jews, and local Christians indiscriminately. The Crusaders
turned the al-Aqsa Mosque into a barracks, the Dome of the Rock
into a church, reconsecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and
expelled the surviving Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. Yet the new
kingdom they established struggled to retain military manpower or
attract Christian settlers. It also suffered perpetual factional
struggles and weak leadership. Even with a second Crusade and the
foundation of military orders such as the Knights Templar and
Hospitallers to defend it, Jerusalem was taken by the Ayyubid Sultan
Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub (known as Saladin) in 1187. This time there
was no massacre, and Muslims trickled back into the
city. Despite a brief Crusader reoccupation, 150
years of conflict in the Crusades had served
only to reduce Jerusalem to a smoking ruin.
◁ A seal of the Crusader Kingdom of

Jerusalem prominently shows the Church
△ This map from the Historia Hierosolymitana (History of Jerusalem), a of the Holy Sepulchre, the city walls, and
12th-century chronicle of the First Crusade by Robert the Monk, shows the former Dome of the Rock, which had
important Christian holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. been converted into a church.
969 The seizure of 1149 A new Church of 1229–44 Crusaders

Jerusalem by the the Holy Sepulchre is regain control of
Egyptian Fatimid built, to replace the Jerusalem before
caliphs ends decades building destroyed by losing it to a Muslim
of Abbasid neglect. Caliph al-Hakim. Khwarezmian army.
Muslims believe the

Angel Gabriel took the
Prophet Muhammad on his
“Night Journey” from Mecca
to Temple Mount.
1187 The Ayyubid Sultan

1099 The army of the First Crusade Saladin defeats the
captures Jerusalem. Its Muslim Crusader army at Hattin
inhabitants are massacred. and takes Jerusalem.
The Mamluk city

In 1260, after more than 150 years of Crusader campaigns,
Jerusalem was conquered by the Mamluks – former
slave-soldiers who had risen to become Egypt’s ruling
class – beginning a six-century period of Muslim rule,
which imprinted itself on the city’s streets with mosques,
madrasas, and ornamental tombs. The labyrinth of the Old
City became differentiated more clearly into the four
Quarters – Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian –
into which it is still divided today.
Life, though, was far from peaceful. Despite the work the
Mamluks carried out on the Haram ash-Sharif (Temple
Mount), the city was in danger of becoming a backwater.
However, the Crusaders’ loss of the coastal town of Acre in
1291, which marked their final expulsion from the region,
revived Jerusalem’s fortunes.
With the danger of Christian attack gone, the Catholic
Franciscans were allowed back in 1300 and given a church
on the Mount of Sion. The Mamluk Sultan an-Nasir
Muhammad turned his energies to works on the buildings
of the Haram ash-Sharif, commissioning a splendid new
colonnade and regilding the Dome of the Rock. He also
built a new market – the Suq al-Qattanin (Cotton
Merchants’ Market) – and soap and linen manufacture
grew as foreign traders flocked to the city. New religious
buildings sprang up in the crowded Old City, many, such as
the Manjakiyya madrasa, having to be wedged into small
spaces over porticoes and the city gates. This growth came
to an end when the city was ravaged by the Black Death in
1348, and raids by nomadic Bedouins choked off trade.
◁ OTTOMAN ISTANBUL
This late-19th-century tinted photograph shows a busy street
leading to the Tower of David in the citadel, and the Jaffa Gate.
The vendors and the merchants’ camels laden with goods
are a sign of the city’s renewed commercial prosperity.
1246 The Egyptian Ayyubid

sultans recapture Jerusalem
1317 Mamluk Sultan 1541 Süleyman the
from the Khwarezmian Turks.
an-Nasir Muhammad Magnificent issues
commissions the regilding an edict allowing
of the Dome of the Rock. Jews to worship at
the Western Wall.
1260 Baybars, the

Mamluk Sultan of
1516–17 The Ottoman
Egypt, takes control
conquest of Palestine;
of Jerusalem.
Sultan Selim I makes a
Mamluk gold coins pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
41
The Ottoman revival ◁ THE WESTERN WALL

The entrance of the Ottoman Sultan Selim into the city on The Western Wall
(or Wailing Wall), the
1 December 1516 heralded great change. The Ottomans last surviving part
restored law and order, and under Süleyman the of the Second Temple,
Magnificent (r. 1520–66) there was a cultural revival. became a place of
Jewish worship in
He ordered the rebuilding of the city walls and erected the the 1540s.
imposing Damascus Gate – its turret stood guard over the
city until it was toppled in 1967. In the 1540s, Süleyman
allowed Jews to have a place of prayer along a narrow strip
at the Western Wall of the former Second Temple, where
the custom began of inserting petitions on pieces of paper
slipped between the stones. After Süleyman’s death,
however, the political climate darkened. Although the Dome
of the Rock was restored several times, the sultans and
their governors were weak and authority in the city
increasingly fell to local notable families.
By 1800, Jerusalem had shrunk again, with its 9,000
inhabitants, half of them Muslim, making their living from
soap-making and ceramics, and the city dotted with apricot
and mulberry orchards. When a fire broke out in 1808,
gutting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, recriminations
flared up among the Christian denominations. These
became so vicious that the authorities enforced a
settlement, under which the Greeks gained control of
the main building, the Armenians were confined to the
St Helena crypt, the Copts to a small chapel, and the
Ethiopians were left with the roof. To keep the peace helped by foreign philanthropists such as the Rothschild
between them, a Muslim family was given the main keys. family. New Jewish suburbs started to appear outside the
crowded warren of the Old City, and by 1890 there were In the mid-17th century,
The Zionist movement nine of them. They were populated by new waves of Jewish
In the 1830s, Jerusalem began to stir once more. The migrants from Eastern Europe, driven out by pogroms in Jerusalem had 43,000
Egyptian reformer Muhammad Ali briefly occupied the city the Russian Empire. Many of them, such as Theodor Herzl, vineyards, 2,045 shops,
and established a modern administration. Sephardim and were inspired by the new vision of Zionism, which called for
17 Quranic schools, and
Ashkenazi Jewish communities built new synagogues. Jews to establish a state in the Biblical land of Israel based
Christian missionaries began to arrive, and the British on socialist foundations. By 1900, the Jewish population two synagogues.
established the first European consulate in 1839. It was had grown so much they were a majority, heightening
the Jewish community that grew most robustly, however, tensions with the now outnumbered Muslims.
1703–05 The Naqib al-Ashraf 1860 The first

revolt against oppressive modern Jewish
Ottoman taxation neighbourhoods
establishes brief are built outside
autonomy for Jerusalem. the Old City.
Commemorative
postcard of the first
Zionist Congress
1897 The first Zionist Congress is

held, led by Theodor Herzl, who
argues that Jews of the diaspora
1831 Muhammad Ali of Egypt should return to Jerusalem and 1917 The British
captures Jerusalem, but the establish a Jewish state. army under
Ottomans retake it in 1840 General Allenby
with British assistance. enters Jerusalem.
Our Jerusalem is a mosaic of

all the cultures, all the
religions and all the periods
that enriched the city.
OUR JERUSALEM PETITION BY ISRAELI WRITERS, ARTISTS, AND KNESSET MEMBERS,
MAY 1995
The British mandate a rapidly modernizing city. Yet old hatreds festered beneath
The Arab population of the surface. The Muslim nationalist Mohammed Amin
Jerusalem hoped that al-Husayni, whom the British appointed Grand Mufti,
General Edmund Allenby’s clashed with the Jewish Agency for Israel, which
entry into the city in encouraged a rising tide of Jewish immigration. Riots
December 1917 would bring occurred in 1929, an Arab general strike in 1936 escalated
them the independence they into a widespread uprising, and Jewish militant groups
believed Britain had targeted both Arabs and the British authorities, including
promised them. They soon a devastating bomb attack on the King David Hotel in 1946.
found that the British had
been making equal and Jerusalem divided and reunited
△ BRITISH GARRISON SOLDIERS contradictory promises to the Jewish community, When the United Nations’ proposals to partition Palestine
British troops stand guard at a road including a letter from Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour between Arab and Jewish states foundered and the British
junction in Jerusalem in 1939. The year
saw riots by Arabs demanding declaring support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. withdrew, Jewish nationalists declared the State of Israel.
independence and increased attacks by Consequently, the British League of Nations Mandate over The war that then erupted with their Arab neighbours was
Jewish militant groups, such as the Irgun. Palestine began in bitterness. The British tried to promote ended by a truce in March 1949. This left Jerusalem divided
communal harmony by re-establishing the municipal for the next two decades: the Old City, in Muslim hands, was
council with a Muslim mayor and Jewish and Christian crammed with Palestinian refugees; the west of the city,
deputies, and repairing the decaying infrastructure. New captured by Israel, teeming with new Jewish migrants.
Jewish suburbs sprang up to the west of the Old City, with The fractured city was only finally reunited, but definitely
Arab equivalents to the east, and the new King David Hotel not healed, when Israeli forces took East Jerusalem
and Central Post Office gave Jerusalem the appearance of (including the Old City) in the Six-Day War in May 1967.
1920 Jerusalem 1946 An attack on the King

comes under the David Hotel, temporary
control of the British headquarters of the British
League of Nations authorities, kills 91 people.
Mandate.
At the end of World
War II, thousands of
Jewish refugees attempted
to settle in Palestine.
Many were turned back by
the British.
1929 Rioting is sparked by 1948 The State

a Muslim-Jewish of Israel is declared;
dispute over access to the first Arab-Israeli
the Western Wall. War erupts.
The city’s Muslim population found itself beleaguered, as harsher security measures and declared Jerusalem as △ YAD VASHEM HALL OF NAMES
the Israeli government built new blocks for Jewish settlers capital of Israel, a move which was generally unrecognized The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial
was given this striking new home
around East Jerusalem and radical Jewish groups sought until the USA relocated its embassy there in 2018. in 2013, a building described by its
to buy Old City properties. Terrorism blighted Jerusalem as Like most modern cities, Jerusalem is a multicultural architect as “a volcanic eruption of light
members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and vibrant place. Yet it is a city like no other, one in stasis, and life”, in which the Hall of Names
honours the memory of the six million
fought back. In 1987, the First Intifada, a sustained with Palestinian suburbs outside the centre sectioned off Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Palestinian protest movement, broke out. by a security wall, and few illusions that faith and politics
All attempts to bring peace have been in vain. The Oslo can be reconciled or the wounds of centuries of hurt
Peace Accords in 1993 between Israel and the PLO healed. Amid it all, Jerusalem remains a profoundly
promised a final determination of Jerusalem’s status, but potent symbol for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and
this never came to pass, and a Second Intifada erupted in a city where the ancient and modern coexist in
2000. The Israeli government responded with even proximity, if rarely in harmony.
1949 A truce is declared 1967 In the Six-Day 1993 The Oslo Peace
between Jordan and Israel. War, Israel takes Accords are signed but
Jordan takes over the East Jerusalem, the status of Jerusalem
running of East Jerusalem including the remains disputed.
and the West Bank. Old City.
1980 Israel declares 2000 Pope John

1953 Yad Vashem Jerusalem its capital Paul II becomes the
Holocaust Memorial (not recognized second-ever pope
is established. internationally). to visit Jerusalem.
PERSEPOLIS 45
Persepolis
CITY OF THE PERSIANS
Persepolis was the majestic centre of Persia, a ritual site boasting
magnificent buildings that for 200 years hosted elaborate ceremonies
to glorify its Achaemenid rulers.
Half temple, half grand audience chamber of its rulers, his efforts on the construction of Persepolis, bringing in
Persepolis – the name is Greek, meaning “city of the labourers as well as skilled masons, carpenters, and
Persians” – was founded in the early 6th century bce. artists to erect the first of a series of spectacular buildings. A clay tablet found in
Situated in the Persian heartland in the southwest of The glory of Darius’s achievement at Persepolis was the
the Treasury mentions
modern-day Iran (50 km/30 miles northeast of Shiraz), Apadana, a raised audience chamber with 36 columns
it replaced the original Persian royal capital at nearby soaring to over 20 m (66 ft), topped with bulls’ head 55 stoneworkers who
Pasargadae and then for nearly two centuries served as capitals. A procession of carved figures adorns the eastern were brought in
a potent symbol of the power of the Achaemenid kings. stairway, representing 23 groups of peoples from
throughout the empire, each dressed in their national specially from Egypt to
Building a royal city costume and bearing gifts of tribute from their homeland: work on Persepolis.
Cyrus the Great established the Persian Empire in 550 bce the Ethiopians bring elephant tusks and an okapi, the
by conquering the previously dominant Medes, but it was Greeks carry beehives, and the Bactrians lead a camel.
left to his successor Darius to choose a capital suitable for
this vast domain. While Darius I governed for much of the
year from Susa, further to the south, he lavished most of
May Ahuramazda protect
this country from foe, from
◁ FRIEZE ON THE APADANA STAIRCASE
A procession of Lydians, from the far west of the Persian
Empire, bring vases as part of their tribute to Darius, which famine, and from falsehood.
also includes metal rings adorned with griffin heads and a
chariot drawn by two stallions. INSCRIPTION ON THE PALACE OF DARIUS
529 bce Cyrus the

Great is buried at
Pasargadae.
c. 518 bce Darius I

begins construction
of Persepolis.
480–470 bce The Palace of Xerxes
is built, decorated with reliefs
showing servants carrying
food for the king and trilingual
inscriptions in Old Persian,
Elamite, and Akkadian.
c. 515 bce Building of the

Apadana at Persepolis c. 510 bce The frieze of
commences, with tribute-bearers is
the construction of the carved on the
main audience hall. Apadana staircase.
46
In the Middle Ages,

Persepolis was also
known as Chehel Minar
(“40 columns”).
Today, only 13
columns remain.
▷ DESTRUCTION OF PERSEPOLIS
This painting, by American artist Tom
Lovell, shows Alexander the Great’s
Macedonian soldiers bearing flaming
torches. The Greek historian Diodorus
Siculus said that the first torch was
cast by Thaïs, a courtesan from
Athens, in revenge for the Persian
King Xerxes’ burning of her home city.
Persepolis was not a major city and did not have a large animal head fixtures), the Tachara also had its own garden.
residential population, but each spring, when the Persian Darius’s son Xerxes I continued his father’s work at
kings visited for the New Year ceremony, it came to life. On Persepolis, despite the distraction of an ultimately
ascending the great double staircase, the tribute-bearers unsuccessful invasion of Greece in 480 bce. He enlarged
would reach the impressive Apadana, its roof made of the Apadana and added a new throne hall, the Hall of
timber beams up to 65 m (213 ft) in length, the exterior a Hundred Columns. Its 10 rows of 10 columns were
decorated with polychrome glazed brick depicting guards accessed by a grand portico flanked by colossal stone
and nobles, and the interior, which could hold thousands of bulls. Xerxes also constructed his own personal palace
onlookers, furnished with intricate wall-hangings. at the highest point of the platform. To round off the
complex, he built an intimidating entrance to the palace –
Banquets and audiences a huge portal guarded by monumental winged bulls,
To the south of the Apadana, Darius built his own private known as the Gate of All Nations.
palace, the Tachara. Doubling as a banquet hall, where the Darius had already built a small treasury to house
king could enjoy respite from the demands of court and sip regalia and gifts from foreign envoys. Xerxes
wine from elaborate rhytons (conical drinking vessels with supplemented this with an open courtyard and another
c. 475–465 bce Xerxes adds the Hall of

a Hundred Columns to the Apadana, 330 bce Alexander
its portico adorned with enormous the Great’s troops
carved stone bulls. burn and loot It was said that
Persepolis, leaving
it in ruins.
Alexander the Great’s
troops looted 2,500 tons of
gold and rescued 800 captive
Greek artisans from
Persepolis.
465–424 bce Artaxerxes I 333–330 bce Alexander the

makes additions to the Hall Great invades and
of a Hundred Columns, conquers the Persian
the last major building Empire, ending the
work at Persepolis. Achaemenid dynasty.
PERSEPOLIS 47
columned hall, storing the court’s most valuable treasures

there in a kind of private museum. The items left behind by
The man who has respect for that law
long-ago looters give an indication of its riches: an which Ahuramazda [Zoroastrian deity] has
alabaster bowl inscribed with the name of the Egyptian
Pharaoh Necho; a lion-handled granite vessel dedicated to established… he both becomes happy while
the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal; and piles of royal
tableware stamped with Xerxes’ name. living, and becomes blessed when dead.
In the mid-5th century bce, Xerxes’ son, Artaxerxes,
made some additions to Persepolis, including the INSCRIPTION ON THE PALACE OF XERXES
extension of the Hall of a Hundred Columns, but by this
point the royal city was substantially complete. The
◁ DRINKING VESSEL
Achaemenid kings continued to visit annually for over A golden rhyton in the shape of a monstrous
a century more, and they were buried in a complex of lion. Such luxury items, used at feasts, were an
cliff tombs 10 km (6 miles) away at Naqsh-e Rostam, important part of the display of Achaemenid
royal power at Persepolis.
where carvings show them standing to the side
of Zoroastrian fire altars.
the site was slowly forgotten, and it became
Destruction and restoration known as Takht-e Jamshid (“the throne of
Disaster struck in 330 bce when the Jamshid”) after a legendary Persian king.
Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great, European travellers came to wonder at the
having defeated the Persian King Darius III, ruins, beginning with Odoric of Pordinone, an
arrived at Persepolis. In a drunken rage – and, Italian Franciscan monk, who visited in the early
it was said, in revenge for the destruction of the Old 14th century. At the start of the 18th century, the Dutch
Temple of Athena a century and a half earlier – he ordered artist Cornelis de Bruijn made a series of drawings of
his troops to burn and loot the city. The timbered roofs fell, the site which brought it to wider attention and attracted
the columns collapsed, and most of the inhabitants fled. even more foreign tourists, many of whom carved their
In the 3rd century ce, under the Sasanians, the centre of names on its stones.
Persian power shifted to Estakhr, on the plain below, which In the 1930s, modern excavations began, first under
had probably once been the residential settlement for the the German archaeologists Ernst Herzfeld and Erich
servants and soldiers who worked in Persepolis. The Schmidt, who also initiated reconstruction. Gradually
Sasanians added their own inscriptions below the some sense of Persepolis’s grandeur was restored and
Achaemenid tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam, including one of in 1971 Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi hosted a lavish
their king, Shapur I, humiliating the defeated Roman celebration to mark 2,500 years since the foundation
Emperor Valerian. Later rulers treated Persepolis as a of the Persian Empire. Foreign rulers, royalty, and
quarry for their own projects: in the 930s ce, the Buyid dignitaries descended for what was dubbed “the party △ DOOR JAMB
A relief on an entrance door to the Palace
ruler Amir Abu Shuja carted away four grand doorways of the century”, an attempt to recapture a sense of of Xerxes shows the king served by two
to enhance his palace at Shiraz. The original purpose of Darius’s ceremonial capital at its height. attendants, one of whom carries a parasol.
260 ce Sasanian rock carving 1971 The Shah of Iran

at Naqsh-e Rostam holds grand ceremonies
celebrates Shapur I’s to celebrate the 2,500th
victories over three Roman anniversary of the
emperors, Gordian III, Philip Persian Empire.
the Arab, and Valerian.
933 Buyid ruler

Amir Abu Shuja 1704 Dutch artist 1979 UNESCO
removes four Cornelis de Bruijn visits inscribes Persepolis
monumental doors Persepolis and makes on the World
from Persepolis. sketches of the site. Heritage List.
Delhi
CITY OF SEVEN CAPITALS
The epicentre of political power in the Indian subcontinent for most
of the last millennium, Delhi is said to have seen the rise and fall of
seven capital cities. The current Indian capital, New Delhi, is the eighth.
Delhi finds legendary mention in the ancient Indian epic soldier, or Mamluk, who had risen to the position of
Mahabharata as Indraprastha, the capital city built by the general within Ghori’s army. Aibak built his new capital
Pandavas, the story’s heroes. Excavations suggest that the on the site of Qila Rai Pithora, and named it Mehrauli.
area has been inhabited since at least 1000 bce, though Through the next three centuries, Delhi served as the
the first reference to “Delhi” doesn’t appear until the 1st centre of power for a succession of Islamic dynasties.
century bce, when a local chieftain named Dhilu is said to The Khiljis, who followed the Mamluks, fortified themselves
have named the settlement he built there after himself. in Siri, near present-day Hauz Khas. The Tughlaqs came
next, and moved their capital within Delhi several times –
The Delhi Sultanate as well as decamping briefly, under the capricious
Delhi began to emerge as a political stronghold in the Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, to Daulatabad in western India.
11th century ce, when the Tomara dynasty founded a Muhammad’s successor, Feroz Shah Tughlaq, founded
citadel called Lal Kot (Red Citadel) on the southwestern Ferozabad (Delhi’s fifth capital) in 1354, where the Feroz
fringes of the modern metropolis. In the 12th century, the Shah Kotla fortress is the most notable of several surviving
rival Chauhans ousted the Tomaras and extended the fort Tughlaq bastions. The brief reign of the Sayyids was followed
with massive ramparts, the ruins of which still stand today, by the Lodis, whose legacy lives on in a series of fine tombs
and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora. Then, in 1192, the Chauhans at the Lodhi Gardens, in today’s New Delhi.
were defeated by Muhammad Ghori (from modern-day
Afghanistan) in a decisive battle that paved the way for
Islamic dynasties to conquer the Indian subcontinent. THE RED FORT AND SALIMGARH FORT, c. 1830 ▷
The seat of power for the Mughal emperors, Delhi’s iconic Red
Following Ghori’s death in 1206, the first of these dynasties Fort is connected to the earlier Salimgarh Fort by an arched
was founded by Qutb ud-din Aibak, a formerly enslaved bridge, which formerly spanned a channel from the Yamuna river.
c. 1052 Anangapala of the 1451 Bahlul Lodi is crowned

Tomara dynasty builds sultan, ushering in the last
Lal Kot, establishing the of the Islamic dynasties.
first city of Delhi.
1220 Work on the Qutub

Minar, commissioned
by Qutb ud-din Aibak
c. 1199, is completed by
his son-in-law Iltutmish.
1236 Razia Sultana,

Iltutmish’s
daughter, ascends
the throne as
1206 Qutb ud-din Aibak the first and
establishes the Delhi only queen of
Sultanate under the Islamic Delhi.
Mamluk dynasty.
DELHI 49
I asked my soul: What is Delhi?

She replied: The world is the body and Delhi its life.
MIRZA GHALIB, URDU POET, 19TH CENTURY
◁ PURANA QILA
The massive fortifications of the Purana
Qila were built on the site of the mythical
city of Indraprastha. It was the seat of
power for Humayun and Sher Shah Suri.
emperor, in 1628, however, was the

beginning of a new golden age for the
city. An inveterate and extravagant
builder – most famous for the Taj
Mahal – the new emperor turned his
back on Agra, and commissioned the
construction of a brand new city, Delhi’s
seventh capital, on the Yamuna river.
Work began on Shahjahanabad –
named after its creator – in 1638, and
eleven years later the emperor and his
retinue moved in.
Rise of the Mughals Shahjahanabad

Ibrahim Lodi, the third Lodi sultan, inherited a divided Shah Jahan’s metropolis was a masterpiece of Mughal
kingdom, and his tyrannical leadership only made him architecture. He commissioned the massive Red Fort,
more enemies. One of his governors invited Babur, a which became the city’s administrative core. Built of red
descendant of the Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan, to sandstone, the emperor’s palace complex displayed his
intervene. In 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim to take his lavish tastes. Within its ramparts were lush lawns and
throne, establishing Mughal rule over the Indian gardens, marble pavilions, mosques, apartments, and royal
subcontinent. During his short reign Babur based himself baths, as well as a marketplace where traders dealt in
at Agra (which had been founded under the Lodis three precious jewellery, gemstones, silk, and other goods. The
decades earlier), but in 1533 Babur’s son and successor, royal court received visitors in the Diwan-i-Aam (“hall of
△ SHER SHAH SURI Humayun, returned to Delhi and set up a new capital called public audience”), a magnificent sandstone pavilion
Sher Shah Suri reigned over the
subcontinent for just five years but
Dinpanah on the banks of the Yamuna river. Seven years supported by elegant columns and faced with lime stucco.
in that time set up a postal system, later, Sher Shah of the Suri dynasty seized power and At its back wall, on a marble pedestal, sat the emperor’s
introduced a currency (the rupiya), strengthened Dinpanah, which he renamed Shergarh. bejewelled Peacock Throne. He would hold court with his
and laid down the Grand Trunk Road
spanning his entire kingdom from The ramparts, now known as Purana Qila, still stand today. most senior nobles at the Diwan-i-Khas (“hall of private
modern-day Bangladesh to Afghanistan. Humayun recaptured Delhi in 1555 but his successors audience”), the walls of which were embellished with fine
chose to rule the empire from Agra, and Delhi went into marble filigree and intricately inlaid with lapis, jade, and
decline. The coronation of Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal mother-of-pearl, the ceiling moulded entirely in silver.
1530 Babur dies in 1556 Humayun dies, a year

Agra, and is succeeded after recapturing Delhi.
by his son Humayun as His son Akbar transfers
the emperor of the his capital to Agra. 1569 Humayun’s widow, Bega
Mughal Empire. Begum, commissions
Humayun’s Tomb in
honour of her
late husband.
1526 Babur establishes the 1540 Sher Shah Suri

Mughal dynasty in India after briefly wrests control
defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the of Delhi from
Battle of Panipat. the Mughals.
SHAH JAHAN’S COURT ▷
In the time of Shah Jahan, the Hall of Public
Audience was festooned with tapestries and
laid with silk carpets. Here, his son Aurangzeb
salutes him from among the noblemen below.
Beyond the Red Fort, the walled city of Shahjahanabad

radiated westward in the shape of a quarter-circle sector,
with the Yamuna river a natural fortification to the east.
The city’s commercial heart was a wide bazaar that
stretched for more than 1.5 km (0.9 miles) either side of
the Chandni Chowk, originally a half-moon-shaped square
(on the site of today’s Town Hall). The bazaar was cut
through by a central water channel (later built over by the
British) and lined with shops and stalls trading in exotic
merchandise such as spices, perfumes, textiles, porcelain,
jewellery, and medicinal supplies. To the south was the
city’s main mosque: the triple-domed Jama Masjid,
rendered in red sandstone and white marble, and able to
accommodate up to 25,000 worshippers; it still holds its
reputation as the largest mosque in India.
After Shah Jahan’s demise, Shahjahanabad continued to
serve as the Mughal capital, except for a period during the
reign of his son, Aurangzeb, but repeated incursions from
the Maratha Empire from western India and Afghan invaders
from the northwest frontier weakened the Mughals’ grip on
the city. In 1739, Delhi was brutally sacked by the soldiers of
Nadir Shah, the Shah of Persia, who slaughtered more than
20,000 men, women, and children in a mere six hours and
pillaged the city’s treasures, taking away the Peacock
Throne and the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond. The
defenceless Mughals had little option but to appoint the
Marathas as the protectors of the throne, with the Mughals If there is a paradise on earth, it is this,
retaining nominal control only in Delhi itself. Further raids
by the Afghans in the 1750s paved the way for the Marathas it is this, it is this.
to consolidate their grip over Delhi in 1757, leaving the
Mughal dynasty to wallow in political and military ignominy. INSCRIBED ON THE ARCHES OF THE DIWAN-I-KHAS, RED FORT
1638 Shah Jahan 1681 Aurangzeb moves

commissions a new capital his capital to the city
in Delhi for the Mughal of Aurangabad, in
Empire, and names it southern India.
Shahjahanabad.
Shah Jahan’s son
Jantar Mantar
Aurangzeb seized observatory
the throne in 1658,
executed his brothers,
and had his father
1724 Jai Singh II, a subordinate of the Mughals,
imprisoned. builds the Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The open-air
1650 Jahanara Begum, 1707 Delhi once again observatory consists of giant astronomical
eldest daughter of Shah becomes capital after instruments, used to calculate time.
Jahan, conceives and Aurangzeb’s death, but 1739 Nadir Shah of Persia
plans the construction begins to slip into decline as invades Delhi, massacres its
of Chandni Chowk, the the Marathas gain ground in inhabitants, and carries away
city’s main square. the subcontinent. vast amounts of treasure.
△ EID IN DELHI Delhi under British rule taken prisoner, and two of his sons and a grandson were
The Islamic festival of Eid was a focal In 1803, British forces defeated the Marathas at murdered on the site where traitors and state enemies
point of the Mughal calendar. In this
painting from the 1840s, Emperor the Battle of Delhi, and the city came under the had been routinely executed by Delhi’s previous emperors.
Bahadur Shah Zafar leads a procession administration of the British East India Company. The The revolt marked the formal end of the Mughals, and the
seated atop his caparisoned elephant, Mughals kept nominal access to the Delhi throne, shorn beginning of direct rule of India by the British Crown – the
with his family following behind.
of virtually all power. In 1857, after years of being period known as the Raj. The British moved their capital to
throttled by a tyrannical British administration, Indian the less volatile Calcutta (now Kolkata), and administered
soldiers in the ranks of the British armed forces joined Delhi from the leafy Civil Lines district, where their palatial
hands in a nationwide rebellion. United in revolt, mansions and hotels became the hub of British social life.
thousands of soldiers marched to Delhi, where there was The once-thriving area of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi),
no British garrison stationed. There, they hastily declared meanwhile, was left to fade into obscurity.
the elderly Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last reigning Mughal, By the early 20th century, Calcutta had become a focal
as the emperor of India. point for agitation against British rule, and at the Imperial
The uprising – immortalized in history books as the Durbar of 1911, King George V announced that the Indian
First War of Independence – was short-lived. British capital would once again move back to Delhi. Construction
forces soon regrouped and attacked Delhi, recapturing of the new imperial city, visualized by the architect Edwin
the city after a three-month siege. The aftermath of the Lutyens (see box), began the following year. In 1931, New
revolt was brutal: Company soldiers pillaged the city in Delhi – designed as a grand statement of British imperial
reprisal, killing thousands of Indian soldiers and civilians might – was inaugurated as the new capital. Yet British
and looting their properties. Bahadur Shah Zafar was confidence was short-lived. Within 16 years, they’d be gone.
1857 Bahadur Shah 1912 Construction of

Zafar, the last Mughal New Delhi begins, and
emperor, is arrested continues for nearly
by British troops after two decades.
the Siege of Delhi. 1869 Mirza Ghalib, one
of the most celebrated
Following his arrest, poets of the Mughal era,
dies in Delhi.
Bahadur Shah Zafar was
tried at the Red Fort, charged
on four counts, and imprisoned
in Burma (now Myanmar), Mirza Ghalib’s “Naqsh
where he died in 1862. Faryaadi”, the first couplet of
Diwan-e-Ghalib
1803 The Marathas 1911 King George V visits
are defeated by the Delhi and is crowned
British. Delhi comes Emperor of India in
under the East India the presence of Indian
Company’s control. royalty and dignitaries.
DELHI 53
Whoever has built a new city in Delhi

has always lost it… We [the British]
were no exception.
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, QUOTING IRIS PORTAL, CITY OF DJINNS, 1993
Born in London, England, Edwin Lutyens

already had a reputation as one of Britain’s
◁ The grand new city of “Imperial Delhi”
was built to the southwest of the city’s leading architects by the time he was invited to
former heart, Shahjahanabad. lead a planning committee for the construction
of a new imperial capital in Delhi in 1911. Taking
some inspiration from Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s
designs for Washington, DC (see p. 260),
Lutyens and his team devised the new district
Lutyens’ Delhi
on a monumental scale. Its heart was the

Kingsway (now the Rajpath), a grand, tree-lined
mall which linked the triumphal India Gate to
the majestic, pink-sandstone Viceroy’s House
(now the Presidential Palace), an elegant blend
of Neoclassical form with elements of India’s
own architectural traditions. Beyond, lay broad,
shady avenues lined with spacious white
bungalows; at the district’s northern corner was
Connaught Place, designed by Robert Tor Russell,
as the hub of commercial activity. The new city
took nearly 20 years to build, and is often cited
as one of the finest architectural ensembles in
the world. Lutyens himself was knighted in 1918,
and in tribute to him, New Delhi’s administrative
△ The circular design of New Delhi’s Parliament House is said to be based on an 11th-century temple. It is core, still the heart of India’s government, is
slated to be converted into a museum when parliament moves to a new building, scheduled for 2024. sometimes called Lutyens’ Delhi.
1931 Delhi is formally

inaugurated as the
new administrative
capital of British India.
1935 Jamia Millia Islamia, a

university founded in Aligarh
(in Uttar Pradesh), is moved
to Delhi. It becomes a
1922 The University premier institute for the 1947 The ceremony for India’s Independence is held in New Delhi.
of Delhi is established. arts and sciences. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the first prime minister.
I met a hundred men

going to Delhi and every
one is my brother.
POPE PAUL VI, 1964
a mere 5 per cent. The exodus was matched by an even

greater influx of refugees from the northwest, for which
the city was ill-equipped. Dozens of refugee “colonies”
were set up on the outskirts, which in time developed into
new neighbourhoods, but the city’s growth was haphazard.
In 1957, the Delhi Development Authority was established
to plan future growth, but even though the Master Plan
for Delhi that resulted acquired large areas of new land,
the city still struggled to meet its housing needs.
Meanwhile, the commercial life of the city began to
change as it transitioned from a trading centre to an
industrial powerhouse. Many of the newcomers found
work in the factories that spilled out in satellite cities
such as Ghaziabad and Faridabad, which in due course
were absorbed into Delhi’s expanding limits. The staging
of the Asian Games in 1982 heralded a new phase in the
city’s development, spurring economic activity and a
△ REPUBLIC DAY PARADE Delhi after independence further wave of inward migration. High-rises started to
A spectacular parade is held in New When Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced the appear on the skyline around Connaught Place in New
Delhi on 26 January every year to
commemorate India’s birth as a republic in fruition of India’s “tryst with destiny” to the Indian parliament Delhi, the city’s central business district, and the leafy
1950. The parade showcases the country’s in Delhi on the eve of the nation’s independence in 1947, suburbs of South Delhi began to flourish.
military prowess and vast cultural diversity. celebrations across the city were widespread. Yet the cost By the late 1980s, the city had a population of almost
of freedom was Partition, as India was split along religious 10 million people. The pace of change picked up again
lines and (predominantly Muslim) Pakistan came into after the sweeping economic reforms of the early 1990s,
being. Sectarian violence broke out between Hindu and which resulted in a wave of foreign investment and
Muslim communities, thousands of Muslims were killed, laid the platform for the unprecedented economic
and many more were driven from the city – by 1951, the growth that has underpinned the city’s transition into
Muslim population had fallen from a third of Delhi’s total to a modern global metropolis.
1950 India becomes 1973 The Delhi Agreement 1991 New Delhi is
a republic on 26 is signed between India, designated a National
January, with New Pakistan, and Bangladesh Capital Territory, a
Delhi as the in the aftermath of the status exclusive from
national capital. Bangladesh Liberation War. other Indian states and
union territories.
Mahatma Gandhi
in Delhi, 1939
1948 Amid post- 1982 New Delhi hosts

Partition unrest, the 9th Asian Games.
Mahatma Gandhi, who The city undergoes
led India’s campaign significant urban
for independence, 1965 Doordarshan, India’s development for
is assassinated in national television channel, the occasion.
New Delhi. begins daily transmissions
from New Delhi. Postal stamp issued for the 9th Asian Games
DELHI 55
◁ THE LOTUS TEMPLE

Built in 1986 for followers of the
Baha’i faith, the Lotus Temple
consists of 27 marble “petals”,
unfolding like a lotus flower. Open
to people of any (or no) religion,
it is one of the most visited
buildings in the world.
A world city Of course, rapid urbanization has also caused problems.

Today, the city of Delhi is home to nearly 30 million people, The increasing population continues to put tremendous
with an urban sprawl that stretches from the congested pressure on the city’s infrastructure and electricity According to the UN,
lanes of Old Delhi – where life still continues with an shortages are routine during summer months, and –
Delhi’s urban population
unhurried 19th-century lilt – to the skyscrapers of Gurgaon’s despite the still-expanding Delhi Metro – the 11-million-
Cyber City, where Fortune 500 giants spin the great Indian plus motor vehicles plying the city’s streets often bring of 29 million is the
dream. A cosmopolitan hub, with arguably the richest traffic to a near standstill. Pollution poses a serious health second highest
culinary scene of all Indian cities, the capital has cemented hazard to the city’s residents.
its place as the nation’s cultural centre, home to Nonetheless, as the country’s premier location for in the world, behind
sophisticated art galleries and markets selling handicrafts government offices, public institutions, and private Greater Tokyo.
curated from across the country. In recent times, some of enterprises, Delhi continues to hurtle down the one-way
the city’s medieval villages have been restored and street of growth and development. As new areas of the
reinvented as cultural districts – among these are Hauz city develop, and futuristic experiments in glass and steel
Khas, a hamlet built around a reservoir dating back to the thrust skywards, Delhi takes its place confidently among
Khilji era, which is now one of Delhi’s top hipster areas, and rival global megalopolises, a force to be reckoned with ▽ LODHI ART DISTRICT
Set up in 2014, the Lodhi Art District
Lodhi Art District, a hub for contemporary street art that has for its cosmopolitan ethos, multicultural character, and showcases the best of New Delhi’s
taken shape not far from the tomb of Sikandar Lodi. enduring historic and artistic appeal. contemporary street art and graffiti.
2002 The Delhi Metro 2010 The 19th 2016 Delhi implements the odd-even
enters active service, Commonwealth Games scheme to reduce traffic
and dramatically are held in New Delhi, congestion, whereby vehicles with
alters public transport as the city is given yet even-numbered plates are allowed
in the city. another facelift. to run only on even dates, and
odd-numbered plates on odd dates.
2014 The World

Health Organization
2005 The vast Akshardham declares New Delhi
Temple complex opens, to have the most
becoming the largest polluted air of any
temple in Delhi. city in the world.
HAMPI 57
Hampi
CITY OF VICTORY
Over a brief but glorious period of around 230 years, Hampi rose to
become the biggest and most dazzling city of medieval India, before
being brutally sacked and fading into oblivion until the modern era.
In the heart of the Deccan plateau in South India, the placed in charge of repelling the invasion – raised a
ethereal, boulder-strewn landscape around Hampi has long small army and in 1336 set up a new capital at Hampi,
been held sacred for its central role in the ancient Hindu a naturally fortified site on the Tungabhadra river. They Historians believe that
epic Ramayana. It is known in the story as Kishkindha, the named it Vijayanagar – “city of victory”.
during its heyday in the
mythical kingdom of monkeys that lends support to Lord The early kings of Vijayanagar ambitiously pushed the
Rama in his battle against the demon King Ravana. By the boundaries of their kingdom in all directions. By the early early 16th century
10th century, Hampi was well established as a pilgrimage 1400s, the empire had expanded to include almost all of Hampi was the second
centre called Pampa Kshetra, from which its name derives, peninsular South India. The city itself was made almost
and it developed further over the following centuries under impregnable, surrounded by huge stone walls. Successive largest city in the world,
the Hoysala dynasty as a hub for religion and education. kings developed the city's infrastructure, building palaces after Beijing.
and temples, roads and markets, as well as a sophisticated
Dawn of an empire irrigation system of water tanks and canals.
By the early 14th century, the armies of the powerful Delhi
Sultanate to the north were aggressively making incursions
south. With the reigning Hoysala Empire on the verge of
collapse, two brothers, Harihara and Bukka – commanders
The city of Vijayanagar is such that the pupil of the
eye has never seen a place like it, [nor has] there
◁ VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE
The nine-tiered, 50-m (160-ft) gopura (entrance tower) of the existed anything to equal it in the world.
Virupaksha Temple dominates Hampi's ruins. The temple has
been a place of active worship for more than a thousand years. ABD-AL-RAZZĀQ, PERSIAN TRAVELLER, 1443
1326 Armies of the 1356 On Harihara's death,

Delhi Sultanate defeat Bukka takes the throne. He
the last of the Hindu is credited with developing
kingdoms in South India. the city's irrigation system.
1509 Krishna Deva

Raya, the greatest of
Vijayanagar's emperors,
is enthroned.
Before being seated
in Hampi, Vijayanagar’s
capital was briefly located
The court of
in Anegundi, a village across
Krishna Deva Raya
the Tungabhadra river.
1336 Harihara and
Bukka establish a new
kingdom at Hampi,
and begin expanding
their domain.
◁ MYTHICAL HAMPI
The Hampi region features in the Ramayana as the fabled
monkey kingdom of Kishkindha, depicted here in an
illustrated manuscript from 1653.
Age of gold
Krishna Deva Raya ruled for a brief but eventful period
of 20 years, an era that marked Hampi’s apogee. The
city went through unprecedented development and
beautification. Many of the city’s showcase temples,
statues, and pavilions were completed during this period,
and others were embellished with intricate designs – most
famously the extraordinary stone columns at the Vittala
Temple commonly referred to as the Sa-Re-Ga-Ma
(Do-Re-Mi-Fa) pillars, which, when gently tapped, produce
individual musical notes like a xylophone.
When Domingo Paes, a chronicler hailing from the
nearby Portuguese colony of Goa, visited Hampi in 1520,
he found the city to be of striking beauty. “There are many
groves within it, in the gardens of houses, many conduits
of water which flow into the midst of it, and in places
there are lakes,” he wrote in his journal. He went on to
describe elaborate festivities featuring bejewelled
Vijayanagar is as large as Rome, and very elephants, dancing women, and lavish feasting, held on
an astounding scale.
beautiful to the sight. It is the best provided Traders from faraway lands arrived in chariots laden
city in the world.

with exotic merchandise – jewels from Sri Lanka and
Myanmar, pearls from the Straits of Hormuz, Chinese
brocade, and Malabar spices – to sell in the colonnaded
DOMINGO PAES, CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF VIJAYANAGAR, 1520
shophouses of the sprawling Krishnapura street market.
The Portuguese writer Barbosa commented on the city's
By 1509, when Krishna Deva Raya was crowned king of cosmopolitan, egalitarian air, where "great equity and
Vijayanagar, Hampi had grown to become India's richest justice is observed by all, not only by the rulers, but by
city as well as its biggest, with a population estimated to the people to one another." At this time, the city secured
be around 500,000. It was now the military and political almost exclusive ownership – paid for in gold – of the
nerve centre of the entire Deccan region, and a formidable finest Arabian horses, an advantage that underpinned
entrepôt for intercontinental trade. the empire's military might.
1542 Aliya Rama Raya takes

power. His aggressive
treatment of neighbouring
sultanates leaves
Vijayanagar isolated.
Hussain Nizam Shah I on

horseback, 16th century
1565 Vijayanagar is routed

in the Battle of Talikota
1509–29 Many of Hampi’s most by a confederacy of
iconic monuments, including Deccan sultanates, led by
the 7-m (22-ft) monolithic Hussain Nizam Shah I.
statue of the deity Narasimha,
are completed during Krishna
Deva Raya's reign.
A city lost and found While local chiefs fought over the remnants of the empire, △ VITTALA TEMPLE RUINS
Yet the death of Krishna Deva Raya in 1529 marked the the city itself was never repopulated after the war. The ruins Dedicated to Vishnu, the Vittala Temple
is the grandest of Hampi's shrines. The
beginning of the end for Hampi. The tyrannical and were gradually reclaimed by wilderness, and remained exquisitely carved stone chariot in front of
interfering King Aliya Rama Raya united the Vijayanagar obscured from public sight for more than 200 years. In the temple features on India's Rs 50 note.
Empire's enemies against him, and in 1565, a confederacy 1800, after the British East India Company assumed control
of Deccan sultanates sought revenge. At the Battle of over the Deccan region, Hampi was formally surveyed for
Talikota, Aliya Rama Raya was captured and beheaded, the first time. Since India’s independence in 1947, the
and Hampi was invaded, sacked, and laid to waste by the government of India has focused attention on restoring
invading armies. In a matter of days, the once-glorious city and preserving many of its monuments, and today the
was reduced to a pile of rubble, which according to legend ruins cast a spell over tourists and scholars from around
remained ablaze for six months. the world – indeed, many visitors find it hard to leave.
1799 Tipu Sultan of Mysore is 1900 Robert Sewell’s

defeated by an army of the A Forgotten Empire, an account
British East India Company. 1856 British officer of the Vijayanagar dynasty,
The Deccan plateau comes Alexander Greenlaw takes turns the spotlight on Hampi
under British rule. the first photographs of and piques the interest of
Hampi’s ruins. The modern historians.
pictures soon go missing,
resurfacing only in 1980.
1986 The Group of

1646 The Vijayanagar Monuments at Hampi,
Empire finally comes comprising more than
to an end, as several 1800 The Surveyor General of 1,600 remains, is
kingdoms break away and India makes the first study inscribed as a UNESCO
declare independence. of Hampi's ruins. World Heritage Site.
XI’AN 61
Xi’an
CITY OF PERPETUAL PEACE
The capital of 10 Chinese dynasties, Xi’an was once the world’s largest city,
a huge and bustling trading centre at the end of the Silk Road, adorned
with magnificent Buddhist pagodas and imperial palaces.
Xi’an’s history goes back a long way: the Neolithic

Yangshao people built a village near the present-day city It is the most impregnable
in the 5th millennium bce. They chose a prime site, ringed
by mountains and close to the Yellow and Wei rivers. The refuge in heaven and earth.
fertile, easily defended spot attracted the Zhou, the first
really powerful Chinese dynasty, who built their capital, PAN GU ON THE ADVANTAGES OF CHANG’AN, 1ST CENTURY CE
Fenghao, here in around 1000 bce. Two centuries later,
they moved their capital to Luoyang, and the city slipped
back into obscurity, setting a pattern of glory, decline, and named Xianyang, divided into wards where drums sounded
renewal that would echo down the centuries. a night curfew. His splendid residence, the Er Fang (or
“nearby palace”), was the largest palace China had seen,
The First Emperor and the Han with a terrace where 10,000 people could gather. But his
Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor, united China in rigid rule – he imposed standardized measurements and a
221 bce, and revived the city. He migrated thousands of uniform script, and executed dissenting scholars – led to
rich provincial families to populate a walled city that he opposition. He died in 210 bce, and his dynasty ended just
three years later. Only his grand mausoleum survived, its
sealed interior hiding the magnificent, life-size Terracotta
◁ THE EMPEROR’S ARMY Army (see box, p. 64). It would not be seen again until 1974.
Each of the 8,000 life-size Terracotta Warriors buried in the The new Han dynasty chose a site about 20 km (12 miles)
mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi was carved with a different face,
a sign of the enormous care taken in the preparation of an southeast of Xianyang as its capital under Emperor Gaozu
entourage that would serve the emperor in the afterlife. in 202 bce, and named it Chang’an. The Han control of rich
Zhou-era bronze
harness ornament
221 bce The area
becomes the site
of Xianyang, the
capital of the first
c. 1000 bce The Zhou
united Chinese state,
establish their capital,
under the Qin.
Fenghao, in the area
southwest of modern
Xi’an. Bronze-working
reaches a peak.
212 bce Qin Shi Huangdi

4500 bce The Neolithic 770 bce The Zhou orders the building of the
village of Banpo move their court to Er Fang (“nearby palace”),
flourishes in a fertile Luoyang, and the largest palace yet
valley of the Yellow River. Fenghao declines. constructed in China.
agricultural lands and the city’s position at the start of the

Silk Road, the trade route connecting East Asia with Europe,
provided the emperors with enormous financial resources.
Emperor Gaozu’s minister Xiao He gave the city an armoury
and state-controlled market, and began to fill in the urban
grid with lavish projects that earned him an imperial
rebuke for his extravagance. It is said that it took 145,000
labourers to construct the grand Changle and Weiyang
palaces and complete the city walls.
The next emperor, Hui, continued this pursuit of luxury,
and built an icehouse to preserve delicacies in the royal
residence. In the late 2nd century bce, the Emperor Wudi
added a pleasure park with a boating lake where festivals
and pageants were held, and an imperial menagerie,
which boasted a rhinoceros and an elephant.
The Han grip on power gradually slackened, and
discontent led to the elevation of a usurper, Wang Mang,
in 9 ce. His 14-year rule was distinguished by its grandiose
projects (nine temples were built for the worship of the
spirits of past emperors) and the chaos of its ending, a
violent sacking of Chang’an by the resurgent Han.
Tang flowering
After the Han dynasty collapsed in the 2nd century ce,
China broke up into several warring kingdoms, and
Chang’an dwindled in importance. It found renewed favour
as the capital of the short-lived Sui dynasty, which reunited
the country in the 6th century, before reaching the height
of its glory in the 8th century under their successors, the
Tang. During the Tang dynasty, this great Silk Road city
bustled with merchants hawking precious spices, fine
◁ REMEMBERING HOME
This painting, by an 18th-century artist, shows a section of
Chang’an that was modelled on Feng, the hometown of Gaozu, the
first Han emperor. Gaozu reputedly ordered the reconstruction of
Feng’s streets in the capital for his homesick father.
202–200 bce Emperor

Gaozu commissions
the Changle and
Weiyang palaces.
Emperor Gaozu,
meaning “founder”
206–202 bce After the Qin

collapse, the Chu and
Han battle over a divided
kingdom, until the Han
gain the upper hand
under Emperor Gaozu.
XI’AN 63
Now the mansions have

new owners. Another
generation dons the caps
and robes of high office.
AUTUMN MEDITATIONS, DU FU, c. 760 CE
◁ ALONG THE SILK ROAD

This 15th-century silk scroll shows traders carrying
a cargo of precious goods on the long journey from
Chang’an across the Silk Road through Central Asia.
textiles, exotic woods, and jewellery. Its 108 wards were Destruction and renewal
filled to bursting point with over a million people. Its scale Late Tang Chang’an suffered successive sackings by rebels
was astonishing: the main avenues were up to 100 m and Tibetan raiders in the 8th century. Poets still sang
(330 ft) wide, lined with trees and edged with drainage Chang’an’s praises, but in increasingly melancholy tones. The city’s Tang-era gates
ditches, while its walls were 12 m (40 ft) high, and pierced Weak emperors such as Wu Zong, who had pharmacy were so wide that three
with 12 city gates. A new palace, the Daming, was built to owners beaten if they did not stock the drugs he thought
the north, its walls enclosing huge halls, flower gardens, would give him everlasting life and who built or four carriages could
and the headquarters of the vast imperial bureaucracy. a terrace 45 m (150 ft) high from which pass through at once.
This was a city of faith and learning, packed with to commune with the immortals, did
Buddhist shrines, Confucian temples, and Nestorian little to arrest its decline.
churches. Soaring over them all was the 10-storey,
relic-packed Wild Goose Pagoda, built to house the
precious manuscripts collected by the monk Xuanzang
during a 17-year pilgrimage to India. But there were
TANG TRADER ▷
warning signs. Powerful eunuchs stirred up intrigue in A merchant rests on his
court; too much wealth was concentrated in the hands of camel in this delicate
the Buddhist monks; and the city grew less diverse – the polychrome ceramic,
typical of many Tang
gardens of the rich, in the eastern part of the city, became sculptures showing
so large that an edict was passed to restrict their size. Silk Road traders.
9–23 ce The city is largely 300–581 Chang’an serves

destroyed during as capital in 313–16,
634 The Daming
violence at the start 534–37, and 556–81,
Palace, the world’s
and end of the usurper under the Western Jin,
largest royal
Wang Mang’s reign. Wei, and Zhou dynasties.
residence, is built.
194–190 bce The city 584 Now named Daxing,

walls and Han 25 The Eastern Han the city becomes
palaces are built, move the capital of capital of a reunited
requiring the work of the empire from China under the
145,000 labourers. Chang’an to Luoyang. Sui dynasty.
Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor, was obsessed with

immortality, seeking out elixirs created by Daoist sages
The Terracotta Warriors
that promised longevity. When death finally claimed him

in 221 bce, he was buried in a 50-sq-km (20-sq-mile)
compound, his tomb set inside a massive mound.
It was here, in 1974, that a farmer stumbled across
the first of what turned out to be 8,000 terracotta
warriors, which were intended to serve the emperor in
the afterlife. This ceramic army, once brightly painted,
faced east as though towards an imagined foe, and was
equipped with bows and crossbows, and accompanied
by charioteers. The site was looted in ancient times, and
archaeologists found no trace of the lake of mercury that
was also reputed to have protected the tomb, although
they did find the skeletons of several people and horses,
who may have been buried alive with their ruler.
◁ Archaeologists restore the army: piecing together the

original fragments, stopping paint flaking, and retarding
mould development is a painstaking process.
They built models of palaces, pavilions,

and offices, and filled the tomb with fine
vessels, precious stones, and rarities.
SIMA QIAN, RECORDS OF THE GRAND HISTORIAN, c. 90 BCE
◁ The Terracotta Army included officers,

like this general, some up to 2 m (6.6 ft) tall.
715 The Hanlin academy is

established to train
scholars to serve in the
imperial bureaucracy.
652 The Wild Goose 781 Erection of the

Pagoda is built as a Nestorian stele,
translation centre for which details the
the Buddhist monk flourishing of a version of
Xuanzang. Christianity in Chang’an.
755 Chang’an is
sacked during
a revolt led by
rebel General
An Lushan.
When smuggler-turned-revolutionary Hung Chao’s rebels a far smaller urban space) and the imposing Bell and Drum △ SOUND AND LIGHT
sacked Chang’an in 880 ce, the city was doomed. The Tang Towers to sound the curfew, but the city then lapsed into The Ming walls and towers of Xi’an are
beautifully highlighted during an evening
collapsed, and the new emperor, Zhu Wen, founder of the comparative obscurity. It was renamed Xi’an (“western sound and light show, featuring traditional
Later Liang dynasty, ordered the city’s wooden buildings to peace”) in 1900, when the empress and her court fled there Chinese dragon dancers. The walls have
be moved en masse to his new capital, Luoyang. during the Boxer Rebellion. China’s industrial growth in the become one of the modern city’s main
tourist attractions.
Although the stone structures became ruined and the late 20th century injected the city with new life – it’s now
once orderly grand avenues were choked with small home to 12 million people, with several universities and a
shops, Chang’an continued as a commercial centre and its large manufacturing base. But above all it is Xi’an’s past
prosperity briefly revived during the time of Marco Polo’s that has renewed its fortunes, in the shape of the million
travels in the 13th century. A restoration came under the tourists who come each year to marvel at the Terracotta
Ming in the 14th century. They built a new city wall (enclosing Army, giving the First Emperor the immortality he craved.
907 Chang’an’s wooden 1370 A new city wall is

buildings are moved to built during a partial
Luoyang, a former restoration of the city
ancient capital. by the Ming. 2014 The Yongning, the
southern gate of the
Ming walls, is restored
It took 20,000 and opened to the
carpenters to dismantle public as a museum.
Chang’an’s wooden
buildings and reassemble
them in the new capital,
Luoyang.
882 The Daming Palace 1900 The city is renamed
is destroyed during the Xi’an (“western peace”) by 1974 The pits containing
Hung Chao rebellion, as the Qing court, which the Terracotta Warriors
the Tang dynasty enters shelters here during the are discovered by a
its final decline. Boxer Rebellion. local farmer.
MEXICO CITY 67
Mexico City
CITY OF PALACES
Born as Aztec Tenochtitlan, whose temples were destroyed by the Spanish
and reshaped into a colonial settlement of palaces and churches, Mexico
City grew through independence and revolution into the megacity of today.
Around 1248, a nomadic warrior-tribe called the Culhua-

Mexica – more commonly known as the Aztecs – migrated Some of our soldiers even
asked whether the things
to the Valley of Mexico. They entered an area, surrounded
by mountains and volcanoes, with a rich history that took
we saw were not a dream.

in peoples such as the Toltecs, whose civilization had
collapsed over a century earlier, and ancient cities such as
Teotihuacan, the largest in the pre-Columbian Americas.
BERNAL DÍAZ, THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF
According to an Aztec origin myth, they had journeyed from NEW SPAIN, 1568, ON THE SPANISH FIRST SEEING TENOCHTITLAN
a place called Aztlan, and were instructed by Huitzilopochtli,
the sun and war god who was their patron, to settle where
they saw an eagle resting on a nopal cactus. They made
their home by Lake Texcoco and here, from around 1535, protection. Floating gardens, or chinampas, were created
they started to build Tenochtitlan. to grow maize and other staples. The ceremonial precinct
This island city was connected to the mainland by three in the centre of Tenochtitlan housed palaces, ball courts,
causeways, one of which had an aqueduct running along it. and temples, notably the Huey Teocalli (“great temple”),
On the eastern side, the Aztecs built a dyke for flood today best known by its Spanish name, the Templo Mayor.
This huge stepped pyramid was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli
and the god of rain, Tlaloc. The Aztecs began as mercenaries
◁ THE GREAT CITY OF TENOCHTITLAN, 1945 and rose to prominence, allying with neighbouring Texcoco
Mexican artist Diego Rivera’s mural portrays the vibrancy of an
Aztec market, with the city’s causeways, chinampas, and palaces, and Tlacopan. They eventually became the dominant force
and the Templo Mayor, visible in the background. in the region, controlling a vast empire.
750 CE The city of 1325 The Aztecs 1487 The Templo Mayor is
Teotihuacan, which at found Tenochtitlan completed in its final form, Aztec sculpture
its peak had 200,000 on the site where and tens of thousands are from Tenochtitlan’s
inhabitants and was for they see an eagle sacrificed over four days Templo Mayor
centuries Mesoamerica’s perching on a in celebration.
largest city, is abandoned. nopal cactus.
It will be revered by the
Aztecs as a sacred place.
1428 The Aztec Emperor

1248 The Aztecs arrive in Itzcoatl forms the
the Valley of Mexico at Triple Alliance with the
Chapultepec. Their neighbouring cities of
stories say they came Texcoco and Tlacopan.
from Aztlan, a mythical The alliance becomes the
homeland to the north. basis of Aztec power.
◁ AZTEC SUNSET
The 16th-century Aztec Codex Borbonicus depicts Xolotl
(who helps guide the sun through the underworld) as the
companion of the setting sun, Tonatiuh.
At its height, the Aztec Empire consisted of a network of

almost 400 subject and allied cities, stretching from the Gulf
of Mexico to the Pacific. It supplied Tenochtitlan with tribute,
including goods and produce, but also captives for sacrifice.
Aztec daily life

By 1500, Tenochtitlan was home to more than 200,000
people. Tlatelolco, on the city’s northern outskirts, was the
site of the great market, held every fifth day, and attended by
over 40,000 people, buying and selling goods such as food,
jaguar skins, quetzal feathers, knives, and ceramics.
Order and balance were of the utmost importance in
Aztec society. Roles fulfilled by men and women were
mostly separate and complementary, with women
generally tending to the home, but also carrying out
important religious duties. Although men could work in a
number of professions, society was geared towards war, and
all men were expected to fight for the tlatoani (emperor).
Children were taught to contribute to the family from a
young age, initially by their parents. Boys were also formally
trained in schools where they learned to fulfil religious
duties and become warriors or priests. Elite Eagle or
Jaguar Warriors were chosen from the best fighters.
Religion permeated all aspects of life, and there were
many festivals dedicated to the gods. Human sacrifice was
often central to these events, but ritual violence, such as
bloodletting and self-mutilation, was also part of everyday
There is one square… where are daily assembled life. The city’s sacred precinct was dominated by the
Templo Mayor, atop which the hearts of captives or slaves
more than 60,000 souls… buying and selling. would be cut out of their chests as an offering to ensure
the sun would have the energy to battle with the darkness,
HERNÁN CORTÉS, SECOND LETTER TO EMPEROR CHARLES V, 1520 and rise again the next day.
1502 A massive flood hits 1519 November Hernán 1520 June La Noche Triste: the
Tenochtitlan; the Aztec Cortés arrives in Spanish are forced to retreat
tlatoani, Ahuitzotl, is killed and Tenochtitlan with 500 from Tenochtitlan, and 860
Moctezuma II becomes ruler. Spanish troops and Spanish soldiers, five Spanish
tens of thousands of women and more than 1,000
Skull carvings, Indigenous allies. Tlaxcalan warriors are killed.
displayed at the base of
the Templo Mayor
1503 The stone of the five

suns bears the date 15 1509 Aztec myths record that 1520 May Pedro de Alvarado
July, which some fire is seen in the sky, the orders the massacre of
historians believe to be first of eight omens of evil thousands of unarmed Aztec
the date of Moctezuma foretelling the arrival of the celebrants taking part in the
II’s coronation. Spanish 10 years later. sacred Toxcatl festival.
The coming of the Spanish
This world was devastated by the arrival of Europeans.
In February 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
left Cuba against the orders of its governor, Diego
Velázquez, to follow in the footsteps of two previous
expeditions, the second of which had met Aztecs and
learned of the great court of the tlatoani, Moctezuma II.
Cortés landed on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where
he founded the town of Veracruz. He forged alliances with
Indigenous groups, including the Tlaxcalans (enemies of
the Aztecs), and marched to Tenochtitlan with 500
Spanish troops and tens of thousands of allies, most
of whom waited outside the city.
In November, the Spanish were received peacefully
by Moctezuma II. Gifts were exchanged and the tlatoani
welcomed them into Tenochtitlan. The conquistadors
responded by taking Moctezuma hostage, and attempted
to rule through him. Meanwhile, a force of 1,100 men had
been sent by Velázquez to arrest Cortés, landing in
Veracruz in April 1520. Cortés left Tenochtitlan with only compound under siege. The Spanish brought Moctezuma △ THE FALL OF TENOCHTITLAN
226 soldiers, but captured the expedition’s leader and to a rooftop to appeal to the Aztecs, but he was struck This 17th-century painting shows Cortés
crossing a causeway into the city during
persuaded the men to join him. In the meantime, Cortés’ down and then probably murdered by the conquistadors. the final assault.
second-in-command, Pedro de Alvarado, had ordered the The Spanish left at midnight, loaded with gold, but
massacre of thousands were discovered and fiercely attacked. They made it to
taking part in the Tlaxcala and, with the help of their Indigenous allies,
Toxcatl festival, and they regrouped and returned in May 1521 to lay siege
Cortés returned to a to Tenochtitlan, which had been ravaged by smallpox.
The Aztecs, led by their last tlatoani, Cuauhtémoc,
One conquistador
fought bravely. But by August 1521, it was over. The city
was pillaged, its temples and palaces were destroyed, estimated that 136,000
and Cuauhtémoc was tortured and eventually executed. human skulls were
Cortés became the first governor of New Spain and, in
1524, 12 Franciscans arrived to begin the “spiritual fixed to the tzompantli
conquest” of the new territory. (rack) at the Templo
Despite his efforts in the conquest, Cortés fell out of favour
Mayor’s base.
with Charles V of Spain. The man who had crushed the
Aztecs was removed from office in 1527.
1521 April Cortés begins 1535 Antonio de Mendoza

the siege of Tenochtitlan, is appointed the first
taking lakeside towns, and viceroy of New Spain.
launching ships built in
Tlaxcala onto the lake to
stop the Aztecs resupplying.
Aztec terracotta
Eagle Warrior
1522 Cortés is named

Captain-General of New
1521 August The Spanish and Spain, but is removed
Indigenous auxiliaries launch five years later after
a final attack on the defenders falling out of favour
penned into Tlatelolco. After with the Spanish king.
the capture of Cuauhtémoc,
Aztec resistance collapses.
◁ MEXICO CITY CATHEDRAL

The Metropolitan Cathedral looms over the Zócalo, the city’s main
square, in this 19th-century painting. Work on the bell towers was
only finished in the 1790s, over 200 years after construction began.
around 1541. The Aztec nobility were allowed to govern

two districts of the capital. Many of the conquistadors and
settlers took Indigenous concubines, and out of these unions
grew a considerable mestizo (mixed-race) population.
Expansion and independence

Mexico City (which took its name from Culhua-Mexica, the
Aztecs’ name for themselves) expanded steadily on the
back of Indigenous and African slave labour. In 1551, Spain
decreed the establishment of the Royal and Pontifical
University of Mexico, which opened its doors in 1553. In 1573,
construction started on the cathedral, replacing the city’s
original church, which the Spanish had built immediately
after the conquest. This became a centre of regal ceremony,
involving the upper echelons of the court and clergy.
The colonial era gave Mexico a hierarchical society based
on class and race, as well as grand residencies that led to
The colonial city Mexico City’s nickname, “the city of palaces”. At the top of
A court was created in the city to give Spain more direct the social pyramid were the peninsulares, or Spanish-born
control of its new colony, with Antonio de Mendoza settlers. By the mid-17th century they were far outnumbered
becoming the first viceroy in 1535. The transformation of by criollos, but these Mexican-born descendents of Spanish
Mexico City Cathedral
Tenochtitlan into a Spanish colonial city soon began in settlers lacked the status or political influence of the
weighs approximately earnest. This “New Spain” was to be an improved version peninsulares, and this became a major factor in Mexico’s
of its Old World counterpart, a place where the Spanish independence movement. The criollo community included
127,000 tons, and is
hoped to create a Catholic utopia away from what they many culturally significant figures, such as the writer and
gradually sinking into viewed as the heresy plaguing Europe. The city was philosopher Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and they started to
the mud of the old lake rebuilt in a grid system, and old temples were replaced forge their own identity, calling themselves Mexicans and
by churches, monasteries, and convents, often using the
bed beneath it. old Aztec bricks. The Spanish Crown ordered Mendoza to
provide an explanation of the Aztec political and tribute
system, so he commissioned Nahua scribes at the
Franciscan college, Tlatelolco, to create the Codex Mendoza
1551 The Royal and 1749 The Jesuit College

Pontifical University of San Ildefonso
of Mexico is founded 1648 Priest Miguel Sanchéz is enlarged, and
under a charter writes an account of a becomes Mexico
granted by King vision of Our Lady of City’s most prestigious
Charles I of Spain. Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary. educational institution.
Her image, found on a cloak,
is now a renowned artefact.
The Aztec Sun Stone, in 1914
1692 A revolt breaks

out after a drought,
1539 New Spain’s first famine, and rises 1790 The Aztec Sun Stone is
printed book, a in corn prices. The discovered in the Zócalo
Christian catechism, is viceroy’s residence while repairs are being
produced in the city. is set on fire. carried out on the cathedral.
71
◁ RETABLO DE LA
INDEPENDENCIA, 1960–61
Juan O’Gorman’s mural,
depicting El Grito de Dolores,
shows the priest (and later
general) Miguel Hidalgo
leading revolutionary figures,
one of them bearing the icon
of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
drawing on Aztec imagery to separate themselves from The French invasion of Spain in 1808 and the capture of
Spain. The criollos were also instrumental in the creation Charles IV created a power vacuum in New Spain. In 1810,
and growth of the cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1648, criollo priest Miguel Hidalgo rang the bell of his church in the
criollo clergyman Miguel Sanchéz published an account small town of Dolores, northwest of Mexico City, in a protest
of the saint appearing to an Indigenous Nahua man a against the injustices of Spanish rule. His Grito de Dolores
century earlier, and leaving her image on his cloak. (“Cry of Dolores”) marked the beginning of an independence
Sanchéz’s story was widely accepted, and Our Lady of war, which in 1821 saw the capture of the city by nationalist
Guadalupe eventually became Mexico’s patron saint – her forces. Exactly three centuries after Cortés had conquered it,
cloak is visited by millions of modern pilgrims every year. Mexico City became the capital of an independent nation.
1799 Anger at favouritism 1810 Miguel Hidalgo’s 1838 The looting of a

towards Spanish-born Grito de Dolores (“Cry French-owned bakery in
residents prompts of Dolores”) sparks Mexico City leads to the
the Conspiracy of the the Mexican War of “Pastry War”, in which ports
Machetes, a revolt Independence. including Veracruz are
against Spanish rule occupied by the French.
that is rapidly crushed.
Mexico’s coat of arms

1803 Prussian naturalist shows an eagle and a snake
Alexander von Humboldt
visits, staying in a house
on República de Uruguay. 1821 Mexico declares
His writings on Mexico’s independence from
heritage and geology are Spain and Mexico City
hugely influential. becomes its capital.
◁ BASILICA OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

Mexico’s national shrine, built in 1974, houses the cloak containing
the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It replaced the 1709 shrine,
built where the Virgin Mary was supposed to have appeared in 1531.
The French invaded in 1863 and installed Maximilian

von Habsburg as emperor the following year, but he was
executed in 1867 as the republic returned. Stability finally
came under Porfirio Díaz, who promised “order and
progress”. He served as president for seven terms, a period
known as the “Porfiriato” that saw Mexico City transformed.
New hospitals, schools, roads and factories were built, as
well as extravagant buildings that rivalled those of Europe,
such as the Palacio de Correos and Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Díaz’s policies stirred up resentment, however. He
favoured large landowners and deprived the rural poor
of land, which, along with opposition to his authoritarian
government, sparked the Mexican Revolution in 1910. The
capital escaped the worst of the violence, though thousands
died during La Decena Trágica, when a coup successfully
ousted the short-lived government of Francisco Madero,
and the armies of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa
In the 200 years since independence, Mexico City has seen entered the city in 1914.
violence, revolution, and invasion. Augustín de Iturbe was Out of the turmoil emerged the PRI, the Institutional
proclaimed president in 1821 and Emperor of Mexico in Revolutionary Party, which took power in 1929. Mexico City
1822, only to be exiled in 1823 as Mexico became a modernized, with skyscrapers, a new motorway, and the
republic. Tension with the USA led to war, and an 1847 enormous Ciudad Universitaria, a campus and cultural
assault on the capital that saw the heavily outnumbered centre that was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in
Niños Héroes, teenage military cadets, hold off the 2007. The 1968 Summer Olympics showed off the new city,
Mexico City’s metro Americans for several hours at Chapultepec Castle. but with the population surging to nearly 10 million by 1980,
cracks were showing, and the city suffered severe pollution.
system, the STC, carries Revolution and modernity In 2000, a now-stagnant PRI finally lost power. Today,
1.6 billion people a year The mid-19th century saw the political pendulum swing Mexico’s capital is a confident place, where evocative
between Conservatives and Liberals. In the 1850s one of relics and backstreet taco joints rub shoulders with
on its 12 lines.
the latter, Benito Juárez, implemented the Reform Laws, vibrant modern art and cutting-edge dining. The sun
which curtailed the powers of the Catholic Church and the once worshipped by the Aztecs now shines down on a
military, and oversaw the confiscation of Church land. sprawling, creative economic powerhouse.
1867 The Austrian Archduke 1910 The Mexican

Maximilian is executed by Revolution begins as a
firing squad after a three-year result of the increasing 1914 After Madero’s
reign as emperor of Mexico. unpopularity of the replacement Victoriano
Porfirio Díaz regime. Huerta is deposed, Pancho
Villa (centre) and Emiliano
Zapata briefly occupy
the presidential palace.
1913 Thousands are

killed in the city during
1877 Porfirio Díaz seizes La Decena Trágica, 10
power, beginning the period days of fighting during 1929 The PRI (Institutional
known as the “Porfiriato”, a coup that deposes Revolutionary Party) is
in which he serves seven new president established. It will
terms as president. Francisco Madero. rule until 2000.
MEXICO CITY 73
I paint self-portraits because I am so often One of Mexico’s greatest artists, Frida Kahlo was
born in Coyoacán, in the south of Mexico City. She was
alone, because I am the person I know best. disabled by polio as a child and was almost killed at
18 when her bus collided with a tram, leaving her
FRIDA KAHLO, ARTIST, 1907–54 spine broken in three places, among other horrific
injuries. She began painting from her bed, using a
special easel, with a mirror fixed above it so she
could create self-portraits, and her blend of
Indigenous imagery with Surrealism brought her
international acclaim. She had a tempestuous
relationship with fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera,
and joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1927,
hosting Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky in the
1930s. Her creative output and activism secured her
reputation as a feminist icon, and her former home
of Casa Azul is now a museum.
◁ The Two Fridas, from 1939, is a double portrait of Kahlo,

one in European and the other in traditional Tehuana dress.
The blood reflects her injuries and Aztec ritual sacrifice.
Frida Kahlo
△ Kahlo’s 1925 bus accident left her spine so damaged

she was immobilized for long periods. Confined to her
bed for months, she began to paint from it.
1956 The Torre 1985 Mexico City is hit by a massive

Latinoamericana is earthquake, registering 8.1 on the
completed. At 166 m (545 ft) Richter Scale – around 10,000
it is the tallest building in people are killed. 2011 The Museo Soumaya
Latin America at the time, art gallery opens in an
and remains Mexico’s ultra-modern building
highest for 26 years. covered with 16,000
hexagonal aluminium tiles.
Greater Mexico City’s
population reached
21 million in 2020, making
it North America’s
2000 Andrés Manuel
largest city. López Obrador of the
1978 Electrical workers left-wing PRD party
digging near the becomes Mexico City’s
Zócalo find a stone second elected mayor.
monolith depicting the In 2018, he becomes
goddess Coyolxauhqui. Mexican president.
TIKAL 75
Tikal
PLACE AT THE WELL
Carved out of the Central American jungle, the pyramid-temples of Tikal
were the heart of a Maya city-state that dominated the neighbouring
region until its mysterious abandonment in the early 10th century ce.
The Maya established a series of cities in Mesoamerica stelae with inscriptions in the Mayan glyph writing
from around 500 bce. Tikal (its name means “at the well”), system, which glorified their deeds and showed them
which lay in the Guatemalan lowlands close to Lake making sacrifices of their own blood using strings of
Petén Itzá, was one of the smallest of these. When most sharp maguey thorns. Each time, they also built a new
highland cities (such as the larger nearby El Mirador) set of double pyramids near the Great Plaza.
were abandoned around 100 bce, perhaps due to drought From the stelae we know the names of 33 ajaws,
or deforestation, Tikal survived, growing to become a huge beginning in the late 1st century ce. Over the next two
complex of palaces and pyramid-like temples set around centuries, Tikal expanded, until at the time of Chak Tok
a Great Plaza. Its ruler, the ajaw, was a war-leader and Ich’aak I it was one of the most prosperous Maya cities.
spiritual conduit to the gods, conducting ceremonies that In 378 ce, Siyaj K’ak’, an outsider from Teotihuacan,
the Maya believed ensured the city’s continued wellbeing. over 1,000 km (620 miles) away in what is now Mexico,
overthrew Chak Tok Ich’aak. He installed Yax Nuun Ayiin,
Rulers and empire the son of a Teotihuacano noble, as ajaw. The invaders’
The most important of these ceremonies marked the influence grew, and carvings show their distinctive
k’atun, a 20-year cycle in the Maya sacred calendar. At atlatls (spear throwers) and goggle-eyed rain god Tlaloc.
the end of each cycle, the ajaw set up altars and stone Expansion continued under Siyaj Chan K’awiil II, who
presided over a very important baktun ceremony
(marking 20 k’atuns or 400 years)
◁ PANORAMA OF TIKAL in 435 ce, and was buried in a
Around the Great Plaza are Temple I (on the right) and Temple II
(on the left). Below them is the Central Acropolis and at the top the sumptuous tomb under
North Acropolis, where many early ajaws were buried. Temple 33.
350 bce Building of 292 Stela 29, the first

temples around the dated stela at Tikal, is
North Acropolis of set up, showing an ajaw
Tikal begins. in Maya dress with his
411 Accession of
father looking down
Siyaj Chan K’awiil II
from the heavens.
(“Sky Born”), whose
25-year reign sees
Tikal’s power reach
a new peak.
378 The arrival of Siyaj

c. 90 ce Yax Ehb Xook, K’ak’ begins a “New
Tikal’s first recorded Order” of Teotihuacan
king, comes to the throne. influence on Tikal. Stela 31, dedicated to Siyaj Chan K’awiil II
Tikal experienced a troubled period in ◁ MAYA ALTAR

the 6th century ce, and in 562 ce was The carving on Altar 5, found near Temple III,
shows two Maya nobles – one of whom may
The tallest pyramid overrun by forces from Calakmul, from be Jasaw Chan K’awiil I – performing a ritual
the north. For 130 years there were no involving the reinterment of the skull and leg
at Tikal is Temple IV, bones of an important woman.
more stelae set up. Tikal’s territory
also known as the split in two, with rival rulers based in
Temple of the Two- the city and in nearby Dos Pilas. Nuun
Ujol Chaak managed to reunite the two Under his son Yik’in Chan K’awiil, Tikal
Headed Serpent, which in the 670s ce, but was defeated by a reached the height of its power. The
is 65 m (213 ft) high. coalition backed by Calakmul. population may have exceeded 100,000,
most living hard lives in wooden platform
Tikal’s revival dwellings far from the grandeur of the Great Plaza, and
Nuun Ujol Chaak’s son, Jasaw Chan K’awiil I, won a decisive relying on the inadequate water supplies of the city’s 10
battle against Calakmul in 695 ce; a victory celebrated in reservoirs. The king rebuilt most of the ceremonial
▷ FUNERARY MASK
The Maya placed
carved wooden lintels, painted tableaus, and stelae causeways linking important parts of the city; ordered the
masks, such as this inscriptions. Tikal once again became a major regional construction of Temple IV (the Temple of Inscriptions),
one of jade and power, fighting wars with Naranjo in the east and Dos which he had carved with a history of the city; and
mother-of-pearl,
over the faces of Pilas to the south. Jasaw Chan K’awiil engaged in conducted campaigns against the Naranjo kingdom.
their royal dead. massive construction projects, including three twin These wars overextended Tikal, and by the time
These preserved the pyramids to mark the k’atun endings of his reign and a Jasaw’s grandson Yax Nuun Ayiin II came to the throne in
ruler’s legacy by
replacing their own court for playing the ball game that was common 768 ce, rival cities such as Naranjo and Caracol were
face after death. throughout the region, in which players wearing reviving. Tikal was still rich enough for him to construct
elaborate harnesses had to propel rubber twin-pyramid complexes to celebrate two k’atun endings,
balls through goal hoops. He also built the but these were the city’s last grand monuments.
massive Temple II near the Great Plaza,
which may have served as his The decline of the city
wife’s tomb. Most impressive After Stela 24, which commemorates the 810 ce k’atun
was Temple I, which stood ending, the record is silent until a solitary stela is erected
55 m (180 ft) in height and was in 869 ce by a ruler who called himself Jasaw Chan
built on the site of an older K’awiil II, in a reference to the city’s glory days. However,
shrine. There the king was by then the city’s population had shrunk and its political
buried together with a huge power was broken. Soon it was almost totally abandoned.
trove of jade and shell jewellery, Tikal’s collapse was not an isolated occurrence.
painted ceramics, and bones Most major Maya cities suffered similar catastrophes
engraved with tiny glyphs around 900 ce as the Classic Period of Maya history ended.
showing Maya gods. It is unclear why the civilization suffered such a setback,
562 Tikal suffers a defeat at the 672 Nuun Ujol Chaak returns
hands of Calakmul and a to Tikal, but seven years later
130-year dark age, during which is killed in battle and buried
there are no inscriptions, begins. in a remodelled Temple 33.
c. 700 Temple II is
built as a funerary
monument for Jasaw
Chan K’awiil I’s
511–27 Reign of the 657 Nuun Ujol Chaak 695 Jasaw Chan K’awiil I queen, Lady
“Lady of Tikal”, one is expelled from defeats Calakmul, takes Kalajuun Une’ Mo’.
of the city’s few Tikal by forces its king prisoner and
female rulers. from Calakmul. restores Tikal’s power.
TIKAL 77
▷ ARCHAEOLOGISTS AT WORK
Modern excavations began at Tikal in the 1920s and
discoveries are still being made. Here, archaeologists
work on the interior of a building on the site in the 1950s.
but overpopulation and the environmental stress caused

by the need to feed growing cities when only rain collected
in reservoirs was available for drinking and watering
crops, combined with the impact of constant warfare,
may have made cities like Tikal unviable.
Gradually Tikal was reclaimed by the jungle, its
temples and pyramids covered by foliage, its buildings
undermined by tree roots. Only in the mid-19th century
did the first outsiders rediscover its splendour. The
British diplomat Alfred Percival Maudslay cleared much
of the site in the early 1880s and major excavations
were carried out from 1956 to 1969 by the Tikal Project,
originally led by American archaeologist Edwin Shook.
The monuments of Tikal could now be clearly seen, yet
its history remained obscure until the deciphering of
most of the Mayan glyph system in the 1970s and 1980s.
Only then could the conquests and triumphs of Tikal’s
ajaws – and the purpose of their magnificent temples
and pyramids – be truly understood.
Deserted and desolate, and

almost as perfect as when
evacuated by its inhabitants.
A PRIEST QUOTED IN INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN CENTRAL
AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN, BY JOHN LLOYD
STEPHENS AND FREDERICK CATHERWOOD, 1841
768 The last great king 869 The last dated

of Tikal, Yax Nuun Ayiin monument at Tikal is set
II, ascends to the up in the Great Plaza.
c. 732 Temple I throne, as the city’s
(the Temple of the decline begins.
Jaguar) is built as a The dynasty of Tikal,
funerary temple for
Jasaw Chan K’awiil I. from its first known king
to the last, included 33 ajaws
and lasted for 779 years, nearly
three centuries longer than the
Western Roman Empire.
743 Yik’in Chan K’awiil

defeats Naranjo and takes 810 An ajaw named “Dark
its King Yax Mayuy Chan Sun” erects Stela 24
Vase from the Temple Chaak captive. He builds outside Temple III to
of the Jaguar Temple IV in celebration. celebrate a k’atun ending.
CUSCO 79
Cusco
CITY OF THE PUMA
The Inca adorned their imperial capital with grand palaces and temples
before the Spanish conquerors refashioned a colonial city of churches
and plazas, creating a dual heritage that lives on today.
Cusco stands at an elevation of 3,399 m (11,150 ft) in the ruler), and his successors, the city grew slowly, sectioned
Peruvian Andes, ringed by mountains. The area’s defensible into hanan (upper) and hurin (lower) districts. Its layout
position led to its settlement as early as 800 bce by people was oriented along ceques, sacred lines which radiated
Inca myths tell of siblings
of the Chanapata civilization. By 700 ce, organized states through the city, linked by 328 huacas, or sacred spots.
had emerged, with sophisticated towns and skilled artisans. In 1438, the ninth Sapa Inca took the throne. Pachacuti who were guided by the
The region was rich in metals and semiprecious stones, (Earth Shaker) defeated the neighbouring Chanca people sun god Inti to the site of
and it attracted the Wari people, then the Killike, who and began a massive extension of the empire, which
established the first urban centre in Cusco itself, at the eventually stretched north to modern-day Ecuador and Cusco; it’s more likely the
confluence of the Saphy, Huatanay, and Tullumayo rivers. south to Chile’s Atacama desert. Cusco, the capital of this Inca took the area from
Its name in Quechua, the Indigenous language of the realm, was remodelled in the form of a puma to symbolize
the Killike by force.
Andes, means “the navel of the world”. strength, its spine marked by the Tullumayo river, and its
head by Sacsayhuamán fortress. Grand buildings were
A sacred centre constructed using vast stone blocks fitted together without
The Inca arrived in the region around 1200 and took mortar, a characteristic of Inca architecture. In the centre
control of Cusco. For them this was a sacred place of were the palaces and kancha (compounds) of the nobles, set
pilgrimage. Under Manco Cápac, the first Sapa Inca (Inca around the Huacaypata square, where ceremonies were
held and a perpetually lit brazier burnt sacrificial llamas.
Craftsmen and farmworkers lived in the surrounding
◁ ENGRAVING OF CUSCO, 1572 villages in mud-brick houses. They cultivated terraces
This work by Frans Hogenberg and Simon Novellanus features the
Sapa Inca, carried in a palanquin, while, to the left, Sacsayhuamán of maize and potatoes and
is rendered as a three-ringed fort. tended to flocks of llama.
c. 750 ce The Wari, who

build a large city at
Pikillaqta, 20 km
(12 miles) to the east of c. 1200 Manco
Cusco, control the area. Cápac, the first
Inca emperor,
founds the Inca
city of Cusco.
Llama-shaped Wari pot,

7th–11th century
c. 800 bce People of the 1438 Pachacuti

Chanapata civilization remodels the city in
are the first settlers in c. 1100 The Killike the form of a puma,
the Sacred Valley people build the with Huacaypata
around Cusco. Sacsayhuamán fortress. square as its navel.
Nowhere in this kingdom of Peru

is there a city with the air of
nobility that Cusco possessed.
CRÓNICAS DEL PERÚ, PEDRO CIEZ DE LEÓN, 16TH CENTURY
◁ THE GOLDEN GLORY OF AN INCA EMPEROR

In this 18th-century Spanish portrait of Atahualpa,
the Inca ruler wears a golden coronet in the form of
two intertwined serpents and a richly ornamented
cape, and bears a staff tipped with a golden sunburst.
The most splendid of Cusco’s buildings was the Coricancha, Pizarro arrived in 1532. Pizarro kidnapped Atahualpa, stole
or sun temple, its walls adorned with sheets of beaten gold the vast ransom of gold collected by his subjects, and then
symbolizing the sweat of the sun god Inti. Inside lay a garden murdered him. In May 1533, Pizarro marched into Cusco
Cusco, with a population crafted from precious metals and jewellery, including a field with his small force, installed Manco Cápac II as puppet
of around 450,000, of corn with golden stalks. The Punchao, a golden statue of ruler, and proceeded to loot the temples and palaces. The
the infant sun god, received offerings of burnt food and new ruler escaped and subjected the city to a 10-month
receives approximately
chicha (a maize-based drink) brewed by the aqllakuna, siege, at whose height the straw roofs of the city’s buildings
3 million tourists a year, virgins dedicated to the god. The Coricancha was flanked were set ablaze, reducing most of Cusco to ashes.
many of them on their by shrines to the moon goddess Mama Killa (decorated with With the aid of Indigenous allies, Pizarro retook the city,
silver, representing her tears) and Illapa, the thunder deity. and the remaining Inca nobility fled to the jungle city of
way to visit the Inca Vilcabamba, where they resisted for nearly 40 years. The
ruins at Machu Picchu. The Spanish conquest Spanish rebuilt Cusco in their own image, replacing the
In 1524, disaster struck. Smallpox, transmitted along trade palaces and shrines with new churches and convents
routes after the Spanish arrival in the Caribbean in 1492, faced with limestone. Some Inca nobles became integrated
devastated the empire and was the likely cause of the with the Spanish elite, who lived in villas in the city. The
death of the Sapa Inca, Huayna Cápac. His sons Atahualpa common people were forced into reducciones, new
and Huáscar each claimed the throne, and a bloody civil settlements established to control them better, and
war broke out just before Spanish conquistador Francisco had to at least nominally convert to Christianity.
1527 After the 1537 After a 10-month

death of Huayna siege, Manco Cápac II
Cápac, his 1532 November Spanish takes most of Cusco,
son Huáscar conquistador but retreats to
claims Cusco. Francisco Pizarro Vilcabamba after a
captures Atahualpa at Spanish fightback.
Cajamarca and holds
him to ransom.
A 1535 account of the conquest

of Peru by Francisco Xeres
1533 The Spanish

1532 January Atahualpa under Pizarro take 1534 Cusco is refounded as a
captures Cusco from control of Cusco, Spanish city, ending over
Huáscar and becomes appointing Manco three centuries of Inca rule.
Sapa Inca. Cápac II as Sapa Inca.
The rediscovery of the past a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and tourists came in △ CUSCO TODAY
The following centuries saw periodic rebellions against the increasing numbers to wonder at Cusco and walk the The surrounding hills tower above modern
Cusco, as they did in Inca times, but colonial
Spanish, such as that of Túpac Amaru II, which ended in nearby Inca Trail to the splendid ruins of Machu Picchu. buildings now dominate, such as the
1781 with his execution in the Plaza de Armas. Over time Tradition remains strong among Cusco’s Indigenous Baroque Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús,
Cusco faded in prominence, until an earthquake in 1950 people, who still speak Quechua and continue to weave and built on top of the palace of Huayna Cápac.
damaged many Spanish-era buildings, revealing Inca wear traditional brightly coloured textiles, and drink chicha.
foundations that had resisted the tremor’s violent shaking. In 1995, local authorities adopted the Quechuan spelling
▽ SANTA CATALINA CONVENT WALLS
Gradually the old Inca city was rediscovered and its Qosqo for the city. Five centuries after Pachacuti, the earth This Spanish convent was built over an Inca
Indigenous culture treasured once more. The city became had shaken once more, and revived Cusco’s Inca roots. temple, and some Inca masonry remains.
1572 Execution of Túpac 1780–81 Revolt by Inca 1983 UNESCO

Amaru I, the last Inca leader Túpac Amaru II. declares Cusco a
emperor, in the Plaza He meets the same World Heritage Site.
de Armas, the old Inca fate as his forebear,
Huacaypata. and is executed in the The ransom for
Plaza de Armas. Atahualpa comprised a
large room filled with gold
and silver worth
approximately
$350 million today.
1950 Another major

1650 A major earthquake destroys
earthquake destroys many buildings in
many of Cusco’s central Cusco, exposing
buildings. their Inca foundations.
MORE GREAT CITIES

caliphate moved to Baghdad in
the 750s, Damascus became
neglected. However, it flourished
once more under Ayyubid rule in
the 11th century when it became a
time. During the era of the New the Siq were greeted by the centre of Islamic thought and was
Ephesus Kingdom, from 1550 bce, the Khazneh (Treasury), an extravagant adorned with new madrasas and
pharaohs built temples on the facade cut into the rose-red stone mosques. A major cultural centre,
City of Artemis
east bank of the Nile, at Luxor and that gave Petra its nickname. A Damascus was chosen as the
Situated on the west coast of neighbouring Karnak, with a grand thriving city in the 1st century ce, capital of Syria in 1946 when it
Turkey, Ephesus was founded by avenue of sphinxes between them. Petra was conquered by the gained independence from France.
Greek settlers in the 10th century The west bank was reserved as a Romans in 106 ce and it gradually
bce. It became known for the necropolis – pharaohs such as lost its role as a trading centre.
richness of its trade, its Queen Hatshepsut built funerary It was abandoned in the 12th Babylon
philosophers, and the Temple temples where bodies of the dead century and only discovered
Gate of the Gods
of Artemis, one of the Seven were laid to rest in hidden tombs. again by outsiders in 1812.
Wonders of the Ancient World. The only one to survive looters Its ruins around 80 km (50 miles)
Under Roman rule, the city was that of boy-king Tutankhamun, south of Baghdad in modern Iraq,
became a large and vibrant hub whose treasures were excavated Damascus Babylon was one of the richest
and received a splendid new by Howard Carter in 1922. City of Jasmine and most powerful cities of the
forum, triumphal arch, and the ancient Near East. Founded around
magnificent Library of Celsus, The capital of modern Syria, 2000 bce, its Amorite rulers grew
today its most well-known remains. Petra Damascus lays claim to being one rich from its grain trade, building
An early centre of Christianity, it of the oldest continuously inhabited city walls and temples. One of
Rose-Red City
was visited by St Paul, but as its cities in the world. Founded in the them, Hammurabi, decreed one of
harbour silted up over time, its Protected behind the Siq, a narrow 3rd millennium bce, it was ruled the world’s earliest law codes and
importance dwindled and by the cleft through a ravine in southern by the New Kingdom of Egypt conquered much of southern
15th century it was abandoned. Jordan, Petra was the capital of before becoming the capital of an Mesopotamia. The city’s great
the Nabataeans, an ancient Aramaean state. It was then ruled stepped ziggurat temple, the
Arabian people. They grew by Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans. Etemenanki, was so renowned
Luxor wealthy on the tolls extracted It reached its peak as the capital that it inspired the biblical story of
City of the Dead from the caravans that carried of the Umayyad caliphate from the Tower of Babel. The city had a
valuable spices through the 661 ce, during which time its Great resurgence in the 7th century
Once called Thebes, capital of desert, and used these riches to Mosque was built, fusing Greek when its Neo-Babylonian rulers,
ancient Egypt, Luxor, in southern carve ornate temples and tombs and Islamic workmanship; it is still among them Nebuchadnezzar II,
Egypt, contains an extraordinary for their rulers. The merchants one of the largest (and oldest) built new palaces, ornate city
number of monuments from this who carried their wares through mosques in the world. When the gates, and the Hanging Gardens of
△ Petra The Theatre at Petra was carved into the mountainside in the 1st century ce. △ Damascus A 16th-century depiction of a Mamluk governor and his retinue.
MORE GREAT CITIES 83
Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders founded around 1100 ce. Situated turned it into a royal capital of
of the Ancient World. Alexander on a trade route for salt and gold, Great Zimbabwe fabulous wealth, its skyline
the Great made it his capital and it rapidly prospered, becoming a The Great Stone House
studded with the tapering bell-
died there in 323 bce, after which key centre of the Mali Empire in shaped towers of its temples and
the city went into decline. the 1300s. Mali’s greatest ruler, In the southeast of modern pagodas (reputed to be more than
Mansa Musa, endowed it with Zimbabwe, Great Zimbabwe’s four million in number). Mongol
the fortress-like mudbrick extensive ruins make it one of the attacks in the late 13th century
Leptis Magna Djinguereber mosque in 1327, most imposing ancient sites in shook the Burmese kingdom and
The New City
and the city became a centre of sub-Saharan Africa. The centre of Bagan went into decline, although
Islamic scholarship, with a thriving empire based on the it has continued to be the object of
Lying on the Libyan coast, Leptis madrasas, a university, and gold trade, it originated around religious and secular pilgrimage.
Magna contains one of the finest libraries packed with precious 900 ce when its Shona rulers built
surviving Roman cityscapes. manuscripts. When a Moroccan a vast acropolis and the huge
Founded by the Phoenicians in the army wrested it from the Songhai Great Enclosure. Trade in ivory, Angkor
7th century bce, under the Romans Empire in 1591, Timbuktu copper, and shells to the coast
City of Temples
it became a modestly prosperous diminished, becoming, for made Great Zimbabwe’s rulers
town based on olive oil production. Westerners, an archetype of an rich. Overworking of the gold Around 6 km (4 miles) north of
Only when local boy Septimius impossibly distant place. mines, deforestation, and drought Siem Reap in Cambodia, Angkor
Severus became Roman emperor may all have led to its downfall in was the capital of the Khmer
in 193 ce did it achieve real wealth. the 15th century, when it became Empire from the 9th century.
He funded a new forum, a huge Lalibela a ruin. A carved soapstone bird, A holy as well as a royal city, the
triumphal arch, and colonnaded City of Rock-Cut Churches discovered at the site in 1891, has massive towers of its main temple,
streets, making Leptis one of the become a symbol of the country, Angkor Wat, were built in the 12th
grandest cities in North Africa. Situated in northern Ethiopia, appearing on its coins and flag. century to represent Mount Meru,
Attacks by local tribes and then Lalibela is composed of a dozen the sacred Hindu five-peaked
the Vandals in the 5th century remarkable churches, excavated mountain. Its walls were adorned
destroyed its prosperity and when into the rock and divided by a Bagan with a riot of scenes from Hindu
the Arabs conquered it in 647 ce, labyrinth of channels. Work was City of Four Million Pagodas mythology. Successive monarchs
only a few inhabitants remained. begun in the late 12th century on built other temples and it became
the orders of the Christian Ethiopian Covering a vast plain on the east a place of pilgrimage. When the
ruler Lalibela, who wanted to build bank of the Irrawaddy river in Khmer Empire weakened, Angkor
Timbuktu a new Jerusalem following that Myanmar, Bagan is a complex of deteriorated, and after the capital
Pearl of the Desert city’s capture by Muslims. Although more than 2,000 surviving temples. was sacked by the Siamese in
some of the buildings may have From 1044 to 1287, Bagan was the 1431, it was abandoned, its
Its towering mosques for centuries been royal houses, it remained a capital of the Pagan Empire, the thousands of temples eventually
a landmark on the edge of the holy site, and is still populated by first united Burmese kingdom, claimed by the jungle. Restoration
Sahara Desert, Timbuktu was monks, priests, and pilgrims. and during this time its rulers began in the early 20th century.
△ Timbuktu The North Side of Timbuktoo by explorer Heinrich Barth, 1857. △ Bagan The temples and pagodas of Bagan, in Myanmar’s Mandalay region.
London p.86 Berlin p.118 Prague p.108 Moscow p.124
Oxford Kraków
Bratislava
Montréal
Québec City p.146
Bordeaux
Seville
Munich
New Orleans p.150

Budapest
Paris p.94 Florence p.102 Vienna p.114 Cairo p.130

Varanasi p.136
GREAT RIVER CITIES

Hanoi
Melbourne
CHAPTER 2
Bangkok p.140
86 GREAT RIVER CITIES
240 A temple is
c. 47 CE Roman invaders built to the god
establish a settlement Mithras, who was
called Londinium on the worshipped by many
banks of the Thames. Roman soldiers.
Map showing the extent

of Roman London
604 Construction of the

c. 61 Rebels led by first St Paul’s Cathedral
Queen Boudicca begins, probably on
attack and partly the same site as the
destroy Londinium. present cathedral.
LONDON 87
London
THE BIG SMOKE
From dynamic medieval city to imperial capital and
global metropolis, London has always looked out
from its riverside site to a wide world of opportunity.
The Romans invaded England in the 1st century ce, crossing the Thames as they
fought their way into what is now Essex. Recognizing the river’s strategic value
and potential for trade, the Romans built a walled town there and called it Londinium.
Around a decade after their arrival, a rebellion led by East Anglian Iceni people
under Queen Boudicca ravaged the city. But for most of the Roman occupation,
London thrived, and a forum, basilica, and baths were built, alongside a military fort.
A developing capital
After the Romans left around 400 ce, the area became home to the Anglo-Saxons,
a newly arrived Germanic people from northern Europe. They repelled Viking
incursions, and held London until the Normans conquered England in 1066. The
Norman kings, and the Plantagenets that followed them, built the Tower of London
and the first stone bridge over the Thames, and made London the seat of England’s
first parliament. The city, still confined to its Roman walls, became England’s capital
and developed as a river port, building links with foreign cities such as Hamburg and
Bremen. London was also a major religious centre, with links to Canterbury – the
headquarters of the English Church – and a palace for the archbishop.
◁ A CITY OF TRADE, 1751

Thomas Bowles’ view of London shows the Thames busy with shipping.
Beyond the Tower of London (lower right), the steeples of Sir Christopher
Wren’s churches rise among streets of closely packed red-brick houses.
871 A large Viking raid C. 1100 The White Tower, 1157 The Hanseatic League,
on London sees the the tallest part of the a powerful group of
Norse army camp Tower of London, is European merchants,
inside the city walls finished as a key gains the right to trade
for much of the winter. element in the city’s without tolls in London.
military defences.
Henry II ordered a
stone-built London Bridge
in 1176, replacing the timber
structures of the Romans, 1170 Archbishop Thomas
Saxons, and Normans. It was Becket is murdered in
eventually replaced Canterbury. He is canonized
and later becomes
1065 Westminster in 1831. London’s patron saint. 1264 The first parliament
Abbey, outside to sit in London takes
the city walls, Pilgrim badge depicting St Thomas Becket, place, monitoring and
is completed. 14th century controlling royal power.
▷ THE GLOBE THEATRE

The original Globe was built in
Peace and prosperity
1599 for the Lord Chamberlain’s London’s rise continued in the 13th and 14th centuries, but
Men, the theatre company for was threatened in the 15th century by the Wars of the
whom Shakespeare acted and
wrote plays. The wood-framed Roses, a civil war between rivals for the throne. The
theatre had an open courtyard. conflict was eventually won by Henry VII, who became the
first Tudor king – and the last English king to win his
throne on the battlefield. The resulting stability allowed
commerce to thrive again, and London to regain some of
▽ WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE the prosperity it had lost during the wars. The settlement
Born in Stratford, Shakespeare
had moved to London by 1592. of Westminster, just west of the city walls, and home to
He wrote some 39 plays and is royal palaces and Westminster Abbey, expanded.
widely regarded as the world’s In London itself, buildings were upgraded and links with
greatest playwright.
mainland Europe strengthened. The resulting revenue
helped usher in a creative golden age, especially in poetry,
music, and theatre. Playwrights such as Christopher
Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare entertained
large audiences of every social class at theatres sited mostly
on the south side of the river. The rich had their portraits
painted by world-class artists such as Hans Holbein, and
sublime choral and instrumental music was performed in
their homes and at church during Mass.
In the 1530s, there was a religious upheaval caused by
a dispute between King Henry VIII and the Roman Catholic
Church over the pope’s refusal to grant the king a divorce.
Henry severed the country’s links with the Church and its
Latin rituals, throwing the country and city into turmoil.
London’s merchants continued to trade, however, and in
1571 opened the Exchange. Modelled on a similar building
in Antwerp, it provided a vital place for deals to be made,
especially in the wool and cloth trades, and was a powerful
advertisement for London’s status as a mercantile capital –
especially when Queen Elizabeth I granted the use of the
The sight of London to my exiled eyes, is as name “Royal Exchange”. The quays along the Thames were
busy with ships, sailors, and merchants from all over Europe.
Elysium to a new-come soul. Many streets held markets where customers pushed their
way through dense crowds, the air thick with the cries of
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, EDWARD II, 1593 traders and ripe with the smells of fish and livestock.
1592 William
Shakespeare is first
1485 Henry VII, the
recorded working
first Tudor king, takes
1559 Elizabeth I is crowned as an actor and
the crown and ushers
in Westminster Abbey and Elizabethan dramatist in London.
in a period of peace
is welcomed by Londoners
and prosperity. theatres were sited
as a defender of England
against Catholicism. outside the city walls for
fear their audiences would
cause disorder and
spread the plague.
Portrait of Elizabeth I,
painted in the 1560s
1534 England breaks
with the Roman
Catholic Church, 1580 Local laws limiting the
starting decades of building of new houses lead to
religious and social the overcrowding of existing
ferment. homes in the city.
89
△ THE GREAT FIRE

It begun this morning in the King’s baker’s house in This view of the 1666 fire, based
on an original by the artist
Pudding-lane and... hath burned St. Magnus’s Church. Waggoner, shows it burning most
fiercely in front of Old St Paul’s
Cathedral on the left.
THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS ON THE GREAT FIRE, 1666
War, fire, and rebirth Puritan rule, the monarchy was restored. The theatres were
In the 1640s, the atmosphere in the city changed. A civil soon open again, an observatory was built at Greenwich,
war began in which Parliament and the monarchy clashed and tea and coffee became fashionable. Disaster struck in Fire destroyed the Royal
for power. Parliament won the war and London was briefly the 1660s, in the form of an outbreak of bubonic plague and Exchange, the Guildhall,
the capital of a republic led by austere Protestants known the devastating Great Fire. The fire began at a bakery and
87 churches, and over
as Puritans. The king was beheaded outside the royal raged for five days through the city’s mostly timber-framed
Banqueting House, the city’s theatres were closed, and buildings. Even stone structures such as churches and the 13,200 houses, and made
pastimes such as dancing were banned. London’s relaxed Royal Exchange were burned out. The rich moved out to
100,000 people homeless.
cultural life came to an end, and even the prevailing fashions the country and normal life came to a standstill as London
became more sombre. Yet after just over a decade of faced its greatest crisis since the Roman period.
1660 A group of scholars 1666 The Great Fire

sets up the Royal of London destroys
1649 After his defeat in Society, an association the majority of the
the English Civil War, and academy devoted city’s buildings.
Charles I is executed in to science.
Whitehall; royal rule is
replaced by that
of Parliament.
1665–66 An outbreak of
bubonic plague hits
1600 The British East London, killing around
India Company is set 100,000 people and
up in London to trade leading many to flee
with Asia. Charles I’s death warrant, signed by 59 commissioners (judges), including Oliver Cromwell the city.
◁ Wren’s former house

near Hampton Court
Palace is marked by
a blue plaque.
Sir Christopher Wren
△ Louis Dodd’s painting of the Thames shows how St Paul’s dominated London’s △ A draft design of the dome of
skyline before the tall office blocks of the 20th century. The much-lauded St Paul’s, from around 1690, shows
structure, designed by Wren in the English Baroque style, was completed in 1710. the dome’s lower inner ceiling.
Born in 1632, Sir Christopher Wren trained as a professor of astronomy and was one of the
founders of London’s Royal Society. But he was increasingly drawn to architecture, and by
the 1660s was advising on the restoration of a dilapidated St Paul’s Cathedral. His plans were The extent and variety
of the… works of Sir
interrupted: in 1665 plague struck London, followed in 1666 by the Great Fire. Wren was
asked to rebuild the ruined cathedral and at least 50 other fire-damaged churches. His work
transformed London, with elegant, practical churches whose steeples towered over the
rebuilt city. With its huge dome, St Paul’s remains one of the city’s most outstanding buildings.
Christopher Wren can
The inventive Wren, who combined a mastery of geometry with European Baroque influences,
hardly be rivalled.
also designed a new wing of the royal palace at Hampton Court and a vast complex of
buildings at the naval hospital (now the Old Royal Naval College) in Greenwich. MARGARET WHINNEY, CHRISTOPHER WREN, 1971
1669 Sir Christopher 1675 The foundation

Wren begins stone for the new
rebuilding city St Paul’s Cathedral
churches gutted is laid. 1759 Kew Gardens
by the Great Fire. is founded, quickly
becoming famous for its
collection of plants and
Fire Courts were its ornate buildings.
set up to decide who should
bear the costs of the Great Fire;
some building owners received
Great Pagoda,
compensation, paid for by a Kew Gardens
coal tax.
1717 The development 1801 After years of
of London’s West informal stock trading at
End begins with the Royal Exchange and
the construction of other venues, a regulated
Hanover Square. Stock Exchange is born.
Immediately after the fire, plans were made to rebuild
London. Sir Christopher Wren (see box) drew up a new
grid-based plan for the city, but landowners wanted to
rebuild their houses in their original positions, so this and
other similar schemes were rejected. Rebuilding quickly got
underway, with a new law banning flammable timber
structures. The work took over a decade, and London
became a transformed city of brick and stone, with a new
Royal Exchange, a rebuilt cathedral, and churches designed
by Wren. By the late 1680s, with the reconstruction virtually
complete, businesses back on a sure footing, and the
security provided by brick houses and the city’s first fire
insurance companies, optimism and prosperity returned.
High culture and hard lives

The 1700s saw London expand beyond its old boundaries.
To the west, Westminster was still a separate settlement,
surrounded by tracts of land owned by aristocrats who had
built houses there to be close to the royal court. Some sold
their land to developers, who built new streets and squares,
joining Westminster to London and creating the area still
called the West End. The new developments were carefully
planned, mostly made up of long terraces of houses, some
arranged in squares with a public space in the centre. These
impressive residences, with light, wood-panelled living
rooms and attic rooms for servants, attracted rich
merchants and their families, who liked the spacious
streets and elegant architecture. The city was becoming carried workers around the growing city and, in the 1830s, △ GIN LANE, 1751
more sophisticated, and the mid-18th century saw the railways arrived. The new connections brought visitors to William Hogarth’s print took aim at the
damage caused by cheap spirits. It was
foundation of Kew Gardens and bodies such as the Royal attractions like the enormous 1851 Great Exhibition and published as a pair with Beer Street, in
Academy of Arts, whose first president was the portrait helped businesses prosper, leading to more new arrivals, support of the 1751 Gin Act. Disease, poor
painter Joshua Reynolds. But the city was a place of great including many Irish people in the 1840s. Housing was built housing and sanitation, alcoholism, and
crime were rife in 18th-century London.
contrasts: not far from the refined squares were alleys as the city spread out in every direction, but growth brought
where beggars, drunks, and sex workers lived hard lives. challenges. Poor sanitation spread disease and, with the
The Thames had long been used for transport and trade, Thames used as an open sewer, drinking water became
and in the first half of the 19th century, land transport took contaminated. There was a cholera epidemic in 1832, and
huge steps forward. The first horse-drawn omnibuses by the 1850s London’s stench was greater than ever.
1837 Euston station, the 1847 The House of

first of London’s major Lords is the first part
railway termini, opens, of the new Houses of
offering links to Parliament to open
northwestern cities by the Thames.
such as Liverpool.
A Punch cartoon of
The Great Stink
1858 The smell of Thames

sewage reaches its worst
level, penetrating the Houses
1845 The Great of Parliament, an event
1829 Horse-drawn Famine in dubbed “The Great Stink”.
omnibuses begin Ireland brings
to provide public many refugees
transport in London. to the city.
◁ PARLIAMENT BLITZED London and the World Wars

Prime Minister Winston Churchill stands During World War I, many Londoners lost their lives at the
in the ruined House of Commons in May
1941, after London and other cities had front, but the city itself escaped widespread damage. In the
suffered months of bombing raids. interwar period London quickly embraced the new, from
the manufacture of electrical goods and cars to recreations
such as the cinema. There was further suburban expansion,
The city cleans up with new districts forming as the city expanded into the
The city responded to the 1858 Great counties of Middlesex, Essex, and Kent. Many of these new
Stink by commissioning engineer districts were linked to the centre by new Underground lines.
Joseph Bazalgette to build a network However, World War II was devastating for London, with a
of sewers to take the waste outside German bombing campaign known as the Blitz reducing
London and deposit it in the river at parts of the docks, factories, and countless houses to rubble.
high tide, so that it would be washed The post-war era was a period of austerity, relieved by
away. There was a huge improvement the optimism of the 1951 Festival of Britain, staged in London
in public health as a result. as an uplifting “tonic to the nation”. The city’s air quality
These vital changes beneath the city remained a problem. Especially in winter, smoke from coal
streets were matched by a soaring fires mixed with fog to cause dense smog, making it
economy. The Stock Exchange made impossible to see and causing respiratory illnesses to soar.
London the financial centre of the The government responded with the 1956 Clean Air Act,
world, while the manufacture of which imposed smokeless fuels in the capital, making the
furniture, clocks, clothing, and luxury city a more comfortable and healthier place to live.
goods gained hugely from the city’s
status as the capital of a worldwide Booms and challenges
empire. Thousands of workers made In the 1960s, London emerged as a centre of popular
the daily journey from new suburbs to culture. Worldwide success by British bands (many, like
their offices and factories. From the the Beatles, recording in the famous Abbey Road Studios)
1860s onwards, more and more and fashion designers such as Mary Quant and Barbara
travelled on the world’s first underground railway, which Hulanicki sent news of “swinging London” around the
helped relieve congestion on crowded overground trains. globe and brought waves of tourists to the city, making up
About 43,000 civilians Another beneficial development was that both surface economically for the decline of London as a port. Gaps in
were killed in the London and underground trains were being converted to electric the labour market were filled by immigrants from the former
power by the 1890s, reducing the fumes that saw the city British Empire – especially from the Caribbean and the
Blitz – around half the dubbed “the big smoke”. London’s population had reached Indian subcontinent – as London became increasingly
country’s total civilian six million by 1900, encompassing everyone from the multicultural. There were setbacks in the 1970s and early
government of the world’s largest empire to workers living 80s, with a series of terrorist attacks related to the sectarian
casualties in the war.
in slum housing, and it was as famous for the serial killer “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, together with riots in Brixton,
Jack the Ripper as the novelist Charles Dickens. south London, when Black protesters clashed with police.
1863 The Metropolitan 1875 Joseph Bazalgette’s 1940 The London 1960s “Swinging
Railway, London’s first vast sewage system is Blitz begins, and London” becomes
Underground line, opens completed, making German bombs kill a centre of fashion
between Paddington London a far many Londoners and and youth culture.
and Farringdon. healthier place. destroy buildings.
1908 The first official map of

London’s subterranean rail
lines is published, and the
1864 The Peabody term Underground is used 1951 The Festival of
Trust builds its first as part of its advertising. Britain is held; its
flats, providing decent main legacy is the
accommodation for Royal Festival Hall
the poor. on the South Bank.
LONDON 93
◁ CARNABY STREET IN 1970

This West End street became the
heart of “swinging London” in the
1960s. Malcolm English’s illustration
shows the vividly painted boutiques
that stocked the latest fashions.
▽ BUS ADVERTISEMENT
Fashion designer Mary Quant,
who advertised on London buses,
popularized the mini skirt in the
1960s, and brought bold, colourful
clothes to millions of young women.
In a decade dominated by youth, London has

burst into bloom. It swings; it is the scene.
TIME MAGAZINE, 15 APRIL 1966
By the end of the 1980s, however, London was booming markets flourish, but people with lower incomes are
again as a successful financial centre with a modernized often squeezed out as a result. Yet this dynamic city
stock exchange. Waves of new office developments such continues to face its future with optimism. Visitors flock
as Canary Wharf in the former Docklands area brought to a reconstructed Globe Theatre and the gleaming London
skyscrapers to London, transforming the city’s appearance. Eye observation wheel, while the 2012 Olympics saw the
London quickly looked more modern, and Wren’s elegant city bask in the limelight and show off its many assets,
churches were dwarfed by the new developments. from its royal parks and Georgian streets to great pubs, ▽ THE SHARD
The tallest of London’s wave of modern
Prosperity has brought challenges: gentrification has fine museums, and the great sweep of the Thames where skyscrapers is the Shard (left), a 72-storey
smartened up many neighbourhoods and seen food it all began almost 2,000 years ago. tapering tower near London Bridge.
1991 The Canary 2012 The Olympic and

Wharf development Paralympic Games
opens, beginning a are held in London.
building boom that
transforms London.
1977 An explosion 2000 The Millennium

of punk rockers, Dome (now the O2
including the Sex Arena) provides a
Pistols and the Clash, focal point for the
emerge from the city’s celebrations of the
thriving music scene. new millennium.
PARIS 95
Paris
CITY OF LIGHT
From a Celtic encampment on the banks of the Seine, Paris grew to become
one of the most influential and dazzling capitals of the late 19th century. Its
tale is woven from a love affair with art, architecture, and the avant-garde.
The heart of Paris was pinpointed in the 3rd century bce Medieval Paris
when a nomadic tribe of Celtic Gauls known as the Parisii The city’s position at an important crossing on the Seine
settled on an island – Ile de la Cité today – in the Seine proved advantageous, and medieval Paris flourished.
river. These early warriors lived in simple wattle-and-daub After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the town was
huts. They buried their dead with their chariots and were occupied by Frankish King Clovis I who made it the seat of
sophisticated enough to mint gold coins for trading. his new kingdom. It was now firmly known as Paris, after
But the flooding Seine proved unpredictable. When its original settlers. By the 11th century, political stability
invading Romans conquered the area in 52 bce, they was achieved and cobblers, cloth-makers, apothecaries,
destroyed the island settlement and chose to build a and shipbuilders formed guilds, creating a powerful
new town – Lutetia – on higher land across the water collective voice for the city’s earliest artists and artisans.
on the river’s left bank. Lutetia was laid out in a typical The establishment of the University of Paris in around
grid pattern with a central axis leading to a bridge 1170 gave the city an academic cachet it would never
spanning the river. By the 1st century ce, the town had lose. An influx of scholars from around Europe mingled on
become a prosperous river port with 5 to 10 thousand the left bank, communicating in Latin and lending the area
inhabitants and a guild of nautes (boatmen) whose early a new nickname, the “Latin Quarter”. This was a period of
sailing vessels appear on the Paris coat of arms. frenetic construction and development. The marais
Gladiatorial combats and other entertainments filled (swamp) on the right bank was drained and became a hub
the amphitheatre and a parade of shops sold, among of commerce, while city walls – replaced centuries later
other wares, perfumed oils and plant essences to enjoy by a ring of boulevards – were built and reinforced with a
in three public baths. garrison fortress at the Louvre. Many other landmarks
appeared at this time. On Ile de la Cité, construction began
in 1163 of a magnificent Gothic cathedral – Notre-Dame
◁ LE CARREAU DES HALLES, 1880 de Paris – and in 1248 extraordinary stained-glass
Les Halles was established as the city's main marketplace in
the 12th century. It has taken many forms, including the fresh windows in a newly erected Sainte-Chapelle were the
produce market shown in this painting by Victor Gabriel Gilbert. most glorious thing Paris had ever seen.
250 bce A Celtic tribe known as 360 ce Lutetia

the Parisii settle on the Ile de la changes its
1163 Construction begins
Cité in the Seine river. name to Paris.
on Notre-Dame de Paris,
a Gothic masterpiece
that takes nearly 200
years to complete.
Gold coin of the Parisii 52 bce The Romans 509 King Clovis I makes
conquer the area and Paris the capital of his
build a new town unified kingdom
called Lutetia. of the Franks.
▷ WALLED PARIS
As Paris expanded during the Middle
Ages, successive rings of walls were
constructed to defend the city, as shown in
this map of 1578. Beyond the walls to the
north, Catherine de' Medici's Jardins des
Tuileries had just been landscaped.
Much of the important

and valuable artwork
in Paris is kept in
underground storage
rooms. If it is forecast
that the Seine will flood,
the pieces are moved
The French Renaissance brought several of his masterpieces with him, including
to higher ground. After the devastation of the Hundred Years’ War (1337– the Mona Lisa. The king’s art collection was the start of a
1453), the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries world-renowned depository at the Louvre. Royal architects
rebooted the city intellectually and artistically. At the made the first attempts at town planning, creating elegant,
Sorbonne, the first university printing press opened in uniform buildings, and open urban spaces like the
1470, kicking off a book trade that would rival Venice. magnificent Place Royale (Place des Vosges), a setting for
French kings fell under the spell of the Italian extravagant jousting displays well into the 17th century.
Renaissance. François I, a zealous ambassador of Grandiose architecture reflected the monarchy’s quest
exploration and artistic discovery, invited Italian painters, for glory. The Louvre fortress was transformed into a
sculptors, and craftspeople to work in court under his Renaissance pleasure palace, while the Palais des
patronage. Among them was Leonardo da Vinci who Tuileries and the Hôtel de Ville were also commissioned.
1643 Four-year-old Louis 1682 Louis XIV moves

XIV ascends the throne, his royal court to his
but only assumes lavish, out-of-town
absolute power in 1661. palace in Versailles.
Bouquinistes
(booksellers), with their
racing-green stalls, have
sold their wares along the
Seine since 1891; in the
16th century, they were
itinerant.
1686 Café Procope opens

1667 Paris becomes and becomes a locale
1578 Henri III lays the first slab of Pont Neuf, the first capital to for intellectuals to
the first stone bridge in Paris to be built introduce public philosophize over
without houses on top. street lighting. coffee and sorbet.
PARIS 97
Age of Enlightenment
Paris was nicknamed la ville lumière ("city of light") for The secret of freedom lies
in educating people, whereas the
its role in the Enlightenment. Years of religious feuding
between Catholics and Protestants under Henri IV and the
secret of tyranny is in keeping

stifling absolutism of Louis XIV (the Sun King) meant
18th-century Paris keenly embraced the principles of
individual thought and religious tolerance. Intellectuals
gathered at cafés to discuss equality, liberty, and other
radical new ideas put forward by the likes of Voltaire,
them ignorant.
Montesquieu, and Rousseau. Literary salons allowed
MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE, 1792
aristocratic men and women in Paris to respectfully
socialize together – many were hosted by female socialites.
A burst of dramatic activity saw new theatres open,
including the Comédie-Française, still one of the most a modern society based on equality,
prestigious theatres in the world. The fashion industry separation of church and state, and
boomed, serving aristocrats keen to be seen in the latest election of legislative assemblies.
styles worn by Marie Antoinette and the royal court. On In 1804, Napoleon I crowned himself
the streets, meanwhile, butchers boiled up broth from emperor and set out to reform the
meat scraps and sold it to workers to take away. From country and make Paris the most
1786 tables were allowed and, according to urban legend, beautiful city in the world. Triumphal
the world’s first restaurant was born. arches and Neoclassical architecture,
inspired by imperial Rome, were added
Revolution and redesign to the city landscape, and more
The French Revolution in 1789 changed the course of Paris bridges were built across the Seine.
forever. At this time most Parisians were still living in Canals were constructed to transport
squalor and poverty, as they had since the Middle Ages. goods and provide Parisians with
Resentment at these inequalities, rising inflation, and fresh drinking water. Later in the
food shortages fuelled opposition to Louis XVI, which century, further industrialization
culminated in a revolutionary mob storming the Bastille, ushered in gas street lighting and the
the king’s prison, on 14 July. Four years later, cheering first public buses, as well as the first
crowds on Place de la Concorde would watch as Louis XVI passenger railway, a precursor to
and Marie Antoinette were executed by guillotine. During the Paris Métro. During the Second
the subsequent Reign of Terror, 17,000 people were killed Empire, Napoleon III and Baron
by official execution and looted churches became “temples Georges-Eugène Haussmann
of reason”. The Revolution rid France of the monarchy masterminded the greatest urban
and feudal social system, and laid the foundations for redesign in history (see box, p. 98).
1689 The curtain rises 1789 On 14 July an armed

on the world’s longest- mob storms the Bastille
operating theatre, the Comédie prison, sparking off the 1795 "La Marseillaise" is adopted
Française, at Palais Royal. French Revolution. as the new Republic’s national
anthem. It is named after
the volunteer troops from
Marseille who sang it on
their march to the capital.
1793 The Musée du Louvre

1751 Denis Diderot opens. Four years later it
publishes his first acquires Leonardo da
encyclopedia. Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
I want to be a second
Augustus… because Augustus…
Haussmanns redesign
made Rome a city of marble.

△ Twelve avenues radiate
from L'Etoile ("the star"). NAPOLEON III, 1842
Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, under

instruction from Napoleon III, undertook
the most radical task of the 19th century: to
redesign Paris and transform the outdated
capital into a sublime modern metropolis.
In 1852 the oldest part of the city was a
medieval hangover of small overcrowded
houses hemmed into dark labyrinthine lanes.
Narrow congested streets were completely
inadequate for the increasing cart and
carriage traffic. Over the following 17 years,
Haussmann razed the city’s chaotic old
quarters and some 20,000 buildings to
engineer a city with imperious boulevards,
ornate fountains and squares, train stations,
leafy parks, a sewage system and clean
water supply, and even monumental public
lavatories. So visionary was the design that
Paris has changed little since.
△ Haussmann's redesign of Place de l'Etoile (now Place Charles de Gaulle) was typical of
his vision: a meeting point of broad, tree-lined avenues, which give access across the city.
1836 The Arc de Triomphe is

inaugurated, honouring
those who fought and died
in the French Revolutionary 1860 Napoleon III
and Napoleonic Wars. annexes suburbs 1869 An opera house named
into Paris, the Folies Trévise opens. It
including would later become the
Montmartre. Folies Bergère, the cabaret
hall renowned for its
extravagant performances
The stone used during the belle époque.
for the Romano-
Byzantine Basilica
Sacré-Coeur, at
Montmartre's highest point,
turns white on contact 1874 Renoir, Monet, and other
Impressionist painters break
with rainwater. free of the French Academy’s
formal annual Salon with their
own solo art exhibition.
PARIS 99
▷ DANCE AT LE MOULIN DE LA GALETTE, 1876

No artwork celebrates the exuberance of the belle époque quite
like this Impressionist masterpiece by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
The belle époque

Prussian troops lay siege to Paris for four months from
September 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. Starving
Parisians in the barricaded city resorted to eating exotic
animals from the Jardin des Plantes zoo, including two
elephants named Castor and Pollux. Horsemeat,
introduced a few years earlier by city butchers for the
poor, also became widespread. Alsatian war refugees
opened brasseries serving beer and sauerkraut.
When peace came in 1871, it fell to the new government
to reconstruct the city and bring about what was a slow
economic recovery. The Third Republic in Paris was
synonymous with the belle époque ("beautiful age"), a
dizzying period of creativity and style. It spawned the
Moulin Rouge and can-can girls, the red-light district of
Pigalle, and bohemian Montmartre with its popular taverns
and artists’ squats. At the Impressionists' third solo
exhibition in 1877, Renoir unveiled his painting of a party
at the Moulin de la Galette, a festive guinguette (outdoor
dance hall) where artists lunched, danced, and drank far
too much guinguet (cheap wine). Later, Pablo Picasso,
Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and Gertrude Stein, among
others, dreamt up Cubism, Fauvism, and other new artistic
styles in the unheated studios of the Bateau-Lavoir in opened in 1900 and Art Nouveau architect Hector
Montmartre. They paid for food and drink at the Lapin Agile Guimard designed wildly flamboyant entrances to Métro There are 6,100 streets
cabaret club with paintings. At the luxury Ritz hotel, French stations in curvaceous cast iron and glass. Art Nouveau’s
chef Auguste Escoffier created some of the recipes that zenith coincided with the 1900 Exposition Universelle at
in Paris. The shortest,
would become the basis of French gastronomy. In 1903, he the Grand Palais. Telescopes, kaleidoscopes, a 110 m Rue des Dégrés in the 2e
published his classic cookery tome, Le Guide Culinaire. (360 ft) Ferris wheel, a hot-air balloon simulator, and
arrondissement, is just
Art Nouveau left its indelible mark on Paris with screenings of the world’s first motion picture by the
brasseries sumptuously decorated in ceramics, mosaics, Lumière brothers were eye-popping attractions. Forty 5.75 m (18.9 ft) long.
painted glass, and polished wood. The first Métro line countries had their own national pavilion.
1889 The Moulin Rouge

opens in Pigalle, thrilling
Parisians with flamboyant
cabaret shows and its 1900 Some 50 million visitors
showpiece can-can. flock to the Exposition
Universelle at the Grand Palais,
a World Fair showcasing the
city’s technological brilliance.
1898 Building begins on the 1905 Lurid paintings exhibited 1919 Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott
first Métro line, inaugurated at the autumn Salon are Fitzgerald, and other expat writers
two years later with Art slammed by art critics as the make Sylvia Beach’s English-
Nouveau station entrances by work of fauves (wild cats). language bookshop, Shakespeare
architect Hector Guimard. Fauvism is born. & Company, their hangout.
Fashion is not something that exists in
dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the
street, fashion has to do with ideas, the
way we live, what is happening…
COCO CHANEL, FASHION DESIGNER
During the Fair, the second-ever modern Olympic Games

were held, with swimming events taking place in the
murky Seine. Gustave Eiffel also designed the Eiffel Tower
as a temporary structure for the events; it was vilified by
art critics at the time and described as a “metal
asparagus”, but proved popular with the public.
War and all that jazz

Paris was bombarded during World War I and occupied by
the Germans during World War II. Between the two wars,
the city thrived as a centre of the arts and avant-garde.
Pioneering fashion designer Coco Chanel opened her first
boutique on Rue Cambon in 1910. She liberated women
from corsets, dressed in trousers, and gave the world the
little black dress. Long associated with Paris, Chanel left
the city at the end of World War II when her involvement
with the Nazis came to light, returning nine years later.
In the années folles, or Roaring Twenties, the capital’s
crazy creativity and liberalism lured expatriate writers
like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James
Joyce, who sought inspiration in the nightlife and Art Deco
brasseries of Montparnasse. The population of Paris
△ FASHION CAPITAL peaked at this time, hitting 2.9 million in 1921.
Paris has had a major influence on fashion trends Jazz clubs in the 1930s resounded with the swing
since the era of Louis XIV. In the post-war period,
names such as Dior, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent music of Black musicians, such as saxophonist Sidney
became known the world over. Bechet, while Edith Piaf revived the chanson française in
1940 Paris is occupied by 1950 French photographer Robert

German forces during Doisneau immortalizes Parisian
World War II. Half the romance with his black-and-white
1924 Paris hosts the population flees to the shot of a kiss between two lovers
Summer Olympic Games countryside. Nazis take by the Hôtel de Ville.
for the second time, over the opulent Ritz hotel. The Grande Arche
becoming the first city to
host the Olympics twice. de La Défense stands
at one end of a historical
axis, aligning with the Arc de
Triomphe and Arc de
Triomphe du Carrousel.
1926 Coco Chanel’s

little black dress 1944 Allied forces 1968 Students occupy
appears on the front liberate Paris on the Sorbonne amid
cover of Vogue. 25 August. nationwide protests.
PARIS 101
music halls. Existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de ▽ CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

Beauvoir, and Albert Camus righted the world over coffee The Fondation Louis Vuitton was opened as a cultural centre and
art museum in 2014. Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum
at Café de Flore in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. reportedly cost €800 million, eight times its initial budget.
Modern times
The wildly popular love song "La Vie en Rose", written by
Edith Piaf on a Champs-Elysées café terrace in 1945,
boosted low morale in post-war Paris. Equally
sensational – albeit more risqué – was the arrival of the
bikini, designed by French engineer Louis Réard and
launched at a Paris public pool in 1946.
In May 1968, the Latin Quarter was taken over by young
people and workers. What began as a protest against the
war in Vietnam became an expression of discontent with
the government that spread throughout the country.
In the 1970s and 80s, French presidents commissioned
huge public buildings with ground-breaking architecture
known as grands projets. The topsy-turvy Centre
Pompidou featured interior pipes and workings on its
facade. When the iconic glass pyramid at the Louvre was
unveiled in 1989, Parisians gasped in horror. Landmark
21st-century architecture includes the Philharmonie de
Paris and the resurrected Gare d’Austerlitz, both by
French architect Jean Nouvel.
In 2019, fire broke out at Notre-Dame and heartbroken
Parisians wept as the spire of their cathedral – the
spiritual heart of Paris – tumbled to the ground. The
French president promised to rebuild it in time for the
Paris Summer Olympics in 2024.
Paris has inspired countless photographs, paintings,
and stories. Its streets and bridges, which still conjure
the charm of the “beautiful age”, have formed the
backdrop of films directed by the likes of Charlie Chaplin,
Billy Wilder, Baz Luhrmann, and Julie Delpy, among many
others. Creatively, the city still thrives, remaining a global
influence in fashion and the visual arts, and adding
stunning contemporary icons to its elegant skyline.
1985 Christo and 2014 Spanish-born

Jeanne-Claude Anne Hidalgo is
wrap Pont Neuf elected first female
in golden fabric. mayor of Paris.
1991 The 2019 Fire engulfs Notre-

much-loved Dame. Its spire collapses
banks of the and the emblematic
Seine become a cathedral is closed to
UNESCO World 14 million annual visitors
Heritage Site. for years to come.
Florence
CRADLE OF THE RENAISSANCE
Medieval prosperity paved the way for the small
city-state of Florence to herald the Renaissance,
and become a masterpiece in its own right.
The founding of Florentia (“the flourishing town”) is usually credited to

Julius Caesar, who built a settlement for military veterans by the
Arno river in 59 bce. Positioned at the narrowest crossing of the
river, and overlooking a broad plain, the town grew and indeed
flourished, as both garrison and commercial centre. After the
Romans departed, Florence was taken by Germanic
barbarians – first Ostrogoths, then Lombards, with a spell
of imperial control by a Byzantine army, and, eventually,
by the great European Emperor Charlemagne in 774 ce.
A turning point came at the beginning of the 11th
century, when Margrave Hugh of Tuscany made Florence
his home, initiating several centuries of relative stability,
prosperity, and increasing independence. While periodically entangled in
disputes between factions of its noble families, who had gained power
at the expense of trade guilds, medieval Florence was a dynamic,
affluent city-state. Wool, silk, and leather merchants sold their
wares along its winding streets. The cobbles rang with the clatter of
packhorses loaded with raw wool or bales of finished cloth. Florentine
families, in particular the Medici, dominated banking and merchant
trade, using their fortunes to build palazzi (palaces), reconstruct the
Ponte Vecchio over the Arno, and to support artists and poets.
△ THE SIEGE OF FLORENCE, 1558

In this painting by Florentine Giorgio
◁ DAVID, 1504 Vasari of the city under siege, the Arno
The most famous Renaissance statue river, domed cathedral, city walls, and
was created by Michelangelo for the numerous churches are all visible.
facade of Florence cathedral, but placed
instead in the Piazza della Signoria.
59 bce The Romans c. 1000 Margrave 1216 Tuscany

found Florence (which Hugh of Tuscany becomes mired in
they called Florentia) makes Florence the conflict between
as a colony for retired his principal city. rival Guelph and
members of the army. Florence was often Ghibelline families.
fought over by rival

rulers after the Romans
left because of its strategic
position near the
adjoining plain.
250 ce Merchants 1115 The Florentines set

from the east up a governing commune,
bring Christianity bringing a form of
to Florence. democracy to their city.
You will begin to wonder that human daring
ever achieved anything so magnificent.
JOHN RUSKIN, MORNINGS IN FLORENCE, 1875
1302 Disputes between 1348 The Black Death

political factions lead reduces the city’s population
to poet Dante of 90,000 by almost half.
1252 The gold florin,
Alighieri’s expulsion
Florence’s currency, is
from Florence.
first minted; Florence
becomes a republic.
1294 Work is begun on

completely rebuilding 1345 After severe flood
the cathedral, a project damage, the Ponte
that would last 140 Vecchio bridge and the
years in total. shops along it are rebuilt.
△ RESURRECTION OF THE BOY, 1483–85 City of art and learning and remodelled many churches, employing the best
Domenico Ghirlandaio’s masterpiece During the 14th and 15th centuries, Florence nurtured the Renaissance painters to create altarpieces and frescoes.
shows St Francis miraculously bringing
back to life a child who had died in a great cultural revival, later known as the Renaissance, Florence fostered not only art and architecture, but also
fall. The painting adorns a chapel in the which gradually spread across the whole of western scholarship and science. At a time when most Europeans
church of Santa Trinità endowed by a rich Europe. Chief among Florence’s noble dynasties and were illiterate, thousands of Florentine children (both boys
Florentine banker, Francesco Sassetti.
wealthy patrons of the arts were the Medici, who ruled for and girls) benefited from a basic education and the rulers
almost 300 years from 1434, when Cosimo il Vecchio (the supported advanced scholars, many of whom studied and
Elder) assumed power. He lived lavishly, evident in his translated the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans,
commissioning of the Palazzo Medici with its highly books that had been largely unknown for centuries. In the
intricate stonework, but he also patronized the careers 1490s, much of this intellectual activity was interrupted
of artists and architects such as Brunelleschi, Fra when the Medici were expelled during an invasion
Angelico, and Donatello. This investment in by the French King Charles VIII, and the
the city’s culture became a key feature puritanical friar Girolamo Savonarola
of aristocratic life: the Medici and took control of Florence. In stark
other distinguished families beautified contrast to his art-loving predecessors,
their homes, built the Ospedale degli Savonarola destroyed works of art that
Innocenti (Europe’s first orphanage), offended his extremist views.
1402 Sculptor 1419 Work begins 1436 Brunelleschi 1498 The dictatorial
Lorenzo Ghiberti on the Ospedale sees his design Girolamo Savonarola,
wins a competition degli Innocenti, for the octagonal ruler of Florence
to produce bronze designed cathedral dome from 1494, is
baptistery doors by Filippo come to fruition. executed in Rome.
for the cathedral. Brunelleschi.
1475 Botticelli paints

1406 The The Adoration of the
Florentines defeat 1434 Cosimo il Magi, in which the 1513 Giovanni de’
their long-standing Vecchio becomes Magi are portraits Medici becomes
rivals, the city the first Medici of members of the Pope, increasing
of Pisa. ruler of Florence. Medici family. Medici coat of arms the family’s power.
FLORENCE 105
Nor was there ever in Florence, or even in Italy,

one so celebrated for wisdom…
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI ON LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, FLORENTINE HISTORIES, 1520–25
Lorenzo de’ Medici
▷ Lorenzo and his brother

Giuliano feature front left
in Botticelli’s Madonna
of the Magnificat (1481).
△ This portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici, by

Giorgio Vasari, was painted posthumously.
Known as “the Magnificent”, Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–92)

became ruler of Florence in 1469, following his father, Piero I.
The young Lorenzo was educated by some of the most
advanced scholars of his time, and became a keen collector of
books, as well as an accomplished poet and musician. The
writers and scholars he supported included humanist
intellectuals who tried to reconcile the writings of ancient
philosophers with contemporary Christian beliefs. He had a deep
fascination with the visual arts and among the great painters he
sponsored were Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and
several lesser masters. Michelangelo and others even spent time
living in his household. Lorenzo ruled for longer than many of the
Italian dukes and was able to cement Florence’s status as the
most powerful of all the independent city-states in Italy.
1527 Republicans
expel the Medici
from the city.
1537 Cosimo de’ Medici
(known as Cosimo I)
becomes Duke of Florence
and begins a major
building programme.
1532 The Prince, a

handbook for rulers
by Florentine
statesman Niccolò 1557 In September,
Machiavelli, is catastrophic floods 1579 Artists Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari complete the
published. overwhelm the city. frescoes that adorn the interior of the cathedral’s great dome.
when Catherine de’ Medici married the Duke of Orléans,

who was soon to become King Henri II. While this helped
bolster Medici power, it did not significantly benefit
Florence, which slipped into a slow decline in the 17th and
18th centuries, its golden age seemingly consigned to the
past. The 17th-century Grand Dukes did still show an
interest in science, sponsoring the astronomer Galilei
Galileo and the physicist Evangelista Torricelli. They also
put together a superb art collection in the Uffizi Gallery,
which was later bequeathed to the city.
With the death of the last of the male Medici line in 1737,
the Grand Duchy was inherited by an Austrian, Francis
Stephen, husband of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.
The end of the century saw Florence under attack by
Napoleon, who drove out Austria, and for a few years
Tuscany was ruled by the French. These conflicts between
outside rulers sent Florence into political turmoil, making
day-to-day life uncertain for tradespeople and workers.
Construction of new buildings was scaled back, meaning
Florence’s historic streets were preserved for posterity,
but more and more houses emptied as citizens sought
work elsewhere. Meanwhile, momentum gathered for Italy
to create an independent, unified state. The struggle for
independence reached a climax with the creation of a new
Kingdom of Italy, and Florence briefly became its capital
between 1865 and 1870, before that role passed to Rome.
△ THE TRIBUNA OF THE UFFIZI, 1772–77 Alliances and upheavals
When German artist Johann Zoffany The rulers of Florence’s Renaissance heyday managed to A design destination
painted the Tribuna, a room in the Uffizi,
he included a crowd of 18th-century combine great political power with their love of the arts, Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Florence was
visitors discussing and admiring the an openness to new philosophical ideas, and a talent for a prime destination for foreign tourists, principally
paintings. Florence was a major
subduing the other Italian city-states and maintaining wide aristocrats embarking on the European Grand Tour.
stopping place on the Grand Tour.
influence in northern Italy. Many of the later leaders, Many young noblemen rounded off their artistic circuit
including Cosimo I, who became Grand Duke of Tuscany in in Florence, where they would come to admire Roman
1569, continued this tradition. Over time, however, the city remains and Renaissance art, and to buy paintings and
was neither so culturally rich, nor the dukes so powerful. sculptures to take home. While the city’s political power
They did manage to make strong alliances with other had ebbed away, its cultural influence was enormous, and
European powers; a strong link with France began in 1533, soon attracted a wave of middle-class tourists, together
1737 The Medici line 1870 Florence is

comes to an end and part of a fully
1840 John Ruskin visits
Francis Stephen of reunified Italy;
Florence to draw the
Austria takes over, the capital
city’s buildings, study
becoming Grand returns to Rome.
the works of art in
Duke of Tuscany.
its collections, and
Galileo was tutor to research its history.
Grand Duke Cosimo II
and dedicated his book
about his astronomical
The Baptistery, Florence
discoveries (Starry by John Ruskin
Messenger, 1610)
to Cosimo. 1796 Napoleon
launches his first
Italian campaign, 1865 Florence briefly
reaching Florence becomes the Kingdom
on 1 July. of Italy’s capital.
107
◁ MUSEUM-CITY
Central Florence still
has the character of
a Renaissance city,
dominated by the
cathedral and the
nearby church of
San Lorenzo.
with artists and architects. Visiting writers, such as British overwhelmed by severe flooding in 1966, causing
art critic and social reformer John Ruskin, and poets irreparable damage to its artistic heritage, with many
Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, spread the city’s masterpieces destroyed. The Arno’s banks have held fast
fame still more widely. By the late 19th century, when many since then, and Florence has found its feet once more, with
Florentines had abandoned their city, more than 1 in 7 of a thriving industrial and commercial life, including a strong △ TRAVEL POSTER
Florence’s residents were from Britain. design sector. The city’s medieval artisanal legacy is clear In the 1920s, when this poster
was printed, Florence was
The 20th century saw Florence facing mixed fortunes. to see in the homegrown design talents of Gucci, originally actively promoting itself as a
Respect for the city’s history generally defeated plans to a purveyor of leather luggage; the luxury goods company tourist destination.
erect modern buildings (with the exception of a Modernist Salvatore Ferragamo; and print and pattern supremo
railway station), but bitter fighting around Florence during Emilio Pucci. The other main pillar of the economy is, of
World War II left its mark. Retreating German forces blew course, tourism. Today’s “grand tourists” throng the fragile
up all the bridges across the Arno, except the Ponte historical centre and marvel at Brunelleschi’s mighty
Vecchio, necessitating a huge post-war reconstruction cathedral dome, rising above a terracotta and cream
campaign. Further setbacks came when the city was tableau barely changed since the Renaissance.
1943 Florence suffers from 1988 Cars are

Allied bombing. The historical banned from the
monuments are spared but centre of the city.
200 people are killed.
1966 Major flooding is the

cause of much damage to
the city. Volunteers nicknamed 2016 As part
“mud angels” clear away mud of ongoing
and refuse and carry modernization,
1944 The German works of art to safety. the Uffizi Gallery
occupation of increases capacity
Florence ends. to 101 rooms.
PRAGUE 109
Prague
CITY OF A HUNDRED SPIRES
Having flourished in the Middle Ages and shone briefly during the
Renaissance, in the 19th century Prague became a melting pot of ideas –
and a cultural centre where the Czech people found their identity.
The valley of the Vltava river lies in the heart of Europe, God and empire
in the area known as Bohemia, now part of the Czech The Přemyslids oversaw the growth of a bustling town,
Republic. By around 500 bce it was occupied by Celtic with a bridge over the river and a market in a vast square
tribes, but over the next millennium other groups arrived, on the right bank, in the area now called the Old Town.
including Germanic peoples and Franks, followed in the The market attracted merchants from Germany, who
6th century ce by Slavs, who won the upper hand. traded along the river or travelled on roads that met in
According to legend, Prague was founded by two of the Old Town Square. Prague also became home to a
these Slavs, Princess Libuše and her husband Přemysl, substantial Jewish community.
who became the first rulers of a dynasty that would last However, the Přemyslid dynasty ended in 1306, when
over 400 years. The Přemyslids first settled on the craggy Václav III died leaving only an illegitimate daughter. Prague
hill at Vyšehrad, on the right bank of the Vltava, and later soon became part of the Holy Roman Empire, and Emperor
built Prague Castle on the opposite bank. One of their Charles IV boosted the importance of the city by making it
number was the pious Duke Václav. His younger brother, his capital. Charles, the most revered of Prague’s medieval
Boleslav, was jealous of his power and – perhaps under rulers, also rebuilt the castle, began work on the cathedral,
the influence of his mother – murdered Václav at a constructed a new stone bridge over the river, and, in
religious feast. Václav, seen as a Christian martyr, was 1348, founded the Charles University. Prague had become
made a saint. He is now best known by his Western name, one of Europe’s finest cities. However, soon its people’s
St Wenceslas, and his legendary piety is celebrated in the reforming instincts would spark war.
carol “Good King Wenceslas”. It would not be the last time
Prague would celebrate faith – or see blood shed for it.
I see a vast city, whose glory
◁ VIEW OF THE OLD TOWN OF PRAGUE WITH THE
CHURCH OF OUR LADY BEFORE TYN, 1866 will touch the stars!
This view of Prague’s Old Town Square is by Ferdinand
Lepié. The Old Town Hall is visible on the left. ATTRIBUTED TO QUEEN LIBUŠE, 9TH CENTURY
870 Prague Castle is

built on high ground
935 Václav the Good, also known
overlooking the left bank
as Wenceslas I, famous as a
of the Vltava.
model of noble virtue, is
murdered by his brother when
about to attend church for Mass.
1270 The Old-New

Synagogue is
c. 800 ce The Přemyslid built in the
dynasty is founded by 1091 A marketplace Jewish quarter
the legendary Libuše operates in the Old to the north of
and Přemysl. Town Square. the Old Town.
△ DEFENESTRATION OF 1618 In the 15th century, Prague came under the influence the staunchly Catholic Habsburg dynasty. In the 1550s,
This engraving by Matthäus Merian the of reformers, inspired by religious leader Jan Hus. He they invited Jesuits to settle in Prague in order to bring its
Elder shows the meeting of Protestant
leaders with governors representing the demanded an end to corruption in the Catholic Church, and people back to the old faith. The city’s inhabitants proved
Catholic Habsburg emperor. In heated some of his followers began to question Catholic practices. stubborn, but the Jesuits would leave a grand legacy.
exchanges, the Protestants threw two of This was the beginning of a movement, later known as the
the governors out of the castle window,
sparking the Thirty Years’ War. Reformation, which was to transform Europe. The emperor From Renaissance to war
resisted change, and the result was a religious war. One late-16th-century emperor, Rudolf II, turned his back
The reforming Czechs had some success under their on politics and poured his energy into culture. Prague
inspirational military leader, Jan Žižka, whose innovative became famous for its royal gardens, imperial art
use of firearms allowed small forces to overcome much collection, and scientists. The emperor’s interests were
larger armies. However, in 1415 Hus was burned at the wide-ranging and eccentric by modern standards: he
stake, and religious tensions continued for more than a was patron not only to eminent Danish astronomer Tycho
century, intensifying when the empire was taken over by Brahe, but also to alchemists searching for the elixir of life.
1348 Charles 1583 Rudolf II bases 1620 Czech forces are

University, one his court in Prague. defeated at the Battle 1714 Statues on the Charles
of the oldest in of White Mountain, Bridge are completed.
Europe, is outside Prague.
founded.
1410 The Prague 1653 Work

Astronomical Clock is on building
installed on the Old Town 1627 New laws are brought in the Jesuit
Hall. It still operates by Ferdinand II to promote college of the
today, making it one of the Catholicism and restrict Clementinum
world’s oldest clocks. Crown of Emperor Rudolf II Protestant practices. begins.
PRAGUE 111
In addition, Rudolf produced a charter for religious Prague became a grand and sophisticated city, home to
freedom, giving the city’s Protestants hope that they some of Europe’s finest musicians and an elegant social
might one day be free of Habsburg rule. But tensions scene, with Mozart a rapturously received visitor. Yet
continued. In 1618, a group of Protestant nobles threw while its centre projected wealth and harmony, there Prague’s Žižkov district
two royal governors out of a window in the castle; the was brutal poverty – in 1771 a sixth of the population is named after Jan
following year the nobles removed the emperor, died from famine, some in streets just a few feet from
Ferdinand II, from the Bohemian throne and installed the ornate doors of abbeys and palaces.
Žižka, who defended the
their own candidate. These events sparked the Thirty city from imperial
Years’ War, which pitted Protestant against Catholic A cultural capital
forces in 1420, and
across Europe. A year after the 1619 coup, the Protestant By the beginning of the 19th century, the city was
Czechs were brutally defeated by the Habsburg army at expanding, with the development of its first suburb, whose use of armoured
the Battle of White Mountain, just outside Prague. There Karlín, to help accommodate a population that had wagons anticipated
followed 27 executions in the city’s Old Town Square. more than doubled in the 18th century. Although many
of the new arrivals were Czechs, Prague was still part of
modern tank warfare.
Building a Baroque beauty the Habsburg Empire, and its rulers, the educated class
During the conflict, Ferdinand II moved the imperial and manufacturers who were beginning to develop the
capital to Vienna. Prague fell into decline and Protestants city’s industry, spoke German. The bureaucracy was
still suffered persecution. The Jesuits, prominent in the complex, and this “Germanization” caused resentment,
city, played a major part in the discrimination, but by the and a rise in nationalist sentiment.
mid-17th century, when European life became more
settled, they gave Prague a more positive legacy. To
bolster their power and create platforms from which …it was not freedom that most influenced
they could preach, the Jesuits began a major building
programme, remodelling most of the city’s churches and the shape and spirit of Prague, it was the
constructing an enormous monastic college called the
Clementinum. Around its five main courtyards were unfreedom, the life of servitude, the many
St Clement’s church, other churches and chapels, lecture
halls, and a vast library. These facilities, combined with ignominious defeats and cruel military
the Jesuits’ formidable teaching skills, made the complex
an important European centre of learning. Like many of occupations.
Prague’s late-17th- and 18th-century buildings, the
IVAN KLÍMA, THE SPIRIT OF PRAGUE, 1994
Clementinum was built in the ornate Baroque style.
Prague’s Baroque buildings were grand on the outside,
but their true glory was their interior decoration and
layout, featuring huge columns, much carving and
gilding, dramatic lighting effects, painted ceilings,
and statues that were often larger than life.
1817 Karlín, Prague’s

first suburb, is
established.
1784 Prague’s four

towns (Old Town, New
1755 Building finishes Town, Little Quarter,
on the Baroque and Hradčany) unite to
church of St Nicholas. create one large city.
His art... reflects with tender nonchalance

the fluid beauty of form and the
delicately veiled secrets of the soul.
CHRISTIAN BRINTON, AMERICAN ART CRITIC, ON ALFONS MUCHA
Czech Art Nouveau
△ Poster by Mucha for a youth sports festival.
Prague’s late-19th-century heyday coincided

with the Art Nouveau style, which peaked
between 1890 and 1914. Some Czechs, such
as artist Alfons Mucha, went to Paris to work,
and were attracted there to the style’s
sinuous lines, portrayal of idealized female
beauty, and use of flowers and foliage. But
many worked in Prague – where Mucha
eventually returned – making colourful
mosaics, prints, posters, and sculptures. Art
Nouveau artists decorated Prague buildings
with murals and plaster, often working both
inside and out, lending a new colour to city
streets. Designers of public buildings such as
the Obecní Dům (Municipal House) and the
main railway station adopted the style too.
This made Art Nouveau hard to miss, helping
it spread further, as well as stimulating civic
and national pride.
△ Alfons Mucha designed stained glass for the restoration of St Vitus Cathedral in the 1920s;
this detail shows his fascination with curved lines and natural features.
1818 The Czech 1897 Slum clearance 1918 The Republic of

National Museum is begins in the old Czechoslovakia is
founded in Prague. Jewish ghetto. founded. Nationalist
Tomáš Masaryk is
1883 The National its first president.
Theatre is opened after
a long delay due in part
to a disastrous fire.
1848 A Czech
nationalist uprising 1891 The Jubilee 1912 The Obecní
against the imperial Exhibition (World Fair) Dům arts and
rulers is unsuccessful. is held in the city. civic centre opens.
The 19th century saw Prague’s growth continue, as the
population rose, industry expanded with the exploitation of
coal and iron in the nearby countryside, and railway and
tram lines were built. As the middle class became richer
and more numerous, they longed more than ever to see
Prague as the capital of an independent state.
Knowing they stood no chance in a military struggle, they
focused on culture and education, reviving the literary use
of the Czech language and encouraging the study of Czech
history. A monumental new National Museum and other
grand civic buildings were constructed. Czech architects
and artists designed and decorated them in a range of
styles, from Renaissance to Art Nouveau (see box), making
Prague a world-class cultural centre. The venues attracted
writers and musicians, while composers such as Bedřich
Smetana, and Antonín Dvořák wrote music that brought
Czech history to life. Perhaps the greatest of all the new
buildings was the Obecní Dům (Municipal House), its
auditorium and exhibition halls gloriously decorated with
Art Nouveau murals, tiling, and plasterwork.
A nation again
World War I saw the defeat of the Habsburgs’ Austro-
Hungarian Empire, and Prague was made the capital of
the new Republic of Czechoslovakia. The city was now
home to a government that ran a small but successful
democracy. Prague remained welcoming to new trends in
art and design, and Modernist, flat-roofed buildings sprang liberalisation under communist leader Alexander Dubček △ PRAGUE SPRING
up on Prague’s streets. For 20 years, the city prospered, that was brutally suppressed by Soviet Russia. Later, In August 1968, Soviet Russian troops
invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end
but it was occupied during World War II by the Nazis, who Prague played a key role in the defeat of communism in to the Prague Spring and reimposed
extended their repressive regime across the country. the peaceful 1989 uprising that became known as the totalitarian rule. Young Czechs waving
The war was followed by a 40-year period of totalitarian Velvet Revolution. Since then, the city has become vibrant the Czechoslovak national flag staged
a protest in Wenceslas Square.
communist rule, when the city was cut off from the again. Visitors have poured in to discover one of Europe’s
capitalist world. The population had many of their human most beautiful cities and exiled Czechs have returned.
rights removed and there were shortages of essential Prague continues to balance historic beauty and modern
goods. In 1968 came the Prague Spring, a brief period of life, valuing above all its rich cultural legacy.
1948 The Czech 1955 The world’s largest 1993 Prague becomes capital
Communist Party statue of Stalin is erected of the Czech Republic after
takes power after in Letná Park; it is the Czechs and Slovaks
winning a landslide destroyed in 1962. agree a Velvet Divorce.
election result.
Politician and
philosopher Tomáš
Masaryk, the first Czech
president, remains a symbol
of democracy in
the country.
1939 German troops invade

Prague, which becomes 1989 Velvet Revolution
the capital of the Nazi takes place in Prague;
Protectorate of Bohemia Václav Havel becomes
and Moravia. president.
Vienna
IMPERIAL CITY
For over 600 years, Vienna lay at the heart of the vast Habsburg Empire.
The city was celebrated for its grand buildings and fine music, and later
for cultivating radical advances in art, design, science, and philosophy.
Vienna’s position on the Wien river in the fertile Danube city their capital. Emperor Maximilian I was a keen patron
basin made it attractive to many incoming peoples, from of the arts and sciences, and founded the Vienna Boys’
the ancient Celts to the Romans. It was the Celts who Choir in 1498, beginning a tradition of fine music-making.
called the place Vindobona, the origin of the name Vienna. One of his successors, Ferdinand I, gave the imperial court
The Romans adopted this title when they established a a magnificent new home, the Hofburg, and the court
garrison at the site in the 1st century ce, drawn by its attracted some of Europe’s best artists and craftsmen.
location on the ancient Amber Road trading route. Habsburg forces repelled an Ottoman invasion in 1683,
Other Central European tribes followed, including the leaving Vienna free to thrive as an imperial city and centre
Slavs and Avars, but the invaders with the most lasting of commerce. It was transformed in the 18th century with
impact were the Franks. They appointed dukes from the construction of streets of Baroque townhouses, ornate
outside Austria to govern border areas (marches), such as courtiers’ mansions, and the glorious Belvedere palaces.
the land around Vienna. In the early 9th century, their king, This building boom was led by Emperor Charles VI and
Charlemagne, brought Vienna into the Holy Roman Empire, then by his daughter, Maria Theresa, both of whom were
where it remained for over 1,000 years. It became an enthusiastic patrons of musicians. One of their favourites
increasingly important city under the Habsburg dynasty, was Mozart, who composed many of his greatest operas
who began their long rule with Rudolf I in 1278. and orchestral pieces in Vienna, including The Marriage
of Figaro. He had first visited the city as a six-year-old
Habsburg Vienna musical prodigy, performing in the glittering
Vienna grew and prospered under the Habsburgs. Mirrors Room of the Schönbrunn Palace. Many
They rebuilt the cathedral, remodelled other others followed Mozart, giving the city a reputation
churches, founded the university, and made the as Europe’s musical capital.
CORNER OF KOHLMARKT ▷
This painting of the Kohlmarkt at the
end of the 19th century shows its
rows of fashionable shops, some
with elaborate Baroque facades,
extending towards the Hofburg.
1156 The Frankish
Babenberg dynasty
begin their rule over 1438 Albrecht V
Vienna, capital of the gives Vienna the
Eastern March duchy. title of Kaiserstadt
(“imperial city”).
Albrecht V, painted in 1828 Vienna’s Pestsäule

(“plague column”) was
commissioned by Leopold I
to beg for mercy from the
1679 plague epidemic.
c. 212 ce The Romans

develop Vindobona 1160 The main structure of 1556 Vienna becomes
into a self- St Stephen’s Church (later capital of the Habsburg
governing town. cathedral) is completed. Empire, under Ferdinand I.
1714 The 18th-century rebuilding 1740 Empress Maria
of Vienna in the Baroque style Theresa comes to
begins, with the construction of the throne.
the Lower Belvedere Palace.
1781 Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart
moves to Vienna,
1683 Vienna withstands where he composes
a lengthy siege by the and performs some
Ottoman Turks, thanks of his greatest music.
in part to its strong
fortifications. Empress Maria Theresa’s gold carriage
▷ CAFÉ GRIENSTEIDL, 1896

Authors gathered at this renowned coffee
house, painted here by Reinhold Völkel.
Coffee culture thrived in Vienna in the
19th century; legend has it the trend
began with some Turkish coffee beans
plundered during the 1683 Siege of Vienna.
The dawn of the 19th century signalled more turbulent Ringstrasse grandeur
times. Occupation by Napoleon, in both 1805 and 1809, Under Emperor Franz Joseph (r. 1848–1916), the modern
was followed by a period of authoritarian rule presided city began to take shape. With the plan of connecting the
Vienna has over 40 over by a powerful chief minister, Prince Metternich. In suburbs with the imperial centre, the old fortifications
palaces, several of 1848, as revolutions swept through Europe, the Viennese were razed and replaced with a broad new street – the
middle classes rose up, demanding liberal reform. Ringstrasse, inaugurated in 1865. Circling the city, the
which belonged to the
Metternich was removed during the March Revolution Ring featured Vienna’s first public park and a number of
imperial family, one and a less oppressive regime ensued. However, a final stately museums. Beyond were streets of new houses to
to the archbishop, and rebellion, the Vienna Uprising in October of the same year, accommodate an expanding population, which included
saw bloodshed and harsh suppression by imperial troops. immigrants and traders from all over the empire.
many to the empire’s The grand Neoclassical style of the Ring was soon so
highest-ranking noble widespread that many people began to look down on it as
old-fashioned. Despite this traditional setting, Vienna was
families. Nearly all are
still a centre for the latest in music (Brahms, Bruckner, and
in the Baroque style. the Strauss family all worked in the city, while Mahler was
conductor at the opera). Sigmund Freud developed his
theory of psychoanalysis while a resident. Vienna’s coffee
houses were popular places to meet and share ideas,
frequented by businessmen, writers, and artists alike.
1848 Sympathy
with revolutionary
Hungary sparks
October’s Vienna 1897 A group of
Uprising. artists found the 1899 The ornate
Vienna Secession; Majolikahaus opens,
painters like Gustav exemplifying
Klimt transform art. Jugendstil.
1857 The building

of the Ringstrasse
development begins. Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi, Gustav Klimt, 1913
VIENNA 117
Vienna is a handsome, lively

city, and pleases me exceedingly.
FREDERIC CHOPIN, LIFE AND LETTERS, 1906
Revolution in the arts was waning, and the empire was on

By the end of the century, many of Vienna’s artists, the losing side in World War I, leading
designers, and architects were dissatisfied with the work to its eventual collapse in 1918. For
of their forebears. Baroque or Neoclassical architecture the next two decades, Vienna was the
were deemed unfit for modern life, and 19th-century scene of long political struggles
Realism seemed dull and unadventurous. Architects between right and left, culminating in
such as Alfred Loos began to design buildings shorn of the rise of fascism and Adolf Hitler’s
overblown decoration, while Gustav Klimt and other artists takeover of Austria in 1938.
took painting in a radical new direction, creating work that Intellectual life continued during
could be startlingly coloured, stylized, or shockingly explicit. this time, with the development of
In 1897, a group of them broke away (seceded) from the a formidable group of logical-
conservative art establishment, creating their own group, positivist philosophers and scientists,
the Secession, which soon found followers all over Europe. the Vienna Circle, and a revolutionary
They held exhibitions in a ground-breaking new gallery, the group of composers, centred on
Secession Building, designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich and Arnold Schoenberg. But many of
topped with an unmissable golden openwork dome. these people were Jewish, and either
The geometric style developed by Viennese designers left Austria or lost their lives in the
was influential, too. Jugendstil (“young style”), as it became Holocaust, leaving Vienna greatly diminished. △ VIENNA PHILHARMONIC BALL, 1959
known, informed the work of the progressive Wiener After World War II, Austria and its capital were occupied This annual ball is held in the Musikverein
concert hall, with the Vienna Philharmonic
Werkstätte (“Vienna workshop”). Founded by Secession by the Allies for 10 years, until 1955 when Vienna once Orchestra providing the music. The waltz,
member Josef Hoffmann, the co-operative was inspired by more became a capital city – of the independent Austrian first fashionable in the city in the 19th
the British Arts and Crafts movement and aimed to bring Republic. A steady recovery followed, with the city chosen century, features prominently.
art into the home, via anything from tea sets to textiles. as a key location for the United Nations and as the site of
political summits. Vienna is regularly ranked as one of
Political upheavals the world’s most livable places – thanks to its green
Although Vienna’s culture flourished in the late 19th and spaces, efficient public transport, and low crime – and it
early 20th centuries, the city fared less well politically. remains a city of stunning beauty that has preserved an
The Habsburg emperors lived grandly but their influence unparalleled heritage of music and art.
1938 Hitler gives a speech 1944 The Allies 1979 Vienna becomes 2019 Vienna tops the
in front of the Hofburg bomb Vienna a major HQ of the Mercer Quality of
Palace announcing the during World United Nations, Living Index for the
annexation of Austria War II. alongside New York 10th year running.
into Nazi Germany. City, Nairobi, The
Hague, and Geneva.
1949 Orson Welles stars in

the film The Third Man, set in
war-damaged Vienna.
1985 Completion of
Hundertwasserhaus, a striking
1903 The Wiener Werkstätte building combining features of
is set up, inspired by the Modernist architecture with
ideas of William Morris. Vienna’s decorative tradition.
118
BERLIN 119
Berlin
ATHENS ON THE SPREE
In its passage from Prussian pre-eminence to foreign occupation,
economic boom town to city divided – and eventually reunited – Berlin
has shown an unrivalled ability to rise from its ruins.
Legend attributes the founding of Berlin to a figure known during the Thirty Years’ War between Catholic forces
as Albert the Bear. He was a margrave, or nobleman, who loyal to the Holy Roman Emperor and Swedish-backed
ruled the area of Brandenburg, in what is now northeast Protestant armies. The city’s neutrality meant it was
Germany, from 1157 to 1170. Whether Albert truly did plundered and pillaged by both sides. Reconstruction was
found the future capital is disputed, but a bear emblem still carried out by Friedrich Wilhelm, who encircled the city
features on the city’s coat of arms. The first historical with new defences, created new neighbourhoods, and laid
mention of Berlin occurs in 1237. At that time it was out the Lustgarten and Unter den Linden. He also
conjoined with Cölln, on the opposite bank of the Spree encouraged the settlement of refugees, including Jews
river. Within a century, the two had merged into a single from Vienna and Huguenots expelled from France.
town, gaining sufficient status to become a member of the
Hanseatic League of free-trading northern European cities. The rise of the Prussian capital
In 1411, the region of Brandenburg came under the Friedrich Wilhelm’s successors assumed the title of kings
governorship of Friedrich of Hohenzollern, who of Prussia. His great-grandson, Friedrich II (also known as
established Berlin as his capital. Just over 30 years later, Frederick the Great), took Prussia into a series of wars with
the Hohenzollerns built Berlin Castle on what is now Spree Austria and Russia, but also initiated ambitious projects in
Island. Despite the fortifications, Berlin suffered heavily his royal capital, including the Staatsoper (State Opera) and
the palace that now houses the Humboldt University. By the
late 18th century, such was Berlin’s military and economic
◁ METROPOLIS, 1917 might, and so highly was it regarded as a centre of
Scarred by his experiences as a soldier, George Grosz
completed this hellish vision of a Berlin gone mad and Enlightenment thinkers and religious freedoms, that
doomed to its own destruction at the height of World War I. citizens referred to the city as “Athens on the Spree”.
1157 Albert the Bear 1701 Friedrich III has himself

becomes Margrave crowned King Frederick I of
of Brandenburg, a major Prussia. Berlin becomes the
principality of the Holy capital of the Prussian Empire.
1307 Berlin and
Roman Empire, Cölln merge into
corresponding to what is a single town.
now northeast Germany. 1740 Frederick the Great begins
his 46-year reign, during which
time Berlin is transformed into
one of Europe’s great intellectual,
military, and economic capitals.
1648 The Thirty Years’ War ends

1237 The first historical and Friedrich Wilhelm undertakes
mention of the twin reconstruction of the city,
settlements Berlin including the creation of Unter
and Cölln appears den Linden, connecting the
in church records. Tiergarten Park and the Palace.
Berlin was a skeptical,
sober city of quick-witted,
sharp-tongued people,
leading all German cities in
sarcasm and insolence.
GEORGE GROSZ, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1946
Frederick the Great’s death precipitated a decline in

Berlin’s fortunes. His successor, Friedrich Wilhelm, did
endow Berlin with its most famous landmark, the
Brandenburg Gate; however, nine years after his death in
1797, the monument served only to symbolize the city’s
humiliation when it framed the procession of Napoleon
Bonaparte into Berlin after he defeated the Prussian army.
Birth of an imperial capital

Prussia resumed self-rule in 1813, initiating an era of
reform and reconstruction that saw the foundation of the
Friedrich Wilhelm University by minister of education
Wilhelm von Humboldt (for whom the university was later
renamed), and the unveiling of many Neoclassical
buildings, including the Altes Museum and Neue Wache.
Away from the grandeur, however, much of the rapidly
swelling populace was suffering in poverty. Berlin had a
first popular uprising in 1830, culminating in the bloody
revolution of 1848 that left over 200 dead.
△ PORTRAIT OF THE JOURNALIST SYLVIA VON HARDEN, 1926 In 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as
Artist Otto Dix was a key figure in the 1920s Neue his prime minister. Neither figure was popular in liberal
Sachlichkeit (“New Objectivity”) movement. Its artists
rejected romantic idealism and shared a commitment Berlin – attempts on both men’s lives were made in the
to exposing the truths underlying contemporary ills. city – but Bismarck masterminded a series of military
1830 A first museum 1894 Following 10 years of 1918 With the end
opens on Museumsinsel construction, the of World War I,
(Museum Island), the Neo-Baroque Reichstag Berlin becomes the
Königliches Museum, is opened as the new capital of the Republic
later renamed the Altes 1866 Otto Von Bismarck, prime Berlin home of the of Germany.
Museum (Old Museum). minister of Prussia, is attacked German parliament.
by a would-be assassin on
Berlin’s Unter den Linden.
Helmet worn
1806 Napoleon by Otto Von
conquers Berlin Bismarck
and removes the 1871 As Wilhelm I is
statue of Victory proclaimed German Kaiser 1905 Kaiser Wilhelm II’s
from the top of the (“emperor”) at Versailles, imposing Protestant
Brandenburg Gate, Berlin becomes the capital cathedral, the Berliner
sending it to Paris. of a newly unified Germany. Dom, is completed.
BERLIN 121
BOMBED-OUT BERLIN ▷
In April 1945, Soviet leader Josef Stalin sent 2.5 million troops,
7,500 aircraft, 6,250 tanks, and 41,600 guns in an assault on
Berlin, reducing much of the city to piles of smouldering rubble.
victories against Denmark, Austria, and France that forged

an empire to dominate central Europe and promoted the
Prussian king into the German Kaiser, or “emperor”.
Thousands of people poured into the imperial capital to
fuel its rising industries: the population rocketed from
969,000 in 1875 to over two million by 1905.
Metropolis
Berlin became one of the greatest cities in Europe, a true
Weldstadt, or “world city”. Electric trams zipped along
crowded streets, past the Hotel Excelsior – with 600
rooms, the continent’s largest hotel – and the recently
completed Berliner Dom, a cathedral designed to rival
even the splendour of St Peter’s in Rome. This was a city
of modernity, industry, and power, lit up by electricity, with
giant zeppelin airships drifting overhead. American
humorist Mark Twain visited and likened Berlin to Chicago:
he called it the “newest city I have ever seen”.
While Berlin seemed to welcome the outbreak of war in
1914, euphoria eventually gave way to the despair of
defeat. The Kaiser abdicated in 1918 and Germany became
a republic with a constitution forged in the town of Weimar,
where politicians had fled from the chaos of the capital.
By 1924, however, thanks to an American-led aid plan, mass poverty. The threat of anarchy enabled the rise of
Berlin had managed to bounce back. Once again bursting political extremism that ultimately led to Adolf Hitler being
with energy, it was a centre of industry and science, radical sworn in as chancellor on 30 January 1933. Four weeks In 1923, Berlin
art and decadent entertainment, a mix exemplified in the later, an unknown arsonist burned the Reichstag, home of businesses paid their
Expressionist science-fiction film Metropolis (1927), with the German parliament in Berlin, to the ground.
its scenes of toiling workers and humanoid robots. Berlin was devastated by the war that Hitler instigated. employees twice a day to
Just as the United States had helped start the party, the The Battle of Berlin saw Britain’s RAF, later joined by the keep pace with inflation.
US stock market crash of 1929 threw Berlin into economic US Air Force, launch 314 air raids on the city. In April 1945,
depression. Huge job losses and hyperinflation resulted in Soviet soldiers encircled the city, fighting their way to the
1920 Berlin is swollen as the city 1936 Berlin

expands to incorporate seven 1927 Fritz Lang’s hosts the
towns and 59 villages. The startling vision of Olympic Games,
population surpasses four million. modernity, Metropolis, centred on the
is released. Shot in newly built
Albert Einstein Olympiastadion.
Berlin, the film costs
rose to international over five million
Reichsmarks.
prominence while
working in Berlin between
the wars, winning the
Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1921.
1919 The internationally 1933 Adolf Hitler is
influential Bauhaus design appointed Chancellor
school, founded by Walter of Germany. Weeks
Gropius, opens in Weimar; it later, the Reichstag is
moves to Berlin in 1932. burned down.
When it was completed, the Berlin Wall

extended 155 km (96 miles) around West
Berlin; 37 km (23 miles) of that ran through
the city centre. Largely constructed of
The Berlin Wall
concrete and studded with watchtowers, the

Wall was the scene of many daring escape
attempts, including some involving hot-air
balloons and aerial wires. Over time, the
barrier was modified in various ways to make
crossing more difficult. Nevertheless, up to
100,000 people tried to escape over the Wall,
and at least 140 died in the attempt. The last
of these fatalities occurred in March 1989,
only seven months before the Wall came
down amid a wave of revolutions across
Eastern Europe and mass protests in East
Berlin. Today, only a small portion of the Wall
remains. Most prominently, a series of painted
segments is preserved as the East Side
Gallery, a reminder of the city’s divided past
and also its triumphant reunification.
△ Crowds celebrate the opening of the crossings in the Berlin Wall,
which took place on 9 November 1989.
centre. In his bunker behind Wilhelmstrasse, Hitler created three “air corridors” to deliver food and essentials.
committed suicide and the Red Army raised the Soviet The Soviets called off the blockade after 11 months, in May
flag above the gutted Reichstag. 1949, but five months later created the German Democratic
Republic (GDR) with its capital in East Berlin.
East and West During the 1950s, East and West Berlin evolved
At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Allies carved Berlin separately as the Cold War between the USA and its allies
into four zones of occupation: American, British, French, and the Soviet Union intensified. The Soviets reshaped
and Soviet. When relations between Soviet Russia and the their sector of Berlin, creating vast Moscow-style avenues
Western Allies chilled, the Soviets began a blockade of and socialist housing blocks, while the USA channelled
what was now collectively known as West Berlin. All money into West Berlin. Despite border checks, citizens
transport routes were cut off. In response, the Allies were free to pass between the two zones and many East
1948 The Soviet 1949 Charlottenburg 1953 On 17 June, 1961 West Berlin
Union begins a resident Herta Soviet tanks roll invites mass Turkish
blockade of the Heuwer invents into East Berlin to immigration to
city to which the currywurst, crush a workers’ replace lost East
the Western Allies which will become uprising. German labour.
respond with the the signature street
Berlin Airlift. food of Berlin.
1961 The border

1949 The Americans, between East 1968 Berlin
1945 At the end of British, and French and West Berlin experiences
World War II, the four create the political is sealed first by wide-scale
occupying powers divide entity of West barbed wire and, student protests
Berlin into American, Germany with Bonn soon after, by an resulting in a
British, French, and as its capital and elaborate wall. number
Soviet zones. seat of government. of deaths.
▷ THE REICHSTAG REBUILT
Badly damaged by fire in 1933 and stranded for decades
beside the Wall, the German seat of Parliament was finally
renovated in the 1990s to a design by Foster + Partners.
Berliners commuted across to work. As the disparity

between the two halves of the city grew, East Germans
increasingly moved to West Berlin (the border with West
Germany was sealed in 1952). By the end of the decade, it
seemed East Germany would cease to function because of
the flight of skilled labourers to West Berlin.
Divided and reunited

In August 1961, East German police began to drag barbed
wire across Potsdamer Platz. Within 24 hours the crossing
between East and West Berlin was closed. Days later the
construction of a wall began (see box). West Berliners and
their allies were powerless to do anything. American and
Soviet tanks faced off at Checkpoint Charlie and US
President Kennedy delivered a speech of solidarity that
ended with the famous words, “Ich bin ein Berliner”.
Almost as shocking was the fall of the Wall in November
1989. The subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union
allowed for the reunification of Berlin and, the following
year, of Germany itself. In 1990, Berlin once again
became the seat of government.
Since then, the city has continued to exert a
fascination, as a leading influence in European
politics and as a capital for creatives from around
the world. Potsdamer Platz – once the busiest
intersection in Europe, then a no-man’s-land
between East and West Berlin – has been
redeveloped as a showcase for international
architecture. Meanwhile, artists, DJs, and
influencers throng gallery openings, clubs, and
pop-up restaurants, ensuring Berlin’s legacy as
a city that combines industry with hedonism.
1989 Following
mass protests, on
9 November East
German authorities 2005 The city inaugurates a
open the barriers Memorial to the Murdered Jews
1969 The East Germans inaugurate the in the Berlin Wall. of Europe, otherwise known as
Fernsehturm (“TV tower”), intended to be both the Holocaust Memorial.
a symbol of Communist power and of the city.
1971 The Four Powers 1999 The German federal

meet and sign an parliament relocates
agreement formally from Bonn to Berlin’s
recognizing Berlin’s newly reconstructed
divided status. Reichstag.
Moscow
THE THIRD ROME
From its beginnings as a provincial fortress, Moscow went on to
shape the world through great art and literature, and later with an
uncompromising politics born of proletarian revolution.
Moscow began as a remote trading post on the Moskva and patriarchs buried, was rebuilt. Ivan also married the
river, between the cities of Novgorod in the north and niece of the last Byzantine emperor and declared himself
Kiev to the south. In the early 12th century, the Grand the defender of Orthodox Christianity – making Moscow the
Prince of Kiev sent his son, Yuri Dolgoruky, to govern the heir to Rome and Constantinople. Moscow’s princes
northeastern Vladimir-Suzdal province. He built fortresses claimed the title “tsar”, a Russian derivation of “caesar”.
to defend the region and, in 1156, fortified Moscow with a In the 16th century, Ivan’s grandson Ivan IV, “the Terrible”,
stockade (kremlin) encircled by a moat. Although Moscow transformed himself from Grand Prince of Moscow to “Tsar
was already a small town when he arrived, Dolgoruky is of all the Russias”. He graced Moscow with St Basil’s
often described as the city's founder. Cathedral, and Russia expanded into Siberia. But he also
established the oprichniki, Russia’s first political police
Ivans Great and Terrible force, and killed his one competent son in an argument,
In the 13th century, the Mongols swept westward, sacking leaving a mentally unstable son to rule. Thus began the
Kiev. They would rule the region for over a century, during Time of Troubles, a period of rival claimants and foreign
which they empowered Moscow’s Grand Prince Ivan I, who interventions, notably by the Poles, who occupied Moscow
became their chief tribute collector in 1328. In time, between 1610 and 1612. The upheavals ended in 1613,
Moscow was able to raise its own army and defeat the when leading citizens placed 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov
Mongols, giving birth to Russia. Under Ivan III, “the Great”, in power, initiating the 300-year rule of the Romanovs.
Moscow secured an empire stretching east to the Urals. He
imported Italian architects, who built the Kremlin’s
▷ RED SQUARE
massive walls and landmark Trinity Tower in 1495. The Facing the State Historical Museum, Moscow’s colourful
Cathedral of the Assumption, where princes were crowned 16th-century St Basil’s Cathedral is a symbol of Russia.
Russian Coat of Arms
1453 Constantinople 1610 A Polish and Lithuanian

falls, and Moscow army occupies Moscow during
claims the role the Time of Troubles; following
of protector of a siege by the Cossacks, the
Orthodox city is liberated in 1612.
Christianity.
1462 Ivan the Great

1156 ce Moscow’s first comes to power, unifies 1552 Ivan the Terrible
kremlin is built. The Russia, and uses Italian commissions St Basil’s Cathedral
structure is wooden, architects to rebuild to celebrate the capture of the
with a moat. the Kremlin. Mongol stronghold of Kazan.
MOSCOW 125
Moscow… so much flows together in

that one sound for Russian hearts!
What store of riches it imparts!
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, EUGENE ONEGIN, 1833
△ AUDITORIUM OF THE BOLSHOI Reborn from the flames with the Bolshoi Theatre at its centre. Noble families
THEATRE, 1856 Mikhail’s grandson, Peter I, “the Great”, transformed rebuilt their ancestral homes, and Moscow rose again
The Bolshoi Ballet Company was founded
in 1776, but had no permanent home until Russia from a landlocked state into one of Europe’s with fantastic speed. Fittingly for a capital whose domain
the Bolshoi Theatre – captured here by greatest empires. But he had no love for Moscow, stretched from Baltic coasts to Central Asian steppes, the
painter Mihály Zichy – opened in the 1820s. which he viewed as a city of antiquity, superstition, and architecture mixed classical facades with oriental domes.
prejudice. Instead, beginning in 1703, he built a brand Many of the biggest merchant and industrial families
new capital that looked to the West: St Petersburg. For assigned money to philanthropy and artistic patronage.
the next 200 years, Moscow was Russia’s second city. Writers, artists, and composers explored Moscow’s
It took an invasion by Napoleon in 1812 to reinvigorate heritage in works such as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace
the city. When the French general took up residence in the (1869) and Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov
Kremlin, defiant Muscovites razed their own city. Napoleon (1874). The popular view was that Moscow had been saved
retreated, harried by a harsh early winter and pursued by by peasants who had taken up arms to defend the mother
the Russian army. Flush with victory, Muscovites embarked city, and a movement to emancipate serfs from indentured
on a great rebuild. Vast areas were developed, with new agricultural labour saw them flock to Moscow to fuel an
avenues fanning out from Red Square and Alexander economic boom. Within 60 years, Napoleon’s ruins had
Gardens laid out beside the Kremlin's walls. Several been transformed into a bustling city of palatial residences,
planned complexes were created, notably Theatre Square, grand thoroughfares, and sprawling industrial suburbs.
1712 Peter the Great 1770 Moscow is 1824 During a building 1877 Premiere of
moves the capital from devastated by boom, the Bolshoi Tchaikovsky’s Swan
Moscow to St Petersburg bubonic plague Theatre is built Lake ballet at the
and the Kremlin and more than on Theatre Square. Bolshoi Theatre.
is abandoned. 50,000 die.
1755 Poet and 1861 Tsar Alexander II’s

scientist Mikhail Emancipation Reform frees 1883 The Cathedral
Lomonosov founds 1812 Napoleon invades Moscow and its citizens set the city thousands of peasants to of Christ the Saviour
Moscow University. ablaze rather than see it occupied. move to the city. is consecrated.
MOSCOW 127
History will not forgive us

if we do not assume power now.
The Russian Revolution
By 1900, more than half of Moscow’s VLADIMIR LENIN, LETTER TO THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY, 1917
population were first-generation migrants
living in slums and discontent on the fringes
of the city. A Russian war with Japan in 1904
only increased unrest, triggering strikes and
demonstrations the following year, first in
St Petersburg and then in Moscow. The 1905
revolution was quashed, but 12 years later,
in February 1917, the hardships and losses
of war sent Russian citizens back out into
the streets. A weakened Nicholas II was
forced to abdicate and his family was placed
under house arrest. He was replaced by a
provisional government.
Unable to restore order, the provisional
government was itself overthrown in a coup
that October, orchestrated by Vladimir Lenin’s
Bolshevik Party. In the wake of the Revolution,
Lenin ordered that the capital be returned to
Moscow. From here, Lenin and his Communist
“Red” army fought a civil war against “White”
supporters of the Romanov regime. When it
appeared as if the royal family might be
rescued by the Whites, they were killed. The △ Children gaze at the bronze head of a ▷ “Have you
smashed statue of Tsar Alexander III in 1917, volunteered for the Red
civil war ended in 1920 with the Bolsheviks in during the Russian Revolution. Alexander’s son, Army?” asks this 1920
control of a transformed nation: Soviet Russia. Nicholas II, was Russia’s last tsar. recruitment poster.
1905 The unpopular

Russo-Japanese
War provokes the
Moscow Uprising. When the
monumental Upper
Trading Stores opened
along the east side of Red
Square in 1893, it housed
1,200 stores. Today it is the
GUM shopping mall.
1917 Revolution begins

in St Petersburg and
1899 Premiere of spreads to Moscow, where
Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at street fighting leaves more
Anton Chekhov reads The Seagull with actors from the Moscow Art Theatre, 1899 the Moscow Art Theatre. than 1,000 dead.
◁ PALACES OF TRANSPORT
Not just a transportation system, Moscow’s Metro employed
some of the Soviet Union’s finest architects and artists to
create a showcase for socialist achievements.
Lenin died in 1924, and his embalmed corpse was put

on display in Red Square in a sarcophagus designed by
the radical architect Konstantin Melnikov. He was replaced
as the head of the Communist Party by Josef Stalin, who
continued the work of reshaping Moscow. A 1935 Moscow
Master Plan decreed that new development had to
proceed by whole "ensembles", not by individual buildings,
and increased city-block sizes and building heights. This
was city planning by sledgehammer. A vast new parade
route was bulldozed through the city centre, while
below ground, construction began on the Moscow Metro.
Churches were demolished, notably the massive Cathedral
Seeing red of Christ the Saviour, which was destroyed to make way
The late 19th century may have seen great architecture for a colossal Palace of the Soviets, which was never built.
and art being created in Moscow, but the city’s slums were (Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the
poverty-stricken. Discontent flamed into an attempted cathedral was rebuilt between 1995 and 2000.) At one
revolution in 1905, and a successful one 12 years point there were even plans to blow up St Basil’s
later (see box, p. 127). In 1918, Vladimir Lenin's Cathedral because it was considered an obstruction
Bolshevik Party made Moscow the capital of Soviet to military processions. The most distinctive
Russia, although it was hardly a place of triumph: as monuments of Soviet Moscow went up in Stalin’s
well as those killed in the war, hundreds of thousands final years. Collectively known as the Seven
had fled turmoil in the city and returned to their Sisters, these wedding-cake-like Gothic
villages. A population of over 1.8 million in 1915 had skyscrapers were built between 1947
almost halved to 1 million by 1920. From this, the and 1953, and were the tallest
Bolsheviks began to remould Moscow into a new buildings in Europe
centre of progressive socialism. For a few years, at the time.
in the early 1920s, Moscow became a workshop of
the avant-garde, nurturing artists such as Kazimir
Malevich, graphic designer Alexander Rodchenko,
architect and stage designer Vladimir Tatlin, and
director Sergei Eisenstein, maker of revolutionary
films including Battleship Potemkin (1925).
1937 The monumental

1931 Stalin orders the stainless-steel,
dynamiting of the Cathedral Socialist-Realist
1921 Moscow of Christ the Saviour to sculpture Worker and
exhibition 5x5=25 make way for a never-built Kolkhoz Woman is
presents the work Palace of the Soviets. created for the year’s
of five avant-garde World Fair in Paris. It
artists proclaiming is subsequently moved
the “death of art”. to Moscow.
1918 Lenin names

Moscow the capital 1924 Lenin dies and is
of the Russian Soviet succeeded by Stalin. Lenin’s 1935 The first line
Federative Socialist embalmed body goes on of the Moscow
Republic. display in Moscow. Metro opens.
MOSCOW 129
World War II and the Battle of Moscow In 1999, Yeltsin handed power to his new prime minister,
Under Stalin’s command, Muscovites had to defend their Vladimir Putin, who was confirmed as president in March
city once again. In October 1941, German tanks and 2000. Since then, as the capital of a stable and increasingly
infantry advanced on the Russian capital. By December, powerful Russia, Moscow has expanded to the extent that
the Germans were on the outskirts of the city and the it is not so much a large city as a small state. There are
Russians counter-attacked. Over weeks of fighting, with now over 20 million residents in the metropolitan area,
Muscovites bringing food to their soldiers and carrying the making Moscow the most populous urban area in Europe;
wounded away to care for them in their homes, the Red it is officially classed as a megacity. And while Soviet-era
Army managed to drive the Germans back – today, giant statues look on, the population continues to swell with ▽ FLOATING BRIDGE
tank traps on the road out to Sheremetyevo Airport mark aspirational Russians seeking the good life in the country’s Developed in 2013, Zaryadye Park marries
the point where the Germans were halted. The Battle of capital and model of new urbanism; a city which is 21st-century architectural wonders, such
as the V-shaped Floating Bridge over the
Moscow was one of the largest battles in World War II and, technologically advanced, surprisingly green in all senses, Moskva, with lessons from the past, in the
according to one estimate, Russian losses equalled the and full of the promise of fast living and fortune. form of a museum of Russian history.
combined number of Americans, British, and French who
died during all of World War II.
The post-Stalinist city

Through the Communist era, the city saw a rapid expansion
of its suburbs, which became densely populated thanks to
massed high-rise tower blocks, and were linked to the
centre by extended Metro lines. Otherwise, Moscow slowly
stagnated until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985.
He sought to revitalize the ailing socialist system through
glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika (“restructuring”), but
could not prevent the break-up of the USSR.
In the early 1990s, Boris Yeltsin presided over an
exhilarating but lawless period of economic liberalization,
in which a new Russia emerged. Private enterprise took
over state assets, and the country charged into a piratical
form of capitalism. Much of the wealth flowed to Moscow,
which became a city of bling. A clique of "New Russians"
shopped in exclusive malls and sipped champagne while
clubbing. A joke summed up the free-spending attitude:
“What do you think of my watch? It cost me $1,000,” says
one businessman. “That’s nothing,” replies his friend. “I
bought the same one last week for $2,000.” Most
Muscovites, however, struggled to put food on the table.
1940 Mikhail Bulgakov 1993 Boris Yeltsin sends in 2011 President Dmitry
completes his Moscow- troops to deal with Medvedev announces a plan
set novel The Master protesters at Moscow’s to expand the territory of
and Margarita. It is not 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev White House (the home of Moscow by 155 per cent, by
published in Russia becomes general secretary the Russian parliament). annexing a vast tract
until 1967, after the of the Communist Party southwest of the city.
writer’s death. and institutes policies of
glasnost and perestroika.
1953 Stalin dies and is

replaced by Nikita
Khrushchev, who initiates
the construction of mass 1990 The first 2000 The newly rebuilt
housing estates around McDonald’s in Russia Cathedral of Christ the
the city outskirts. opens in Moscow. Saviour is consecrated.
Cairo
UMM AL-DUNYA (“MOTHER OF THE WORLD”)
When Arab armies conquered the Roman fortress of Babylon-of-Egypt,
they lay the ground for the city of al-Qahira, “the victorious”. Known in the
West as Cairo, it was destined to grow into a modern megacity.
Following the death of the last of the Ptolemaic pharaohs, Egypt and Rome meant that Copts were branded as
Cleopatra, in 30 bce, the Romans took control of Egypt. heretics. The persecution came to an end in 640 ce with
They occupied its Mediterranean capital, Alexandria, and the arrival of an army originating in the Arabian deserts
established military outposts throughout the country. and bearing the flag of another new religion, Islam.
One such fortress was built at an ancient river crossing,
near the site of the Old Kingdom capital of Memphis, and Egypt’s Islamic capital
just south of the point at which the Nile fanned out to form Babylon surrendered to the conquering Muslim Arabs, who
a wide delta. The river was the country’s main highway were welcomed by the Egyptian people as liberators. The
and the fortress controlled the passage between the Muslims set up a tent city, Fustat, north of the Roman
delta and the populous Nile valley. A key frontier stronghold walls. Here they built Egypt’s first mosque, naming it after
and a busy port, it was known as Babylon-of-Egypt. their victorious leader, ‘Amr ibn al-‘As. The tent city was
The Roman fortress became the nucleus of a small soon replaced by one of mud-brick, which grew in size,
but prosperous town, and a base for a legion. When spreading ever further north. As politics shifted in the
Christianity arrived in Egypt during the 1st century ce, wider Islamic world, this new Arab city – and, by extension,
Babylon became the seat of a bishopric, but Egypt’s Coptic the whole of Egypt – became subject to rule from
Christians were subject to persecution. Even after Damascus, then Baghdad. Home to waves of immigrant
Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the officials and soldiers, it was already a cosmopolitan and
Roman Empire in 380 ce, theological differences between wealthy outpost when, in 969 ce, an army belonging to the
North African Fatimid dynasty swept in and took control.
He who has not seen Cairo

▷ VIEW OF CAIRO, c. 1872
has not seen the world. Using wealth accrued through conquest and trade, the medieval
Mamluk rulers of Egypt endowed Cairo with a spectacular array of
mosques, palaces, and mausoleums, as shown in this study in oils
THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS by Louis Comfort Tiffany, better known for his stained glass.
33 ce The apostle Mark the 969 The Fatimid dynasty of North

Evangelist introduces Africa wrests control of Egypt
Christianity to Egypt. from Baghdad and creates a new
capital, which will become Cairo.
1st century bce The Romans 640 A Muslim Arab army led by
build a fortress on the 3rd century The first churches are founded in its commander ‘Amr ibn al-‘As
east bank of the Nile Babylon-of-Egypt. Several survive today in an conquers Egypt and establishes
called Babylon-of-Egypt. area that is still known as Coptic Cairo. a base on the future site of Cairo.
CAIRO 131
From the heights of these pyramids,

The Pyramids of Giza
Although the modern city laps at the base of the Pyramids, which stand on
the Giza Plateau 9 km (5½ miles) from the Nile, Cairo did not exist in the
forty centuries look down on us. pharaonic era. The Pyramids were part of the necropolis attached to the Old
Kingdom capital of Memphis, which was founded prior to the 31st century bce.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ADDRESSING HIS TROOPS, 1798
These monumental resting places of kings were constructed around 2580–
2510 bce, at which time the site of the future Cairo was just a crossing on
the river. From the 10th century ce onwards, stones from nearby ancient
sites, including the Pyramids, were recycled to build the medieval city.
◁ The Great Sphinx of Giza and the Pyramid of Khafre, stripped of

its outer stone casing, except at the very top, c. 1920–22.
△ Aerial view of the Giza Plateau showing the Great Pyramids,

and Cairo encroaching.
The city victorious al-Azhar, which quickly became a renowned centre of

Continuing the trend begun by ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, the Fatimids Islamic learning (and continues to be so in the 21st
established a new city immediately to the north of the century, as the University of al-Azhar).
existing settlement. They named it al-Qahira, meaning “the In 1168, fearing the advance of the European Crusaders
victorious”; non-Arabic speakers would pronounce it as then rampaging around the eastern Mediterranean, the
“Cairo”. The new city was protected by walls and entered Fatimids appealed for help from their fellow Muslims.
through one of several great fortified gates. It contained The Seljuk dynasty of Damascus saw off the immediate
grand squares, palaces, and numerous mosques, including Christian threat but, once in Cairo, deposed the rulers they
972 The Fatimids found the 1176 Saladin constructs 1260 Highly trained
Mosque of al-Azhar, which a citadel and new city Mamluk horsemen
becomes a major centre walls to defend Cairo contribute to the
for Islamic learning. from Crusaders. defeat of a Mongol
army at Ain Jalut.
1171 Salah ad-Din ibn

Ayyub, otherwise
known as Saladin,
becomes sultan 1260 Baybars becomes
in Egypt. 1250 Following the death of the sultan, beginning an
eighth Ayyubid sultan, the emirs age of Mamluk military
(leaders) of the Mamluk army dominance in the
seize control of Egypt. eastern Mediterranean.
had supposedly come to help. The new master of Egypt
was Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub, better known in the West as
Saladin. He built a fortress at the western edge of the city,
where he sired a short-lived dynasty, the Ayyubids, which
ran to four sultans before their attendant slave warriors,
the Mamluks, seized control of Egypt for themselves.
City of 1,001 nights

Under the Mamluk regime, Cairo became the capital of an
empire that extended into what is now Turkey. The
militaristic Mamluks also proved to be keen patrons of the
arts. For more than 250 years, the riches that came from
controlling East–West trade routes were lavished on Cairo.
The city was adorned with fantastic architectural
complexes, embellished with exquisite stone carving,
marble inlays, and ivory- and woodwork. Bazaars were
filled with exotic wares from distant lands, from African
ostrich feathers to Chinese silks. In 1481, a visiting Italian
rabbi wrote in his journal, “I swear that if it were possible to
put Rome, Venice, Milan, Padua, Florence, and four more
cities together, they would not equal in wealth and
population half that of Cairo”. This was the city that inspired
many of the tales in The Thousand and One Nights.
When, in 1498, Vasco da Gama discovered a route around
Africa, it freed European merchants from the duties
imposed by Cairo. Less than 20 years later, a new power,
the Ottoman Turks, crushed the Mamluks in battle.
Cairo’s years as a glittering capital were at an end.
▷ MAP OF CAIRO FROM PIRI REIS’S BOOK OF NAVIGATION, 1525

At the bottom (north) of this illuminated map, the Nile is shown
splitting to form the delta. The walled city is on the east bank,
separated from the river by a floodplain.
1340 In Venice, 1474 Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbay

the Doge’s Palace completes his mosque and
is built, with funerary complex in Cairo,
architecture inspired considered the zenith of
by Mamluk Cairo. Mamluk architecture.
During the Mamluk era,

the competition for
control of the sultanate was
so cut-throat that only a
handful of sultans ever
died of natural causes.
1517 Following decisive
military victories over
1348 Cairo suffers up to 7,000 the Mamluks the
deaths per day at the previous year, the
Mamluk glass lamp
height of the bubonic Ottoman Turks capture
plague epidemic. Cairo and Egypt.
△ PARIS ON THE NILE Modernizing Cairo Istanbul until the European powers forced him to retreat.
During the reign of Ismail (r. 1863–1879), As part of the Ottoman Empire, provincial Cairo stagnated He was also a modernizer, who introduced the cash crop
the city’s wealthy elite built a new
European-styled Cairo, with grand hotels as its revenues and taxes were channelled to Istanbul. The of cotton and built an industrial base, as well as securing
catering to curious foreign visitors. catalyst for change was an invasion by Napoleon hereditary rule for his family. Under his descendants, Cairo
Bonaparte. France’s ploy to obstruct Britain’s access to spread beyond its medieval walls to fill the Nile floodplain
India was unsuccessful, and the occupation lasted only a with a new European-style city of tree-lined avenues and
handful of years, but the departure of the French created squares, modern apartment blocks, and villas. The world
a power vacuum. This was filled in 1805 by an Albanian was invited to come and view this new Cairo during the
mercenary named Muhammad Ali, who established festivities that accompanied the opening of the Suez Canal.
himself as the new ruler of Egypt. He was bold enough to
wage war against the Ottomans, directly threatening
1798 Napoleon Bonaparte 1869 Cairo hosts royalty 1908 The Egyptian
leads a French army in and heads of state from Museum opens on
an invasion of Egypt around the world to Ismailia Square,
and establishes his celebrate the opening of now known as
headquarters in Cairo. the Suez Canal. Tahrir Square.
1910 A Belgian industrialist

creates the new suburb of
Heliopolis, where attractions
1805 The Albanian 1863 Ismail, a grandson 1871 The first-ever include a racetrack and
Muhammad Ali seizes of Muhammad Ali, performance of flying displays.
power following the initiates the creation of Verdi’s opera Aida
departure of the new European takes place at the
the French. quarter of Cairo. Cairo Opera House.
CAIRO 135
Europeanizing Cairo
For the next 10 or 15 years, Cairo almost had the
character of a gold rush town, as investors and
entrepreneurs raised increasingly grand hotels, banks,
mansions, and even palaces. Egypt’s rulers spent
similarly lavishly, but much of their money came from
loans by European powers. When Europe called in the
debts, Egypt could not pay and, in 1882, the British
colonial authorities stepped in to take control. Cairo
became outwardly more European, as not only Britons
but also people from France, Italy, Greece, and others took
up residence, establishing their own communities and
businesses. These incomers lived subject to their own
national laws rather than the laws of Egypt. As a
concession to growing nationalist sentiments, the
British granted Egypt its “sovereignty” and the khedive
(hereditary ruler) became a king, but foreigners still
kept hold of the reins.
Capital of the Arab world

Smouldering resentment of foreign rule flared up in
January 1952, when Cairo was set on fire in anti-British
demonstrations; six months later, a group of young army
officers seized power. The king was deposed and in 1956
Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser became president of the
△ MURAL OF UMM KOLTHUM, KOM-AL GHURAB SUBURB
Republic of Egypt. As mass nationalization got underway, Known as the “Voice of Egypt”, Umm Kolthum held monthly radio
Cairo’s substantial foreign community sold up and left. concerts, recorded in Cairo and broadcast from 1934, which were
listened to across the Arabic-speaking world.
Under the charismatic Nasser, Egypt became a beacon of
Considered the world’s
nationalism for countries throwing off the yoke of
colonization throughout the Middle East and Africa, and In the 21st century, the ever more populous city is fastest-growing city,
Cairo assumed the status of a capital for the whole shifting again. An army of developers is creating a vast Greater Cairo is
Arabic-speaking world. Major projects changed the face of city extension in the desert that will house five million
the city, including huge new districts with names like people. Meanwhile, the Pyramids continue to watch over
projected to be home to
Engineer City and Victory City. On central Tahrir Square, the Cairo from their vantage point at the edge of the desert, 40 million by 2050.
old British Army barracks were torn down and replaced providing a sense of permanence and imperturbability
with an Egyptian-owned international hotel and the that extends to Cairo itself, a powerful but steady and
headquarters of the Arab League. culturally significant centre in an often volatile region.
1952 Rioting across Cairo 1972 A global “Treasures of 2021 Projected

destroys foreign-owned Tutankhamun” exhibition opening of the new
businesses; in July channels millions of Grand Egyptian
a revolution unseats dollars back to Egypt. Museum at the
the king. Giza Plateau.
Cairo is 90 per cent

Muslim and 10 per cent
Christian. Most Christians
belong to the Coptic 2011 Tahrir Square
Orthodox Church. becomes a centre of
protest during the Arab
Spring Revolution.
1961 President Nasser 1988 Cairo writer
inaugurates the Cairo Naguib Mahfouz
Tower as the symbol wins the Nobel
of a new Egypt. Prize in Literature.
Varanasi
CITY OF SHIVA
On the banks of the sacred Ganges, 3,000-year-old Varanasi is revered as
Hinduism’s holiest city. Closely associated with both Shiva and Buddha,
it’s a temple-packed place of pilgrimage and a creative centre.
Varanasi is a site of huge religious importance, and one of of the kingdom of Kashi — literally “a place of radiance
the world’s oldest living cities; continually inhabited, never that ensues from knowledge and enlightenment”. The city
abandoned. According to Hindu myth, Varanasi (also is still known as Kashi, and the name is the origin of its
known as Benares) was established by the god Shiva more nickname, “city of light”.
than 10,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence suggests In the 4th century bce, the Maurya Empire of eastern India
that the city has been lived in since at least 1800 bce, and grew to control most of the country and, around 260 bce,
has been progressively built upon until the present day. Emperor Ashoka renounced Hinduism for Buddhism,
The city sprang up in the floodplains of the Ganges basin, turning the spotlight on Varanasi (due to the city’s proximity
and the river proved vital for trade and transport. Varanasi to Sarnath). The city began attracting religious leaders,
became a major hub for craft and commerce, and by the academics, and philosophers from across Asia. The Chinese
6th century bce, its bustling markets brimmed with monk Xuanzang, who played a crucial role in spreading
merchants dealing in coveted goods such as silk, muslin, Buddhist ideas between India and China, visited in 635 ce
essential oils, and ivory. Some traditional trades from the and noted that the thriving city stretched for 5 km (3 miles)
era thrive today, and dozens of perfumeries still line many along the Ganges’ western bank. Then, in the 8th century,
of the old town’s lanes. the great Indian spiritualist Adi Shankaracharya arrived in
Varanasi, and founded a sect of the Hindu deity Shiva.
Age of enlightenment
As its economic importance grew, Varanasi flourished as a
regional centre for religion, education, and art. In 528 bce, VARANASI’S GHATS ▷
Ghats are stepped riverside piers where rituals of worship,
Buddha chose Sarnath, just outside the city, as the site for including ablutions, offerings, and cremation, are performed.
his first sermon. By then, Varanasi had become the capital Most were built between the 14th and 18th centuries.
8th century Hindu philosopher

Adi Shankaracharya
establishes a sect of
Shiva in Varanasi.
528 bce The Buddha

delivers his first sermon
in nearby Sarnath.
635 ce Chinese monk and

scholar Xuanzang visits
1800 bce Excavations Varanasi during his tour
suggest the presence of Buddhist sites across
of habitation around Pakistan, India, Nepal,
present-day Varanasi. and Bangladesh.
VARANASI 137
Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older

even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them
put together.
MARK TWAIN, FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, 1897
◁ INSIDE THE KASHI VISHWANATH TEMPLE
This 1862 pencil sketch depicts pilgrims and priests in an inner
courtyard. The temple has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt
over the centuries – the current structure dates from 1780.
The sect’s foundation, alongside the legend of the city’s

divine creation, meant Varanasi grew in spiritual
importance for Hindus. In the centuries that followed,
thousands of shrines were built to the Hindu gods, from
modest riverside altars to grand centres of worship like
the Shiva-dedicated Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Varanasi
became known as the “city of temples”.
Swinging fortunes
In the 12th century, the Islamic Sultanate of Delhi expanded
across India, and the Kashi Vishwanath Temple was
desecrated by the invaders in 1194. Varanasi’s glory
dwindled, but the city retained its status as a religious and
educational centre, and played a critical role in the birth of
new sects and beliefs. The Bhakti movement, which
emphasized worship through music and dance, and broke
away from Hinduisms’s rigid caste and gender structures,
had its origins here in the 15th century, and some of the
tradition’s leaders, such as the mystics Kabir and Ravidas,
were born in the city. The Sikh leader Guru Nanak travelled
here in 1507, and his embracing of the Bhakti tradition
was instrumental in the development of Sikhism as a
major Indian religion. The 15th and 16th centuries were a
period of artistic fertility too, and numerous artisans and
musicians emerged from Varanasi – kathak, one of India’s
most iconic classical dance traditions, was born here.
Varanasi reached another high point during the reign of
Mughal Emperor Akbar, who was crowned in 1556. His
50-year reign was broadly tolerant
of different faiths, and the city saw
new Hindu temples built, older
temples rebuilt or restored,
1507 Guru Nanak, 1659 Aurangzeb, Akbar’s

who goes on to great-grandson, succeeds
found Sikhism, to the throne. He destroys
visits Varanasi. temples across the nation,
including many in Varanasi.
Varanasi is home
to an estimated
20,000 temples, some
of which date back more
1737 As the Mughals decline,
than 800 years. the city wins kingdom status,
1194 Troops of the 1556 Upon being crowned under the rule of the
Delhi Sultanate Emperor of Mughal India, maharajas of Benares.
invade Varanasi and Akbar sponsors a cultural
destroy the Kashi revival of Varanasi that
Vishwanath Temple, continues throughout The royal throne of the
devoted to Shiva. his five-decade reign. maharajas of Benares
VARANASI 139
the nation directly. Varanasi’s civic

fortunes grew exponentially during
the years of British rule. A number of
pioneering educational institutions Hindus believe that
were established in Varanasi, through being cremated
preserving and furthering the city’s
in Varanasi and having
centuries-old academic heritage. The
Sanskrit College was established in their ashes released into
1791, dedicated to the study of the the Ganges, they will
Sanskrit language. The Central Hindu
College, which was founded in 1916, reach Nirvana.
evolved into the prestigious Benaras
Hindu University, and remains an
important centre for arts, languages,
△ SADHUS IN VARANASI and sciences, attracting students from across the country.
Varanasi is a gathering place for sadhus, Hindu ascetics ▽ BENARASI SILK
who have renounced a worldly life. Sadhus live off After Indian independence in 1947, Varanasi became Woven from the finest silk produced in
donations and are respected for their holiness. part of Uttar Pradesh state. Its religious traditions and the region, the Benarasi weave is among
India’s most exquisite and expensive
creativity have ensured its continued prominence in the textiles, and Benarasi saris often feature
modern age. Musicians associated with the city include in bridal outfits.
bridges laid, and the riverside promenade paved for the Bismillah Khan, who brought the oboe-like shehnai to
first time. But not every Mughal ruler was as even-handed, concert halls, classical singer Girija Devi, and global sitar
and Akbar’s great-grandson Aurangzeb ordered many Hindu star Ravi Shankar. Benarasi silk, gorgeously decorated
temples to be destroyed during his reign, commissioning with gold and silver brocade, is highly prized by traditional
mosques to be erected in some of the demolished sites. stylists and contemporary fashion designers alike. Even
Following the demise of Aurangzeb in 1707, the the Benarasi paan, a juicy, chewable mixture of spices,
Mughal Empire slipped into decline and the Hindu Maratha nuts, and condiments wrapped in betel leaf, has gained
Empire expanded out of western India. Varanasi and the legendary status among gastronomes, and makes a
surrounding area became a kingdom, ruled by the routine appearance at the end of menus across India.
maharajas of Benares. Sustained Maratha patronage Above all, Varanasi remains a unique destination,
led to much of modern Varanasi’s urban landscape drawing millions of people every year. The city’s ghats
taking shape through the 18th century, with the building are a stage of relentless human activity, where tens of
or restructuring of many of its iconic temples and ghats. thousands of pilgrims pay homage to gods and departed
souls; penitents wash away their sins in the waters of
Colonial era to modern times the Ganges; photographers wait for the perfect shot;
The British East India Company monopolized trade in hawkers eye up opportunities; and tourists from around
India in the 18th and 19th centuries, and following the the world are overwhelmed by the splendour and bustle
unsuccessful Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British governed of this eternal metropolis.
1910 Benares is 1951 Varanasi district’s

recognized as a population reaches one
princely state by the million – by 2021 it was
British. It continues to around four times
be administered by the 1916 Ustad Bismillah Khan is that figure.
maharajas of Benares. born. He moves to Varanasi as a
child, and goes on to popularize
the oboe-like shehnai.
1920 Birth of Ravi

1750–1800 A rebuilding Shankar, one of the 2015 Varanasi is made a
programme starts, and world’s foremost UNESCO City of Music
many iconic river ghats are sitar exponents, in for its musical heritage,
built or renovated. Varanasi. schools, and festivals.
BANGKOK 141
Bangkok
CITY OF ANGELS
Once famed as a floating city of houseboats, Buddhist priests, and god-
like kings, Bangkok has been transformed into a high-rise metropolis
where gilded temples rub shoulders with teeming malls.
Before Bangkok was an imperial capital, let alone one of The floating city
the most visited cities on earth, it was a rural village in a After preparing the site, the Siamese built the Grand
loop of the Chao Phraya river. These humble origins may Palace, a fortified complex next to the river. Clustered
have given Bangkok its name: bang being a river village, around the palace were temples containing important
makok a tree with an olive-like fruit. Buddhist relics, the most prestigious of which was Wat
By the mid-14th century, the most important city in Phra Kaeo, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha – named
Siam – as Thailand was formerly known – was Ayutthaya, after its sacred Buddha image, crafted from gold and
which lay further up the Chao Phraya. Ships trading with precious stones. This royal area, called Ratanakosin, was
Ayutthaya passed by Bangkok, and the community grew. transformed into an artificial island by digging a series of
When the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya in 1767, the Siamese moat-like canals. Noble households ringed the royal
regrouped under the general Phraya Taksin, who became complex, while artisans and merchants congregated
king later that year and made Thonburi, a fortified town nearby to profit from their patronage.
across the river from Bangkok, his capital. When Taksin
was deposed in a coup, his successor Rama I decided to
build a capital that could recreate Ayutthaya’s glory. He
chose Bangkok, on the river’s east bank, which was less
Bangkok... is a rejuvenating
vulnerable to Burmese attacks from the west. tonic; the people seem to have
On 21 April 1782, labourers drove a pillar into the ground
near the river, marking the founding of the royal city. All found the magic elixir.
Thai cities feature such a pillar, housing guardian spirits.
Its spirits would protect Bangkok’s rulers for 150 years. BERNARD KALB, NEW YORK TIMES, 1961
◁ THE GRAND PALACE AND CHAO PHRAYA RIVER

This 1864 mural shows the spires of the Grand Palace in the
foreground. The elaborate, highly decorated complex, built under
Rama I (r. 1782–1809), remains Bangkok’s spiritual heart.
1779 Phraya Chakri captures

Vientiane in Laos and removes
the prized Emerald Buddha
to Thonburi.
1685 King Narai
commissions the
French to build forts in
Bangkok, as shown on
this 1751 map.
1782 Phraya Chakri

1400s ce A settlement at Bangkok 1768 Following the destruction becomes Rama I and
is mentioned in a document from of Ayutthaya, Phraya Taksin establishes a grand
the reign of Chao Sam Phraya establishes a new capital at new capital in
(r. 1424–48), who rules from the Thonburi, on the west bank Bangkok, across the
Siamese capital, Ayutthaya. of the Chao Phraya. river from Thonburi.
142
◁ ▷ CELESTIAL
GUARDIANS AND THE PALACE
Gaudy demons called
yaksha (left) guard the
precious Emerald Buddha
at Wat Phra Kaeo, which
is part of the Grand
Palace complex (right) and
is revered as the holiest
Buddhist site in the country.
The royal city was given a grand official name, though and Buddhist monks. Exceptions were made – the
its full 43 syllables were abbreviated to just two: Portuguese, with whom Bangkok traded, settled around
Krung Thep, or “city of angels”. To most of the Santa Cruz church in Thonburi, while the Chinese
the populace, the city remained “Bangkok”. had a settlement in the district of Sampheng, east of
Armies of labourers scored the land around the royal complex. The city continued to thrive on trade,
Ratanakosin with a lattice of canals that mostly with China, and enjoyed a long era of relative
soon filled with stilted buildings and peace and prosperity.
houseboats anchored two or three
rows deep – by the mid-19th century From water to land
the city had a population of 350,000, In the mid-19th century, Bangkok entered a new era
most of them water-dwellers. The under the rule of Rama IV. For many years the royal court
waterways were commercial highways, had shunned contact with the West, but in 1855 the king
crammed with people fishing and rowing entertained Sir John Bowring, governor of Hong Kong and
goods to the floating city markets; they emissary of Queen Victoria. The result was a treaty that
were also the stage for ritual and shifted Siam’s trade orientation away from China and
pageantry, when the king and his court toward the West. Its physical impact on the capital city
would take to the water in stunning barge was transformative. Opening the kingdom to increased
processions marking religious events and foreign trade boosted the economy, precipitating rapid
royal anniversaries. The city became known as expansion, particularly to the east of Ratanakosin, while
the Venice of the East; as one amazed British also introducing new ideas from the West.
traveller wrote in 1865, it “seemed to have risen One such European innovation came about after the
from the waters”. city’s foreign consuls signed their names to a petition
Most of its inhabitants lived on water out of requesting a road on which they could ride in carriages or
necessity: the king owned all the land, and the on horseback for pleasure. In 1857, Rama IV Road became
right to reside on it was granted only to nobles the city’s first public thoroughfare. This was followed by
1785 After the completion of

the royal district, a three-day
1832 Rama III turns Bangkok’s
consecration ceremony sees
oldest temple, Wat Pho, into a
the city given the new name
public centre of learning – it’s
of Krung Thep.
now considered Thailand’s
first university.
1786 Birth of Sunthorn Phu,

who would become
Thailand’s best-known royal
poet and whose epics
remain popular today.
Stamp depicting the Sunthorn

Phu epic Phra Aphai Mani
BANGKOK 143
Bangkok was a wily

yet guileless city,
always ready with
new surprises.
ALEXANDER MACDONALD, FOUNDER OF
THE BANGKOK POST, 1949
New Road (Charoen Krung), running straight

from Ratanakosin through the Chinese district
to the foreign settlements at Bang Kolem.
Roads began to replace canals at pace, and by
the mid-20th century, the water-world that was
old Bangkok was almost completely gone.
After visiting Europe in 1897, Rama V
commissioned a new royal district, called Dusit,
as a showcase for the modern monarchy. The
new royal residences were filled with European
artwork, porcelain, and jewellery at such
expense that other projects, such as Siam’s
first railway line, were delayed for lack of funds. Trouble was indeed brewing. Opposed to, among other △ THE AQUATIC CITY
things, the system of absolute monarchy, a group of mostly In old Bangkok, canals served as streets
and the city was often referred to as the
The Thai capital foreign-educated officers and students formed the Venice of the East.
In April 1932, 150 years after the founding of the city, People’s Party and staged a bloodless coup in 1932.
Rama VII inaugurated Memorial Bridge, the first bridge Absolute monarchy was replaced by a constitutional
to span the Chao Phraya river and link Thonburi and monarchy on the English model, with the king as a
Bangkok. While it was obviously practical, there was a figurehead. In 1938, to underline the changes, the name of
more symbolic meaning. The royal court hoped that in the country was changed from Siam to Thailand. People’s
uniting the spirits of the old and new capitals, they could Party member Field Marshal Phibun would dominate the
bring a divine harmony to eclipse a dark prophecy that had country’s politics for most of the next 20 years. He may
been revealed to Rama I. The curse foretold that the Chakri have kept a signed portrait of Benito Mussolini on his office
dynasty he had founded would last for only a century and wall, but he was strongly pro-American – a perspective
a half, and that time was nearly up. that would shape Bangkok in the decades to come.
1855 Rama IV signs the 1893 France sends

Bowring Treaty with Britain, gunboats to threaten
ushering in the European Bangkok, forcing the king
influences that ultimately to give up territories east
transform Bangkok. of the Mekong River,
setting the boundaries
of modern Thailand.
1851 Start of the reign

of Rama IV, who embraces
Western innovations 1862 English governess Anna
and initiates Siam’s Leonowens travels to Bangkok
modernization. to teach English to Rama IV’s 39
wives and 82 children. Her 1932 A bloodless coup unseats absolute monarch Rama VII.
memoirs formed the basis for A constitutional monarchy is introduced with
the 1956 film The King and I. parliamentary government.
American influence The Americans had other impacts. Selling sex had always
In the wake of World War II, Phibun welcomed an influx been big business – the Chinese were operating floating
of American dollars and used them to fund rapid urban brothels soon after Bangkok was founded. But the
▽ STUDENT PROTEST OF 1973 growth in the capital. Ties were strengthened during the presence of American GIs saw the industry increasingly
Popular demonstrations in October 1960s when the USA was involved in conflicts in Vietnam, cater to foreigners. When they left the go-go bars of
1973 resulted in the end of the Laos, and Cambodia, and used Thailand as a friendly site Patpong in the mid-1970s, crowds of curious visitors took
dictatorial Thanom regime and
marked the growing influence of for military bases. American expertise was drafted in to their place. As global travel soared, Bangkok became a
Bangkok university students in politics. create development plans for Bangkok that were hugely popular stop-off en route to Thailand’s beaches and
subsequently criticized as a islands, its glittering temples, sprawling markets, and
misguided attempt to turn the city street food eclipsing its seedy side.
into the Los Angeles of the East.
During this time, the city was Politics, prosperity, and rising water
ravaged by superhighway projects Bangkok may never have been conquered, but it has
that ripped concrete gullies through rarely been quiet. Since the coup that abolished absolute
traditional neighbourhoods. monarchy in 1932, Thailand has experienced another
1965 Thailand accommodates

US military bases during the
Vietnam War. Bangkok is
1950 Rama IX marries flooded by American
Queen Sikrit; she soldiers on “rest and
would give birth to recuperation” leave.
the future Rama X
in 1952.
1973 Left-wing
1941 Thailand forms 1946 Bhumibol Adulyadej becomes demonstrations in
an alliance with king, titled Rama IX. He restores Bangkok result in
Japan. Bangkok is discarded royal rituals, including the the death of 77
bombed by Allied annual ploughing ceremony in the protesters, most of
air forces. main royal square in Bangkok. them students.
12 successful coups, plus a further nine that were At certain times of the year, however, passenger numbers △ COURSING THROUGH THE CITY
unsuccessful – that’s more military coup d’états in modern drop steeply. Bangkok was built on marshland and the city Where once canals transported people
and goods around Bangkok, elevated
history than any other country. Between coups, there have remains prone to flooding. The annual monsoons superhighways and bridges, such as the
been frequent periods of mass demonstrations – in 1973 transform many streets into streams, and see MRT Bhumibol Bridge, which opened in 2006,
and 1992, left-wing activists took to the city streets to stations raise barriers to stop the water getting into the carry road traffic in what is one of the
world’s busiest and most congested cities.
protest against military dictatorship. system. By the end of the 21st century, much of the city
Yet amid all the business-as-usual political instability, could be underwater. Yet nostalgists might point out that
Bangkok has visibly thrived. Its suburbs now stretch it is no stranger to water – not for nothing was the old
beyond the city boundaries into neighbouring provinces, Bangkok of canals and floating markets known as
while its skyline abounds with the sort of glitzy, the Venice of the East. And history has shown that
statement-making glass towers that characterize Bangkok is a survivor, a city that has ridden out crisis after
Asian metropolises from Shanghai to Dubai. Its citizens crisis, and absorbed influences from around the world.
shop in multi-storey megamalls, which they whisk Today, its tower blocks look over the joyous hubbub of
between on raised expressways or the ever-expanding street life, as Bangkok adapts its rich Siamese heritage
Metropolitan Rapid Transit system. to the glass and steel age.
2004 The MRT, 2013 Bangkok is

Bangkok’s first named the number-one
underground 2010 Rot Fai open-air market destination for
public transport launches in the north of the international visitors
system, begins city. Specializing in antiques for the first time in
operation. and vintage items, it is one the annual Global
of Bangkok’s most popular Destination Cities Index.
tourist landmarks.
1997 After decades of prosperity, 2016 Completion of the

Asia is struck by a financial crisis. 2011 Heavy monsoon King Power MahaNakhon
Construction halts, littering rains flood large parts skyscraper, also known
Bangkok with unfinished high-rise of Bangkok. Many as the Tetris building,
buildings, some of which remain outer neighbourhoods Thailand’s tallest structure
abandoned today. are inundated. at 320 m (1,050 ft).
QUÉBEC CITY 147
Québec City
LA VIEILLE CAPITALE (“THE OLD CAPITAL”)
Mixing the charm of the old world with the promise of the new,
Québec City straddles the mighty St Lawrence river, from where it
proudly proclaims its French-Canadian culture.
Long before the British and the French traded musket fire Cartier made a third voyage to the region in 1541, this time
over the St Lawrence river, the Indigenous Iroquoians founding a small colony, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal,upstream
inhabited a village-sized precursor to Québec City called from Stadacona. Within two years, illness and deteriorating
Stadacona. Putting down roots in the early 1300s, the relations with the Iroquoians meant it was abandoned.
Iroquoians lived in longhouses, grew maize, and fished
in the majestic St Lawrence using birch-bark canoes. New settlement and New France
Over 60 years passed before the French made another
Cartier and European contact attempt to establish a permanent settlement in the
French explorer Jacques Cartier first arrived on Canada’s Québec region. When French navigator Samuel de
eastern shoreline in 1534 in search of gold and a western Champlain arrived in 1608, at the behest of Bourbon King
passage to Asia. Intrigued by the vast uncharted land, Henry IV, he detected no trace of Fort Charlesbourg-Royal
he came back the following year, sailing all the way up the or the Iroquoians. Undeterred, he founded L’Habitation de
St Lawrence to Stadacona. Cartier fostered relations with Québec (its name derived from an Algonquin word
the local Iroquoian chief, Donnacona, but scurvy and frigid meaning “where the river narrows”).
weather decimated his party. He kidnapped the chief and Debuting as three diminutive buildings surrounded by a
returned to France to recuperate, where Donnacona died. wooden stockade, the colonial outpost quickly developed
into a trading centre and fort. Nevertheless, after a brief
naval blockade, in 1629 the English seized the nascent
◁ SKATING ON THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER, 19TH CENTURY settlement without firing a shot. The Québec region was
While early pioneers struggled in Québec City’s harsh climate,
later inhabitants enthusiastically embraced winter sports to restored to the French by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-
keep warm, including skating on the frozen St Lawrence. Laye in 1632, but the bullish English resolved to return.
1300s The semi- 1629 The fledgling

nomadic village settlement is seized
of Stadacona is by the Scottish Kirke
established by the brothers during the
Iroquoians. Anglo-French War.
Iroquoian trumpet pipe
1534 French explorer

Jacques Cartier, the first 1608 Samuel de
European to survey the Champlain founds
St Lawrence river, arrives L’Habitation de
in eastern Canada. 1547 map of Canada informed by Cartier’s expeditions Québec.
From 1608 until 1791,

Québec City was capital
of the French and
(later) British colony
that ultimately became
Canada, which accounts
for its nickname
“La Vieille Capitale”.
ALONG THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER ▷

The historic heart of Québec City sits on
Cap-Diamant, part of a plateau that
overlooks the St Lawrence river.
Siege and surrender British rulers, French culture

The British made two more abortive attempts to take The next decade was crucial in shaping the city’s identity,
Québec, but it was not until 1759, during the Seven Years’ which, despite prolonged British rule, would always cling
War, that they finally wrested the city from French control. to its French language, culture, and traditions.
Navigating the difficult currents of the St Lawrence river, In 1774, the British passed the Québec Act to appease
the British, under the command of General James Wolfe, their newly conquered subjects and ensure French loyalty.
laid siege to Québec for three months before the French The pioneering legislation safeguarded the rights of
were prised out of their heavily fortified city to engage in French Catholics, permitted the continuation of the French
an open battle on the Plains of Abraham. Defeating the style of law, and re-established the traditional seigneurial
French in less than an hour, the British celebrated a system of land ownership. The concessions paid dividends:
decisive victory (although General Wolfe perished on the in 1775, Québec repelled a fierce attack by the American
battlefield). Not only had they forced Québec City to revolutionaries with French-Canadians electing to fight
surrender; they had sounded the death knell of French alongside the British rather than join the rebels.
rule in Canada and After a second war with the Americans in 1812, the
allowed Britain to usurp British strengthened the city’s defences, constructing
France as a global power. La Citadelle, a star-shaped fort that blended seamlessly
1763 Treaty of Paris 1820 After the War of 1812,

ends the Seven Years’ the British start building
War and officially cedes La Citadelle, their largest
New France, including fort in the Americas.
Québec City, to Britain.
1759 Québec City falls to the 1775 Rebels in America’s 1867 The British North
British; the victory is revolutionary war invade America Act creates the
famously depicted in The Canada but are repelled Dominion of Canada, with
Death of General Wolfe (1770), by the British and French Québec City as capital
a painting by Benjamin West. in the Battle of Québec. of Québec province.
with Québec’s existing walls and bastions. Yet, despite its became the pièce de résistance in Québec’s
impressive array of European-style architecture, the city’s handsome cityscape. Straddling the St
fortunes were changing as its economic position began to Lawrence, the Québec Bridge took shape
be challenged by Montréal, 250 km (155 miles) upriver. two decades later, opening in 1919 as the
The dredging of the St Lawrence, starting in the 1840s, world’s longest cantilever bridge.
meant that big ships were able to reach Montréal, and Two Allied conferences during World War
Québec City was increasingly bypassed for trade. Similarly, II kept Québec City in the international eye,
with the union of Canada into one federation in 1867, the as did a 1985 UNESCO listing for Old
city was replaced by Ottawa as national capital. Québec, with its ramparts and cobbled
streets. To this day, the city has retained
Grand projets its Normandy-style architecture, French-
Civic projects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries influenced cuisine, and unique holidays
re-established Québec City in the national consciousness like Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (24 June). Around
as a place of beauty and grandeur. In 1893, the Canadian 4.6 million tourists a year pour in to marvel at the △ TRAVEL POSTER
From the 1880s, the Canadian Pacific
Pacific Railway built the turreted Château Frontenac hotel only walled city north of Mexico and the cradle of Railway began attracting wealthy
atop the riverside Cap-Diamant promontory, which French civilization in North America. tourists to Québec City.
1893 The Château 1943 Québec City hosts the 1960 The Quiet Revolution
Frontenac hotel opens, first of two Allied spurs social and economic
designed in homage conferences that decide development under the
to the monumental key issues in World War II. liberal government of
châteaux of the Jean Lesage.
Loire Valley.
After an exodus of
British settlers in the late
19th century, French-
1919 The Québec Bridge speakers made up over 90
opens after a 30-year per cent of the city’s
construction period, in population by 1950.
which two collapses had
cost 88 lives. 1985 Old Québec
is named a
UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
New Orleans
THE BIG EASY
Mixing influences from Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa with the spirit
of the American South, New Orleans is a unique blend of grit, soul,
effervescence, and improvisation anchored beside the Mississippi river.
The balmy river delta now occupied by New Orleans was Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville officially founded La
inhabited by Native Mississippians for thousands of years Nouvelle-Orléans on a sharp bend in the Mississippi that
before Columbus’s maiden voyage. Notable among the was protected by a natural levee. Four years later, the
area’s Indigenous people were the Chitimacha, who lived village became capital of French Louisiana.
in easily defended swamp villages. Following the arrival of Early French rule lasted just 45 years but left an indelible
Europeans in the 1500s, the Mississippi basin became a mark on New Orleans’ emerging culture. Struggling against
pawn on the colonial chessboard and the region gradually weather and disease, the region was ceded to Spain during
developed a hybrid Creole identity, forged by settlers from the Seven Years’ War in 1762. After fires in the late 18th
France, Spain, Haiti, Canada, and Africa. century, the compact “French Quarter” was rebuilt with the
distinctive Spanish architecture that is still visible today.
Early explorers
In 1542, survivors of an abortive gold-seeking expedition
led by Spaniard Hernando de Soto paddled through the
delta, raising the ire of locals as they went. Over a century
An American has not seen
later, in 1682, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur
the United States until he
de La Salle ushered another canoe party through the
Mississippi basin, naming it “La Louisiane” and claiming it has seen Mardi Gras
for France. By the early 1700s, French traders had begun
settling along the lower Mississippi river, close to a in New Orleans.
well-used portage site between the river and Bayou St
John. A fort was built in 1701, but it was not until 1718 that MARK TWAIN, LETTER TO PAMELA MOFFETT, MARCH 1859
400 ce Native Americans use a 1722 New Orleans

trade route and portage site becomes capital of
between the Mississippi and French Louisiana, an
Bayou St John. administrative district
of New France.
1788 A great fire

destroys over
800 buildings in
the fledgling city.
Plan showing the extent of the 1788 fire

1768 Six years after being ceded to
1718 French colonist Jean-Baptiste Spain, a French-Creole revolt in
Le Moyne de Bienville founds La New Orleans unsuccessfully tries
Nouvelle-Orléans. to return Louisiana to France.
NEW ORLEANS 151
▽ COLOURS AND CROWDS

Parades, masks, costumes, and cakes mark Mardi Gras,
the rambunctious pre-Lent carnival first held in New
Orleans in 1837. It now attracts over a million participants.
Every time I close my eyes blowing

that trumpet of mine, I look right
in the heart of good old New Orleans.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG, JAZZ MUSICIAN
THE BED CHAMBER OF MARIE

CATHERINE LAVEAU, 2020 ▷
Gumbo is a thick Artist Andrew LaMar Hopkins explores pre-Civil
War New Orleans through the city’s property-
Creole soup made with owning “free persons of color”, who helped
shape the look and feel of the French Quarter.
stock, meat, shellfish,
and vegetables, whose
The 19th century
roots and ingredients
Enriching an already diverse melting pot,
are a culinary reflection New Orleans passed from Spanish, to
of New Orleans’ French, to American hands in quick
succession in the early 1800s. Keen to
diverse culture. offload France’s American colonies after
a brutal slave rebellion in Haiti, Napoleon
cut the last European ties in 1803, selling
Louisiana to the USA for $15 million.
Despite its new American overseers,
New Orleans’ French culture continued to
thrive with the arrival of both white and
Black settlers from Haiti and Cajuns from
northeast Canada. Imported French
traditions included the city’s famous Mardi Gras parade, superior British invasion force in a late plot twist to the
a mask-wearing extravaganza that debuted in 1837. War of 1812. Fifty years later, the Union Army entered New
Two decisive battles wracked New Orleans in the Orleans unopposed during the American Civil War. The
19th century. In 1815, an army commanded by future early capitulation proved to be a turning point in the war,
US President Andrew Jackson defeated a numerically and meant the city escaped with little physical damage.
1803 Three years after secretly 1837 The first official 1897 New Orleans
negotiating the transfer Mardi Gras parade is creates Storyville, a
of Spanish Louisiana to held on the Tuesday regulated zone for
France, Napoleon sells the before Ash Wednesday. prostitution where jazz
colony to the USA. begins to flourish.
The ornate jacket of the Despite handing

Louisiana Purchase
governmental duties to
Baton Rouge in 1849, New
Orleans was briefly reinstated
as state capital between
1865 and 1880.
1812 Louisiana, including 1862 Confederate New

New Orleans, is admitted Orleans is taken by the
to the US Union as the Union Army during the Civil
18th state. War with minimal damage.
▷ NEW ORLEANS JAZZ &
HERITAGE FESTIVAL POSTER
Also known as Jazz Fest, this annual
festival was first held in 1970 and
celebrates the music, culture,
and cuisine of New Orleans.
The inaugural line-up featured
Duke Ellington, the Preservation
Hall Jazz Band, Fats Domino,
and Peter Fountain.
Between the wars, New Orleans grew in both size and

stature, reaching its economic zenith. The Mississippi was
packed with steamboats as the city prospered from both
its cotton trade and as the largest slave market in the
country. Though New Orleans was spared destruction in
the Civil War, the defeat of the South checked the city’s
growth and precipitated sweeping societal changes.
Plans for post-war reconstruction came into effect in
1863. In the decades that followed, river steamboats were
superseded by railways and, in the city’s stratified class
system, well-educated “free persons of colour” fought
vigorously against segregationist Jim Crow laws that
disenfranchised African Americans.
The 1890s witnessed the birth of an exciting new form
of music, christened jazz. First showcased in the clubs of
Storyville – a rough urban district where prostitution was
tolerated – jazz was a mashup of African drumming, (12,140 hectares) of land were reclaimed from swamp. △ PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND
marching band music, syncopated ragtime, and wild By the 1960s, only 48 per cent of the city lay above sea Formed in the early 1960s to safeguard
and promote New Orleans’ traditional
improvisation. The sound quickly became synonymous level, a design feature that would come back to haunt it. music, the Preservation Hall’s house band
with the city and went on to have a profound influence In August 2005, Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, lashed is a musical collective of 50-plus players.
both in the USA and around the world. America’s Gulf Coast, breaching New Orleans’ storm
defences, and causing unprecedented flood damage. More
Disaster and recovery than 1,800 people died. Recovery was slow, but over the
Long impacted by hurricanes and floods, from 1896 New next decade a $14.5 billion risk-reduction project worked to
Orleans endeavoured to improve its drainage system. Six improve levees and floodwalls. After such tough times,
pumping stations and hundreds of miles of piping were a joyful Superbowl win in 2010 and booming tourism have
installed over the next three decades, as 30,000 acres marked an upturn in The Big Easy’s fortunes.
1961 Founding of the 2010 New Orleans Saints

Preservation Hall Jazz Band, win the NFL Superbowl
which quickly goes on to for the first time.
become a city institution.
1901 Trumpet player 2016 A decade after

and singer Louis Katrina, New Orleans
Armstrong is born rebounds with record-
in New Orleans. breaking numbers of
2005 Hurricane Katrina visitors drawn to the still-
devastates New Orleans, thriving French Quarter.
with floods inundating
80 per cent of the city.
MORE GREAT CITIES

Baroque exterior, Munich is an
economic and technological
powerhouse, home to car
manufacturer BMW and the
all-conquering football team
on the proceeds of the vineyards World were first received in Bayern Munich.
Oxford of the Gironde as far back as the Seville. The city has a heritage of
12th century. In the 18th century, it great Spanish artists – the artist
City of Dreaming Spires
was the second busiest port in the Diego Velázquez was born and Bratislava
The university for which Oxford world after London, shipping established his reputation in Beauty on the Danube
is famous is first mentioned in coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton – and Seville and writer Miguel de
12th-century records. The city slaves. The wealth accrued shaped Cervantes conceived his novel The capital of Slovakia is unique in
itself began around 900 ce at the one of the most grandiose cities in Don Quixote while in jail here – but that the city has borders with both
site of a river crossing, or “ford of Europe, full of noble facades and the character of the city remains Austria and Hungary. Like their
the oxen”. Following the Norman elegant urban spaces. Today, the Moorish, from its courtyard capitals, it also sits on the Danube,
conquest of Britain in 1066, Robert city is home to over 350 historical houses, orange trees, fountains which historically aided its
D’Oyly built a castle at Oxford. The monuments, as well as France’s and tiling, to the Cathedral of development as a commercial
town alongside the castle housed aeronautics industry and one of Santa Maria, once a mosque. centre. It was recognized as a
an order of monks who established the most powerful research township in 1291 and, when the
a place of learning, and from this lasers in the world. eastern part of the Kingdom of
sprang the first Oxford colleges. Munich Hungary was captured by the
These medieval institutions, along Ottomans in 1526, Bratislava
with associated structures, such Seville Village of a Million People became the Hungarian capital.
as the magnificent Bodleian With a population of around
Pearl of Andalusia
Library and Ashmolean Museum Munich traces its origins to 500,000 today, it is a compact but
– many in their original, golden- Lying on the east bank of the Benedictine monks who endearing capital combining a
hued historic buildings – remain Guadalquivir river, Seville was established a marketplace beside medieval old town, Baroque
the city’s defining feature today. originally the Roman provincial a crossing of the Isar river; the palaces and bald Soviet-era blocks.
centre of Hispalis. However, a far name in German, München, means
greater impact on the city was “by the monks’ place”. From the
Bordeaux made by the Moors – North 13th century, it was residence to Budapest
African Muslims who occupied the Wittelsbach dynasty, future
Port of the Moon Queen of the Danube
the city from the 8th to the 13th Holy Roman emperors and kings of
Stretching along the banks of centuries. Seville later grew rich Bavaria. Under them, Munich was At the height of the Austro-
the Garonne river in southwest on wealth accrued from Spain’s adorned with soaring churches Hungarian Empire, in the second
France, Bordeaux is one of the exploitation of trade with the and palaces, and imposing civic half of the 19th century, the
world capitals of wine. It grew rich Americas: all goods from the New buildings. Today, beyond the country of Hungary was three
△ Bordeaux Wine barrels being unloaded at the Port de Bordeaux, postcard c. 1900. △ Munich A view of the city from Hartmann Schedel’s Chronicle of the World, 1493.
times as large as it is now and historians credit the city’s founding 1950s to 70s, the city suffered Melbourne has consistently been
its capital, Budapest, was one of to the Vistulans, dating it to the massive damage from bombing ranked as the world’s first or
the largest cities in Europe. It had 8th century. From 1038 to 1596, by the USA. These days, it is again second “most liveable city” by the
evolved as two settlements on Kraków was capital of Poland and the capital of Vietnam and a international Economist magazine.
opposite sides of the Danube river: flourished under Kazimierz the modernizing, increasingly high-
fortified Buda dates back to the Great, who founded one of the rise metropolis built on more than
Roman era; Pest was little more oldest universities in Europe. Its 1,000 years of eventful history. Montréal
than a village until its population professors were among those Festival City
exploded in the 18th century. The shipped to concentration camps
two were unified in 1873. Since when the Germans seized the city Melbourne In 1642, colonists from France
then, Pest has become the heart in 1939. The historic centre largely Australia’s Second City established a mission on an
of the contemporary city, with survived World War II, and in 1978 island at the confluence of the
rings of concentric boulevards it was made one of the world’s first Forty-seven years after the St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers,
radiating out from the Belváros UNESCO World Heritage Sites. founding of Australia’s first in territory belonging to native
(Inner Town) lined with Art European settlement of Sydney, in Iroquoians. This settlement
Nouveau buildings. During the 1835 colonists set up camp on the became the trading centre of
Soviet era, Budapest was the Hanoi north bank of the Yarra river. Just New France (the area colonized
most Western of communist 12 years later, it was recognized by France in North America),
City between the Rivers
cities, the site of the first by Britain’s Queen Victoria as the before coming under British
McDonald’s within the Iron Ly Thai To, first ruler of the Ly city of Melbourne. A gold rush in control during the Seven Years’
Curtain. In the 21st century, it is dynasty of Vietnam, is generally 1851 saw it overtake Sydney as War in the mid-18th century;
a city that has sloughed off the credited with founding what would Australia’s most populous city. the city has been split between
vestiges of communism to reclaim become Hanoi in 1010. He called it The demographics have since the two identities ever since.
its place in Europe. Thang Long (“rising dragon”) and swung the other way, but as the Montréal’s location on the St
it became his nation’s capital for home of Australian rules football Lawrence aided its growth as a
almost 800 years. It was only after and host to the Melbourne Cup, transportation and manufacturing
Kraków the last Vietnamese dynasty, the one of the world’s most famous hub, and it was the largest city in
Little Rome Nguyen, transferred the capital horse races, Formula One, and the Canada until it was overtaken by
south that the city was renamed Australian Open tennis tournament, Toronto in the 1970s. French
Legend attributes the founding Ha Noi (“between the rivers”). Melbourne holds the mantle of Canadians are the majority
of Poland’s second city to Krakus, It was occupied by the French in sporting capital of Australia. It population in Montréal, and it is
a mythical ruler said to have slain the 19th century, who left their also claims cultural pre-eminence often said to be the second-
the Wawel dragon. The fairy tale stamp in the form of tree-lined as home to the oldest and most largest French-speaking city in
fits well with Kraków’s splendid boulevards and colonial buildings visited gallery in the country (the the world, after Paris. Like Paris,
medieval market square and that combine French with National Gallery of Victoria), and it excels in the arts and cuisine,
Gothic-spired castle overlooking Vietnamese architectural styles. more theatres than any other city and is one of North America’s
the Vistula river. However, During the Vietnam War of the in Australia. Since the 2010s, most cosmopolitan cities.
△ Hanoi The freshwater West Lake was formed from a curve in the Red River. △ Montréal In winter, snow blankets the city and the St Lawrence river freezes over.
New York City p.214 Dublin p.158 Amsterdam p.162 Stockholm p.168
Liverpool
Copenhagen
Belfast
San Francisco p.210 Vancouver
Naples
Marseille
Havana p.222
Cartagena
Lagos
Valparaíso
Lisbon p.172
Rio de Janeiro
Barcelona p.178 Buenos Aires p.226 Venice p.184 Cape Town p.192
Shanghai p.198 Sydney p.204
Osaka
MARITIME CITIES
CHAPTER 3
158 MARITIME CITIES
Dublin
FAIR CITY
With its Viking origins, Georgian streets, and 20th-century rebirth,
Dublin’s influence on the international stage has been huge, thanks
to its citizens’ flair for words, drama, and music.
Before the Vikings came, the area around Dublin was home of outright war between the Crown and local nobles, but
to farmers, fishermen, and an ecclesiastical settlement. But Dublin grew rich on trade in linen and wool, and later from
the founding of the modern city is traditionally credited to the the export of beef, pork, and dairy to the British colonies.
Norsemen, who sailed their longships up the Liffey river in The city wore prosperity well. The gentry commissioned
the 9th century CE and founded a base from which they sent grand residences; a new parliament house (now the Bank
raiding parties across Ireland. The dark tidal pool where of Ireland) was built in 1729; and a fine entrance and
the Poddle river entered the Liffey provided the name facade for the country’s leading university, Trinity College,
“Black Pool” – “Dyfflin” in Norse, “Dubh Linn” in Irish. was completed in 1759. Around the same time, an Act of
Parliament established the Wide Streets Commission,
English rule which reshaped the old medieval city with grand avenues,
The Vikings dominated Dublin until the Anglo-Normans stately squares and parks, and elegant civic institutions.
invaded in 1170. The new arrivals had been recruited by
an exiled Irish king, but soon took over, making Dublin the
centre of English power in Ireland and reinforcing their
presence with a castle and two cathedrals. In time, the
conquerors integrated into Irish culture to the extent that
Dublin can be heaven, with
many of them no longer recognized the sovereignty of the coffee at eleven and a stroll
English king. Henry VIII’s response was to bring Ireland
under more direct control in 1537 and hand all of Dublin’s through Stephen’s Green.
Catholic institutions to the newly formed Anglican Church.
The Irish countryside remained a place of unrest, with spells POPULAR SONG “THE DUBLIN SAUNTER”, BY LEO MAGUIRE, c. 1950
The Viking-era
Roscrea Brooch
1170 Norman knight 1536 Henry VIII has 1758 The Wide
Richard “Strongbow” himself declared Streets Commission
de Clare captures head of the Church is established by an
Dublin and makes in Ireland, although Act of Parliament
it his capital. outside Dublin with the task of
Catholicism replanning Dublin.
dominates.
1660 Financed by a globally

1297 Dublin becomes successful export trade, Dublin
837 The Vikings raid settlements the seat of the Irish enters a period of urban growth
along the Liffey. They later return Parliament, which with magnificent new streets,
to conquer the region, founding a has power over squares, public buildings,
town that they call Dyfflin. legislation and taxes. and parks.
DUBLIN 159
▽ THE LIFFEY SWIM, 1923

Jack B. Yeats’s much-loved oil painting
makes the viewer part of an excited crowd,
capturing the sense of collective celebration
at this famous annual Dublin tradition.
I always write about Dublin, because if
△ THE LONG ROOM, IN TRINITY COLLEGE’S OLD LIBRARY
The 18th-century Long Room contains around 200,000 books. The
Old Library also holds the beautifully illuminated Book of Kells,
I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to created by monks around 800 ce.
the heart of all the cities of the world.

Poverty and pride
JAMES JOYCE, AUTHOR, 1921 At the end of the 19th century, Dublin remained a compact
city, barely 4.25 km (2.5 miles) from west to east and 3.5 km
(2 miles) from north to south. Although its elegant main
commercial streets – Grafton Street south of the Liffey and
Henry Street north of it – were filled with wealthy shoppers,
the middle classes had by now forsaken the centre. They
were replaced by rural migrants, who had headed to the city
1759 Arthur Guinness 1845 Three years of 1904 Playwrights W.B. Yeats,
founds the potato blight results in Lady Gregory, and Edward
St James’s Gate the Great Famine, Martyn found the Abbey
Brewery in Dublin flooding Dublin with Theatre, part of a revival of 1916 Irish nationalists seize the
and gives his name starving migrants Celtic language and culture. General Post Office in Dublin and
to the classic stout from the countryside. read out the Proclamation of the
still brewed on site (Irish) Republic.
to this day.
A Guinness poster
from 1936
1800 The Act of Union

dissolves the Irish
Parliament and
reintroduces direct rule
of Ireland from London.
DUBLIN 161
to escape poverty and starvation caused by the Irish potato including U2 and The Script make an outsized contribution
blight of the 1840s. This influx made Dublin a majority- to world culture. Dublin’s atmospheric pubs and historic
Catholic city again, and coincided with a revival of interest attractions welcome ever-greater numbers of foreign
With around 2 million
in Ireland’s Gaelic heritage. Ireland had been ruled from visitors, while the city’s burgeoning tech sector provides
London since it lost its parliament through the 1800 Act of a European home for global companies. It’s a mix that residents in 2021, the
Union, and Irish nationalism was a growing force. Literary sums up Dublin today: a dynamic modern city that still Greater Dublin area is
talents flourished, such as poet and dramatist W.B. Yeats, holds its traditions close.
who helped found the Abbey Theatre in 1904 and in later home to 40 per cent of
years served in the Irish Senate. This was the Dublin Ireland’s population.
presented by the city’s preeminent chronicler, James ▽ BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE
Designed by Polish–American architect Daniel Libeskind,
Joyce, in the short stories of Dubliners (1914) and the epic this canal-side theatre is at the heart of an ambitious
journey across the city that is Ulysses (1922). redevelopment of an area of city docks.
On Easter Sunday 1916, frustrated nationalists rose up
against the British, occupying the General Post Office,
where their leader, the poet Patrick Pearse, announced the
Irish Republic. The British crushed the rebellion and
executed 16 of its leaders. Violence continued in the years
that followed: British patrols were attacked in the city and
there were bloody reprisals. But by 1922, the Republic of
Ireland had its independence.
Celtic tiger
In the 20th century, Ireland’s capital was transformed. Slum
clearance began in the 1930s and continued through the
40s and 50s. Large-scale redevelopment of the city centre
followed, some of it controversial as it involved the
demolition of many fine old Georgian buildings. In 1973,
Ireland joined the European Economic Community (the
forerunner of the European Union) and in the 1990s
European grants funded development. The historic Temple
Bar area was renovated, vast buildings went up around the
docks, new museums were opened, and the city gained a
new landmark in the slender, conical Spire of Dublin.
In the 21st century, Dublin feels more vibrant and
youthful than ever. The city continues to renew itself, and
writers such as Sally Rooney and Roddy Doyle and bands
1973 Ireland joins the 1995 Ireland’s period as

European Economic a “Celtic Tiger” begins.
Community (EEC), forerunner The national economy
of the European Union (EU). soars, and a building
1922 Ulysses, James Joyce’s boom transforms
evocation of Dublin, is first Royalties from the Dublin.
published. The novel is set
entirely on 16 June 1904.
1964 musical My Fair
Lady (based on George
Bernard Shaw’s play
Pygmalion) go to the upkeep
of Dublin’s National
1922 Following the signing 1979 Little-known 1988 Dublin
of the Anglo–Irish Treaty, Dublin band
Gallery. celebrates its official
26 of Ireland’s 32 counties U2 issue their millennium; in 988
gain independence – the debut release, a an Irish king first
north elects not to join three-song EP received taxes from
the new state. called Three. the townspeople.
162 MARITIME CITIES
AMSTERDAM 163
Amsterdam
VENICE OF THE NORTH
With its network of canals and success as a port, Amsterdam is a city
defined by water. Maritime trade brought prosperity and an openness
to new ideas that still distinguish the Dutch capital today.
A waterlogged area on the banks of the Amstel river was This attracted lucrative markets in salt herring, beer,
an unlikely place for a future city, but the Amstel could timber, and grain – the city became the granary of the Low
claim unrivalled access to sea trade. From the early 13th Countries. Around 1385, Amsterdam’s first canals came
century, a small settlement of fishermen developed by the into use, exploiting existing defensive moats, which had
river. They built earth mounds to hold back the rising river, been built in the Middle Ages. With the river, harbour, and
and used their skill in carpentry to construct both wooden canals teeming with the ships of both fishermen and
houses and sturdy, high-sided, flat-bottomed ships, which merchants, the city was beginning to boom. After a series
performed well in shallow coastal waters and on the open of fires in the 15th century, houses and churches were
sea. Shipbuilding was soon making them as much money gradually rebuilt in stone, making the place still more
as fishing. To prevent flooding, they blocked the Amstel impressive. Amsterdam was set to become one of the
with a dam, the feature that gave the place its name. most important ports of northern Europe.
Built for trade

After 1275, Amsterdam’s traders began to benefit from
favourable exemptions from the tolls that rulers often
charged merchants importing and exporting goods.
…the most busie concourse
of mortall men… & the most
◁ A VIEW OF AMSTERDAM, 19TH CENTURY
Throughout much of its history, Amsterdam’s canals were busy addicted to commerce.
with cargo vessels, passenger boats, and activity on the quays,
as portrayed here by French artist Charles Kuwasseg. THE DIARY OF JOHN EVELYN, AUGUST 1641
1380 Work starts on

the construction of the
c. 1200 Fishermen 1275 The ruling Count of
Nieuwe Kerk; further
build a small Holland grants the
alterations follow in
settlement at the town, now called
the 15th century.
mouth of the Amstelledamme,
Amstel river. freedom from tolls.
c. 1350 The city c. 1385 Fisherman

becomes an Willem Beukelszoon
1264 Construction of entrepôt (port and purportedly invents the
a dam across the trading centre) for gibbing process for
Amstel begins. grain and beer. preparing salt herring.
△ RETURN FROM THE INDIES In 1519, a combination of dynastic marriages and defines the old centre was dug, the imposing city hall was
Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom’s 1599 painting alliances brought Amsterdam into the Europe-wide erected, and grand houses appeared on the canal banks, in
marks the return of the ships of a Dutch
trading expedition to the East Indies, Habsburg Empire. The emperors were devout Catholics defiance of the city’s boggy reclaimed ground. Merchants
bearing cargoes of spices. keen to impose their faith on their new subjects, many took up residence, many of whom were directors of the
of whom were becoming Protestant, and resented Catholic Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602. The company’s
dominance and Church corruption. Religious conflict trading and colony-building in Southeast Asia steered
became violent in 1535, when a group of Anabaptists Amsterdam’s success, making it a key centre for importing
were killed in a battle with city guards. For 30 years, precious spices into Europe. The city’s streets thronged
The construction of the unrest was rife. After the Dutch revolted against their with international traders, and investors did business at
Habsburg rulers in 1568, they took control of Amsterdam the world’s first stock exchange. Rich merchants spent
two canal belts around
and a Dutch Republic was declared. lavishly on everything from furniture to highly prized, rare
Amsterdam made the tulip bulbs, and bought paintings from great artists such
city almost five times Canals and merchants as Rembrandt,
For about 100 years from 1580, Amsterdam enjoyed a who made
its earlier size. golden age. Trade increased, Dutch-owned ships travelled Amsterdam the
the world, and the city’s shipbuilders supplied the fleets of artistic capital
several European countries. The belt of canals that still of Europe.
1519 Amsterdam is 1568 The Dutch revolt led 1602 The Dutch 1631 The artist
brought into the by Protestant William of East India Rembrandt van Rijn
Habsburg Empire, Orange begins. Company moves to Amsterdam
under Holy Roman is founded. from his native
Emperor Charles V. town of Leiden.
1637 The hugely

inflated price of tulip
bulbs plummets.
1535 The execution of 1578 Catholics are 1610 Construction
many Anabaptists reflects expelled from begins on the first
years of persecution of the Amsterdam, which phase of a canal belt,
city’s Protestants by the becomes capital of the a triple ring of canals
Catholic rulers. Dutch Republic in 1581. around Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM 165
Golden Age of painting
△ Rembrandt produced many

self-portraits, chronicling his
whole life from youth to old age.
This etching was produced when
the artist was 28 years old.
△ In The Night Watch, Rembrandt displays his outstanding brushwork, use of light, and
arrangement of figures to produce a large group portrait that is full of action and interest.
The peak of Amsterdam’s prosperity coincided with a generation lived in Amsterdam, although other towns, such as Vermeer’s
of painters who were among the most brilliant in the history of home of Delft, also produced acclaimed artists. These painters
art. The Dutch Golden Age artists ranged from genre painters responded to the taste of their wealthy clients, who favoured
such as Pieter de Hooch and townscape specialists like Jan van images that reflected their status and sophistication and the
der Heyden, to the greatest and most versatile of all, Rembrandt glory of their city – elegant portraits, finely furnished house
van Rijn, whose mastery of light, atmosphere, and portraiture interiors, seascapes crammed with Dutch ships, and still-life
brought him fame throughout Europe. Most of these painters images featuring plates loaded with realistically depicted food.
1652 The medieval

city hall is destroyed
in a fire; rebuilding 1663 The digging of
soon begins. a second phase
of canals creates
For the the outer ring of
waterways shown on
foundations of this map from the era.
the city hall (now the Royal
Palace), the builders drove
13,659 10 m (33 ft) wooden
piles deep into
the ground.
1685 An influx of
1648 Peace with Huguenot refugees
Catholic Spain allows arrives after being
Amsterdam to forced out of their
dominate sea trade. native France.
166 MARITIME CITIES
The ebb and flow of empire

The 18th century saw the Dutch overseas empire decline.
Signs of a downturn had begun in the 1660s, when the
Dutch surrendered their colony in North America to the
British. New Amsterdam became New York. Nevertheless,
Amsterdam itself still had a huge fleet and its ships carried
on trading around the world. The waterways remained
busy, and Dam Square, the great assembly point in the
centre of the city, was still crowded with visitors from all
over Europe. With its far-reaching trading networks and
embrace of individualism, Amsterdam had long been an
open-minded and progressive place. This reputation for
tolerance endured, with the city becoming home to many
more Jews, who moved there to escape persecution.
△ BETTER COCOA TRAVELS THE WORLD A major blow to the Netherlands occurred when it
In Amsterdam, Coenraad van Houten was involved in the Fourth Anglo–Dutch War in the 1780s.
invented a new process to manufacture
cocoa powder in the 19th century. This The British had declared war against the Netherlands
produced a better tasting product that because the Dutch continued to trade and negotiate △ AT THE JEWELLER’S, 1909
found favour all over the world. with the American colonies, Britain’s enemies in the Martin Monnickendam’s painting shows well-to-do shoppers
inspecting diamond jewellery. In this period, Amsterdam was
American Revolutionary War (1775–83). As a result of the sometimes called the “city of diamonds”.
conflict, the Dutch navy was virtually wiped out, making it
impossible for them to defend either their homeland or
their colonies. The French took advantage of this weakness cocoa processing also did well. Another development
Thousands of workers and invaded the Netherlands in 1794. This brought an was the advent of the bicycle, which was welcomed
unexpected change for Amsterdam, as it became the enthusiastically onto the flat streets of Amsterdam.
moved to Amsterdam
capital of a new Dutch state, the Batavian Republic.
in the 19th century. The city was quiet under French rule, and the The impact of war
They often lived in Netherlands looked to be losing ground to countries such Although the Netherlands was neutral in World War I, the
as Britain, with its expanding world empire and fast- country was hit by food shortages. In 1917, a group of
slums on the outskirts, developing industry. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1813, women, discovering a ship loaded with potatoes in one of
where large families the Dutch House of Orange returned from exile. Under the Amsterdam's canals, began to help themselves. The
new regime, Amsterdam began to prosper once more. The potatoes had been earmarked for the army, and soldiers
were constricted to
city’s diamond-cutting industry boomed as diamonds from were sent to stop the plundering. They opened fire, killing
one cramped room. South Africa became available; the port was modernized six and wounding over 100 people. The social unrest
for steamships; and rail links to other Dutch cities were caused by incidents like this, and by the Great Depression,
established. Businesses from garment manufacture to led many in Amsterdam to begin to support political
1780–84 Britain destroys 1839 A railway opens 1921 Het Schip is one of
the Dutch navy in the linking Amsterdam many housing projects
Fourth Anglo–Dutch War. and Haarlem. to accommodate the
rising population.
1751 The Stadtholder

William IV dies; 40 years
of unrest begin.
1799 Depleted after the

Fourth Anglo–Dutch War, 1860s A fresh wave of
the Dutch East India Jewish immigration
Company closes down. begins.
AMSTERDAM 167
People come here because they have the feeling that they can do
anything they want. That is our history, and we have to protect it.
FORMER MAYOR OF AMSTERDAM JOB CHOEN, QUOTED IN RUSSELL SHORTO'S AMSTERDAM, 2013
extremists, including the local communist and Nazi parties.

The Dutch government intervened with housing projects
and unemployment relief schemes, such as the creation
of the Amsterdamse Bos park, and Amsterdam expanded
as a result. But the German army occupied the city during
World War II, bringing years of oppression and the
deportation of over 100,000 Jews. Amsterdam suffered as
never before, with able-bodied men sent to work in German
factories, serious bomb damage, and severe shortages of
coal and food, before liberation finally came in May 1945.
Liberal city life

With the economy booming again by the 1950s, and the
next decade ushering in a period of social and cultural
change throughout the Western world, Amsterdam was
primed to embrace a new libertarianism. Tolerance and
acceptance were already strong pillars of city life –
something that attracted many bohemians to
Amsterdam, and for which it has been renowned ever
since. This relatively relaxed attitude extended to the
city’s approach to recreational drug use and prostitution.
Radicalism may have become Amsterdam’s trademark,
but many residents moved away as social deprivation,
riots, and squatting increased. The use of illegal drugs following decades, with considerable investment in △ HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
became widespread, and demonstrations and street industry and a liberalization of the drug laws. Amsterdam Amsterdam has preserved its historic
canalside architecture well, with over
violence gave the city a questionable reputation in the began to thrive as a tourist destination and visitors flocked 9,000 listed monuments. The inner canal
1970s. However, there were big improvements in the to the city in higher numbers than ever, charmed by the ring, the Grachtengordel, was made a
relaxed lifestyle, the beauty of the canals and streets, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.
and the unparalleled art museums. Amsterdam was

firmly back on the international map.
1956 The National Monument 1966-86 A period of 2021 Amsterdam's

is constructed on Dam unrest between radical mayor announces
Square commemorating the youth and the city’s the relocation of the
casualties of World War II. government brings city's famous red
It later becomes a symbol episodes of violence. light district.
of freedom, attracting an
alternative crowd. Anne Frank's wartime
diary was first published
by her father Otto Frank in
1947 under the title Het
Achterhuis (The Secret
Annex).
1975 New laws
1940 The German invasion leads distinguish soft from
to the persecution of Jews in 1960s Tolerant hard drugs and
Amsterdam; initially issued with Amsterdam decriminalize the
identity cards and yellow stars, becomes home to possession of small
many later died in death camps. many hippies. amounts of marijuana.
168 MARITIME CITIES
STOCKHOLM 169
Stockholm
CITY BETWEEN THE BRIDGES
An elegant city of bridges and islands, and one of Europe’s younger
capitals, Stockholm balances a medieval heritage with assured
contemporary style and a sense of egalitarian openness.
Although the Mälaren valley, the watery region that

stretches inland from Stockholm, has been a centre of Stockholm is surely an
urban planner’s dream.
power since the 8th century ce, the city itself was only
founded in the mid-13th century, when trading privileges
Everything works.
were established with the Hanseatic port of Lübeck. Under
the authority of Birger Jarl, the city’s official founder,
Stockholm grew as a trading station for German
JANINE DI GIOVANNI, JOURNALIST
merchants clustered in the Gamla Stan, the medieval
quarter that still remains the heart of the city.
grew rich on trade in salt and iron. In the 17th century,
Rise and fall Sweden was elevated to the status of a great power with its
A tug of war over Stockholm with Denmark, to which own Baltic empire. Wealth from this era funded the building
Sweden was tied in the unpopular Kalmar Union, of aristocratic villas and the first theatres. Gamla Stan
ended in the 1520s when Gustav I united rebel gained two new wide avenues, and a row of elegant palaces
factions against Danish rule. Gustav graced his was erected along the waterfront. The population soared
new royal base with a castle, and Stockholm fivefold in half a century, reaching 50,000 by the 1670s.
Yet the good times didn’t last. A series of fires, one of
which wrecked the royal castle, a disastrous defeat against
◁ DAWN OVER RIDDARFJÄRDEN, 1899 Russia in the Great Northern War, and an outbreak of
Heavily influenced by Edvard Munch,
the night-time paintings of Stockholm- plague in 1710 broke the back of Swedish power.
born Eugène Jansson beautifully Stockholm began to stagnate.
evoke the watery landscapes of
his home city.
1523 Gustav I Iiberates 1625 Stora Nygatan, the city’s

Stockholm from the first main street, is laid out
Danish-led Kalmar Union after a fire destroys much of
as Sweden asserts its the medieval centre.
c. 1250 Stockholm is
independence.
founded under the rule of
the powerful nobleman,
Birger Jarl. Within three
decades, it is Sweden’s
largest city.
1612 Axel Oxenstierna becomes

1520 In a massacre chancellor, an office he holds
known as the Stockholm for 42 years. He implements
c. 750 ce Viking traders Bloodbath, the Danish reforms that place the monarchy
establish the island King Christian II orders on a constitutional basis.
settlement of Birka on the execution of more
Lake Mälaren, 30 km (18 than 80 Swedish nobles
miles) west of Stockholm. who oppose Danish rule.
◁ CHAPEL, ROYAL PALACE
The opulent architecture of the Royal Palace is more redolent of the
absolute monarchy of Gustav III, during whose reign it was built,
than the comparatively modest lifestyle of the modern royal family.
A cultural rebirth
As the 18th century progressed, Stockholm began to wake
from its slumbers. Work began in earnest on the new
Royal Palace – on the site of the old castle – in 1727, and
further fires accelerated the transformation from a city of
timber to one of stone. Under the enlightened – if despotic –
rule of Gustav III, the centre was improved with the laying
out of a grand square, Gustav Adolfs torg, in Norrmalm,
and the construction of a string of new theatres
spearheaded an awakening in cultural and artistic life.
Gustav’s projects ended in unfortunate fashion, though,
when he was assassinated in 1792 at a masked ball at his
beloved Opera House, completed just a decade earlier.
Industry and expansion

As the city grew in size through the early 19th century, life
became ever tougher for ordinary Stockholmers. Many
crowded into slums without running water or sewage,
and outbreaks of cholera were frequent. By the 1850s,
industrialization had truly begun to revive the city’s
fortunes. New factories provided employment for the
swelling urban working class and the opening of the central
railway station allowed city dwellers an easy escape to the
countryside. Farsighted urban planning ensured the
burgeoning city conformed to a uniform design, with broad
boulevards, parks, and well-equipped apartment blocks.
Stockholm has everything New York Merchants, industrial magnates, and writers mingled in
the city’s fashionable cafés, among them the playwright
or London has but without the people August Strindberg, whose masterpiece Miss Julie shocked
polite society with its naturalistic portrayal of sexuality.
and the traffic. This was the era, too, of Alfred Nobel, who made his
fortune from inventing dynamite and bequeathed
BJÖRN ULVAEUS, MUSICIAN, QUOTED IN THE GUARDIAN, 2015 almost all of it to the prize fund set up in his name.
1759 The Great 1772 King Gustav III

Stockholm Fire, the reintroduces absolute
city’s last such royal rule, reversing gains
large-scale disaster, made by parliament, 1879 August Strindberg’s The
destroys around 20 but governs according to Red Room is published. The
blocks of the city. Enlightenment principles. novel satirizes contemporary
Stockholm society, and
propels the author to fame.
King Gustav III in August Strindberg’s

coronation robes Collected Poems
1754 The 608-room Royal

Palace in Gamla Stan is
finally completed. It is
still the official 1871 Stockholm’s central
royal residence. railway station opens.
The start of the new century saw cars and electric trams △ THE OLD TOWN
fill Stockholm’s streets and the construction of some A medieval warren of cobbled streets, lined with fine churches
grand structures in ornate architectural styles, notably the
and museums, Gamla Stan lies at the heart of Stockholm’s Stockholm’s name
complex of 14 islands linked by 57 bridges.
Art Nouveau Central Post Office Building and Neo-Baroque means “log island”,
Parliament House in Gamla Stan. In 1912, the city’s profile
allegedly because its
was boosted by hosting the Olympic Games. Gold medals achieving international stardom. Benny Andersson, one of
in cross-country running, sailing, and the tug of war the ABBA quartet that won the Eurovision Song Contest for founders tossed a log
reflected Swedes’ enduring love of the outdoors. Sweden in 1974, was a native Stockholmer. into Lake Mälaren
Though the city faced its problems – the assassination of
Capital of cool Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986, for example, shook the and established the
Sweden’s neutrality in both world wars allowed Stockholm nation to the core – by the 1990s, Sweden (and Stockholm) settlement where
to escape the devastation inflicted across much of Europe, were decidedly “cool”. The emergence of telecoms giant
it washed ashore.
and thousands of Jews escaped persecution to settle in Ericsson as a global leader in tech sealed Sweden’s
the city and beyond. A post-war boom in development – not reputation for innovation, and in 2010 the city celebrated
all of it welcomed – made the city a highly desirable place becoming the first European Green Capital.
to live. Meanwhile, Stockholm continued to produce artistic Today, Stockholm remains one of Europe’s most open
greats, particularly in the film world, with the actors Ingrid and friendly cities, its bridges and islands a magnet for
Bergman and Anita Ekberg following in the footsteps of tourists, and its confident style, concern for the
Greta Garbo – who grew up in a one-room apartment in environment, and unstuffy egalitarianism a rare
the then working-class district of Södermalm – in combination that is a testament to its unique history.
T-Centralen metro station
1896 Alfred Nobel leaves 2008 Stockholm-based

a bequest to fund prizes Spotify is launched.
in five fields to be Within a few years, it
awarded annually has transformed the
to those “who have global music-
conferred the streaming industry.
greatest benefit
on mankind”.
1950 The Stockholm

metro begins operation.
Today, 90 of its 100
1891 The Skansen open-air 1912 Stockholm hosts stations feature
museum opens – the world’s the Olympic Games. artworks, earning it the
first – featuring examples of Sweden wins 24 moniker “the world’s
folk architecture from around gold medals, its longest art gallery”.
the country. highest-ever total.
LISBON 173
Lisbon
CITY OF SEVEN HILLS
Emerging from Roman then Moorish rule, from the 15th century Lisbon
was at the forefront of European exploration, exploiting its position on the
western edge of Europe and becoming rich on the wealth of its empire.
Lisbon owes its existence to the Tagus, the longest river in

the Iberian Peninsula. One tradition claims that the mythical By day Lisbon... enchants and captivates, but
Greek hero Odysseus alighted on the shore here and
founded the city, although it’s more likely that the settlement by night it is a fairy-tale city, descending over
was begun by the Oestrimni (Latin for “people of the far
west”), who arrived during the late Bronze Age and engaged lighted terraces to the sea.
in commerce from a fortified settlement on the Tagus.
ERICH MARIA REMARQUE, THE NIGHT IN LISBON, 1962
From the Romans to the Moors

Archaeological finds show that the Oestrimni traded with
the Phoenicians of the eastern Mediterranean, and it was Olisipo, after Julius Caesar. But as Roman power
likely they who called the place Alis Ubbo, meaning weakened in the 5th century, various groups, including
“peaceful harbour”, which mutated into Olisipo, and later the Alans and the Visigoths, crossed the Pyrenees to Locals are “Lisboetas”,
Lisbon. In 138 bce, the settlement was absorbed by the rule Iberia, and a much-looted Lisbon declined.
but also “Alfacinhas”
Roman Empire. The Romans built defensive walls around The next invasion came from the south: an Arab and
the city, which stretched from what is now the Castelo São Berber army captured Lisbon in 716 ce and renamed it (“little lettuces”). The
Jorge to the Tagus and, in 30 bce, renamed it Felicitas Julia al-Ushbuna. It once again became a wealthy commercial plant is believed to have
hub, described by Moorish traveller al-Idrisi as a “lovely city...
defended by a ring of walls and a powerful castle”. It was not been widely cultivated in
◁ THE MONUMENT OF THE DISCOVERIES until 1147 that Afonso Henriques, who eight years earlier Moorish Lisbon.
The Padrão dos Descobrimentos, on the north bank of the Tagus,
celebrates the 15th- and 16th-century explorers who established had defeated a Moorish army and proclaimed himself king
Portugal as the most powerful seafaring nation in the world. of Portugal, reclaimed Lisbon for Christian Europe.
138 bce Roman forces 409 ce Roman rule comes

under Decimus Junius to an end when hordes of
Brutus subdue local Alans, Sueves, and Vandals
tribes and occupy the sweep over the Pyrenees
settlement that will and occupy Lisbon.
1147 Afonso Henriques,
become Lisbon.
the Christian king of
Tile depicting Christ “Portucale”, captures
assuring Afonso Henriques Lisbon from the
of victory over the Moors Muslims.
1279 King Dinis I

begins his 46-year
reign, during which
medieval Portugal’s
C. 1000 bce The Oestrimni economy prospers.
travel south from 716 Muslim armies
Galicia and settle across from North Africa
much of Portugal. conquer the city.
City of discovery flanked by administrative offices and warehouses. From
In the mid-13th century Lisbon became the Portuguese his balcony, the king could watch ships arrive laden with
Portuguese ships capital and by the 15th century it was thriving, with trading spices and other desirable goods. The city was also the
partners around the Mediterranean and as far north as the main slave-trade centre in Europe, and around 150,000
travelled halfway round
Baltic Sea. The Atlantic Ocean was Portugal’s frontier, and the enslaved Africans passed through Lisbon to be put to work
the world, bringing nation grew confident enough to begin territorial expansion, in Portugal between the mid-15th and early 16th centuries.
first in coastal North Africa and then down the west coast When gold was discovered in Brazil, the proceeds
Moroccan dyes, West
of the continent. In 1497, Vasco da Gama set out from Lisbon, triggered a boom in Lisbon. A great number of opulent
African gold, Brazilian rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed to India, giving buildings were commissioned by the clergy and
sugar, spices from India, Portugal control of Indian Ocean trade. Three years later, aristocracy, including the 17th-century Church of Santa
Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on the northeast coast of South Engrácia (now the National Pantheon). The city’s wealth
and Ming porcelain
America, in what is now Brazil, and claimed it for Portugal. attracted migrants, and from a city of 100,000 in 1550,
back to Lisbon. Lisbon grew rich on the wealth generated by its colonies, Lisbon grew to accommodate 200,000 people by 1750.
and became Europe’s most prosperous city in the 16th
century. Churches, fortresses, and palaces were built in A shaken capital
the Manueline style, which mixed Gothic features with On 1 November 1755, a devastating earthquake struck. It
maritime flourishes that emphasized the source of the occurred on All Saints’ Day, when the churches were full.
city’s wealth. At its heart was the waterfront Paço da Much of the city came crashing down inside six minutes.
Ribeira, a royal palace on a vast square fronting the Tagus, Panicked citizens ran down to the river to escape, only to
1497 Vasco da Gama sets out

from Lisbon, reaching India in
1498. He returns with pepper
and cinnamon, prompting 16th-century scene
further expeditions. of Lisbon harbour
1511 Portugal extends its

sphere of influence to
Malacca, in Malaysia, and
establishes control of the C. 1695 Gold is discovered in
lucrative spice trade. the Portuguese colony
1415 Portugal conquers the of Brazil and the wealth
territory of Ceuta in what is that flows back funds a
now Morocco. building boom in Lisbon.
LISBON 175
Crowds of people [were] calling out for mercy,

while from the violent and convulsive motions
of the Earth, we expected every moment to be
swallowed up.
EARTHQUAKE WITNESS REVEREND RICHARD GODDARD, 1755
◁ LISBON’S PRE-EARTHQUAKE WATERFRONT ▽ THE GREAT LISBON EARTHQUAKE

This panoramic panel of azulejos (tiles) shows the The earthquake of 1755 was followed by a tsunami
Tagus overlooked by a grand plaza and the domed and three days of raging fire. Much of the city was
Paço da Ribeira palace (left), in around 1700. destroyed and thousands were killed.
be engulfed by a tidal wave that flooded the lower city.

Around three-quarters of Lisbon was destroyed, including
palaces and churches, and a wealth of books and art. In
the aftermath, chief minister Sebastião José de Carvalho
used Brazilian gold to replace the city’s maze-like medieval
heart with a grid of wide, Classical-style avenues, creating
the area now known as Baixa. The site of the old Paço da
Ribeira became a waterfront plaza, the Praça do Comércio.
In the early 1800s, Portugal was invaded by Napoleonic
France. The royal family fled to Brazil and for 13 years Rio
de Janeiro was the kingdom’s capital. It was the middle of
the century before stability returned to Lisbon, paving the
way for industrial and commercial growth. In the 1880s, a
park was transformed into tree-lined Avenida da Liberdade,
and the first of the city’s funiculars appeared in 1884,
propelled by a water gravity system; after electrification
came in 1901, the city filled with electric trams. Then, in
1908, shots on Praça do Comércio signalled the beginning
of the end for the monarchy.
1755 A six-minute earthquake 1884 The city begins

followed by a tidal wave operating its first
and fire devastates the funicular trams.
city and kills as many as
50,000 people.
Lisbon’s gaudy,
Moorish-styled Campo
Pequeno bullring opened
in 1892, but the killing of
the bull was outlawed
in 1928.
1902 The Santa Justa lift
begins operating. It
connects the Baixa
1807 Napoleon marches district with the hilltop
into Lisbon after 1886 Avenida da Liberdade is Largo do Carmo.
Portugal refuses to completed. It runs north from the
declare war on its waterfront, and soon becomes the
old ally Britain. city’s most prestigious address.
176 MARITIME CITIES
The fado is not meant to be sung; it simply

Fado: the Portuguese blues
happens. You feel it, you don’t understand it

and you don’t explain it.
AMÁLIA RODRIGUES, FADO SINGER
◁ Fado began as the humble music

of Lisbon’s taverns, but poets would
later write sophisticated fado lyrics.
Fado means “fate” in Portuguese,

but is also the name of a form of
music originating in Lisbon. It is
usually performed by one singer,
accompanied by dual guitarras
(mandolin-shaped 12-string
guitars) and a viola (Spanish guitar). Fado lyrics frequently
focus on the hard realities of daily life, or the trials of love.
Fado is also linked with the notion of saudade, which is a
longing for something impossible to attain. Fadistas, as
fado singers are known, often wear a black shawl of
mourning, although songs can also be upbeat.
Since the 19th century, fado has been performed in
bars and clubs in working-class districts of Lisbon. It
flourished during the Salazar years, before falling out of
favour after the 1974 Revolution. In recent times, the
genre has been rehabilitated and a new generation of
musicians and singers can be heard in casas de fado
△ Amália Rodrigues was Lisbon’s “Queen of Fado”. Born
into poverty in 1920, she took the genre from the streets of around Lisbon, particularly in the Alfama quarter, where
Lisbon to the big screen, and to stages in Paris and New York. there is also a Museu do Fado.
1926 A military coup in 1959 The inauguration of the

Lisbon begins a long Santuário de Cristo Rei,
period of authoritarian a giant statue of Jesus
rule, first under the Christ on the banks of the 1974 The Carnation
Ditadura Nacional, Tagus river, takes place. Revolution, a military
then the Estado Novo coup in Lisbon,
(New State). brings an end to
the Estado Novo.
1932 Antonio de Oliveira

Salazar becomes
prime minister. He 1966 The Ponte
will rule for almost Salazar suspension
four decades. bridge over the Tagus
(later renamed Ponte
25 de Abril) is
completed.
TIMELESS TRANSPORT ▷
Lisbon’s trams have been climbing the city’s hills for
120 years. They have declined since their 1950s heyday
but remain hugely popular, and a discontinued route
was revived in 2018 after a 21-year break.
Modern Lisbon
Republican sentiments had grown as the 19th century
progressed. King Carlos I’s 1908 assassination by gunmen
meant power passed to his son Manuel II, but two years
later he was deposed and fled into exile as rebel warships
shelled the palace. The Republic of Portugal was
proclaimed from the balcony of Lisbon’s city hall.
The replacement of the monarchy with a constitutional
government failed to create order. Competing local powers
turned Lisbon into a battleground and in less than 16 years
there were 45 changes of government. Yet intellectual life
flourished, and the 1910s saw the first publications of
Lisbon’s great Modernist poet, Fernando Pessoa.
In 1926, a coup brought the authoritarian Ditadura
Nacional (later known as the Estado Novo) regime to power.
From its ranks, António de Oliveira Salazar emerged as
prime minister in 1932. He would go on to rule Portugal
in a virtual dictatorship for the next 36 years.
During World War II, Portugal remained neutral and 1988, its elegant streets were sensitively rebuilt in time for
Lisbon became crowded with refugees, many of them the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition, commemorating the
waiting for a visa to the USA. The movie Casablanca hinges 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India. A Lisbon is known for its
on “letters of transit” that will allow fugitive lovers Ilsa and once-decaying stretch of waterfront hosted the event and
calçada Portuguesa,
Victor to reach Lisbon and a ship to safety. In the post-war was redeveloped as the gleaming Parque das Nações, and
era, Lisbon was the capital of an insular nation, whose the same year saw the opening of the Tagus-spanning pavements laid with
citizens could be fined for letting their laundry drip. Major Vasco da Gama Bridge, then the longest bridge in Europe. black and white stones
public works were undertaken, notably the suspension The 21st century has seen further grand projects, notably
bridge over the Tagus and the Cristo Rei statue. 2016’s Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology. With its to create a mosaic-like
In 1974, a military coup brought the moribund Estado trams, azulejo tiling, seafood, and fado, modern Lisbon is a image or pattern.
Novo era to an end and introduced democratic reforms. deeply atmospheric place, its hills gazing down past sloping
When fire ripped through the historic Chiado district in roofs and cobbled streets to the Tagus as it flows to the sea.
1988 Fire tears 2004 Portugal hosts the

through the central European Football
Chiado district, Championship. The
The 1974 coup causing widespread national team reaches
damage. the final, but loses to
was known as the Greece in Lisbon.
Carnation Revolution
after the flowers citizens
placed in the muzzles
of soldiers’ guns.
1986 Portugal joins the 1998 Lisbon hosts an

European Economic expo to mark the 500th
Community. Some of the anniversary of Vasco
resulting funds are used to da Gama’s discovery of 2016 The strikingly designed Museum of Art, Architecture,
regenerate Lisbon. the route to India. and Technology opens on the waterfront.
178 MARITIME CITIES
Fountain of courtesy, shelter of strangers, hospice

to the poor, land of the valiant… a city unique in
its location and beauty.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, DON QUIXOTE, 1605
BARCELONA 179
Barcelona
CITY OF COUNTS
Barcelona's stunning architecture has helped make it a world-famous
cultural centre. It has expanded from a compact medieval hub to a large
and vibrant metropolis looking out to the shining sea.
According to legend, Barcelona was founded by a military Frankish emperor, one of whom, Wilfred the Hairy (r. 878–
leader from Carthage in North Africa named Hamilcar 97 ce) built fine churches and a palace, making the city a
Barca. However, the Romans, who arrived in the 3rd fitting capital of the County of Barcelona. His dynasty ruled
century bce, were the first settlers to have left a historical for some 500 years – hence Barcelona's lasting nickname,
record. Attracted by the valuable harbour, they called the City of Counts – conquering outposts such as Valencia,
place Barcino, laid roads, and built aqueducts to create a Sardinia, and Sicily. In 1137, the engagement of Count of
fresh water supply. The settlement became a centre for Barcelona Ramon Berenguer IV to the heir to the throne of
the surrounding area, where grapes were grown, and the nearby Aragon heralded a golden age for Catalonia. The
Romans exported the local wine across their empire. Aragonese drew wealth from Barcelona’s trade, some of
which was used to construct the buildings of the Gothic
The coming of the counts Quarter, the most ancient part of the city surviving today.
The fall of the Roman Empire was followed by several As the 14th century progressed, the city’s fortunes
centuries of rule by the Visigoths, before the arrival of the began to decline. It was badly hit by the Black Death in the
Moors – Muslims from North Africa. In the 9th century ce, 1340s and then by a series of poor harvests and famines.
the Franks captured Barcelona, adding it to their empire. Barcelona, where the streets once bustled with merchants
A series of local counts ruled Barcelona on behalf of the and shopkeepers, and the air rang with the sound of
masons’ chisels, was now half-empty and quiet. Local
prosperity sank further after 1503, when the rulers of
◁ AERIAL VIEW OF BARCELONA newly united Spain banned merchants from transatlantic
The Basilica of the Sagrada Família occupies one block of the
grid-planned Eixample district, while the more haphazard streets trade with their recently acquired
of the old Gothic Quarter (far left) stretch away towards the sea. territories in the Americas.
THE VIRGIN MARY OF VECIANA ▷

This woodcarving displays an Italo-
Byzantine style popular in the workshops
of Barcelona in the 13th century.
1137 The counts of

218 bce The Romans
Barcelona become
begin to conquer
kings of Aragon.
Catalonia, keen to
exploit the region's
harbour for military
purposes and trade.
Roman-era relief of
Medusa found in Barcelona
1298 Work begins on

230 bce Carthaginians 878 ce Wilfred the Hairy Barcelona Cathedral,
are believed to have takes control of the a Gothic structure
founded Barcelona area, becoming the first that takes 150 years
around this time. Count of Barcelona. to complete.
180 MARITIME CITIES
War and industry throne. Austrian forces occupied the port and took over the
Spain’s 16th-century rulers, Charles V and Philip II, were city, which Philip V of Spain won back in 1714. The new king
King Philip V bolstered members of the powerful Habsburg dynasty and brought led a repressive regime, abolishing all local self-
the country into their huge European empire. Madrid government and destroying an entire residential district to
his power by closing the
remained their centre, while Barcelona was marginalized make way for an imposing fortress, the Ciutadella.
university and banning and taxed heavily. The local population rebelled against What saved the city was the coming of industry and the
the teaching of Catalan, imperial power in the 1640 Revolt of the Harvesters, a revival of commerce. In 1778, the long-standing ban on
clash that led to a 12-year war. The dispute culminated in trade with the Americas was lifted, restoring commercial
to suppress potential an extended siege of the city, which was forced to submit. life at last, in spite of damage caused during the Peninsular
local opposition. Barcelona was also embroiled in the War of the Spanish War of 1808–14. During the 19th century, the iron, wine,
Succession, a Europe-wide conflict between France and and cork industries expanded, followed by an increase in
Austria, each vying to put their candidates on the Spanish textile production. This brought jobs, money, and an influx of
workers from the surrounding area. The city began to
regain its buzz, but at a cost – still confined within the
medieval city walls, Barcelona became overcrowded with
workers enduring slum housing and poor sanitation. By
the 1850s, it became clear that the city had to expand.
A new vision
Catalan engineer and urban planner Ildefons Cerdà devised
the city’s expansion, coming up with a revolutionary scheme
called the Eixample (Extension), which created an entirely
new city district. Cerdà saw that it was vital to give his new
district better services and good roads, together with
adequate ventilation, sunlight, and green space. Each
intersection on his unique grid plan widened into a
diamond-shaped space, easing traffic flow. The street
blocks were designed to be built up on two sides only,
giving access via the open sides to a central area of green
space. This distinctive plan still gives much of the city
centre its character and navigability – even though the
◁ SIEGE OF BARCELONA, 11 SEPTEMBER 1714, 1909

Barcelona fell to Philip V's forces during the War of the Spanish
Succession, shown here in Antoni Estruch’s dramatic painting. The
city still holds an annual ceremony of remembrance.
1640 The Revolt of the 1808 Barcelona 1849 Spain’s first

Harvesters begins a is occupied by railway links
long war in Catalonia the French and Barcelona to Mataró,
and southern France. besieged during about 30 km (19 miles)
the Peninsular War. along the coast.
1850 The local textile

industry reaches its
peak, with thousands
1714 Philip V destroys employed in the city
much of Barcelona, 1833 Poet Bonaventura and nearby.
forcing the city to Carles Aribau’s La
surrender and accept Pàtria heralds a literary
him as ruler. renaissance in Catalonia.
area was so popular that the open sides of the blocks were artists alike. Barcelona began to make its mark on the △ PLAN OF THE EIXAMPLE, 1859
Ildefons Cerdà's plan shows the extension
soon filled in. In addition, space was provided for a large global stage, particularly with the Universal Exposition of
to the city – with its grid layout and
new church – the site of the future Sagrada Família, 1888. The city's mayor oversaw the swift construction of diagonal avenues – dwarfing the old city,
designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (see box p. 182). a number of impressive buildings. One of the most which is indicated in darker shading.
eye-catching was the Arc de Triomf at the exposition’s
A global outlook entrance, its classical proportions offset by rich, Moorish-
This expansion benefited the city’s industry, improved influenced decoration and a series of elaborate friezes,
housing conditions, and helped create a sense of optimism which show Barcelona welcoming the participating
among business owners, Catalan nationalists, writers, and nations and embracing the modern age.
1854 Barcelona begins 1882 Construction work

to expand beyond its starts on the BasÍlica de
city walls. la Sagrada Família.
1888 The international

Universal Exposition is
Once the city's only held with the Arc de Triomf
green space, the Parc as its landmark entrance.
de la Ciutadella was
transformed to host the
1888 Universal
Exposition.
1887 Lliga de Catalunya,

1859 Ildefons Cerdà the first party to
produces the first version campaign for home rule
of the Eixample plan. in Catalonia, is founded.
182 MARITIME CITIES
This man did

everything he wanted
to do with stone.
LE CORBUSIER, DURING A VISIT TO BARCELONA, 1928
Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852–1926) trained in

Barcelona and spent most of his life working in and near the city.
Strongly influenced by the natural world, he developed a style like
no other, combining sensuously curving walls and roofs, vivid
colours, and rich textures. Gaudí preferred to design every detail
of his buildings and often used innovative structures, such as
paraboloid arches and sloping columns. He worked slowly,
producing relatively few buildings; his masterpiece, the Basílica de
la Sagrada Família, is still incomplete. The dazzling Casa Batlló,
Antoni Gaudí
decorated with kaleidoscopic tile mosaics, the curvaceous Casa Milà

with its 32 wrought-iron balconies, each one unique, and the fanciful
structures in Parc Güell, are all extraordinary Barcelona landmarks.
△ Casa Batlló's arched roof and tower are said to represent St George △ Gaudí created the mosaic-tile-encrusted Parc Güell, a
(patron saint of Catalonia) piercing the dragon with his lance. public park, for his patron, industrialist Eusebi Güell.
1892 The Catalanist Union 1909 “Tragic Week”: there are 1914 Antoni Gaudí
brings together Catalan protests and bombings after completes Parc Güell,
nationalists and draws up a call-up for Spanish military renowned for its
a programme of proposals campaigns in Morocco. mosaic-covered
for regional autonomy. structures. The park
is opened to the A pro-Republican poster,
public in 1926. produced during the Spanish
Civil War, c. 1937
1901 The Catalan

nationalist party, La Lliga 1936 The three-year
Regionalista, is formed 1912 Gaudí's Casa Milà, an Spanish Civil War begins.
and wins the majority of apartment building with Barcelona is a major
seats in Barcelona's a facade of undulating Republican stronghold
council elections. curves, is finished. and is heavily attacked.
BARCELONA 183
After the Exposition closed, Catalan nationalism gained was built in the fortress-topped area of Montjuïc, and the
momentum with both the foundation of nationalist previously run-down waterfront was transformed with city
organizations and a victory at the 1901 polls. Meanwhile, beaches, promenades, cafés, and bars. In the 21st century,
Between autumn 1937
the development of Barcelona’s new city blocks continued continued investment in regeneration projects has boosted
and a different architectural, artistic, and literary the city's popularity as a centre for tourism and the arts – as and January 1939, the
movement evolved, known as Modernisme. In part has the high profile of its football team, adding sport to
Republican side in the
influenced by Art Nouveau in France and Belgium, Barcelona’s already-rich offering of unique architecture,
free-flowing and favouring curves over straight lines, this impressive art galleries, and cutting-edge gastronomy. Civil War designated
style was suited to the genius of Antoni Gaudí (see box). Barcelona the capital
Other pioneering painters and sculptors, including Pablo
Picasso and Joan Miró, made Barcelona their home in the ▽ EL PEIX, FRANK GEHRY city of Spain.
Gehry created this massive golden fish sculpture in 1992 for the
early 20th century. Their revolutionary work, together with Olympic Games. With a shape recalling the undulating roof of a
Gaudí’s colourful architecture and concerts held at venues Gaudí-style building, it has become a symbol of the city.
such as the Palau de la Música Catalana, made Barcelona
a vibrant cultural centre, a role the city still retains.
Conflicts and recoveries

The 20th century brought repeated political upheavals to
Barcelona. One example was a week of bombings and
protests against a military call-up in 1909. More damaging
still was the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), with bitter
fighting bringing great loss of life and the wrecking of
many buildings. The war’s end
brought the right-wing dictator
Francisco Franco to power in
Spain. Later, Franco’s
follower Josep Maria de
Porcioles became mayor of
Barcelona and remained in the
post for 16 years. Porcioles’
policies stimulated industry and
spawned sprawling new suburbs,
but the housing was often crowded
and inadequate. Far more successful
public works were generated by
Barcelona’s winning bid to host the
1992 Olympic Games. A stadium
1957 Francoist Josep 2004 The first Universal Forum

Maria de Porcioles of Cultures, a three-yearly
becomes mayor international cultural event,
of Barcelona. 1983 The sculpture is held in Barcelona.
Woman and Bird by Joan
Miró, with tiles by Joan
Gardy Artigas, is placed
in the Joan Miró Park.
A survey in
2013 showed that
72.3 per cent of Barcelona’s
residents speak Catalan;
more than 95 per cent
1992 Hosting the Olympic 2017 A referendum produces
understand the language.
Games, together with a majority in favour of
1979 The region of upgrades to the independence, but the Spanish
Catalonia is granted waterfront, brings new government imposes direct
partial autonomy. vitality to Barcelona. rule on Catalonia.
184 MARITIME CITIES
Venice
LA SERENISSIMA (“THE MOST SERENE”)
Venice’s waterside position in the Adriatic brought it trading wealth and
political influence. Although no longer politically powerful, its stunning
buildings and canals give it an enduring magical beauty.
No one knows for sure who founded Venice on its The city’s stature grew further in the 9th century when its
inhospitable lagoon site. The earliest settlers were said people acquired relics – said to be the remains of St Mark
to be refugees fleeing Hun and Germanic incursions into – and a new church, St Mark’s Basilica, was built to house
Roman cities, such as Treviso and Aquileia, in the them. As guardian of such an eminent saint, Venice gained
5th century ce. Lombard invasions of northern Italy in a religious significance that underpinned its importance
the 6th century drove more mainlanders onto the lonely as a port. Wealth poured into the city, and its merchants
islands, which would have provided a safe, defendable commanded huge respect, both for their diplomacy and
haven. The settlements that grew up on the Rialto (“High for their naval might. The Byzantine emperors granted
Shore”) and neighbouring islands soon coalesced into a Venice a measure of autonomy and, by 1100, the city was
community. The marshy islands’ natural canals were playing a major role in international affairs, supplying
reinforced, with wooden piles sunk into the soft ground to ships to European crusaders.
shore up the banks and form foundations for buildings.
A growing city
As part of the Byzantine Empire, Venice was exploited
as a trading port. With such a strategic position in the
Sea and sky seem to meet
Mediterranean, the city’s power swelled and the Venetians half-way, to blend their tones
began to assert their independence from Byzantine rule.
In the early 8th century, they chose their own governor, into a soft iridescence…
called the doge (a title similar to duke), and set up trading
posts and colonies along the Adriatic’s eastern coast. HENRY JAMES, ITALIAN HOURS, 1909
421 ce Tradition suggests 726 The first 1000 Doge Pietro II

refugees fleeing Gothic recorded doge, Orseolo clears
invasions are the Orso Ipato, comes pirates from the
first to settle on the to power and builds Adriatic Sea,
Venetian islands. up Venice’s navy. signalling Venice’s
naval power.
828 The city acquires

the relics of St Mark
639 The first and starts to build 1100 Venice is
cathedral is the first Venetian involved in
founded on the Mosaic in Torcello Cathedral church dedicated providing ships for
island of Torcello. showing the Lamb of God to the saint. the First Crusade.
VENICE 185
▽ THE MIRACLE OF THE CROSS AT THE BRIDGE OF SAN LORENZO, 1500

Venetian artist Gentile Bellini painted the miraculous recovery of a relic
of the True Cross, which fell into the canal during a procession. To the
right, an enslaved Moor is encouraged to retrieve the relic, but in the end
only the head of the charitable body that owned it managed to save it.
186 MARITIME CITIES
During the Middle Ages, Venice became one of the most

stable and prosperous of the Italian city-states. From 1140,
as its power, influence, and territories grew, Venice
restructured itself as a republic, with a strong form of
government based on a council of citizens and the doge,
who was elected from among the council members and
took on an increasingly ceremonial role.
Fruits of trade and war

The Venetians’ skill in shipbuilding gave them a formidable
navy and facilitated trade. However, trading rivalry brought
Venice into conflict with the Byzantine Empire, which
had strong commercial links with Genoa and Pisa.
The Venetians attacked Byzantine ports and, in 1204,
aided by Crusader forces, captured and ransacked much
of the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. This victory
enabled Venice to take over many key posts in the Aegean
and Greece. With their sea power secured, the Venetians
could develop a lucrative trade in goods such as Far
△ MARCO POLO LEAVING VENICE Eastern silks and spices. By the late 13th century, wealthy △ DOGE’S PALACE AND ST MARK’S BASILICA
The 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Venice was minting gold coins (ducats). This 17th-century painting shows the waterside palace, with its
Polo travelled along the Silk Road across ground-floor arches and upper-floor open loggia, in front of the
Asia. His account of the journey describes As the city’s fortunes rose, the Doge’s Palace was rebuilt
domed Basilica of St Mark.
Mongolia and China in great detail. with the elaborate arched Gothic facades that still stand
today. St Mark’s Basilica was further adorned with spoils
from Constantinople and glittering golden mosaics lining In the 14th and 15th centuries, the embellishment of the
the interiors of its many domes. The city’s leading families, city’s churches and houses continued. An extension of the
mostly from the merchant classes, also built themselves main Venetian shipyard, the Arsenale, enabled it to turn out
impressive palaces, initially following the round-arched warships at the rate of one per day. The Black Death of
The Ca’ d’Oro (House of style of the buildings of Constantinople, but later adopting 1348–49 took a considerable toll, but soon the population
the fashionable pointed arches seen on the Doge’s Palace was growing again, thanks to immigration from poorer
Gold) on the Grand Canal
itself. Many houses also served as business premises, and Italian cities and the declining Byzantine Empire. Trade was
gets its name from the included warehouse space for storing spices and silks, boosted when commercial rival Genoa suffered a military
as well as woollen fabrics bought elsewhere in Western defeat. The Ottoman Turks’ capture of Constantinople in
gilding which partly
Europe. These warehouses had direct access from the 1453 ended the Byzantine Empire and created a new threat
covered its exterior. adjoining canals, allowing cargoes to be easily unloaded. to the Venetians in the eastern Mediterranean. Even so,
The beautiful sight of pale stone and marble buildings Venice was now the single dominant power in the area and
reflected in green-tinged water became typical of the city. acquired a new nickname, Queen of the Adriatic.
1171 Venice is divided 1204 During the Fourth 1284 The first recorded
into the six districts Crusade, Venetians help Venetian gold ducats,
or sestieri that still capture Constantinople similar in size to
exist today. and bring back plunder florins from Florence,
including four large are minted. 1291 Venetian glass-workers
bronze horses. move to the island of Murano,
which remains a centre for
the industry to this day.
One of the horses from

Constantinople, now
at St Mark’s Basilica
1181 The first 1295 Venetian explorer

Rialto bridge is Marco Polo returns from
built of timber. Ornate 16th-century glass vessels from Murano his expedition to China.
VENICE 187
The Venice carnival
△ Carnival-goers sometimes wear costumes

that cover them from head to foot.
△ In The Minuet (1754), Venetian painter Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo shows carnival-
goers gathered around a couple performing a minuet, a formal dance of the period.
The mask… liberates the wearer – even if only

for a short time – from inhibitions and laws…
OTO BIHALJI-MERIN, MASKS OF THE WORLD, 1971
The carnival, an annual festival featuring street entertainment, feasting, practical jokes, and other
activities, probably began in the Middle Ages. It started as a chance for merriment in the run-up to the
austerity of the Christian period of Lent. Elaborate costumes and masks both added to the fun and
gave participants anonymity. Behaviour that was normally banned or frowned on, such as flirting and
gambling, was allowed. This gave the carnival a risqué reputation, especially in the 17th and 18th
centuries, when it was at its most popular. It went out of favour at the end of the 18th century, but
was revived in 1976 and now attracts visitors from all over the world. People compete to wear the △ Modern carnival masks and dresses can be
most extravagant masks, and enjoy the food, entertainment, costumes, and element of disguise. both elaborate and highly theatrical.
1310 The Council of Ten, 1348–49 The Black Death 1453 Constantinople
one of the Republic’s main cuts Venice’s population falls to the Turks,
governing bodies, is formed. roughly by half. leaving Venice the
It is elected by the Great strongest power
Council, which was in the region.
founded in 1172.
From the 14th century,

membership of the Great
Council was strictly limited
to families listed in a volume
called the Golden Book.
1341 A rebuild of the 1380 Venice defeats Genoa 1494 Scholar Aldus
Doge’s Palace begins at the Battle of Chioggia, Manutius sets up
that will give it its winning maritime dominance his printing press
ornate Gothic facades. of the Mediterranean. in Venice.
◁ 16TH-CENTURY VENICE
Frans Hogenberg’s map of
1572 shows Venice isolated
from the mainland in its
lagoon. The Grand Canal
snakes through the centre,
and islands such as
Giudecca (lower left) and
Torcello and Murano (top
right) can be seen.
Venice in the 16th century remained one of the richest and The city’s cultural prowess was made possible thanks to
most powerful cities in Europe, but it also developed its merchants and churchmen, who had the funds to act as
cultural credentials. The city became a centre for the patrons to musicians and artists, and to commission new
Venice is sited on
printing industry and home to highly original composers, churches designed by fashionable architects, such as
118 small islands, such as Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, whose pieces Palladio. Venetian trade continued, and the expensive
combined groups of singers and brass players to create clothes worn in many of Titian’s portraits – richly worked
separated by over
music designed specifically to resound in the vast spaces silks and satins, together with thick furs – suggest the
170 canals and of St Mark’s Basilica. Later composers, such as Monteverdi sheer luxury that could be glimpsed as the upper classes
connected by about (who was appointed maestro di cappella, or director of made their way around the city, by foot along the narrow
music, at St Mark’s), were renowned for the development streets and by gondola on the canals. Venice also employed
400 bridges. of opera. Venice also welcomed some of Europe’s finest large populations of skilled artisans, such as cloth-workers,
painters, from great naturalists such as Titian and carpenters, and the glass-workers of Murano, whose goods
Veronese, to masters of brushwork like Tintoretto. were in high demand at home and abroad.
1514 A fire destroys the

Rialto bridge. It is
rebuilt in stone, with
work completed in 1591.
1501 Doge Leonardo Turkish and Venetian ships

Loredan begins his confront each other at the
20-year rule. Battle of Lepanto
Portrait of Leonardo 1571 At the Battle

Loredan by Giovanni of Lepanto, a Western
Bellini fleet including many
1508 Holy Roman Venetian ships, defeats
Emperor Maximilian I Turkish forces.
and Pope Julius II form
the League of Cambrai, in
a bid to weaken Venice.
VENICE 189
◁ SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE

This large domed church, shown in a
painting of 1850 by Friedrich Nerly, is in
the Dorsoduro sestiere (district). Building
began in 1631 in thanksgiving for the city’s
recovery from a plague outbreak that year.
A city in decline The final blow to Venice came in 1715, when the Venetians
Venice’s prosperity was threatened, however, when lost their colony in the Morea (Peloponnese), a vital toehold
the city found itself caught between Western Europe in the Mediterranean, to the Turks.
△ BRIDGE OF SIGHS
and the Ottoman Empire, which had strengthened its As a result of these territorial setbacks, Venice’s The covered bridge connects the Doge’s
naval power and was pushing westwards into the economy began to stagnate. Leading families still had Palace, where the state inquisitors sat,
Mediterranean. Although Western forces and Venetian vast inherited wealth, and the upper classes acquired a with the nearby prison. Its name refers
to the prisoners’ sighs as they saw Venice
ships defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto in reputation for lavish spending on fine clothes, decadent for the last time when crossing the bridge.
1571, Venice gained little from the victory and lost its parties, and gambling. The city was still a centre for the
important colony of Cyprus. In addition, there were arts, especially music. Its most famous composer was
devastating outbreaks of plague in the 1570s and later Vivaldi, who wrote both for the church and for private
in 1630, causing a sharp population decline. Further patrons. Vivaldi also composed concertos for the all-female
colonies were lost and the Ottomans eventually took over orchestra of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage where
the eastern Mediterranean, cutting off Venetian merchants’ he worked. However, as the 18th century progressed, the
access to the lucrative spices and silks they had traded; once-hospitable city-state seemed to turn its back on the
the spice trade was increasingly dominated by newer world, the harbours and Arsenal were quiet, and Venice
sea powers, such as England and the Netherlands. only became truly animated at the time of the carnival.
1613 Composer Claudio 1715 The Turks take

Monteverdi is put in over Venice’s colony in
charge of music at the Morea (present-
St Mark’s Basilica. day Peloponnese),
ending the city’s
1630 An epidemic of maritime empire.
Venice lost bubonic plague hits
Venice, killing many.
its last eastern
Mediterranean island,
Crete, in a long
17th-century war Masked 17th-century
with Turkey. plague doctor
1577 Andrea Palladio 1708 During a hard winter,

designs the Redentore the lagoon freezes over,
church on the island from the islands to
of Giudecca. the mainland.
190 MARITIME CITIES
Under Austrian rule

The Venetians reacted against the sometimes
authoritarian rule of Austria, and supporters of the
Risorgimento – a radical movement that aimed to
reclaim Italy for the Italians and unite it as a single state
– found refuge in the city. Daniele Manin was a local leader
of the movement, and soon after he was arrested by the
Austrians for treason, the Venetian population staged
an uprising, a rebellion that was finally forced into
submission through starvation and disease. The city’s
political troubles meant that there was little expansion
or modernization in this period, so its palaces, churches,
and picturesque, winding streets were preserved.
Venice’s medieval heritage brought it other allies,
such as the British writer John Ruskin, who published
his book about the city, The Stones of Venice, in 1853.
Ruskin praised the beauty of its medieval churches
and palaces, portraying Gothic Venice as a kind of urban
paradise where craft-workers and merchants alike lived
in happiness and harmony. Ruskin’s writings were well
△ RAIL BRIDGE With its empire and much of its trade gone, Venice known, and travellers started to add Venice to their itinerary
Bringing the railway to Venice involved was no longer a major power in the later 18th century. when they visited Italy. Some upper-class visitors even
building a long bridge across the lagoon
to a new station, Santa Lucia, on the Its port still functioned – the lagoon was protected by rented houses in Venice for several months or even years.
Grand Canal, a feat accomplished in a sea wall, finished in the 1750s – and the city remained
the mid-19th century. as beautiful as ever. It was well known to European The rise of tourism
aristocrats, some of whom visited, and many of whom Two developments raised Venice’s profile higher still.
bought paintings by Canaletto, who recorded its canal A railway line linking the city to the European mainland
scenes in meticulous detail, often showing the waterways was followed in 1869 by the opening of the Suez Canal,
Research suggests that almost jammed with gondolas and sailing boats. Venice which drastically cut the time it took to travel from Europe
acquired a new glamour for some Europeans, who to eastern Asia by sea. Venice became a major stopping-
building the rail bridge
appreciated its cafés, opera house, and aesthetic appeal, off point for travellers from all over Europe, from wealthy
and piers exacerbated but it did not attract high numbers of visitors. Napoleon, tourists to those involved in running the empires of Britain,
flooding, now made sensing the city’s strategic importance, Holland, and France, who paused in the
conquered it in 1797, putting an end to city en route to the Far East. The
worse by climate change. the independent republic. Napoleon Venetians built an enlarged harbour to
passed Venice to his allies the Austrians, take large ships, and the city’s future
who ruled it for much of the 19th century. as a transport interchange was ensured.
1720 Caffè Florian opens 1846 A railway line

on St Mark’s Square. is built, connecting
Venice to the mainland
by a long bridge.
1792 Teatro La Fenice, The phoenix rising from the

the city’s most famous ashes, symbol of La Fenice
opera house, opens. opera house
1725 Antonio Vivaldi,

musical director
at Ospedale della
Pietà, writes The 1848 Venice rebels
Four Seasons. 1797 Napoleon invades against Austrian
Venice, bringing an end 1798 Napoleon rule and the republic
to the independent grants Venice is restored, but only
Venetian Republic. to Austria. lasts for one year.
By the end of the 19th century, the cultural tourists who and hotel accommodation is stretched, in spite of large △ SUPPORT, 2017
followed Ruskin and the long-distance travellers were developments on the mainland. The crowds are also Lorenzo Quinn’s sculpture was made for
the 2017 Venice Art Biennale. It represents
joined by a further group, those who enjoyed the beaches inflated by passengers from cruise ships, which frequently the help needed to counter the rising sea
of Venice’s Adriatic Lido resort, which was made famous stop at Venice’s waterside. These cause powerful waves levels caused by climate change, which
by books such as Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. The that threaten to damage buildings which are already slowly threaten Venice and its fragile buildings.
combination of an unusual island setting, the carnival, and sinking on their poor foundations. The city is also troubled
the pleasant climate turned Venice into a highly successful by storm flood damage, especially when the tide is at its
tourist city, a role it adopted enthusiastically throughout highest. Flood protection schemes are underway (despite
the 20th century and still plays today. political and administrative delays) and in 2021 Italian
However, the huge influxes of visitors that this compact authorities approved a ban on cruise ships entering the
city has to cope with have brought their own strains. historic centre. Meanwhile, Venice’s art, history, and unique
In summer, it is often hard to move in the narrow streets, beauty still entice visitors in their millions.
1851–53 John Ruskin’s 2003 The MOSE

The Stones of Venice 1951 Peggy project, to protect the
is published, bringing a Guggenheim opens city from floods using
new interest in the city’s 1912 Thomas Mann’s her home, Palazzo mobile water gates,
distinctive architecture. novella Death in Venier dei Leoni, to begins construction.
Venice describes the visitors, displaying
Lido in its heyday as her collection of
a seaside resort. modern art.
1895 The city’s first 1932 The Venice 1960 Venice airport
Biennale exhibition of Film Festival opens to the north
modern art is held. is founded. of the city.
192 MARITIME CITIES
Cape Town
THE MOTHER CITY
This stunning city by the sea has been a colonial fuelling station,
an imperial outpost, a hub for gold and diamonds, and a place of
segregation. Today, Cape Town looks to a multicultural future.
In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became Kaapstad

the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa. The town had five streets running parallel from the shore
The Portuguese dubbed it Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape towards Table Mountain, intersected by five cross streets.
of Good Hope. The ships that followed would put ashore to The wide roads were planted with oak trees to give shade,
take on fresh water, bringing them into contact with the and produce was sold at the large Greenmarket Square. By
Khoisan people, who had lived in the region for thousands of the 1750s, the population stood at around 5,500 Europeans
years. A mix of Khoikhoi herders and roving San hunter- and 6,700 slaves, the latter mostly imported from Dutch-
gatherers, the Khoisan eschewed permanent settlements controlled territories in the Malay Archipelago. The emerging
and crossed the Western Cape on seasonal migrations. city was already a product of multiple cultures, influenced by
During the 17th century, the Dutch and English challenged Asia as much as Europe and Africa.
the Portuguese for control of the sea routes around Africa to The Cape remained a vital staging post in the European
India and beyond, and the lucrative trade in spices. In 1652, exploitation of the East. Towards the end of the 18th century,
the Dutch East India Company established a permanent Britain challenged the Dutch for possession of the Cape
base at Table Bay on the Cape of Good Hope, where ships Colony. It passed back and forth between the two powers
could replenish their supplies. Under Jan van Riebeeck, the before it was conclusively ceded to the British in 1814.
Dutch began the colonization of South Africa, introducing
slaves from West Africa and Asia to provide labour as
their farmsteads grew. Expansion led to clashes with the
local Khoisan, whose society crumbled in the face of 19TH-CENTURY CAPE TOWN ▷
Situated between the ocean and flat-topped Table Mountain,
European firearms and diseases. The township on Table Bay Cape Town was established as a way station for ships making
came to be known as Kaapstad, Dutch for “Cape Town”. the arduous voyage between Europe and Southeast Asia.
1652 Jan van Riebeeck 1806 The British reoccupy

of the Dutch East India the Cape Colony after the
Company establishes a Battle of Blaauwberg,
settlement on the Cape and British ownership
for the resupplying of is formalized in an
company ships. 1814 treaty.
1795 The British navy takes

1488 Bartolomeu Dias control of Cape Town and
sights Table Mountain the Cape Colony territories.
from aboard the first Map of Kaapstad (Cape Town) from 1750 They are returned to the
European ship to round Dutch in the Treaty of
the southern tip of Africa. Amiens in 1802.
CAPE TOWN 193
Nothing can be neater, or more pleasant, than the appearance

which this town presents, spreading over the valley, from the
sea-shore towards the mountains on each side.
WILLIAM J. BURCHELL, TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1822
194 MARITIME CITIES
▷ THE ENGLISH COLONIAL CITY

In the late 19th century, Cape Town
took on the appearance of a prosperous
British Victorian town, as seen in this
photograph of Adderley Street, with its
Neoclassical General Post Office,
Standard Bank building, and Grand Hotel.
Cape storms were

notorious. Between 1839
and 1854 no fewer than
200 vessels were wrecked
on the Cape coast in the England in Africa they gained a semblance of freedom, many former slaves
Under the British, English replaced Afrikaans (the local were obliged to continue to work as indentured labourers
vicinity of Table Bay. variant of Dutch) as the official language of the Cape, for their colonial bosses for several years.
and Cape culture was gradually Anglicized. In 1830, on Many Dutch-Afrikaners were unhappy with British rule,
St George’s Day (the day dedicated to England’s patron and they abandoned the city and its environs in their
saint), the city’s British governor laid the foundation stone thousands, intent on setting up their own state in the
for St George’s Cathedral, and the main thoroughfare of interior. Their mass migration led to them becoming
Berg Street was renamed St George’s Street. The city gained known as Trekboers (“trekking farmers”), or simply Boers.
colleges, museums, public libraries, banks, more places For much of the 19th century, Cape Town flourished, its
of worship, and a Royal Observatory, all reflecting British economy boosted by regular shiploads of free-spending
culture some 10,000 km (6,000 miles) to the north. British colonial officers and administrators on their way to
Slavery was outlawed in 1834, and free slaves or from India. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
established their own neighbourhood, the Bo-Kaap. It dramatically decreased shipping traffic, but any loss in the
remains a predominantly Muslim district today, reflecting city’s revenue was more than made up for by a dramatic
the slaves’ largely Malaysian heritage. However, even after discovery inland: great riches of gold and diamonds.
1834 In compliance with the

rest of the British Empire, 1836 Dutch-descended 1859 The ground is broken for
slavery is abolished in Afrikaners embark on the the colony’s first railway.
the Cape Colony. Asian Great Trek into the interior in The line to Wellington,
former slaves found their order to live beyond the reach 60 km (40 miles) inland,
own neighbourhood, the of British colonial rule. opens four years later.
Bo-Kaap.
Six merino sheep,
gifted by the Dutch
government in 1789,
launched a thriving
Slave registration 19th-century
document, dated wool trade.
1823
1849 A petition signed by
450 citizens prevents the
government in London
from transporting British
convicts to the Cape.
CAPE TOWN 195
A segregated city
Cape Town was flooded with fortune-seeking immigrants; Hanover Street runs through the heart of
from a population of around 45,000 in 1875, it reached
171,000 by 1904. The newly discovered mineral wealth, District Six, and along it one can feel the
and the advent of the railways that allowed its exploitation,
meant Cape Town shifted its gaze from the sea inwards pulse-beats of society.
into Africa. Prime Minister (and diamond-mine magnate)
ALEX LA GUMA, “THE DEAD END KIDS OF HANOVER STREET”, NEW AGE, 1956
Cecil Rhodes instigated a landgrab to control much of
southern Africa. As the primary port for the region, Cape
Town grew ever more wealthy, expressed most visibly in
the raising of many new public buildings from the 1880s
onwards, including new Houses of Parliament, an opera
house, and a new City Hall.
Rhodes also initiated the 1894 Glen Gray Act, which
restricted Black Africans to segregated regions of the Cape
and placed limitations on their land ownership. Rhodes’
view was that Black people needed to be driven off their
land to “stimulate them to labour”. In 1901, an outbreak of
bubonic plague was blamed on the city’s rapidly rising
Black population. By this time, an estimated 8,000 Black
Africans – mainly Xhosa-speakers from the Eastern Cape
– were living in Cape Town, and the disease provided an
excuse for their forced relocation outside the city.
Dutch-descended Afrikaners also resented their poor
status when compared with the English-speaking minority,
who controlled Cape Town and the new country of South
Africa, established through a union of provinces in 1910.
Their discontent led to Afrikaner nationalism and the
formation of the National Party. In 1948, under the leadership
of D.F. Malan, the National Party won the general election,
marking the beginning of the apartheid era.
DISTRICT SIX, 1982 ▷

District Six, the subject of this oil painting by Kenneth Baker, was a
multiracial inner-city community from the mid-19th century. The
“soul of Cape Town” inspired writers, artists, and a 1980s musical.
Many residents were forced out under apartheid (see p. 197).
1890 Cecil Rhodes 1923 The Natives (Urban Areas)

becomes prime minister Act restricts Black people’s
of the Cape Colony. His access to Cape Town, and
expansionist policies requires them to carry permits
spark conflict with the called “passes” at all times.
Searching for diamonds Boers, and war is
at the Kimberly Mine, in declared in 1899.
the Northern Cape
1867 The discovery of

diamonds and, in 1886,
gold in the interior boosts 1910 The Act of Union
the economy of Cape Town forms the new nation of 1948 The National Party comes
and spurs rapid growth. South Africa from the 1929 The Table to power. It promotes Afrikaner
Cape Colony and the Mountain Aerial interests and institutes a Discriminatory
newly annexed Boer Cableway begins national policy of racial apartheid notice
regions to the east. operating. segregation, or apartheid. near Cape Town
196 MARITIME CITIES
◁ Nelson Mandela, then the

president of South Africa, revisits
his former cell at Robben Island,
where he was imprisoned for 18 of
the 27 years he served behind bars.
▽ Mandela was far from the only

anti-apartheid activist jailed on
Robben Island, and several other
prominent figures are celebrated
on the island today.
Robben Island
△ This 1989 poster was part of a major international campaign for

Nelson Mandela’s freedom – he was eventually released in 1990.
Set in Table Bay, 11 km (7 miles) from Cape Town, small, flat Robben Island was
occupied by seals and penguins before European settlers arrived. The Dutch
named the island after its original residents (the Dutch word for seal is robben),
and grazed sheep there, releasing rabbits to provide a food source for settlers.
It has long served as a penal colony: historians believe the first prisoner on the
island, in the mid-17th century, was Autshumato, a Cape tribal chief. The Dutch
later held other political prisoners there, including royalty from their East Indian
colonies. The British continued the tradition when, in 1819, they imprisoned an Real leaders must be ready to
African Xhosa leader on the island. The most famous political prisoner of all
was Nelson Mandela. He and his fellow anti-apartheid activists endured a harsh sacrifice all for the freedom
regime in cells only 4 m (44 ft) square, and were made to work in a quarry
digging out limestone. Largely because of Mandela’s association with the site, of their people.
Robben Island, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from Cape Town, is now a
FORMER PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA, 1998
popular tourist destination – former inmates act as guides.
1964 Nelson Mandela 1986 Desmond Tutu, a

is sentenced to life powerful anti-apartheid
imprisonment on voice, becomes Anglican
Robben Island. Archbishop of Cape Town.
A protest against the

obligatory identity
cards, 1956 Famed jazz pianist
Abdullah Ibrahim was born
Adolph Brand in 1934
in Cape Town. He moved to
New York in 1965.
1950s The previously desolate 1968 The government declares

Cape Flats area is developed the inner-city neighbourhood
by the government to keep of District Six a “whites-only”
“Coloureds and Blacks” out of area and forcibly relocates
the city’s “whites-only” centre. over 30,000 non-whites.
CAPE TOWN 197
growth of large Black-populated shanty

towns on the plains to the east of the city.
Although Coloureds were favoured over
Black citizens, they were also discriminated
against. In 1968, for example, the historic
Coloured area of District Six was classified
as a “white area”; its population was evicted
and bulldozers sent in.
The rule of equality

Only hours after being released from prison
in February 1990 (see box), Nelson Mandela
made a public speech from the balcony of
Cape Town’s City Hall. It heralded the dawn of
a new era for South Africa. Four years later,
South Africans of all colours cast their votes
in the country’s first-ever fully democratic
elections, and Mandela became president. In
1998, Nomaindia Mfeketo became Cape
Town’s first Black mayor.
In 2004, in a symbolic act, former residents
evicted almost 40 years before were
handed keys to new homes in District Six.
Showcase events, such as the football World
Cup of 2010, and the city’s role as World
Design Capital in 2014, have brought
△ TABLE MOUNTAIN AND BAY Apartheid means the “state of being apart”. The aim was to international attention. Cape Town is now known for its
Cape Town’s spectacular natural features preserve the “purity” of the white race in its promised land. breathtaking natural beauty, outdoor lifestyle, gourmet
include Signal Hill (centre), Lion’s Peak
(right), and Table Mountain (behind). The All South Africans were classified by race: White, Coloured dining, Afro-chic culture, and wine-growing hinterlands. Its
Cape Town Stadium (left) was constructed (Asian and mixed race, with Indians sometimes in their own citizens hail from a rich mix of cultural backgrounds,
for the 2010 football World Cup. category), or Black. The 1950 Group Areas Act defined where exemplifying Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s characterization
people of each ethnicity could live, and the 1953 Separate of South Africa as a “Rainbow Nation”. Inequality persists,
Amenities Act created separate public facilities. Black and there are still large areas of Black slums, mostly in
people were compelled to carry passes at all times and the Cape Flats beyond Table Mountain. But Cape Town
were prohibited from living in or even visiting many places has transformed itself before, and now this dynamic city
without specific permission. In Cape Town, this led to the looks to the future from its grand capeside perch.
1990 Nelson Mandela is 1998 After a breakdown in law 2010 South Africa hosts
released from prison and order, a vigilante the football World Cup, and
and gives his first public organization bombs the city’s eight games are played at
speech from the balcony V&A Waterfront. Two people the Cape Town Stadium,
of the City Hall. are killed and 26 injured. which was built for 2017 The Zeitz Museum of
the tournament. Contemporary Art Africa
(Zeitz MOCAA) opens at
the V&A Waterfront.
Interior of the
Zeitz Museum
2015 Severe droughts see
reservoir water levels decline.
1994 Following democratic 2003 Cape Town-born By 2017, officials feared city
elections, Nelson Mandela writer J.M. Coetzee water supplies would dry up,
becomes president of wins the Nobel Prize but heavy rains in 2018
South Africa. for Literature. averted the crisis.
198 MARITIME CITIES
Shanghai
PEARL OF THE ORIENT
This former international port and playground of the elite gave birth
to Chinese communism and is now a towering, futuristic global city
of entrepreneurs, financiers, and visionaries.
For much of the last 200 years, Shanghai has been China’s porcelain created a trade deficit. To balance the books,
gateway to the wider world. But for centuries prior to this the British sold increasing amounts of opium, which they
it was a small, isolated fishing village, with trade instead cultivated in India, to the Chinese. When the Qing court tried
passing through Qinglong Town – now part of the Shanghai to halt the trade, Britain responded with gunboats, triggering
suburbs – to the west. By the 1400s, Shanghai’s favourable the First Opium War in 1839. The Chinese were defeated, and
position on the Yangtze delta, with its safe harbour on the were forced to agree to the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which
tributary Huangpu river, saw it begin to prosper as a port. ceded Hong Kong to the British, and gave them the right to
The population grew, thanks in part to migrants displaced operate in five mainland cities, one of which was Shanghai.
by Mongol invasions to the north, and during the Ming
dynasty it became a centre for the processing and shipping Foreign concessions
of the cotton grown in the region. In the 1550s, a wall was British traders were allotted land just north of the walled city.
built around the city as a defence against Japanese raids. They named their stretch of riverfront the Bund, from the
Hindi for “embankment”. By 1850, merchants from France,
Prised open by opium the USA, and other foreign powers began to move into
Half a century later, in 1603, the proselytizing Italian Jesuit Shanghai, creating their own sovereign zones, known as
Matteo Ricci became the city’s first recorded Western visitor. “concessions”, where they were not subject to Chinese laws.
Such arrivals were rare. Trade with Europe was carefully
controlled, and mostly funnelled through the southern port
of Guangzhou (Canton). By the 1780s, the British East India A 21st-CENTURY CITY ▷
The glittering bauble of the Oriental Pearl Tower is
Company came to dominate this trade due to the strength of emblematic of modern Shanghai, a city where everything
the Royal Navy, and British desire for Chinese tea, silks, and is bigger, faster, more expensive, and neon-drenched.
1559 Pan Yunduan, the

746 CE Qinglong Town is Ming-era governor of
established and thrives Sichuan, constructs the
as a major port in an Yu Gardens in Shanghai
area that is now part of for his father.
the Shanghai suburbs.
Gold-coated Asoka pagoda

from Qinglong Town
1842 Following the First
Opium War, the defeated
Qing court signs the
1553–54 During the Ming dynasty, engineers Treaty of Nanjing, which
encircle Shanghai with a defensive wall to opens up Shanghai to
protect against Japanese raiders. foreign merchants.
SHANGHAI 199
△ THE BUND, 19TH CENTURY In 1850, the Taiping Rebellion plunged China into a vast civil but increasingly organized Chinese labourers, would have
The foreign settlers turned a muddy war that set the Taiping Christian sect against the ruling Qing huge repercussions for the whole of China. It began with
towpath on the Huangpu river into a
broad waterfront promenade lined with dynasty. When Taiping forces menaced Shanghai, they were Chinese students leading anti-Japanese and anti-Western
merchant buildings and wharves. forced back by British and French soldiers. In the wake of strikes, accompanied by boycotts of foreign goods. This new
the unrest, the foreigners took advantage of local weakness movement formed links with international communism and,
to expand their settlements so that the Chinese became a in 1921, Mao Zedong and others held the first meeting of the
minority in their own city. As the money poured in from Chinese Communist Party in a small house in Shanghai.
The 19th-century slang trade, the European powers turned Shanghai into China’s In 1932, following anti-Japanese rioting, Japanese
most modern city, the first in the country to have gaslights, troops invaded Chinese-administered parts of Shanghai.
term to “shanghai” telephones, trams, electric power, and running water. International condemnation forced them out, but in 1937,
meant to kidnap and after a bloody three-month assault, they occupied the
The battle for Shanghai Chinese districts again. They completed their invasion in
press someone into
Foreign influence was soon to grow. When the Chinese 1941 – on the same morning as the attack on Pearl
service as a sailor to a suffered defeat in the First Sino–Japanese War of 1895, Harbour – by occupying the international concessions. The
destination far away. Japan claimed the right to build factories in Shanghai, Japanese would remain in control for the next three years,
which it ran on cheap Chinese labour. In time, the situation until their defeat by the Americans at the end of World War II,
in the city, with rich foreign capitalists exploiting uneducated when the whole of the city was handed back to the Chinese.
1849 The French negotiate the 1863 The British and

same settlement rights in American settlements
Shanghai as the British and combine to form the
establish the French Concession. International Settlement.
Opium den in Shanghai
1854 The British, French,

1846 Scottish and Americans create the
merchant Peter Shanghai Municipal
Richards founds Council to serve their 1895 The Chinese are
Richards’ Hotel, interests in the city. defeated in the First
the first Western Sino–Japanese War and
hotel in Shanghai the Japanese win the 1917 An international decree outlaws opium and Shanghai
and China. right to exploit Shanghai. becomes filled with smugglers and gangsters.
SHANGHAI 201
Despite the political uncertainties, a lot of money was made in

Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s. Life for the elite (known as taipans)
revolved around members’ clubs, horse races, fancy-dress balls, and If God lets Shanghai endure,
nightclubs, particularly the dance palaces with their “taxi dancers” –
women whose company on the dancefloor was bought with a ticket. he owes an apology to Sodom
Shanghai was also a notoriously lawless city, home to a thriving sex
trade, opium dens, and gun-toting gangsters. A handful of underworld and Gomorrah.
bosses controlled the city, buying off the members of the Municipal
SHANGHAI MISSIONARY
Council and channeling illicit funds into respectable businesses,
including their own banks. Some Chinese people prospered in this
Western-dominated city, such as compradors, who acted as local ▷ The Bund was a showcase
facilitators for international businesses. But its exploitation and for the city’s foreign wealth.
Its grandiose architecture
decadence, and the chasm between the elite and the crushing was capped in 1929 by the
Shanghai highlife
poverty of much of the native population, would trigger a backlash pyramid-roofed Cathay Hotel.
following Mao’s takeover in 1949.
◁ Shanghai’s aura of glamour was

popularized in images such as this 1930s
graphic, which enticed visitors with the
promise of exoticism and excitement.
1921 The first meeting of 1937 Japanese 1949 The Communist People’s
the Chinese Communist troops take control Liberation Army marches into
Party takes place in a of Shanghai. Shanghai and Mao forms the
house in Shanghai’s People’s Republic of China.
French Concession.
The 2020
Chinese blockbuster film
The Eight Hundred dramatizes
the desperate defence of the
Sihang Warehouse during
the 1937 Battle
of Shanghai.
1932 The Japanese Navy
bombards Shanghai in 1945 American forces
response to Chinese student occupy Shanghai following
protests against the Japanese Japan’s surrender at the
occupation of Manchuria. end of World War II.
A flagship Chinese city
On 25 May 1949, the Mao-led Communists marched into Shanghai,
taking over from the Chinese Nationalist leadership of Chiang
Kai-shek. The new government singled out Shanghai as the
embodiment of bourgeois excess and cracked down hard. In 1953,
it was announced that all Shanghai companies were to be “owned
by the people”. Many foreigners had departed during the 1940s,
and the last few left at the news. For the next four decades,
Shanghai’s economy slowed as its revenues were redirected to
Beijing and used to fund regional development within China.
China grew increasingly open to market forces in the 1980s, but
Shanghai had to wait nearly a decade before China’s government
allowed it to develop. Until the late 1980s, the city’s tallest building
remained the 22-storey Park Hotel, built in 1934. Then, in 1990, the
government in Beijing decreed that Shanghai was to become the
country’s new economic powerhouse. “If China is a dragon,” said
China’s then-leader, Deng Xiaoping, “Shanghai is its head.”
In the three decades since, the city has been transformed.
Across the river from the Bund, a thumb of marshland was
designated an investment-friendly Special Economic Zone. The
area, called Pudong, saw rapid development, including the city’s
first skyscraper, the Oriental Pearl Tower, in 1995. Since then,
Pudong has become the main financial district, home of the
nation’s stock market and bristling with high-rises. These include
the world’s second-highest building, the Shanghai Tower, which
stands at 632 m (2,073 ft) and has 128 floors. Together with the
Shanghai World Financial Centre and Jinmao Tower (which at the
time of completion contained the highest hotel in the world,
occupying floors 53 to 87) it forms the world’s first adjacent
◁ JING’AN TEMPLE
The city’s oldest temple was first built in 247 CE but was
destroyed during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and
turned into a plastics factory. It was rebuilt in the 1980s.
1990 Shanghai’s Pudong 2003 The Shanghai Maglev,

district is declared a Special the world’s fastest train at
Economic Zone, marking the 430 kph (270 mph), begins
rebirth of the city. service between Pudong
International Airport and
the city.
2010 For the 2010 Shanghai

Expo, the city builds numerous
cultural venues, including the
1972 Shanghai hosts the historic meeting 1995 Construction is striking China Pavilion, now
between Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and US completed on the Oriental the China Art Museum.
President Richard Nixon. They sign the Shanghai Pearl Tower, which
Communiqué, which enables the two countries immediately becomes an
to normalize relations. icon of the new Shanghai.
SHANGHAI 203
◁ PUDONG’S SUPER-TALL TRIO

When the Jinmao Tower (centre, with an illuminated spire) was
completed in 1999 it was China’s tallest building. It’s now dwarfed by
the Shanghai Tower (left) and Shanghai World Financial Centre (right).
grouping of three super-tall skyscrapers. Shanghai also boasts

the world’s fastest commercial train, connecting Pudong
International Airport with the city centre.
Meanwhile, the former grand headquarters of insurance firms
and banks on the Bund have become the settings for luxury
brands and restaurants, where Chinese new money shops for
Italian suits, French fashion accessories, and Swiss watches, and
grazes tasting menus prepared by the world’s top chefs. Many of
the historic Art Deco gems of the former French Concession have
been preserved and repurposed into more stylish restaurants and
hotels. Since the city hosted the Shanghai Expo in 2010, it has
also been graced with a large number of significant new cultural
institutions including art museums, theatres, and concert halls.
Back in the early 20th century, Shanghai used to be referred to
as the “Paris of the East” for its lifestyle and beauty. These days,
any comparisons with other cities are redundant: Shanghai is out
on its own, racing into the future.
New York may be the city that

never sleeps, but Shanghai
doesn’t even sit down, and not
just because there is no room.
PATRICIA MARX, NEW YORKER, 2008
2016 Shanghai
Disneyland opens as
the first Disney park in
mainland China.
In 2019,
Shanghai had over
24 million residents, making
it China’s most populous
city – and the third-largest
in the world.
2017 Work finishes on the

Shanghai Tower, at 632 m
(2,073 ft) the world’s second-
tallest building. It has the
world’s fastest elevators.
204 MARITIME CITIES
Sydney
HARBOUR CITY
Born as a British penal colony on Aboriginal lands, ▽ SYDNEY HARBOUR, 1907
Australian Impressionist Arthur Streeton
today Sydney is one of the world’s most international painted this view of Sydney Harbour
– the busy seaport dotted with sailboats,
cities, with a glorious harbour and beachside lifestyle. clippers, and steamships – on his return
to Australia after a decade spent in Europe.
In 1770, the British ship HMS Endeavour dropped anchor in what would become
known as Botany Bay. Its captain, James Cook, in the company of some 40 men, was
rowed ashore to be met by two Aboriginal people, whose ancestors had lived in the
area for tens of thousands of years. “They called to us,” recorded the naturalist Joseph
Banks, “very loud in a harsh-sounding language”, of which the crew “understood not a
word”. What some historians believe the original inhabitants of the Sydney area said
was, “Warra warra wai!” – meaning “Go away!”.
Penal settlement
Instead, 18 years later, on 26 January (a date still marked as Australia Day), the First
Fleet of 11 British ships arrived just north of Botany Bay in Sydney Cove, which they
named for Lord Sydney, the British Home Secretary. A party led by Captain Arthur
Phillip planted a British flag and claimed possession of the territory before unloading
732 convicts who had been deported from the United Kingdom. These convicts, along
with their guards and a handful of officials, established the colony that would become
Sydney, the founding settlement of the new entity of Australia.
Two years later, the Second Fleet arrived, bearing more convicts. Subsequent vessels
also brought free settlers, who Phillip believed were vital to the colonization of the new
land. The Europeans carried smallpox with them, devastating Aboriginal communities.
They had no immunity to the disease, and were forced off their lands. Sydney’s story
would be written not by Australia’s Indigenous people, but by their colonizers.
From 45,000 bce Aboriginal 1770 ce HMS Endeavour, 1790 The Second Fleet
people live in the area that commanded by Captain arrives. Over a quarter
would become Sydney, James Cook, is the first of its 1,006 convicts
according to the dating of European ship to chart had died during the
tools found in the region. this part of the Australian long voyage.
coast, making land at
Botany Bay.
Aboriginal shell fish-hooks

from c. 1100 ce 1797 After tension with
1788 The British colony colonists, 100 Aboriginal
of New South Wales is people attack a farm at
established with the arrival Parramatta, west of
of the First Fleet under Sydney, and suffer
Captain Arthur Phillip. heavy losses.
SYDNEY 205
We had the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in

which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security.
GOVERNOR ARTHUR PHILLIP, 15 MAY 1788
206 MARITIME CITIES
Australia’s first city

In 1840, the British government largely ended
convict transportation to mainland Australia, and
in November that year, the Eden was the last
convict ship to arrive in the bay. Sydney
started to shape a future that would erase its
penal origins. Within a decade, free settlers
outnumbered convicts in the city, a trend that
massively accelerated in the 1850s, when gold
was discovered inland and prospectors rushed to
Sydney from all over the world.
Sydney Cove continued to reflect the city’s
history, with the governor’s residence in its
botanical garden setting on one side and, across
the water, the narrow streets, pestilential slums,
brothels, and drinking dens of “the Rocks” on the
other. Between them, a sober Victorian city was
taking shape. The rapidly swelling population
necessitated massive building projects. In 1868,
Sydney’s first royal visitor, HRH Prince Alfred, Duke
of Edinburgh, laid a foundation stone for a new
town hall inspired by Paris’s Hôtel de Ville. The
same year, Archbishop Polding laid the foundation
stone for the magnificently Gothic St Mary’s
Cathedral beside the expansive Hyde Park.
By now, Sydney’s residents could attend
△ THE CITY OF SYDNEY, 1888 On 28 December 1809, a new governor, Lachlan Macquarie, university, go to the museum, or take horse-drawn
The first European settlement was arrived from Britain and stepped ashore at Sydney Cove. omnibuses out into the country. Australia’s first rugby club
established at Sydney Cove, which is
at the centre of this map by M.S. Hill He took up his duties on the first day of the new year. was founded in Sydney in 1863 and the inaugural first-
celebrating the city’s centenary. The area Macquarie later wrote that the town was “barely emerging class cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground was
is now known as Circular Quay. from a state of infantile imbecility”, with few roads and played between New South Wales and Victoria in 1878.
public buildings, and with commerce still in its “early (The first actual recorded cricket match in Australia had
dawn”. He laid the groundwork for modern central Sydney, taken place in Sydney way back in 1803.)
based on his own street plan. The grandest street, home Reporting on the centenary celebrations in 1888, the
to some of the most prestigious buildings – including Sydney Morning Herald noted that the city was full of
what is now Parliament House – he named after himself. visitors from the Australian colonies and New Zealand,
1831 The Sydney Herald 1840 The Sydney City Council 1868 Sydney’s first royal
newspaper begins is established. Two years visitor, Prince Alfred,
publication. It is later the former colonial Duke of Edinburgh, lays
renamed the Sydney settlement is officially the foundation stone of
Morning Herald in 1841. recognized as a township. Sydney Town Hall.
An 1850s game 1851 Gold is discovered in the Sydney

inspired by the hinterlands and large numbers of
1810 The 11-year rule of Australian gold rush immigrant miners pour into the city,
Governor Lachlan swelling the population from 39,000
Macquarie begins. He to 200,000 within 20 years.
1799 Government House is constructed in oversees Sydney’s
Parramatta for Governor John Hunter. It transition from a penal
remains Australia’s oldest public building. colony to a free society.
The best things about Sydney are free: the
sunshine’s free, and the harbour’s free,
and the beach is free.
RUSSELL CROWE, ACTOR, 2015
with upwards of 50,000 spectators present for the

unveiling of a statue to Queen Victoria. Absent, however,
would have been Sydney’s remaining Aboriginal people,
who in the 1880s were removed to a reserve far from the
centre. That same centenary year, several boats carrying
Chinese immigrants into Sydney were turned away. Chinese
people had been arriving in the city since the 1840s, but
protests against cheap Chinese labour were beginning to
have an effect, culminating in the 1901 White Australia
policy, a set of acts and policies which largely prevented
people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians
and Pacific Islanders, from moving to Australia. For the
first half of the 20th century, preference was given to
British immigrants above all others.
BONDI BEACH ACROBATICS ▷

Sydney beach culture boomed in the early
20th century. It was a great form of cheap
entertainment and up to 50,000 people
visited Bondi Beach on summer days.
1898 The city’s 1901 With the inauguration 1915 Duke Kahanamoku
landmark Queen of the Commonwealth of of Hawaii introduces
Victoria Building Australia on 1 January, surfing to Sydney.
(QVB) is completed. Sydney becomes the capital
of New South Wales.
Invitation to the opening of

the Queen Victoria Building
1900 Bubonic plague

1878 The inaugural cricket 1879 The city holds the Sydney arrives in Sydney and kills
match at the Sydney International Exhibition to 103 people. It is most virulent
Cricket Ground is played showcase its industrial, in the waterfront slums and 1907 The world’s first
between New South scientific, and cultural leads to demolition and surf lifesaving club is
Wales and Victoria. achievements to the world. rebuilding in the Rocks. founded at Bondi Beach.
208 MARITIME CITIES
In 1947, Australia opened its doors to

wartime refugees from Southern Europe
to provide the labour needed for a booming
economy. Tens of thousands took the
opportunity to start a new life, with Sydney
becoming the final destination of a large
majority of them. The flow of new arrivals
was augmented by the Assisted Passage
scheme, which saw the Australian
government offer to subsidize the fares of
people across Europe who wanted to escape
Post-war arrivals
post-war austerity and find a new life on the

other side of the world. All the immigrants
would have to pay was the equivalent of £10.
The scheme attracted over one million people
from Great Britain alone – they became
known as the “£10 poms”. The immigrant
intake dramatically increased Sydney’s
population, which rose by over 120,000
between 1946 and 1951.
△ Immigrants on the MV Toscana about to depart Trieste in 1954.
To be Australian is… a representation of our

shared history, whether you landed here by
boat or by air, or have had your ancestry
rooted here for thousands of years.
△ An Assisted Passage advert. PRITIKA DESAI, A FIRST-GENERATION CITIZEN OF AUSTRALIA, OF INDIAN ORIGIN, 2017
1930 At the Sydney 1934 The city’s Anzac

Cricket Ground, War Memorial is raised
legendary batter in Hyde Park to the
Don Bradman enters memory of 60,000
the record books Australians who lost
Opened in with 452 runs not their lives in World War I.
out in 415 minutes.
1935, Sydney’s Luna
Park is one of only two
amusement parks in the
world that are protected
by government 1932 Following eight
legislation. years of construction,
Sydney Harbour Bridge
opens to traffic.
SYDNEY 209
HARBOUR BRIDGE FIREWORKS ▷

Fireworks displays using the pylons, arch, and catwalk of the
Harbour Bridge have been a Sydney signature since the 1980s,
notably each New Year’s Eve and for the 2000 Olympics.
Leaving Europe behind

In the early 20th century, a city improvement board
recommended workers move from the centre to the
suburbs. The wealthy, who had already planted their
villas on the headlands and bays fringing the harbour,
were joined by developments of low-rise bungalows.
Increasingly, habits no longer mimicked those of Britain:
the suburban Sydneysider enjoyed a relaxed, outdoors-
oriented lifestyle, echoing that of Southern California,
which shared a similar climate. The city’s second most-
famous landmark, the Harbour Bridge, was built in 1932
to facilitate expansion on the north side of the harbour.
There is no better symbol of the shift in the city’s identity
than the Opera House. When it was completed in 1973, the
arts venue looked like nothing else – perhaps a flock of
gulls on the wing or soaring sails. It was the work of
Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but it owed nothing to
European traditions. This fresh, forward-looking building,
in the words of US architect Frank Gehry, “changed the
image of an entire country”.
Meanwhile, with the abolition of the White Australia
policy in the mid-1960s, the flow from Europe was
eclipsed by arrivals from Asia. Sydney rapidly transitioned
into one of the world’s most multicultural cities. Today,
almost half of its citizens were born overseas, and Olympics, which highlighted immigration and Aboriginal
in parts of the city you are as likely to hear Arabic, culture. With its semi-tropical climate, glorious harbour,
Mandarin, Cantonese, or Vietnamese as you are English. multi-ethnic tapestry, and pervasive air of opportunity, the The large granite pylons
This diversity is a totem of the city, celebrated in festivals bay to which Britain once banished its undesirables is now
framing the Harbour
and in the opening ceremony of the Sydney-set 2000 one of the world’s most admired cities.
Bridge have a purely
aesthetic function.
1988 An estimated 2.5 million 2016 Sydney’s

gather around Sydney Harbour population passes
to celebrate Australia’s five million.
bicentennial with a First Fleet
re-enactment and fireworks.
1973 The Sydney Opera House officially opens.

During 14 years of construction its cost rose
1947 The Australian from AU$7 million to AU$102 million. 2000 Sydney hosts the
Government launches Olympic Games and
an ambitious immigration wows the world with 2019 The first line
programme that results in a memorable opening of the Sydney
population boom in Sydney. and closing ceremonies. Metro opens.
SAN FRANCISCO 211
San Francisco
GOLDEN GATE CITY
The ultimate boom or bust city, San Francisco is a bay-side beauty that
has seen earthquakes, fires, and gold rushes. It’s been a cradle of
counter-cultural cool – and has also been shaped by floods of money.
Human habitation in the area that is now San Francisco The Americans and the gold rush
Bay dates back to at least 3000 bce. When the first Spanish In the decades that followed, Yerba Buena became a town
ship entered the bay in 1775, it was the home of the of a few hundred people. Despite the deaths of many of the
Yelamu people, who moved seasonally between several Indigenous workers to European diseases, it expanded San Francisco’s Filbert
villages along the coast. Recognizing the large, sheltered from the original workers’ settlement down to the cove Street is one of the
natural harbour’s strategic significance, the Spanish where ships moored. California became part of Mexico
world’s steepest major
dispatched an overland expedition from Mexico under when the country gained its independence from Spain
Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, who established a military in 1821, before being captured by the USA during the streets, with a gradient
garrison, or presidio, on the headland in 1776. Mexican–American War in 1846. The Americans renamed
of up to 31.5 per cent.
Later that year, Franciscan priest Father Francisco Palóu the town San Francisco after the original mission, and in
found a site 5 km (3 miles) to the southeast for a mission 1848 a discovery was made that would transform its
(Misión San Francisco de Asís, or simply Mission Dolores) fortunes: a labourer named James Marshall spotted gold in
that would spread Christianity to the Yelamu. The mission the water flowing through the sawmill where he worked.
employed Indigenous conscript workers, many of them
forcibly relocated. They were housed between the presidio
and the mission, on a site that became known as Yerba
Buena (“good herb”), after the aromatic local plant.
One day I’ll go to Heaven and I’ll look
around and say, ‘It ain’t bad but it ain’t
◁ UPHILL RIDES
Installed in 1873, San Francisco’s now-iconic cable cars, shown San Francisco’.
in this 1950s poster for airline TWA, were inspired by the
cable-hauled carts used in California’s gold mines. HERB CAEN, HUMORIST AND JOURNALIST
3000 bce The Ohlone people are 1776 Spanish colonizers, including 1846 The US Navy
already settled on the Northern Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and captures the small
California coast, living in small Franciscan priest Francisco Palóu, settlement of Yerba
hunter-gatherer villages. The arrive at the future site of San Buena. The following
Ohlone group that live in the Francisco and build the presidio January, they rename
San Francisco Bay are and Mission Dolores. it San Francisco.
known as the Yelamu.
1775 CE The Spanish 1835 The USA attempts to

packet-boat San Carlos is buy Northern California
the first European ship to from Mexico. The 1848 A labourer spots a glint of gold in a stream.
sail into what will later be Mexicans instead try When the find is publicized it triggers the California
called San Francisco Bay. to sell it to Britain. Gold Rush the following year.
◁ 1906 EARTHQUAKE
Buildings that survived the initial
devastation were then subject to
several days of raging fires caused
by broken gas pipes and torn
electric cables.
Square and what is now Grant

Avenue, which became the city’s
official Chinatown – the only
part of town where Chinese
people were legally allowed to
live and inherit property.
The earthquake
By 1900, the population had
grown to over 300,000. On the
morning of 18 April 1906, many
of them were shaken awake by
a massive earthquake. The
tremors lasted less than a
minute, but tore the city apart,
The California Gold Rush transformed San Francisco from destroying buildings, causing fires, killing an estimated
a wild frontier post to a booming and even wilder city on 3,000, and leaving half the population homeless.
the make. Eager prospectors arrived via the port city, Remarkably, within just 10 years San Francisco bounced
raising the population from less than a thousand in 1848 back. The earthquake’s devastation was used as an
to 25,000 by the end of 1849, and 56,000 10 years later. opportunity for regeneration. Streets were widened and
San Francisco transitioned from a city of tents and flimsy the city gained a new civic centre complex, capped by a
shacks to one of brick and stone. The once-bare plaza at 1915 Beaux-Arts City Hall, with a dome higher than that of
the heart of Yerba Buena was now Portsmouth Square, its model, the US Capitol in Washington, DC. While the rest
location of a new City Hall and the Hall of Justice. Along of the country suffered in the Great Depression of the
with these grand civic edifices came merchants, bars, 1930s, San Francisco carried on building. It gained its
brothels, and gambling dens to relieve any successful gold grand Opera House in 1932 and Museum of Modern Art in
diggers of their earnings. The seeds of San Francisco’s 1935. The next year saw the completion of the San
△ A CITY REBORN multiculturalism were sown at this time, notably with the Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, followed six months later
The Panama–Pacific International Exposition arrival of thousands of Chinese people, who came to build by the Golden Gate Bridge, at the time the longest and the
of 1915 was held ostensibly to celebrate
the Panama Canal, but it announced the the transcontinental railroad that would connect the boom tallest – and perhaps the most beautiful – suspension
post-quake rebirth of San Francisco. city to the rest of the USA. They settled near Portsmouth bridge in the world.
1906 San Francisco 1934 A former military jail

is hit by a devastating on a craggy island in the
earthquake that bay is converted into a 1953 Lawrence Ferlinghetti
destroys over 80 federal penitentiary opens the City Lights bookstore,
per cent of the city. named Alcatraz. establishing San Francisco as a
locus for Beat Generation writers,
poets, and thinkers, including
Allen Ginsberg (right).
1963 Alcatraz closes as a

1864 Samuel Clemens, better federal penitentiary.
known as Mark Twain, settles 1937 Workers complete the Golden The following year it is
in the city and finds work on a 1915 An ambitious Gate Bridge, which connects the occupied by Native
local paper. He calls his new rebuild is capped by city with Marin County. Its main American activists, part of
home “the liveliest, heartiest the completion of an span stretches for a record- a rising tide of protests for
community on our continent”. imposing new City Hall. breaking 1,280 m (4,200 ft). Indigenous rights.
SAN FRANCISCO 213
CITY OF DREAMS ▷
Commenting on San Francisco’s inspirational qualities,
musician Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane once memorably
described the city as “49 square miles surrounded by reality”.
Capital of counter culture

During World War II, the city remained buoyant as more
than 1.5 million troops passed through on their way to the
Pacific, most of them bent on having a good time before
they shipped out. After the war, a feeling of disillusionment
with the mainstream, as well as the influences of jazz and
mysticism, shaped a group of writers, artists, and agitators
who became known as the Beat Generation. With Lawrence
Ferlinghetti’s City Lights bookstore as their headquarters,
the Beats made San Francisco the nonconformist capital
of the USA. In the mid-1960s, the baton passed to the
hippies, who turned the Haight-Ashbury district into the
centre for 1967’s drugged-up, psychedelic “Summer of
Love”, soundtracked by the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and
Jefferson Airplane. The city remained radical in the 1970s San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art.
through its associations with the LGBTQ+ social movement.
In 1989, the city was hit by a terrible earthquake, almost Every block is a short story, every hill a novel.
as severe as that of 1906. Several freeways collapsed, along
with part of the Bay Bridge’s upper deck, and more than WILLIAM SAROYAN, WRITER
19,000 homes were destroyed. Again, city officials seized
the chance to improve civic facilities, notably replacing the
damaged Embarcadero Freeway, an eyesore that had Home of tech giants
divided the waterfront from downtown, with a smaller Since the 1990s, the San Francisco area has been central
boulevard and a thriving waterfront promenade and plaza. to the tech boom. The presence of global giants such as The rainbow flag was
Google, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has helped
first used as a symbol
the city attract bright young minds. San Francisco has
become a pioneer in environmental consciousness, often of LGBTQ+ pride at a
topping surveys of the greenest cities in the USA. The
1978 Gay Freedom Day
trajectory of this most unpredictable city is like one of its
famed cable cars: no one knows whether it is going to keep parade in San Francisco.
climbing or take a sudden plunge, but it’s an incredible ride.
1989 The Loma Prieta earthquake 2013 Activists protest against

hits the San Francisco Bay Area, private “tech buses” that ferry
1966 Scott McKenzie records killing 63 people and causing employees to out-of-town
San Francisco (Be Sure to over $5 billion in damages. corporate campuses, fueling
Wear Flowers in Your Hair), the feel of a divided city.
and the following year the
city leads the world into the
so-called “Summer of Love”.
A poster for concerts

held during the
Summer of Love 1978 Mayor George Moscone
and San Francisco 1995 Craigslist and eBay are
Supervisor and LGBTQ+ founded in the Bay Area.
rights activist Harvey They’re part of a major
Milk (right) are shot and dotcom boom in the region:
killed in the City Hall. Google follows in 1998.
214 MARITIME CITIES
NEW YORK CITY 215
New York City

THE BIG APPLE
In just 400 years, New York City has developed from a tiny
settlement to one of the most culturally diverse, dynamic, and
influential cities in the world – a living symbol of the USA.
The forested island of Manhattan was home to the Lenape island’s corn millers, shipbuilders, and merchants, who
people when Dutch settlers arrived on the coast in 1624. built impressive houses along an expanding network of
The Lenape grew maize to supplement their hunting and winding streets. By the 1770s, New York was North
fishing, and knew the island as manaháhtaan, or “the America’s second-largest city and was heavily taxed.
place for gathering wood to make bows”. Locals were frustrated at being taxed without having
The Dutch set up the New Amsterdam trading post, took any representation in the British Parliament, and the
over the entire island from the locals, and began to build city became one of the first to resist colonial rule.
haphazard streets of houses on its southern tip. One street, New York suffered badly in the ensuing Revolutionary
wider than the rest, followed the route of an existing Native War. The rebels held it during the conflict’s early days,
American trail: it became known as Broadway. However, but the British occupied the city, and its important
after 40 years of trading, the Dutch colonists had earned harbour, between late 1776 and 1783, when American
less profit than they had hoped for. When four hostile troops marched triumphantly back into New York.
English ships sailed into New Amsterdam’s harbour, the
Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, surrendered. In 1665,
the English renamed the city New York.
There is no place like it, no
New York prospers place within an atom of its
Under the British, New York expanded and grew wealthy.
Immigrants arrived from England, France, and Germany, glory, pride, and exultancy.
together with an increasing number of slaves from West
and Central Africa. Money poured in, especially to the WALT WHITMAN, WRITING IN THE BROOKLYN EAGLE, c. 1847
◁ NEW YORK SKYLINE, 1921

Manhattan’s distinctive skyline rises over
the harbour and the Hudson river, in one of
American painter and printmaker Joseph
Pennell’s many cityscapes.
1624 The Dutch found

1664 The English take
the settlement of New
over the settlement,
Amsterdam as a base
which consists of a
for fur traders.
few curving streets
protected by a
wall and a fort.
1524 ce Italian 1626 Dutch governor-

explorer general Peter Minuit
Giovanni da buys Manhattan from
Verrazzano the Lanape, exchanging
sails into Upper it for goods such as tools,
New York Bay. cloth, and shell beads.
216 MARITIME CITIES
▷ ELLIS ISLAND INSPECTION CARD

Immigrants passing through Ellis Island
were issued with cards like this to show
they had been vaccinated, disinfected, and
passed health inspections.
IMMIGRANTS GATHER ON DECK ▷

Many who arrived in the city by sea in the 19th
New York City’s oldest and early 20th centuries were hoping for a more
prosperous life than had been possible in Europe.
surviving building is a
Dutch timber-frame
After independence, New York continued to grow. Its newspaper, the New York Post. The city’s prosperity
house built in Canarsie, island site made it ideal for shipping. With the introduction also helped it to weather disaster. In 1835, a devastating
Brooklyn in 1652 by of steamboats, the creation of the Erie Canal in 1825, and fire wiped out much of old New York, but rebuilding was
later the railroad, transport links with the Midwest were soon underway, and this time the city benefited from a
Pieter Claesen Wyckoff.
strong, enabling trade and industry to thrive more than proper city plan. This grid of regular, standard-width
ever. Increasing wealth brought benefits such as the city’s streets and avenues began to spread across the whole of
first hospital, free state schools, and an enduring Manhattan. With great foresight, the planners left a large
tract of land free from development, and from 1858 this
became Central Park, still one of the largest city-centre
parks in the world.
Home of Liberty
New York’s harbour was the main point of entry for
immigrants from Europe. Large groups from Germany and
Ireland came in the 1840s and 1850s. Later waves arrived
from Eastern and Southern Europe, many of them leaving
famine and persecution behind, and hoping to start a new
life in a country offering freedom and opportunity. Many
started businesses, in everything from shopkeeping to
garment manufacture, adding further to the city’s growth.
New York’s inventiveness and drive was showcased at the
◁ CENTRAL PARK, c. 1903

Maurice Prendergast’s painting shows a crowd gathering on 4 July
to celebrate American Independence. The park was a popular
place for walks, carriage trips, concerts, and ice skating.
1789-90 New York City is 1823 New York City, now 1858 Central Park, 1868 Built on iron
the USA’s first national more populous than Boston designed by landscape viaducts above the
capital; the role next or Pennsylvania, becomes architect Frederick city streets, the first
passes to Philadelphia, the USA’s largest city. Law Olmsted, opens. elevated railway eases
then Washington, DC. street congestion.
By the 1850s,
around one quarter of
New York City’s population was
Irish. Many had left home due to
the Irish Potato Famine, and
settled in neighbourhoods
including the Bronx and
Lower Manhattan.
1835 The Great
Fire destroys 1853–54 A World Fair is 1870 John D.
1811 A grid plan is many city blocks staged in the specially Rockefeller
drawn up for much and hundreds built Crystal Palace founds
of Manhattan. of buildings. exhibition building. Standard Oil.
1853 World Fair, a bustling modern event that caught the
imagination of the world. By the 1890s, newcomers were
arriving via Ellis Island, sighting the Statue of Liberty as
they approached a city where fortunes could be made.
A gilded age
In the second half of the 19th century, the city’s businesses
were expanding, and merchants and tycoons – who
employed many of the new arrivals – became enormously
rich. Families like the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Carnegies
made millions from real estate, railroad-building, shipping,
and steel manufacture. The richest people built themselves
mansions on Fifth Avenue; others lived in tall terraced
houses made from distinctive brown stone. The great
tycoons were famous for their lavish lifestyles, furnishing
their homes luxuriously, throwing huge parties, and
collecting paintings and sculptures. The extravagance of
the era was reflected in Mark Twain’s 1873 novel The
Gilded Age, and the name stuck. The rich families also
benefited New York, paying for railways, museums, and
galleries, the Metropolitan Opera, and other public
buildings that gave the city a lasting legacy.
However, the city was no utopia. Some of the upper class
were corrupt – businessman and politician William “Boss”
Tweed stole vast sums of public money. New York still
suffered many social problems, with much poverty, slum
housing, and a high crime rate. By the end of the century,
the streets were so crowded with houses, shops, factories,
and offices that developers started building upwards.
Taking advantage of a large workforce and a ready supply
of steel, they began to construct skyscrapers, like the
famous Flatiron Building, that took the city to a new level.
1896 Movies are

first shown in
New York City.
1902 The Flatiron

Building, a 21-storey
skyscraper on a
narrow triangular site
1886 The Statue of Liberty, at the meeting point of
a gift from France to the Broadway and 5th
USA, is opened. Avenue, is completed.
218 MARITIME CITIES
The Cotton Club was the most

prestigious showcase for black
musical talent in New York.
CONSTANCE VALIS HILL AND GREGORY HINES, BROTHERHOOD IN RHYTHM, 2000
▷ Dorothy Dandridge sang at the Cotton Club early in her

career, before becoming a successful film actress.
△ A poster for Duke Ellington, who played

regularly at the Cotton Club during the
1920s and 30s with his orchestra.
Capital of jazz
Jazz, a Black American music born in New

Orleans, blended African and Caribbean
elements with European dance rhythms. After
World War I many jazz musicians moved to New
York City: Black musicians such as singer Cab
Calloway, trumpeter Louis Armstrong with his
Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, and bandleader
Duke Ellington played in clubs in Harlem.
Another group, The Original Dixieland Jass
Band, who came to New York from New Orleans,
were the first to make a jazz record; one of their
discs sold a million copies. Such successes
brought more people to the bars and clubs of
Harlem, and helped New York catch the eyes
and ears of the world.
△ The entrance to Harlem’s famous Cotton Club was lit with bright neon signs. The venue was
initially open only to white patrons, although the entertainers were Black jazz musicians.
1920 National Prohibition 1926 Flamboyant, corrupt 1930 The Chrysler Building, 1933 Prohibition
begins, driving the sale politician Jimmy Walker one of the world’s most comes to an end;
of alcohol underground, becomes mayor, and illicit stunning Art Deco Fiorello La Guardia
where it is controlled by “speakeasies” flourish. skyscrapers, is completed. is elected mayor.
gangsters in big cities
like New York.
1925 The first edition of the

New Yorker magazine
is published.
1936 Eleven state-of-
1929 A stock market the-art outdoor
crash leads to 1931 The 443 m swimming complexes
mass poverty and (1,454 ft) Empire are created by the
unemployment. State Building opens. city authorities.
NEW YORK CITY 219
◁ WORKERS OF AMERICA, 1930–31

One of the ten sections of Thomas Hart
Benton’s America Today. This mural celebrates
construction workers. The newly built Empire
State Building is shown in the background.
Americans, excluded from clubs and

theatres downtown, opened their
own venues, which played host to the
newest, most dynamic music of the
age – jazz. Soon, all Americans, Black
and white, were listening to jazz (see
box), and the Harlem Renaissance saw
the city’s Black poets and artists gain
recognition. New York was becoming
a world-renowned cultural capital.
The Great Depression

In 1929, the New York Stock Exchange
plummeted, and the USA was plunged
into depression. Fortunes were lost
overnight, the power of the Gilded Age
families was reduced, and countless
workers lost their jobs. Many people At the height of
The high life had to queue for benefits or food handouts, while others Prohibition, it is
As New York prospered, arts and culture flourished. squatted in shacks in Central Park, or waited hopelessly
Although there was a national ban on alcohol from 1920, for work at the docks or on construction sites. But the city estimated there were
many New Yorkers ignored it, buying drink illegally and did not lose its optimism. New Yorkers elected a reforming somewhere between
indulging their love of theatre, sports, and good food, and mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, who established public housing
20,000 and 100,000
dancing to live music. Many made fortunes, although schemes and projects to provide jobs and welfare. Tall
Prohibition also brought crime. The 1920s was a golden skyscrapers were completed, public art projects speakeasies in New York.
era of Broadway musicals, the cinema came of age, and proliferated, and many companies began to recover. When
New York set a new standard of modernity as more and a World Fair was held in 1939–40, 44 million people visited.
more skyscrapers rose into the dusty city air. Black New York was still one of the world’s greatest cities.
In the 1920s,
builders across the
USA raced to put up the 1941 The USA enters
world’s tallest building. The World War II after the
Empire State was the winner, bombing of Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii.
and remained the world’s
tallest from 1931
to 1970.
1940 Queens– 1942 Times Square,

Midtown Tunnel famous for its neon
opens, relieving signs, is blacked out to
1939 The Rockefeller congestion on test whether New York
Center is completed many bridges of City could go dark if
in Midtown. the East river. there were air raids.
△ CAMPBELL’S SOUP CANS, 1965 went up, sometimes replacing much-loved older buildings.
New York-based artist Andy Warhol produced numerous The newly important service industries boomed too,
paintings and prints inspired by items that symbolized the mass
consumer culture of 1960s America. Warhol’s vivid, almost neon especially finance, tourism, and law, fuelling rises on the
colours seemed to represent the vibrancy of New York itself. New York Stock Exchange and turning the city into one of
the world’s key financial centres. New York buzzed with
Winners and losers confidence, and its importance was confirmed when the
During World War II, New York bustled with troops and United Nations built its headquarters in the city.
incoming refugees – some 900,000 locals served in the But not everyone was a winner. Manual industries such
military. Industries from shipbuilding to garment-making as shipbuilding and dock-working, which had been so
made vital contributions to the war effort and after the war, important to New York, went into decline and many of the
the city boomed. The influx of returning GIs and the arrival city’s poor got poorer. Lower-income areas, such as the
of new immigrants created demand for housing. Robert Bronx, suffered from crime and dilapidation. Districts like
Moses led numerous projects as Construction Coordinator, Harlem, with its large Black population, had to deal with the
building new highways and bridges, as well as the Lincoln effects of segregation and police violence. In July 1964, △ WARHOL AND BASQUIAT, 1984
Two icons of New York art, Andy Warhol
Center and Shea Stadium. As a result, the construction Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant saw six nights of rioting and Jean-Michel Basquiat collaborated in
business prospered and many new glass and steel towers after police shot dead a Black student, James Powell. the 1980s and became close friends.
1955 Work begins on 1963 The elaborate 1969 The 1973 The World
the Lincoln Center, Pennsylvania Station, a Stonewall Riots Trade Center
a high-profile arts 1910 Beaux Arts building, take place in opens.
complex in a is demolished, bringing Greenwich
previously calls for the preservation Village.
run-down area. of historic landmarks.
1963 Release of
The Freewheelin’
1959 The Solomon R. Bob Dylan; the 1973 Rock club
Guggenheim Museum album cover CBGB opens in
opens in a striking new features a New 1964 Race riots break the East Village.
building designed by York street. out in Harlem and Regulars include
veteran American architect Brooklyn’s Bedford- the Ramones, Patti
Frank Lloyd Wright. Stuyvesant. Smith, and Blondie.
NEW YORK CITY 221
Once you have lived in New York and it has become

your home, no place else is good enough. All of
everything is concentrated here.
JOHN STEINBECK, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 1953
◁ WILD STYLE, 1982

A cultural capital This cult movie celebrates hip-hop, which
was born in 1970s New York. Breakdancing,
The post-war period also saw New York DJing, graffiti, and rapping were the pillars
become the Western world’s artistic of a street culture that took over the world. The 1990s sitcom
capital. Jackson Pollock produced
vibrant abstract works by dripping Friends showcased the
paint on to the canvas; Andy Warhol By the 1970s, the city’s prosperity had bustle of modern
pioneered Pop Art; while Jean-Michel plunged after richer people moved out
Manhattan to a massive
Basquiat, one of the first world- of town, taking tax revenue with them,
famous Black artists, drew on while social problems remained. The global audience –
Expressionism and street art to make city authorities took on heavy debts, although, aside from a
paintings that explored race and bringing near-bankruptcy. A large
class. New York’s music was vibrant federal loan in 1975 staved off disaster, few exterior shots, it
too. Jazz was still developing, and and the following decade saw another was filmed in a studio
the arrival of singers such as Bob boom, with state money enabling
in California.
Dylan bolstered a major folk revival. regeneration in the Bronx and other poor
Disco, punk, and hip-hop followed in later decades. neighbourhoods and the stock market fighting back. The
Greenwich Village, on the west side of Manhattan, finance and real-estate sectors did well in the 1980s, with a
became well known as a haunt of artists, bohemians, young Donald Trump making his name as a property
and other non-mainstream groups, including LGBTQ+ developer. Later, leaders such as David Dinkins, who was
people, who faced discrimination and persecution. The mayor in the early 1990s, tried to redress the city’s social
Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Village, was, like other balance by tackling racial inequality and crime. New York
LGBTQ+ venues, often raided by the police. Police still faced trials: the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center ▽ TRIBUTE IN LIGHT
violence during one such raid in July 1969 met a robust was the deadliest terrorist attack in history. Yet the city’s This installation, consisting of searchlights
resistance from the bar’s patrons and sympathisers, and spirited recovery, via rebuilding and memorials, impressed that shine upwards to form two vertical
beams, has been lit annually since 2002 to
the resulting Stonewall Riots became famous as a key the world, proving that this creative, vibrant, and optimistic commemorate those lost in the 9/11
stage in the gay rights movement. city has always bounced back. attack on the twin towers.
1990 David 2001 The World Trade 2012 Hurricane Sandy

Dinkins becomes Center is destroyed brings floods, subway
New York City’s when terrorists fly closures, and power
first Black mayor. aeroplanes into its black-outs to the city.
twin towers.
1994 Rudy Giuliani 2009 The High Line, a

1975 A financial crisis becomes mayor and park constructed on
brings the city close begins a crackdown former tracks of an
to bankruptcy. on crime. elevated railway, opens.
222 MARITIME CITIES
Havana
CITY OF COLOUR
Havana has been the gateway to Spanish America, a playground for the
US Mafia, and the capital of Fidel Castro’s socialist experiment. Its story is
a historical rollercoaster, full of drama, hardship, and glamour.
When the Spanish arrived in the late 15th century, Taíno Havana’s new defences kept out buccaneers, but proved
people occupied most of Cuba, and several Indigenous less effective against better organized European invaders.
villages existed in the region under a cacique (chief) called In 1762, during the Seven Years’ War, the British amassed
Habaguanex. Havana was founded on the western shores the largest-ever transatlantic battle fleet, capturing the
of the Puerto de Carenas in November 1519, the last of city’s Morro fort after a 44-day siege. Havana’s fall ushered
seven Spanish villas (colonial towns). This sheltered in a short but momentous 11-month British occupation,
natural harbour was to define the city. Its strategic location during which the city was opened to freer trade.
as a stop-off point for ships shuttling between Europe
and the newly colonized lands of New Spain would make Building a colonial city
the fledgling trading port rich – and highly coveted. The Spanish regained Cuba in exchange for Florida in 1763,
and embarked upon an ambitious building programme
Pirates and treasure fleets whose fruits are still visible today. The city’s Baroque
By 1550, the native population had been decimated by cathedral and the formidable ramparts of La Cabaña, then
European diseases and Spanish brutality. Meanwhile, the second-largest fort in the Americas, were erected.
a thriving Havana, its port crowded with galleons Street grids were laid out to the west incorporating new
weighed down by New World silver, became a target for inventions such as gas lighting, trams, and the electric
opportunistic pirates, among them Frenchman Jacques de telegraph, while the port was busy with sugar and tobacco.
Sores, who sacked the town in 1555, leaving most of it in Graceful buildings hosted the latest plays and a flourishing
ruins. In response, the Spanish strengthened Havana’s social scene, and Havana became known as the Paris of the
defences, building two sturdy forts to protect the jaws of Caribbean. It was largely spared during Cuba’s 19th-
the harbour and a wall 5 km (3 miles) long with nine century independence wars, but tragedy struck in 1898,
bastions and 11 heavily guarded gates. In 1592, Havana when the American battleship USS Maine mysteriously
was granted city status, and in 1607 it replaced Santiago exploded in the harbour, killing most of its crew. The
de Cuba as colonial capital. Americans blockaded Cuba, and war soon followed.
1762 Siding with France

1519 ce Havana is in the Seven Years’ War,
founded on Cuba’s the Spanish lose
north coast, as the Havana to the British.
most westerly of
the colony’s seven
original towns.
1555 The city

is attacked and
put to the torch 1768 The Santísima Trinidad –
by French pirate then the largest warship in
Jacques de Sores. the world – is built in Havana.
HAVANA 223
Havana is one of the great cities of the world, sublimely

tawdry yet stubbornly graceful, like tarnished chrome –
▽ OLD HAVANA
Havana evolved as a maritime city a city, as a young Winston Churchill once wrote, where
based around four main squares, with
muscular forts protecting an expansive
natural harbour. Neoclassical buildings “anything might happen”.
with distinctive arches and columns
were added in the 19th century. JONATHAN MILES, AMERICAN JOURNALIST, 2003
In a revolution,
one wins or dies – American power and mob rule
if it is a real one.
The Spanish-American War was short but decisive, and
proved the death knell for Spanish power in Cuba. Spain
relinquished its colony in 1898, and in 1902 Cuban
CHE GUEVARA, FAREWELL LETTER TO FIDEL CASTRO, 1965 independence was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris. Yet
Cuba was too great a prize to be left to its own devices.
The USA maintained a naval base in Guantánamo Bay, and
would influence the country – and its flourishing capital –
for decades to come.
Havana had now expanded well beyond its demolished
walls. The city spread into the former forest enclave of
Vedado and snaked west along the coast on an elegant
sea-drive where fashionable locals paraded nightly. When
an early-20th-century sugar boom gifted the government
with a seemingly bottomless pit of money, successive
presidents sponsored a grandiose construction campaign.
President Gerardo Machado was particularly influential,
commissioning extravagant buildings such as the Art Deco
Hotel Nacional, and Havana’s Neoclassical Capitolio.
But all was not well. An increasingly autocratic Machado
was forced out in 1933, and power repeatedly changed
hands until former army sergeant Fulgencio Batista
staged a coup in 1952, and promptly cut a deal with the US
Mafia, opening the Cuban capital to rampant development.
For the next seven years Havana barely slept, as millions
of American tourists flew in to savour a cocktail of casinos,
racetracks, and nightclubs. Frank Sinatra and JF. Kennedy
came along for a party that was lubricated by rum and
soundtracked by mambo and rumba.
While tourists and rich Cubans prospered, most of the
country got short shrift. Tired of corruption, angry and
alienated workers channelled their frustration through the
◁ CASTRO AND CHE GUEVARA, 1959

In January 1959, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and their army of
bearded guerrillas entered Havana to proclaim the so-called
“Triumph of the Revolution” amid a wave of popular support.
1898 The explosion of 1902 Cuba gains 1933 The overthrow

USS Maine in independence and of dictator Gerardo
Havana harbour Cuba had a railway Havana spreads west, Machado leads to a
kills 261 and leads creating the new shoot-out in Havana’s
before Spain, and was
to the Spanish- American-influenced Hotel Nacional.
American war. the first Latin American Vedado neighbourhood.
country with a track. The
1837 line linked
Havana to Bejucal.
1926–29 Havana’s domed

1853 Birth of José Martí in Havana. national assembly (Capitolio)
The poet, philosopher, and is built using money from
journalist helped inspire the Cuban Cuba’s post-World War I
independence movement. sugar boom.
HAVANA 225
In Cuba and specifically in Havana

there’s a sort of energy that turns every
situation into something unexpected.
FERNANDO PÉREZ, CUBAN FILM DIRECTOR, 2012
◁ PAISAJE DE LA HABANA, 1961

René Portocarrero was a self-taught Modernist
artist active between 1934 and 1985. His Officially known as San
abstract cityscapes of Havana in the 1950s
and 60s burst with tropical colour. Cristóbal de la Habana,
Havana is named after
nationalist cause of Fidel Castro, who emerged from Cuba’s and healthcare. As Cuban-American relations soured
Saint Christopher, the
eastern mountains with Argentinian doctor-turned-soldier and the US trade embargo, first instituted by President patron saint of
Che Guevara to march on Havana. Castro’s revolutionaries Kennedy in 1960, was tightened, ordinary people suffered.
travellers, and
arrived in January 1959 to virtually no opposition as Batista Many left, some sailing on flimsy rafts to the US. This
and the Mafia, realizing history was against them, had economic stagnation protected Havana’s historic streets Habaguanex, a Taíno
packed their bags and fled. The revolutionaries celebrated from development, but also ensured their neglect. A city chief who was active in
their victory in the Havana Hilton, and a new age dawned. that had once been defined by trade metamorphosed into
a stuck-in-time museum replete with crumbling buildings the area when the
Socialist Havana and antediluvian American cars, although jazz, salsa, and Spanish arrived.
Castro’s reign as prime minister and president lasted 50 street art continued to flourish.
years, and profoundly shaped Havana. With the capitalist Keen to alleviate its economic woes, the government
world held at arm’s length, the city took a unique path welcomed a new wave of tourists from Europe and Canada
through the modern age. in the 1990s, beginning Havana’s rehabilitation. Today, with
Its development was bureaucracy relaxed and restaurants
put on hold as thriving, Old Havana is a romantic
the government and atmospheric place; its graceful
concentrated on squares and cobbled streets partially
national issues such as restored and enjoying a second life, its
inequality, education, resolute spirit undimmed.
1982 Old Havana is 2011 A loosening of restrictions

made a UNESCO on private enterprise sees a
World Heritage Site, blossoming of Havana’s
accelerating the long-neglected restaurant scene.
1952 A coup by Fulgencio process of historical
Batista opens Havana to restoration.
the Mafia, gambling,
and mass US tourism.
1991 Collapse of the 2016 US president

1959 Fidel Castro enters Soviet Union and Barack Obama
Havana and sets up a beginning of the makes a historic visit
temporary government “special period”, a to Havana, but does not
headquarters in the decade of austerity meet Fidel Castro, who
Havana Hilton. and shortages. dies later in the year.
226 MARITIME CITIES
BUENOS AIRES 227
Buenos Aires
LA REINA DEL PLATA (“THE QUEEN OF SILVER”)
Proud, self-assured Buenos Aires is a vibrant mix of European splendour
and Latin exuberance. This grand port city gave birth to the tango, and its
culture and architecture have been shaped by waves of immigrants.
Hundreds of years before the arrival of the Spanish,

Indigenous Querandí and Charrúa people lived in nomadic
tented camps across the grasslands of southeastern South
America, catching fish and hunting deer, guanacos, and rhea.
The Spanish arrived in what is now Peru in the 1530s,
and were captivated by the nearby gold and silver, but the
land to the south initially held little interest. Explorer Pedro
de Mendoza founded a settlement called Santa María del
Buen Ayre on the southern shores of the La Plata river in
1536. But it was crippled by lack of food and conflict with
the Querandí, who used their hunting bolas (throwing
weapons) in battle against the Spanish cavalry.
Isolated outpost △ CITY MAP OF BUENOS AIRES, 18TH CENTURY

A second, more successful attempt was made in 1580. Buenos Aires’ rigid street grid dates back to the city’s
Conquistador Juan de Garay sailed downriver from foundation in the late 16th century.
Asunción and set up a town that became a nexus for beef
and contraband. But, with commerce channeled through much of the southern half of South America. Increasingly
Lima, Buenos Aires remained a backwater. Its fortunes pushed to the margins, the Querandí and Charrúa retreated
were turned around in 1776, when it became capital of the inland or took jobs on ranches. In the city, the loosening of
new Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata, which encompassed laws encouraged trade, and the economy grew.
◁ A FESTIVE PLAZA DE MAYO

The monumental Plaza de Mayo during a
1910 festival celebrating the centenary of
the May Revolution, in which Argentina
gained its independence from Spain.
1580 Buenos Aires is

established for
1516 Iberian explorer Juan Díaz de the second time
Solís, the first European to explore by Spaniard
the La Plata river, meets local Juan de Garay.
resistance and is killed, either by
the Charrúa, or the northern
Guaraní people.
1776 Buenos Aires is made

1536 The first European capital of the Viceroyalty of
settlement in the area is Río de la Plata (containing
established by Pedro de most of present-day
Mendoza, but is abandoned Argentina, Chile, Bolivia,
only five years later. Paraguay, and Uruguay).
228 MARITIME CITIES
◁ THE MAY REVOLUTION

This commemorative postcard shows the personalities
involved in the 1810 May Revolution and its aftermath,
including general and war hero José de San Martín;
Cornelio Saavedra, the country’s first president; and
Manuel Belgrano, creator of the Argentinian flag.
The city matures

In the decades that followed, Buenos Aires grew
rich thanks to its vibrant port. As the city spread
from its riverside hub, distinct neighbourhoods
developed in the growing suburbs, anchored
around gossip-filled pulperías (taverns and
stores). But tensions rose between the free-
trading city, and the stagnating provinces.
In 1852, Buenos Aires seceded from the
confederation, and functioned for nine years as
a de facto independent state. Order was only
restored in 1861, when Buenos Aires’ troops
defeated the Argentine Army to win the Battle
of Pavón, and the city was reinstated as capital,
its dominance assured.
War and independence A golden age dawns

Despite increasing prosperity, years of isolation had fueled From the late 19th century, Buenos Aires prevailed as
bitterness among the city’s inhabitants. When the British Argentina’s magnetic main city; a proud metropolis whose
attacked in 1806 and 1807, they were driven back not by the personality reflected its location between grasslands and
Spanish army, but by local militias, their victory adding to a river estuary: dockers crammed the port, while ranchers
sense of empowerment. After the Spanish monarchy was supplied the burgeoning steakhouses and fanned an
deposed by Napoleon in 1808, Buenos Aires’ criollos (Latin emerging equestrian culture. Its mix of cultures spawned a
Americans with Spanish ancestry) replaced their viceroy hot new dance called tango (see box) and writers like Jorge
with a locally elected junta. The May Revolution of 1810 Luis Borges. The physical landscape of the city changed
triggered a protracted liberation struggle and, in 1816, the too. Much of Buenos Aires’ architecture dates from the era
region declared its independence. After a brief beginning in the 1880s, when idealistic architects used
spell as capital of the United Provinces of the the capital’s ever-expanding street grid as a blank
Río de la Plata, in 1831 the city became canvas for creations such as the Eclectic Casa
capital of the Argentine Confederation, Rosada, the Neoclassical National Congress
a precursor to the modern state. building, and the Beaux-Arts City Hall.
1816 Buenos Aires 1852 Buenos Aires province

becomes capital of the effectively secedes from
newly independent Argentina and becomes an
United Provinces of independent republic.
the Río de la Plata.
1810 The May Revolution ousts

imperial administrators from
the city, which sets up its own
ruling junta. Two years later, 1821 Buenos Aires University,
José de San Martín is charged Argentina’s top educational
with protecting the city. establishment, is founded.
It lists 17 former Argentinian
presidents among its alumni.
BUENOS AIRES 229
Tango was an immigrant

music, so it does not have
a nationality. Its only
passport is feeling.
CARLOS GAVITO, ARGENTINIAN DANCER
The tango has its roots among the poor and dispossessed of
The roots of tango
Buenos Aires. It was born in the brothels and dive bars of the
working-class immigrant neighbourhoods of La Boca and
Barracas in the late 19th century, a cultural collision of candombe
(a dance developed by the descendants of African slaves in
Uruguay) and European polka dances and minuets. Considered
the music of immigrants in its early years, it was later
appropriated by the bohemian
upper class, who introduced it to
Paris and New York in the 1910s,
where it became an instant
sensation. These days, tango’s
sensuous moves and graceful
athleticism are widely appreciated
everywhere from expensive dinner
shows to private dance schools,
not just in Buenos Aires, but all
over the world.
◁ French-born Carlos Gardel

(1890–1935), nicknamed “the
song thrush”, was a tango
△ Tango’s intimate embraces were initially considered vulgar by the establishment, singer extraordinaire whose
and the dance was not seen as respectable until it became popular in Europe. music helped define the art.
1861 With Buenos Aires’ 1898 The Casa Rosada,

victory over the Argentine the ornate office of the
Confederation in the Battle Argentinian president, is
of Pavón, the city becomes officially inaugurated.
the nation’s capital again,
Mass immigration and dominates the new
meant that by the late administration.
1870s, half of Buenos Aires’
population was foreign-born,
the majority of them
Spanish and Italian. Argentinian postal stamp
featuring Jorge Luis Borges
1858 Café Tortoni 1882 After a general
opens. This elegant, strike, the Italian La
iconic coffee house Boca neighbourhood
becomes a tango venue, briefly secedes from 1899 The great Argentinian
a haunt of writers, and a Argentina and flies writer Jorge Luis Borges is
hive of city gossip. the Genovese flag. born in Buenos Aires.
△ EVA PERÓN AT A RALLY, c. 1952 Between 1870 and 1910, Buenos Aires’ population grew vast civic projects such as the building of the Teatro Colón
Eva Perón’s huge popularity was reflected an astronomical 786 per cent, thanks largely to mass opera house in 1908 and the opening of the subway (the
in outdoor speeches in which she
addressed thousands of supporters, immigration from Spain and Italy. The demographic boom first in South America) earned Buenos Aires the moniker
many of them drawn from the city’s ushered in a golden age, and the new arrivals helped give “the Paris of South America”.
working classes, in the Plaza de Mayo. Buenos Aires a discernible Southern European flavour.
By the advent of World War I, Argentina was one of the Juan and Eva Perón
10 richest countries in the world, and its illustrious capital However, fraud and corruption at high levels, as well as
was a breeding ground for art and fashion. Never shy in periods of social unrest, meant Buenos Aires was often
expressing their views, its self-assured residents were less enlightened than it looked. And for all its riches, the
celebrated for being extroverted and sophisticated. city was still peripheral on the world stage. Change came
The growth of individual wealth saw the expansion of in 1946, when General Juan Perón rose to power on a tidal
rich suburbs, like the Barrio Norte, punctuated with wave of working-class populism. Perón built his political
French-style mansions and smart polo clubs. Elsewhere, base among the city’s urban poor – migrant workers
1913 The Subte subway 1936 A giant obelisk is raised 1951 A crowd of up to two
opens. It is the first on Avenida 9 de Julio to million gather on Avenida
underground railway in celebrate the 400th 9 de Julio to implore
Latin America. anniversary of the Eva Perón to run as
city’s founding. Vice President.
Adolf Eichmann
and an estimated 300
other Nazis took exile in
1910 In Argentina’s centennial Argentina after World War II.
year, Buenos Aires enters its Eichmann lived in Buenos
golden age with elegant
Aires for eight years.
new buildings such as the
Galería Güemes. 1925 A new port facility,
the Puerto Nuevo,
opens in the city’s
Retiro neighbourhood.
BUENOS AIRES 231
PUENTE DE LA MUJER ▷
The opening of this landmark pedestrian bridge
in 2001 helped promote Buenos Aires as a
slick, modern 21st-century city.
who had flocked to Buenos Aires since

the early 1930s to live in crowded villas
miserias, or shanty towns. He initiated huge
infrastructure projects, investing heavily in
railways, hydroelectric dams, hospitals,
schools, and public-sector homes.
Perón’s appeal was augmented by his
wife Eva (also known as Evita), an actress
from a poor village in the Pampas, whose
empathetic speeches to crowds of adoring
descamisados (“shirtless ones”) quickly
morphed into mass rallies. Eva Perón helped
make Buenos Aires world famous.
Highs and lows

By the late 20th century, Buenos Aires, like the wider Democracy returned in the 1990s, and Buenos Aires
nation, was stuttering. In 1976, a right-wing military junta entered the 21st century in the midst of a regeneration
overthrew the government, and the next seven years were project on a scale not seen since the 1880s. The focus was In Puerto Madero, every
marred by state violence and repression as the military Puerto Madero, a neglected port area that was ingeniously street is named after a
hunted down and killed their opposition in the Guerra Sucia replanted with residential skyscrapers and ritzy cultural
(“dirty war”). Eva Perón’s exuberant rallies were replaced by facilities. Despite an economic meltdown in 2001, the city woman, from activist
vigils held by the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, the mothers of managed to cling onto its vivacious spirit with a dynamic Azucena Villaflor to
left-wing radicals who had been killed or “disappeared”. new dining scene and a resurgent interest in tango.
writer Juana Manso.
Football, which had been brought to Argentina by Buenos Aires may have suffered ups and downs since
British immigrants in the 1860s, offered some respite, the days of colonization and independence, but it has
with glory in the form of World Cup wins in 1978, when never lost its poise or passion.
Buenos Aires hosted the
final, and in 1986, when
local son Diego Maradona
brought the trophy back
If I have to apply five turns to the screw
from Mexico.
each day for the happiness of Argentina,
I will do it.
EVA PERÓN
1960 Diego Maradona,
one of the world’s
greatest footballers, is 1999 Work begins to regenerate the
born. He grows up in degraded Puerto Madero area with
the poor suburb of hotels, cultural centres, offices,
Villa Fiorito. theatres, and restaurants.
2013 Local-born Cardinal Jorge

Mario Bergoglio becomes Pope
1978 Argentina, playing at home, Francis. He is the first South
win the World Cup for the first American pope and the
time, at Buenos Aires’ first pontiff from outside
El Monumental stadium. Europe since 741 CE.
232 MARITIME CITIES
MORE GREAT CITIES

Jewish community in Europe after
London and Paris. A reputation for
criminality has been tempered in
the 21st century by massive
investment, and today, Marseille
influential band in history, but long creativity known as the Danish is said to have the most museums
Belfast before the Reds or the Beatles, the Golden Age, which brought a in France after Paris.
city was one of the world’s most Neoclassical look to the city’s
Titanic City
important trading ports. Its architecture. Since 2000, the
In the 19th century, Belfast was growth was fuelled by Britain’s Danish capital has been connected Naples
one of the great shipbuilding ports, 19th-century Industrial Revolution to the Swedish city of Malmö by City of the Sun
assembling the vessels that and trade in coal and cotton. The the 15-km (9-mile) Øresund
maintained Britain’s empire. The port was also the major point of Bridge, cementing Copenhagen’s First settled by Greeks in the
city’s modern origins date to 1611, departure for emigrants to North role as a cultural and geographic 1st millennium bce, Naples
when Baron Chichester built a America. This history is reflected link between the Nordic countries is one of the world’s oldest
castle on the Lagan river. By the in a wealth of imposing buildings, and the rest of Europe. continuously inhabited cities and
17th century, the castle was gone, notably the 1911 Royal Liver has been the site of a commercial
but Belfast was a centre for the Building that dominates the city’s port since the 9th century bce.
linen industry, and a busy port, waterfront, and the rich diversity Marseille It was conquered by the Romans,
and then, with the Industrial of its opulation today. The Phocean City followed by the Ostrogoths and
Revolution, came shipbuilding. Byzantines, and was later
When Ireland was divided in 1921, The port of Marseille is one of the governed by Normans, Swabians,
the city became capital of Northern Copenhagen oldest cities in Europe, founded in Angevins, Spanish, Austrians, and
Ireland, but was blighted by years City of Spires about 600 bce and known to the French, only becoming part of the
of sectarian violence. Since the Greeks as Massalia. It was an Kingdom of Italy in 1861. This
1998 peace accord, Belfast has One of Europe’s smaller capitals, important trading point between tumultuous history and exchange
blossomed, attracting visitors to Copenhagen punches well above the ancient civilizations of the of cultures is reflected in the rich
Titanic Belfast, a museum to the its weight, particularly in regard to Mediterranean and northern fabric of the city. At the same
city’s most famous creation. environmental issues and the Europe and has retained that role time, with its densely packed,
wellbeing of its citizens. From its even today, which explains its size ungentrified old quarter of narrow
origins as a Viking fishing village, as the second-largest city in alleys and weathered facades, no
Liverpool established in the 10th century, France. Its status as a major port other city feels quite so “Italian”.
it rose to become capital of in the Mediterranean has also Naples is also the home of pizza,
World Capital of Pop
Denmark in the early 15th century. made it a natural centre for as well as several other epicurian
In the 21st century, Liverpool’s Much of the city dates to the early immigration; the city has a highlights, but arguably its best
fame rests on its red-shirted 19th century, when Copenhagen sizeable population with African asset is the magnificent view of
football club and the most experienced a period of cultural heritage, and the third-largest the city from the water.
△ Copenhagen An 18th-century lithograph showing the busy port. △ Naples Mount Vesuvius looms over the Bay of Naples.
to play an important role as a village in Spain, Valparaíso

Lagos hub for land, sea, and river-canal Cartagena flourished as a stopover for ships
Las Gidi transportation, during which Heroic City
rounding South America via the
time it was known as the “Nation’s Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn.
Its name meaning “lakes” in Kitchen” for its role in distributing Founded by the Spanish in 1533 International immigration graced
Portuguese, Lagos originated as rice. Numerous global companies, on the Caribbean coast of what the city with European architecture
home of the Yoruba people and such as Panasonic, Sanyo, and is now Colombia, Cartagena was and public institutions. The
later a port, becoming a key Sharp, are headquartered in once among the most important opening of the Panama Canal in
centre during the years of British modern Osaka. The city is also trading ports in the Americas, 1914 set back the local economy
colonial rule. From 1914, when known for its food scene and has connecting Spain with its New but modern Valparaíso is a major
Nigeria came into being, until 1991 been feted as one of the world’s World empire. The city was educational and cultural centre.
it was capital. While no longer the culinary capitals. fortified with walls of mined coral
seat of political power, Lagos is and a castle to defend against
the most populous city in Nigeria pirates, and adorned with Rio de Janeiro
(and second-largest in Africa) and Vancouver cathedrals and churches to
Marvellous City
the country’s economic and Rain City spread the Catholic faith. This
cultural centre, famous for its impressive architectural heritage Although neither its country’s
entrepreneurial spirit, music scene, Set amid snow-capped mountains is now preserved as a UNESCO capital nor its largest city, Rio de
movie industry, and nightlife – as on an ocean inlet on Canada’s World Heritage Site. Although only Janeiro is emblematic of Brazil.
well as its permanently gridlocked Pacific coast, Vancouver benefits the fifth-largest city in Colombia, Its spectacular natural setting,
traffic. The city sprawls around a from a picturesque setting. The Cartagena’s historic beauty, its squeezed between mountains
lagoon and several islands, and to region around it was inhabited by proximity to beaches, its citizens’ and sea, its beaches, such as
its approximately 21 million Indigenous Coast Salish people zest for life, and a charm that was Copacabana and Ipanema, the
residents, Lagos is Nigeria. when Europeans set up a trading an inspiration for writer Gabriel highly distinctive Sugarloaf
post, Fort Langley, in 1827. The García Márquez, mean that the Mountain, and the statue of Christ
mid-19th-century Gold Rush city exerts an influence that far the Redeemer are national icons.
Osaka brought thousands of hopeful exceeds its modest size. Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese,
City of Water arrivals and the settlement was Rio prospered when gold and
founded as a city in 1886, named diamonds were discovered inland
If Tokyo is the glittering capital after English navigator George Valparaíso in the late 17th century, and
and Kyoto the city of temples and Vancouver. The city developed shipped out through its port. It
Jewel of the Pacific
culture, Osaka is Japan’s gritty, as Canada’s main Pacific port, was the capital of Brazil until the
hard-working, commercial and and with trade has come an Chile’s fifth-largest city is a founding of Brasília in 1960. Even
industrial third city. As Naniwa, it influx of East Asian immigrants. major seaport in the South Pacific. though the politicians have left,
was Japan’s capital, from 645 to Vancouver’s rich mix of nationalities Founded in 1536 by conquistador Rio de Janeiro remains one of
665 ce. When the imperial court has made the city one of Canada’s Juan de Saavedra, who named the the most naturally beautiful and
moved to Kyoto, Osaka continued most cosmopolitan. new settlement after his native culturally vibrant cities in the world.
△ Osaka The port of Osaka is Japan’s principal seaport. △ Rio de Janeiro The statue of Christ the Redeemer stands atop Mount Corcovado.
Washington, DC p.258 St Petersburg p.236
Philadelphia
Edinburgh
Palmanova
Valletta
Alexandria
Baghdad
La Plata
Brasília p.264 Isfahan p.242

Kyoto p.252
CITIES BY DESIGN
Chandigarh
Jaipur
Canberra
CHAPTER 4
Singapore p.246
236 CITIES BY DESIGN
St Petersburg
WINDOW ON EUROPE
Inauspiciously sited on a boggy delta, St Petersburg was conceived
and built as Peter the Great’s vision for a new capital. It has long held
a reputation as Russia’s most cultured and sophisticated city.
In the early 17th century, the region around what would

become St Petersburg fell into Swedish hands. A century St Petersburg, the most
later, determined to establish a northern port for his
empire, Russia’s ambitious young ruler Peter I (“the Great”) abstract and intentional city
captured the strategically important Nyenschantz fortress
from the Swedes. Here, he decided to build a new city, on the entire globe.
named in honour of his patron saint, St Peter.
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY, NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND, 1864
A city rises
A modernizing, Western-oriented leader, Peter wanted his
new city to be his “window on Europe”. Inspired by Venice After Peter’s death in 1725, his successors continued to
and Amsterdam, canals were to be its main arteries and, extend the city. Especially influential was the extravagant
in contrast to Moscow’s organic structure, the layout was Empress Anna, under whom the imperial court began to
planned from the outset: Peter wanted straight streets and look and feel very similar to those of Western Europe, with
buildings made of stone. Architects and craftsmen were fashion and ballet imported from France and opera from
drawn from far and wide to realize his vision. Yet conditions Italy. Her successor was the astute Elizabeth. Similarly
for the 40,000 serfs brought in to drain the marshy land and Europhile, Elizabeth’s tastes favoured the Baroque, and
dig the canals were appalling, and the death toll led to the she employed the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli
later claim that the city was built on human bones. In 1712, to redesign the riverside Winter Palace on a lavish,
Peter moved the capital to St Petersburg, and two years monumental scale. Like Anna, Elizabeth also encouraged
later the Summer Palace, the city’s first, was finished. the arts, setting up the Russian Academy of Arts in 1757.
Plan of Peter’s idealized

city, c. 1720
1730 Empress Anna

comes to the throne
and promotes Western
1712 Never a fan
European culture.
of Moscow,
Peter declares
St Petersburg his
new capital, while
the city continues to
take shape.
1754 Work starts on the

1721 The city legally becomes enlarged, opulent Winter
1703 Peter the Great founds part of Russia, after Sweden Palace, masterpiece
St Petersburg, initially as a cedes sovereignty at the of the Italian architect
fortress and naval base. Peace of Nystad. Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
ST PETERSBURG 237
▽ WINTER PALACE BY NIGHT, 1857

Now part of the Hermitage Museum, the Winter Palace was the
official home of Russia’s rulers from 1732 to 1917. Originally
built for Peter the Great, it was reconstructed for Empress
Elizabeth to show off Russia’s imperial might.
Although born in Prussia, the daughter of a

German prince, Catherine the Great had lived for
years in Russia by the time she succeeded her
husband, the boorish Peter III, as ruler in 1762.
Intelligent and ambitious, Catherine expanded
her empire and pushed through much-needed
reform, modernizing the administration and
presiding over a period in which St Petersburg
took its place at the heart of European culture.
She continued the work of her predecessors in
Catherine the Great
inviting the best artists and architects of

Western Europe to the capital, building the
Neoclassical Marble Palace for her lover Grigory
Orlov, extending the royal residence at Tsarskoe
Selo (just outside the city), and ordering the
addition of the Hermitage wing to the Winter
Palace to house her growing collection of
books and paintings. A firm follower of
Enlightenment philosophy, with its
emphasis on reason, she also
founded the Smolny Institute
– Russia’s first educational
establishment for women –
and the country’s first
public library.
◁ For this 1770 portrait by court

painter Fyodor Rokotov, Catherine
posed in traditional Russian dress.
◁ Catherine ordered an exact copy of Raphael’s

Vatican loggias for her Hermitage collection.
1762 Catherine II 1812 Russians defeat 1851 The railway line

(“the Great”) Napoleon’s invading linking Moscow
begins her army; Alexander I and St Petersburg
34-year reign orders a new public opens; the New
as empress. 1789 The Neoclassical building campaign Hermitage
Academy of Sciences in celebration. is completed.
building is completed on
the Neva waterfront.
Mammoth
skeleton, Academy
of Sciences 1825 Rebels agitating for
a constitutional
1764 The Smolny monarchy are shot
Institute for Noble dead in Peter’s Square
Maidens is founded in (now Senate Square) in
St Petersburg. the Decembrist Revolt.
By the time Catherine the Great came to power in 1762, ▷ OCTOBER REVOLUTION
an unpromising, mosquito-infested swamp had been The Bolsheviks’ storming of the
Winter Palace in October 1917
transformed into the showpiece capital of Peter’s attacked the core of imperial
imagination: an elegant city of bridges and islands, power. It proved a pivotal
studded with fine churches and grand waterfront palaces. moment in Russian history.
During Catherine’s reign, underpinned by the wealth of

the expanding empire, it evolved into one of the great
cultural centres of Europe (see box). Catherine also In 1861, the emancipation
greatly influenced the look of the capital, overseeing a of the serfs broke
shift from Baroque to a more restrained Neoclassical style. the bonds between
Russia’s peasants and
A Russian culture their landlords. Many
In the early 19th century, wars with Napoleon threatened moved to cities such as
the peace of the capital, but Russia (helped by the bitterly St Petersburg, to work in
cold weather) managed to hold back the French. After the textile and metalworking
defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I ordered a vast construction factories. Russia’s industry
programme in the French-influenced “Empire” style, shown developed quickly, helped
in grand edifices such as the Russian Museum building by newly built railways, but
and Kazan Cathedral. Yet a distinctly Russian culture also while some workers
began to emerge. The poet Alexander Pushkin founded the prospered many found they
influential literary and political magazine The Contemporary had to put up with squalid
in 1836, and novelists Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky housing, with little prospect of change under their
found inspiration in the city. In the other arts, St Petersburg autocratic rulers. The capital became a breeding ground
was developing an increasingly Russian outlook as a for revolutionary politics. Rebels assassinated Alexander II Opened in 1860,
revival of traditional Russian architecture – seen in in 1881, and a revolution in 1905 led to the creation of
the Mariinsky Theatre
buildings like the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, Russia’s first parliament, the Duma. A wave of patriotism
with its striking multicoloured domes – gathered strength. greeted Russia’s entry into World War I as citizens rallied hosted world premieres
to the imperial cause, but by 1916, with morale shattered of Tchaikovsky’s The
Three revolutions by horrifying war losses, the streets of the city (now
The city kept its reputation for luxury, especially among renamed Petrograd) once more rang with calls for rebellion.
Sleeping Beauty and The
the aristocracy. However, courtiers in the finest furs and Violent clashes in February 1917 led to the abdication of Nutcracker, Prokofiev’s
immaculately booted officers were jostled on the streets Emperor Nicholas II, but the new provisional government’s
Romeo and Juliet, and
by beggars in rags and down-at-heel servants and failure to end the war fed support for more radical change.
workers. It was a place of In October 1917, Bolshevik Aram Khachaturian’s
extreme social contrasts, revolutionaries (the “Reds”) Spartacus.
where some ate caviar and stormed the Winter Palace and
others lacked even bread. removed the government.
1866 Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1914 On the outbreak 1917 The imperial regime
Crime and Punishment is of World War I, falls in March; eight
published; set in crowded St Petersburg’s name months later, Bolsheviks
taverns and gloomy is changed to Petrograd seize power by storming
tenements, the novel to make it sound the Winter Palace.
reflects the city’s less Germanic.
impoverished side.
1883 Construction of the Church 1916 The Fabergé

of the Saviour on Spilled 1905 The Bloody Sunday company produces
Blood begins on the site of massacre of peaceful the last of its series of
Alexander II’s murder. demonstrators sparks imperial Easter eggs.
a wave of strikes and
mutinies, leading to the
foundation of the first Fabergé’s Lilies of
Duma (parliament). the Valley egg
◁ THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD
Many of the civilian casualties of the
Siege of Leningrad suffered from
starvation, particularly during the
harsh winter of 1941–42.
capital to Moscow. As the country’s

opposing factions became engulfed
in a bitter civil war, the city remained
under Bolshevik control, fiercely
defended by Lenin’s Red Army. But
the war’s effect on the city was
devastating. Thousands died as part
of the nationwide wave of mass
executions known as the “Red
Terror”, as the Bolsheviks brutally
suppressed all opposition, and with
the economy grinding to a halt many
more died of starvation. By 1920, the
population had shrunk by two-thirds,
to around 750,000. Recovery set in
after the Bolshevik victory, and on
Lenin’s death in 1924 the new Soviet Union‘s second city
I thought of every uneaten bowl of soup, every was renamed Leningrad in his honour.
crust of bread thrown away, every potato Leningrad
peeling, with… remorse and despair.

The city grew rapidly in the 1920s as it served at the
forefront of the Soviet industrial programme, and the
expanding suburbs were filled with utilitarian mass
DMITRI LIKHACHEV, SOVIET DISSIDENT, ON THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD
housing for the workers. But the assassination of the
Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergei Kirov in 1934
As the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, ended Russia’s commenced another tragic chapter. Lenin’s successor, the
involvement in World War I and secured their grip on authoritarian Joseph Stalin, used Kirov’s murder (widely
power, a loose counterrevolutionary coalition of moderate believed to have been ordered by Stalin himself) as a
republicans and staunch pro-monarchists (the “Whites”) pretext to unleash another wave of violent purges. Leningrad,
mobilized in opposition to the new regime, with as home of the alleged opposition, was particularly brutally
international support. Fearing a German targeted. Those branded as “enemies of the people” –
attack on Petrograd, Lenin moved the including many of the city’s political and military elite –
1934 Sergei Kirov, 1936 Stalin’s Great Purge

the Communist of wealthy peasants,
Party leader ethnic minorities, and
in Leningrad, is political opponents begins.
1919 In the Battle
assassinated.
of Petrograd, the
Red Army led by Red Army propaganda
Leon Trotsky fends poster, with the slogan
off the forces of “We will not give up
the Whites. Petrograd”, 1919
1924 Petrograd is
renamed Leningrad
1918 Russia after the death of Lenin.
descends into 1941–44 From 8
civil war; September 1941 to 27
Moscow Statue of Lenin January 1944 (a total
becomes the in Lenin Square of 872 days), the Nazis
capital. blockade Leningrad.
ST PETERSBURG 241
were arrested and sent to forced labour camps, and many City of the future △ FONTANKA EMBANKMENT
were killed. Those who could, escaped to freedom in Reconstruction took decades. Large-scale new housing The writers Alexander Pushkin, Ivan
Turgenev, and Anna Akhmatova are
Western Europe or the USA. They left behind a city in which was built on the city fringes, and the metro, begun before among the many cultural figures who
spying and persecution were rife, and fear was universal. the war, reached completion in 1955. But despite productive have lived in the elegant 18th- and
In a depleted state following Stalin’s purges, the Red industries, such as engineering, metalworking, and 19th-century palaces and houses
flanking the Fontanka river.
Army was ill-prepared when the Soviet Union entered shipbuilding, Leningrad remained underfunded in favour of
World War II and Leningrad found itself encircled by Nazi the capital, with a wide gap between rich and poor. As the
forces. The 28-month blockade was one of the greatest sclerotic Soviet system veered towards collapse in the late
tragedies of the war, with supplies of food and fuel cut off 1980s, city dwellers took advantage of their new freedoms,
and conditions almost unbearable in the severe cold of holding vast demonstrations to expedite its demise.
winter. At least 670,000 civilians lost their lives, and by Although inequality remains a serious issue, the 21st
1944 the city lay in ruins. The exceptional bravery and century has seen huge growth in the economy and urban
suffering of ordinary men and women during the siege regeneration. And as eyecatching new buildings take their
led to Leningrad being awarded the accolade of the Soviet place alongside the beautifully restored grandes dames of
Union’s first “Hero City”, but that was not enough to stop old, this richly historical city is embracing the future with
further Stalinist purges in the post-war period. as much vigour as at any time in its past.
1991 The Soviet Union is

dissolved; the people of
Leningrad vote to restore
1942 Dmitri Shostakovich’s the name St Petersburg.
stirring 7th Symphony (the 2019 The 87-storey Lakhta
“Leningrad”) helps inspire Centre, at 462 m (1,516 ft)
resistance while the city Europe’s tallest building,
is under siege. is completed.
1948–50 During the

“Leningrad Affair” many
members of the city’s 2008 The Constitutional
government are arrested Court of Russia moves
on false charges; some to St Petersburg
are executed. from Moscow.
ISFAHAN 243
Isfahan
HALF THE WORLD
Four hundred years ago, as the glittering capital of Safavid Persia
(now Iran), Isfahan was larger than London, more cosmopolitan than
Paris, and more beautiful than Rome.
History is full of instances of kings, emperors, sultans, and the Persian Buyid dynasty and then the Seljuk Turks.
shahs commissioning imposing monuments and palaces, After the fall of the Seljuks it declined, but visiting in 1327
but rarely has their ambition stretched to creating an entire the great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta could still remark that,
city. Such was the achievement of Shah Abbas, the Persian “The city of Isfahan is one of the largest and fairest of
monarch who in just 30 years, from 1598 to 1629, cities, but it is now in ruins for the greater part.” The ruin
established a glorious new capital that inspired the rhyming was caused by the Mongols, who had launched repeated
proverb “Isfahan nesf-e jahan”, or “Isfahan, half the world”. attacks in the 13th century. Worse was to come: in 1387,
Isfahan surrendered to the Mongol warlord Timur. The
A city of lost heads Isfahanis revolted and, in retribution, Timur ordered a
Isfahan predated Abbas: historians suggest that when massacre of its residents. His soldiers killed 70,000
Cyrus the Great, the founder of the first Persian Empire, citizens and built 28 towers out of their heads.
captured Babylon in the 6th century bce and declared that
its Jews could return to Jerusalem, some of them instead
chose to settle in Isfahan. The city was conquered by
Islamic armies in 642 ce and grew to prosperity under first
The epitome of the world is
Iran, the epitome of Iran
◁ MASJID-E SHAH
Shah Abbas conceived his immense public mosque to be without is Isfahan.
equal. Referring to the most sacred site in Mecca, its foundation
inscription reads, “A second Kaaba has been built”. MULLAH SALIH QAZVINI, 17TH-CENTURY PERSIAN SCHOLAR
642 ce A Muslim Arab 1051 Toghril Beg, founder of

army captures the the Turkic Seljuk dynasty,
town and makes it makes Isfahan his capital.
a regional capital.
1387 Turkic-Mongol
warlord Timur captures
and plunders Isfahan, then
slaughters its citizens.
559 bce A town called

Gabae exists on 1072 The reign of Malik Shah I
the future site of Seljuk ceramic bowl, 12th–13th century begins. He commissions the
Isfahan during the Masjid-e Jami, the city’s oldest
Achaemenid era. surviving mosque.
△ SHEIKH LOTFOLLAH MOSQUE
Once the preserve of the royal court, the
Lotfollah Mosque is decorated inside and
out with multicoloured patterned tiling.
△ MAYDAN-E NAQSH-E JAHAN Safavid glories seat of Safavid power southeast to Isfahan. There,
In the time of Shah Abbas, this vast square The Safavids were followers of the teachings of celebrated he planned to create a capital that would exemplify the
(shown here in the 1840s) was used to
host horse-racing, polo matches, and Sufi ascetic Sheikh Safi-al-Din, from whom they took their greatness of the Safavid Empire. Rather than remodel the
other festivities. Anchored by the Masjid-e name. They originated in northwestern Iran and following a existing city, he laid out a new city beside the old, between
Shah mosque, it was also a shopping hub, series of victories on the battlefield, their leader, Ismail, a the extant walls and the Zayanderud river.
with exotic goods from the Silk Road laid
out on merchants’ stalls. 14-year-old descendent of the sheikh, proclaimed himself
shah (king) in 1501. Abbas, who came to power in 1588 Image of the World Square
at the age of 17, was the fifth of the Safavid shahs. His The focal point for the new city was a vast public plaza,
predecessors had ruled first from Tabriz and then Qazvin, the Maydan-e Naqsh-e Jahan (“image of the world
but both cities were vulnerable to incursions from the square”). This was cut with water channels for coolness,
Ottoman Turks to the west, and so Abbas moved the and enclosed by a perimeter of arcaded shops with rows
The people of Isfahan are very open with… foreigners,

having to deal every day with people of other nations.
ANTONIO DE GOUVEA, 17TH-CENTURY PORTUGUESE AMBASSADOR
1629 Workers complete 1722 Afghan tribesmen

the Masjid-e Shah, or Shah defeat a Safavid army
Mosque, which anchors and capture Isfahan.
the south side of Abbas’s
1598 The Safavid Shah grand central square.
Abbas I makes Isfahan
his capital and sets about
building a regal new city.
1602 The 33-arch

Si-o-se Pol, officially
the Allahverdi Khan
Bridge, is built across
the Zayanderud river,
serving as both a
bridge and a dam.
ISFAHAN 245
▷ THE GARDENS OF ISFAHAN

In the Safavid period, visitors often compared
the city to a forest because of its profusion
of trees and flowering gardens, as enjoyed by
the small group gathering for a picnic in this
Safavid-era tiled panel.
of plane trees for shade. The square’s

purpose was both ceremonial and
functional, hosting market traders,
public entertainment, and military
parades. The arcade on the north side
linked with the old bazaar, while a grand
gate set in the western arcade led
through to the royal gardens and
magnificent Ali Qapu Palace, the shah’s
official residence. Facing the gate across
the square was the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, an exquisitely In 1722, Afghan invaders laid siege to the city for six
decorated place of worship reserved for the shah and the months, and its citizens were reduced to cannibalism
women of the court: it was connected to the palace via a before the last of the Safavid shahs surrendered. The
tunnel. The grand public mosque, the stupendous Masjid-e Afghans responded to the surrender with a fury of killing Since its creation in the
Shah, sat on the fourth side of the square. and devastation. The fall of Isfahan ended the most early 17th century, the
Beyond the square, Abbas’s city included broad tree- brilliant period in Iranian history. Much of the city was left
lined promenades, parks and gardens with terraces and in rubble, and new rulers eventually moved the capital to only significant change to
shallow pools in which bobbed cut roses, and multiple Tehran. Renovation did not properly begin until the early the Maydan-e Naqsh-e
viewing pavilions from which to appreciate all this 19th century, when governor Hajji Mohammed Hossein
Jahan, Isfahan’s central
splendour. To conduct the royal road into the city, the shah Isfahani began an extensive rebuilding campaign.
had his engineers construct the Si-o-se Pol, or “bridge of Isfahan began to grow in the early part of the 20th century, square, has been the
33 spans”, which Britain’s Lord Curzon, visiting in 1889, its population swollen by migrants from the south, and again addition of fountains.
thought “the stateliest bridge in the world”. in the 1980s by those fleeing the border during the war
against Iraq. Today, the city is Iran’s third-largest metropolis,
The fall of Isfahan and growing fast: between just 2000 and 2021 its population
By the mid-1600s, Isfahan had a population of around leapt from 1.4 million to 2.2 million. And while modern
600,000 – larger than London – with an open intellectual Isfahan is known as the site of Iran’s premier nuclear
climate and a cosmopolitan outlook. After Abbas, however, research facility, care has been taken to preserve the legacy
a succession of progressively weaker Safavid shahs made of Abbas. The heart of the city remains a showcase for the
few further contributions to Isfahan’s magnificence. greatest ensemble of Islamic architecture ever created.
1736 Isfahan loses its status 1980 The eight-year

as the capital of Persia, as 1979 Following a popular Iran–Iraq War begins,
Mashhad in the northeast revolution focused on during which Isfahan
and then Tehran become the figure of Ayatollah swells with migrants
the new centres of power. Khomeini, Iran becomes escaping the border.
an Islamic republic. One of
the city’s main streets is
renamed after him.
1920 The status of

Isfahan has dwindled to
such a degree that its
population stands at 2015 Isfahan Metro
just 80,000. starts operating.
Singapore
LION CITY
Singapore is an island, a city, and a state – and one of the world’s
strongest economies. Once a duty-free harbour surrounded by swamps,
this multiethnic metropolis is now a picture of verdant prosperity.
By the 8th century CE, the Malay Peninsula was controlled by Port prosperity
Sumatra’s Srivijaya Empire. Yet the island at its tip remained Lieutenant Thomas Stamford Raffles stepped onto the
a backwater, and is barely mentioned in histories until the island in 1819, and saw opportunity in its forested
end of the 13th century, when legend tells of a Sumatran swamps. He struck treaties with the local rulers, who
prince who, after spotting a big cat, proclaimed the land allowed the British to establish a trading base.
Singapura (“lion city” in Sanskrit) and established a port. Raffles turned the small settlement into a free port with a
Chinese traders arrived to export hornbill ivory, laka wood, deep-water harbour, and divided it into ethnic districts that
and tin, and established communities alongside local Malays. remain visible today. In the 1820s, a series of treaties gave
The town, which was probably sited near Fort Canning in the British control of the whole island and, in the absence of
modern Singapore, welcomed Mongolian, Indian, and Arab tax and restrictions, trade soared. Between 1819 and 1824,
merchants, and the seeds of multicultural life were planted. the population swelled from 1,000 to ten times that
By the end of the 14th century, empires based in Malacca, number as Chinese, Malay, and Indian workers made the
northwest of Singapore, and Thailand were competing over port their home. Further growth came in 1869, when the
the region, and Singapore declined. In 1511, the Portuguese, Suez Canal slashed transport times between Europe and
who dominated the spice trade between Europe and Asia, Asia. Trade tripled in a decade, and soon boats laden with
took Malacca, and in 1613 they destroyed Singapore’s port. rubber grown on the peninsula sailed around the world.
In the 17th century, naval power slipped from the
Portuguese to the Dutch. But another empire was growing
increasingly ambitious. The British were eager to expand, GARDENS BY THE BAY ▷
This lush park in the Marina Bay district features the Flower Dome,
not least because the lucrative opium trade between China the world’s largest glass greenhouse (left), and the OCBC Skyway
and British India passed through the archipelago. (foreground), whose walkways wind around vertical gardens.
1613 Portuguese raiders burn 1819 Thomas Stamford

down Singapore town, and the Raffles strikes treaties
island is neglected for 200 years. with chieftains to convert
the island’s swampland
into a deep-water harbour.
Singapore
is the oldest Rubber tree plantation in
Singapore, c. 1890
archaeologically
confirmed area of
Chinese settlement
outside of China.
1826 With Penang and Malacca,

C. 1299 CE According to tradition, Singapore forms part of the
a Sumatran prince takes Straits Settlements, controlled by 1860s Trade accelerates under the British,
control of a fishing village and the British East India Company with spices, tin, and later rubber passing
names the island Singapura. (and later a British Crown colony). through Singapore’s increasingly busy port.
SINGAPORE 247
△ SINGAPORE, 1931 The British and the Chinese and downright elegant, for high-society ladies to sip
Singapore attracted workers, merchants, By the end of the 19th century, Singapore was a busy alcohol in public under the guise of a pink fruit drink.
and British high society. This illustration
by Donald Maxwell comes from Rudyard frontier town. Rickshaws dashed between the docks, trading Elsewhere, baskets of noodles on poles bounced through
Kipling’s book East of Suez. firms, narrow shophouses, and Chinese temples. Workers the streets to feed Chinese dock workers, and portable
laboured in fields of pineapple and rubber trees, or in fish stoves perched in Indian construction sites.
and tin processing plants. Some locals sought solace in Chinese people had formed the largest ethnic group in
opium and gambling dens, and Singapore became known Singapore since 1827, but until the 1930s, most were
for its lawlessness, while diseases such as cholera and temporary male workers who sent money back to China.
smallpox ripped through the cramped poorer districts. Once they began to stay and start families, their culture
The wealthier parts of town were a magnet for the became an increasingly important part of the island’s
British elite. Colonial buildings rose, and the Raffles Hotel identity. Hokkien and Mandarin helped give Singaporean
offered an elevated level of service to match its guests’ English its idiosyncratic sound, while Cantonese-speakers
aspirations. Electric lights and fans brought wayang (Chinese street opera) to neighbourhood
brought comfort, while the Singapore temples. Every week, silk-robed actors performed
Sling was invented in the hotel’s Long traditional dramas, often based on folk tales, as the air
Bar. The cocktail made it acceptable, filled with the sound of cymbals and the waft of incense.
1959 Singapore elects its

first prime minister, Lee
Kuan Yew of the People’s
1950s Wayang (Chinese street Action Party (PAP). He
opera), performed for a rules for 31 years,
century on temple grounds, transforming the nation.
declines with the postwar
economic downturn.
Wayang street
1887 Raffles Hotel opens, named performers, 1960
after Singapore’s British founder.
Bartender Ngiam Tong Boon 1942 The Japanese occupy
develops the Singapore Sling Singapore for three years.
cocktail here by 1915. Europeans are imprisoned
and thousands of Chinese
men are executed.
SINGAPORE 249
Singapore was largely unaffected by World War I, but the

British were wary of Japanese power, and after the conflict Singapore is the meeting place
they built a huge dry dock. Defended by heavy guns, it was
part of a first-rate naval infrastructure. Yet the British were of a hundred peoples.
not prepared for an assault from the north. When World
BRITISH WRITER SOMERSET MAUGHAM, THE LETTER, 1926
War II began, the Japanese army marched through the
Malay Peninsula, crossing the narrow Straits of Johor and
taking Singapore in 1942. Under Japanese occupation,
Chinese men endured particular persecution, and many
were executed. The British returned to govern in 1945, but
their failure to protect Singapore led to a rise in nationalism,
and in the 1950s the island moved towards self-government.
Independence
In 1959, Singapore elected its first prime minister, Lee
Kuan Yew (see box, p. 250). He faced serious problems,
including social unrest and poor, overcrowded housing.
Singapore briefly joined Malaysia in 1963, but negotiations
collapsed amid violence, and in 1965 it became an
independent state. It was a bold move. The country had
half the land area of London and no natural resources.
Lee’s laws were draconian (he restricted press freedom
and expanded corporal punishment) but business-friendly,
and attracted international investment. He also wanted to
provide home ownership to all, and the government began
buying up land via the Housing & Development Board (HDB).
Villages and shophouses – two- or three-storey apartments
above shops – were torn down and replaced with self-
contained, affordable residences, which were landscaped
and connected to new local shops and services. City life
became high-rise and high-density, and by the 1980s, more
than 80 per cent of Singaporeans lived in HDB apartments.
NEOCLASSICAL BUILDINGS NEAR MARINA BAY ▷

This 1960s photograph shows the Fullerton Building (top) and the
Victoria Memorial Hall and Clock Tower (right). These colonial
edifices would soon be joined by towering HDB apartments.
1963 Malaysia becomes

a new country,
incorporating Singapore.
Unemployment
was around 10 per
cent in 1965, but radical
reforms helped shrink it
to 3 per cent by the
mid-1980s.
1960 The Housing & 1965 Singapore 1967 National Service

Development Board (HDB) becomes an independent state. requires all men to
is established to deal with English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil serve two years of
the housing crisis. are declared the official languages. active military duty.
Singapore prospered because of its first
Nobody doubts that if you take me

prime minister. Lee Kuan Yew governed for an
astonishing 31 years, from 1959 to 1990. He
on, I will put on knuckle-dusters

restricted freedoms and kept a tight grip on
power, but helped transform Singapore into
one of Asia’s wealthiest countries.
and catch you in a cul-de-sac. Lee was third-generation ethnic Chinese and
studied law at Cambridge. His first language
was English and he did not start learning
LEE KUAN YEW, SINGAPORE’S FIRST PRIME MINISTER, 1994
Mandarin until he was 32. He advocated
Confucian values of loyalty to the family and
state, and pushed for English and Mandarin
bilingualism. Lee slashed public holidays and
imposed heavy fines for vandalism, while his
anti-corruption bureau could investigate the
bank accounts of anybody, including the children
of officials – living beyond your means was seen
as evidence of a bribe. Lee’s government built
Lee Kuan Yew
excellent public housing and propelled

Singapore from a struggling island to an
international finance and tourism hub.
△ Lee Kuan Yew visiting the housing estates he famously introduced. Lee brought
affordable home ownership to the vast majority of Singaporeans. △ Lee celebrating his first election as prime minister, 1959.
1970 Singapore’s 1978 All currency exchange 1990 Goh Chok Tong
population reaches controls are abolished, becomes the second
two million. laying the way for a foreign prime minister of
exchange that by 2013 Singapore, with
overtakes Japan to become slight relaxation of
Asia’s largest. state control.
Singapore’s MRT
railway opened
1971 Hawker carts are in 1987, and is now
gradually licensed and used by over three
resettled in centres million people a day.
created by the HDB. The 1987 All schools are directed
popular spaces function as 1973 Singapore Zoo opens. to conduct lessons in
community dining halls. It uses modern, landscaped English, solidifying
enclosures rather than visible Singapore as a primarily
cages for its 270 species. English-speaking country.
Hawker halls and green shoots to match the still-thriving port. Locals zipped across the △ MARINA BAY SANDS
For centuries, hawkers have been whipping up hot dishes to city on the new MRT railway network, from cramped The triple towers of this resort in
Singapore’s commercial centre contain
give Singapore’s workforce a taste of home. But hawkers one-room HDB flats in Jalan Kukoh to the multilingual a casino, hotel, museum, exhibitions,
also strayed through each other’s territories, shaping a cries of Tekka Wet Market, and the glittering office blocks and the world’s longest elevated pool.
unique cuisine. Malaysian satay skewers and Indian curry of Orchard Road. Tourists arrived in droves to sample the
puffs borrowed each other’s spices and rojak buah combined city’s cuisine, shops, galleries, ultra-modern infrastructure,
Singaporean pineapple with Chinese doughnuts. and major resorts such as Universal Studios.
To fix low cleanliness standards on congested streets, Between 1980 and 2010, Singapore’s population doubled The lion-headed,
from 1971 the government began pushing hawkers into from 2.5 to 5 million. In the 2010s, as HDB residences
food halls attached to new HDB towns and imposed stretched taller than ever, this urban island brought nature fish-shaped “Merlion”
hygiene ratings. Over the decades, they have become into its architecture with the futuristic Gardens by the Bay is the symbol of
respectable enough for one hawker stand to be awarded nature reserve. By 2020, the Singapore Food Agency was
Singapore – a Merlion
a Michelin star for its soya-sauce chicken – the first sketching its vision for rooftop farms atop lofty car parks,
street-food vendor in the world to receive the accolade. glistening with fresh produce to meet nearly a third of the fountain stands in the
In 1978, all currency exchange controls were abolished, population’s needs. Singapore appeared as multiethnic as
park of the same name.
and by the end of the decade a quarter of the country’s ever, a prosperous world leader with a future that is as
GDP derived from finance. Changi Airport opened in 1981 green as it is gleaming.
2009 The 50-storey 2020 Hawker culture

“Pinnacle” residential is added to the
development opens with Intangible Cultural
two sky gardens that 2013 Drama Ilo Ilo wins Heritage list by
stretch 500 m (1,600 ft) the Caméra d’Or at the UNESCO.
– the longest ever built Cannes Film Festival, a
on skyscrapers. first for a Singaporean
feature film.
2019 The Jewel complex

2012 Gardens by the Bay opens. opens inside Changi
The futuristic botanical garden Airport with a five-storey
seeks to bring greenery into garden and the world’s
Asia’s second-smallest country. tallest indoor waterfall.
▽ MAP OF KYOTO, 1834

Modern Kyoto retains much of its original grid design,
as seen in this 19-century woodblock print, which also
shows the mountains surrounding the city. Note that due
north is not at the top, but on the left side of the map.
KYOTO 253
Kyoto
THE THOUSAND-YEAR CAPITAL
Kyoto was Japan’s imperial capital for over a millennium. The setting for
both the golden Heian age and a medieval renaissance spurred by Zen
Buddhism, the city shaped Japanese culture as we know it today.
For many centuries, Japan was occupied by a patchwork to status: the higher the rank, the greater the plot size
of clans, but from around the 4th century ce, an imperial and, more importantly, the closer to the Imperial Palace.
dynasty gradually gained power over the main island of Heian-kyō was a city where status mattered more than
Honshū. Its court initially changed location after each anything: to live below Rokujō (Sixth Avenue) was beyond
ruler, as death was taboo in the local Shintō religion. the pale for an aristocrat.
In the 700s, however, this practice gave way to the idea Heian-kyō’s layout wasn’t just geometrical: it also
of a fixed capital, most likely inspired by interactions with followed ancient Chinese geomancy (otherwise known
Korea and China and the influence of Buddhism. After a as feng shui). The palace compound was oriented to the
few fits and starts, Heian-kyō – later called Kyoto – was North Star and the main boulevard – running south from
founded in central Honshū in 794 ce. It would remain the the palace and, crucially, from the emperor’s perspective
imperial capital for centuries to come. – was named Suzaku (“vermilion bird”) for the creature
that represents summer and the south. The city’s location,
Heian-kyō: a model city in a basin surrounded on three sides by mountains,
Heian-kyō was modelled after Chang’an (present-day was also auspicious. Especially important was the
Xi’an; see pp. 60–65), the capital of Tang-dynasty China presence of the 848 m (2,782 ft) Mount Hiei to
and the largest city in the world at the time. It was laid the northeast – a direction
out in a grid on a north–south axis: at the top was the associated with evil in Chinese
Imperial Palace compound, from where a grand boulevard geomancy. The mountain,
led through the city to the main gate, Rashōmon. Smaller, and the Buddhist monastery
numbered avenues ran east–west. The powerful clans of Enryaku-ji built atop it,
which made up the nobility were allotted land according would protect the city.
805 The monk Saichō 869 A procession conducted

establishes the as a purification ritual
Tendai sect of against the plague is the
Buddhism, centered origin of Kyoto’s famous
on Mount Hiei. Gion Matsuri festival.
Founder of the Fujiwara

clan, Fujiwara no Kamatari
812 The first recorded

794 CE Emperor Kammu establishes the cherry-blossom viewing 900s The Fujiwara clan solidifies its
imperial capital at Heian-kyō. The city is party is hosted by grip on the court with a succession of
renamed Kyoto in the 11th century. Emperor Saga. strategic marriages and regencies.
△ THE TALE OF GENJI The culture of Heian-kyō of the court – and by extension the city and empire –
Written in instalments in the 11th century Heian-kyō means “capital of peace and tranquility”, and developed with little outside influence. Refined aesthetics,
by Heian-kyō lady-in-waiting Murasaki
Shikibu, The Tale of Genji was a hit in its its founding ushered in the Heian era (794–1185), four in tune with the subtle changes of nature, evolved. The
own time. It is also an invaluable record of centuries that laid the foundations for Japanese culture. nobility delighted in excursions to see flowers in bloom or
the culture of the imperial court, and Wars took place at the fringes of the empire, which would hear birdsong. Poetry – the greatest art of the era, composed
famous scenes have inspired countless
artistic representations, like this 19th- grow during this time to encompass all of present-day for lovers or contests held at court – was judged by how
century woodblock print by Hiroshige. Japan save for the islands of Hokkaidō and Okinawa. well it captured a scene in a particular moment.
But for the city’s courtiers it was largely a peaceful time, This was a golden age for culture. Japan developed its
one that allowed a rich culture to develop. The capital was own Buddhist iconography, in the form of statues and
everything for this elite class – there were no executions mandala paintings, as well as new writing scripts and
in Heian-kyō, as banishment to the provinces was lacquerware techniques. Yet life for ordinary people was
considered punishment enough. hard. By the 1100s, unprecedented fires and natural
The court paid tribute to the powerful empire of China, disasters, followed by bloody succession battles – and
and Japanese emissaries brought back the latest eventually a full-blown civil
ideas on statecraft, technology, and the war – spelled the end of
arts. But the Tang dynasty crumbled in the peace and tranquility, and the
late 800s, and from this point on the culture beginning of the feudal era.
1000s Murasaki Shikibu 1177 The Great Angen Fire 1192 General Minamoto
writes The Tale of Genji, destroys a large part of the Yoritomo, victor of the
considered by some city, including the Great Hall Genpei War, declares
scholars to be the of the Imperial Palace, himself the first shogun
world’s first novel. which was never rebuilt. of Japan.
1180 The Genpei War begins,

bringing an end to the largely
1053 Jōchō, known as the peaceful Heian era.
father of Japanese
Buddhist sculpture, carves
The Tale of Heiki, a 14th-century
the Amida Nyorai (“the
epic account of the Genpei War
Buddha of Limitless Light”), An early 12th-century apsara (flying
his most famous work. celestial being) sculpture from Kyoto
KYOTO 255
Though you wipe your hands and brush off the

dust and dirt from the vessels, what is the use
of all this fuss if the heart is still impure?
TEA MASTER SEN NO RIKYŪ, 16TH CENTURY
△ Saichō founded Tendai Buddhism, based

Buddhism in Kyoto
on Chinese teachings, in Japan in 805 ce.
Kyoto, from its inception, was inseparable from Buddhism,

which arrived in Japan via Korea in the 6th century ce. During
the Heian era, distinctly Japanese sects emerged, notably
Tendai Buddhism, to which the great monastery on Mount Hiei
belongs. Tendai Buddhism was patronized by the Heian
imperial court, where its rituals were performed, and it was
common for members of the imperial family to study and train
at Mount Hiei. Its most important contribution to Japanese
culture was a doctrine that allowed the native Shintō belief
system to coexist with Buddhism.
In the 12th century, Japanese monks went to China to study,
only to discover that a whole new sect had emerged: Chan
Buddhism, which would become Zen in Japan. Zen entered
the country just as feudalism was taking root and Zen
Buddhism, with its emphasis on discipline, found followers
among the ascendant warrior class. Its focus on minimalism
and mindful rituals would shape tea ceremonies – Japan’s
most famous tea master, Sen no Rikyū, was a student of Zen.
Indeed, throughout Japan’s medieval period, the monasteries
△ Japan’s two main Zen sects are Sōtō and Rinzai. These monks, pictured in the 1930s,
of Kyoto would have a profound influence on culture, follow Rinzai, which is more prominent in Kyoto. Rinzai temples feature the dry
architecture, and the arts. landscape gardens with rocks, moss, and carefully raked gravel so associated with Zen.
1212 Poet Kamo no Chōmei

writes “An Account of a Ten-Foot-
Square Hut”, a work known for its
expression of mujō (the Buddhist
concept of impermanence),
inspired by recent fires and
By the 1200s much earthquakes in Kyoto.
of Kyoto, including the

Rashōmon gate, was
decaying. This is the
backdrop for Akira
Kurosawa’s film
1319 Daitoku-ji is
Rashōmon. founded. One of Kyoto’s
largest and most
important Zen temples,
1202 Kyoto’s first Zen temple, Kennin-ji, is established by the monk Eisai, who this is where tea master
introduces Zen teachings to Japan, as well as popularizing tea drinking. Sen no Rikyū studied.
◁ NŌ COSTUME FROM THE EDO PERIOD (1603–1868)
Nō dance theatre blends popular entertainment, older folk rituals,
and courtly music. It was developed in the late 14th century by
actor and musician Kan’ami and further established by his son,
Zen’ami – considered among Japan’s greatest dramatists. It is still
performed today by nō actors wearing ornately embroidered robes.
Medieval Kyoto
After the civil war, the emperor remained ruler in title, but
authority had shifted to a new figure: the shogun, or
“supreme commander”. In 1185, the ruling shoguns made
Kamakura, a village far from Kyoto, their political capital.
Yet the emperor and court stayed in Kyoto, and when the
Kamakura shogunate fell to the forces of General Ashikaga
Takauji in 1333, Kyoto became Japan’s full capital again –
a title it would hold for 200 years to come.
The Ashikaga weren’t great rulers – they allowed
regional warlords to gain too much power – but they were
fine patrons of the arts, and nō plays and sadō (“the way of
tea”) emerged during their reign. In the 1500s, a new style
of sadō that prized imperfection, impermanence, and a
rustic minimalism grew in popularity. It would have a
lasting impact on the arts, influencing forms as diverse
as pottery, flower arrangement, and architecture.
This creativity took place amid turmoil: the infamous
Ōnin War of the late 15th century left Kyoto in ruins,
erasing all that remained of the Heian era, and kicking off
a century of near-constant warfare. The period saw the
city rebuilt, but the conflict dealt another blow to Kyoto: the
In Kyoto, victor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, formed a new shogunate in a

village called Edo, which would later be known as Tokyo.
hearing the cuckoo,

I long for Kyoto.
“IN KYOTO”, MATSUO BASHŌ, 1690 (TRANSLATED BY JANE HIRSHFIELD)
1397 The third 1573 Powerful warlord

Ashikaga shogun Oda Nobunaga
commissions the overthrows the
construction of Ashikaga shogunate.
Kyoto’s famous
Golden Pavilion. The late 16th century
saw great artistic
progress; the tea
ceremony reached
its zenith.
1600s The Katsura Imperial
Villa, considered by many to
be the pinnacle of Japanese
architecture, is constructed
1467 A succession dispute over several decades.
triggers the start of the
10-year Ōnin War, which
all but destroys Kyoto.
Modern Kyoto produced here – from turnips to sumptuous textiles – △ HIGASHIYAMA DISTRICT
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 (see p. 297) brought about bear the suffix “kyo” and are considered the height of Higashiyama is one of the best-preserved
districts in Kyoto, with many traditional
the return of the emperor’s authority. But it also ushered good taste. Rebuilt over the centuries, the city’s temples buildings made of stucco and wood. The
in the end of Kyoto’s reign as imperial capital. The court are outstanding examples of traditional aesthetics and temples Kiyomizu-dera and Ginkaku-ji
moved to Tokyo, and its artists followed. The city lost a architecture, and the practice of the arts from the medieval are here, as is the Gion neighbourhood,
where most of the city’s geiko (geisha)
third of its population in less than a decade. Kyoto retained era, from tea ceremonies to nō theatre, continues to this houses are located.
a certain cachet in the coming decades: it had after all, day. Kyoto is where Japanese people go to learn about
been the imperial capital for over a thousand years. Goods their culture, a living city that echoes with the past.
1894 Kyoto celebrates its 1997 Representatives from

1,100th year with the nations around the world
1800s Kyoto’s geiko (the construction of the great hall meet in Kyoto to sign a
Kyoto dialect word for at the Heian Shrine, a treaty on climate change,
geisha, women skilled in reproduction of the original popularly known as the
traditional arts and Heian Imperial Palace. Kyoto Protocol.
entertainment) become
the height of fashion.
1603 New shogun

Tokugawa Ieyasu 1994 Kyoto’s historic
bucks tradition and 1868 Following the Meiji monuments gain
establishes his Restoration, the emperor UNESCO World Heritage
government in Edo moves to Tokyo, and that status, with Shintō
(Tokyo); the emperor city’s castle is refashioned shrines and Buddhist
remains in Kyoto. into a new imperial palace. temples honoured.
Washington, DC
THE AMERICAN ROME
Specially planned in the 18th century as the grand capital of the newly
independent United States, Washington, DC has played a unique role in
American history and remains a focal point for global attention.
Rich in natural resources, the area of Chesapeake Bay A new capital city
that would become Washington, DC had long been a Within a few years, both towns were thriving communities
flourishing trade centre for the Indigenous Nacotchtank attracting a growing stream of settlers, lured by the
people before the arrival of European colonists in the booming transatlantic trade in tobacco and other goods.
early 17th century. After establishing the settlement of The towns were laid out on a grid plan and soon populated
Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the English with churches, schools, banks, and taverns.
explorer John Smith led a crew up the Potomac river the Meanwhile, conflict was brewing between the American
following year; the expedition mapped the region and colonists and their British overlords over the issue of
reached the river’s furthest navigable point, later settled taxation. Full-scale war erupted in 1775, initially going the
as Georgetown. The English newcomers traded fur and way of the British – Georgetown was occupied by British
set up plantations of tobacco and corn across the region, troops for almost a year – but by 1783 the Americans had
forcing enslaved Africans to do the backbreaking work of prevailed. In the resulting Constitution of the newly
harvesting the crops, and gradually suppressed the Native independent United States of America, ratified in 1788,
American population, with whom regular disputes arose a key provision was the creation of a new, purpose-built
over land ownership. capital city, to be located on land “not exceeding 10 miles
The first fort in what is now the District of Columbia square” (26 sq km). The land was not to form part of any of
was built in 1697, but it was not until the mid-18th century the existing states, and Congress was to agree the location.
that the Potomac ports of Georgetown (now a historic
neighbourhood in the northwest of Washington, DC) and WASHINGTON, DC, c. 1856 ▷
Alexandria, 12 km (7 miles) across the river to the south, From the outset, Washington, DC was planned on a
monumental scale. Capitol Hill was so named by Thomas
were formally established. Jefferson, then the nation’s first Secretary of State, in 1793, in
reference to the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome.
1619 The first enslaved 1751 The construction

Africans are brought to of Georgetown begins
the Colony of Virginia, on the eastern bank of
and forced to work in the Potomac river.
the plantations.
John Smith’s 1612

map of Virginia 1788 The Constitution
of the USA is ratified;
it sets down conditions
for a new capital city,
1607 Captain John Smith lands 1748 Land is granted for the governed independently
in Chesapeake Bay and founds town of Alexandria, sited on of the states of
the settlement of Jamestown. the Potomac’s western bank. the Union.
WASHINGTON, DC 259
It is… called the City of Magnificent

Distances, but it might [better] be termed
the City of Magnificent Intentions.
CHARLES DICKENS, AMERICAN NOTES, 1842
We have built no national temples

but the Capitol. We consult no common
oracle than the Constitution.
RUFUS CHOATE, LAWYER AND REPRESENTATIVE FOR MASSACHUSETTS, 1833
The grand plan L’Enfant’s novel design, influenced in part by André Le

When Congress met in 1789, Nôtre’s garden designs at Versailles, was for a traditional
a row quickly emerged gridiron street plan to be cut through diagonally by sweeping
between the northern and avenues, with large public circles and plazas to be built at
southern states over which the intersections. The city was to radiate out from the
would be beneficiary of the President’s House and the Capitol, and would be built on a
new capital. In the end, grand scale that would impress competing nations.
Alexander Hamilton and
Thomas Jefferson brokered A time of optimism
a deal allowing it to be built L’Enfant’s plans were revised by Ellicott, construction
in the south on the condition progressed slowly, and it was not until 1800 that the
the government settled the government moved to the new Capitol. By this time, work
north’s war debts. President on the new Palladian-style mansion for the head of state,
George Washington chose designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban, was
the site, a parcel of land to sufficiently advanced for the second president, John Adams,
be ceded from Maryland and and his wife Abigail to move in. Construction of the rest of the
Virginia that included both city continued, but there was soon a major setback. In 1812,
Alexandria and Georgetown a major war broke out between the USA and Britain. Two
– and was handily close to years later, the British defeated the Americans at nearby
his Mount Vernon estate. Bladensburg, entered the city, and set fire to the Capitol,
△ SOUTH PORTICO, WHITE HOUSE A team under surveyor Andrew Ellicott was selected to President’s House, and other important buildings.
Originally called the President’s House, survey the site, and the president appointed Pierre Charles After the war ended in a truce in 1815, Washington
the White House was rebuilt after
being burned down during the War of L’Enfant, a French-born architect, to produce a master plan began to boom. The reconstruction was accompanied by
1812. The bow-shaped South Portico for the city’s layout. The new city was named after the a rise in business activity as the American West began to
was added in 1824. president, and the federal land became the Territory (later open up and transport links were improved. A railway line
District) of Columbia, in honour of Christopher Columbus. to Baltimore was completed in 1835, ultimately extending
1791 Andrew Ellicott begins 1792 Construction of 1814 British troops set
surveying the site of the new the President’s House fire to Washington
capital and Pierre Charles (later the White House) during the War
L’Enfant produces his plan for begins. Workers include of 1812.
the “Federal City”. enslaved Black people
and stonemasons from
Edinburgh.
Andrew Ellicott’s
revised city plan
1790 Congress
passes the
Residence Act for a 1824 The semi-
new federal capital 1800 The seat of government is circular South
to be established on transferred from Philadelphia Portico is added to
the Potomac river. to Washington, DC. the White House.
to New York and other cities, and the Chesapeake and Ohio streets from the Capitol, and even at the White House △ GRAND REVIEW OF THE ARMIES
Canal brought coal to the capital from the Appalachians. most servants were enslaved. Nonetheless, in the decades In May 1865, some 150,000 soldiers
marched along Pennsylvania Avenue from
Tourists arrived with the railways, and Washington grew leading up to the Civil War, Washington became a centre of the Capitol to the White House in a parade
as the civil service expanded under President Andrew abolitionism. Confrontations between pro- and antislavery held to celebrate the end of the Civil War.
Jackson. As more and more states joined the USA, the factions made the place increasingly tense, and outbreaks
number of legislators outgrew the Capitol building; of violence and rioting were common.
extensions in the 1850s more than doubled its length. In 1861, the Civil War erupted. Volunteers queued in their
thousands to fight for the Union. The capital – never far
Civil War and reconstruction from the front line – was heavily fortified, and hospitals
By the mid-19th century, the open sore of slavery had were set up to tend to the wounded. After the District-wide
begun to threaten the unity of the country. Formed from abolition of slavery in 1862, freedmen and women from
two slave-owning states, the city’s history had been tied to across DC began to congregate in the city. Victory for the
the slave trade from its inception, and it grew to become Union came three years later, but within days the nation
one of the most active slave depots in the country. Groups was in mourning when President Abraham Lincoln was
of enslaved people chained together could be seen on the shot at a Washington theatre, and died the following day.
1847 Tensions between 1859 The Senate Wing of the 1862 Slavery is
Alexandria (a slave- Capitol is completed. abolished in the
trading centre) and District of Columbia.
increasingly abolitionist
Washington lead to
Alexandria being The presidential
returned to Virginia. order abolishing
In 1848, a group of slavery in all states
77 enslaved people
attempted to escape
Washington by boat. All
were recaptured.
1855 Smithsonian
1835 The Baltimore and Ohio Castle, the first home 1865 John Wilkes Booth
Railroad links Washington, DC of the Smithsonian assassinates President Abraham
with Baltimore, Maryland. Institution, is completed. Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre.
The civic centre’s beauty would

reflect the souls of the city’s
inhabitants, inducing order, calm,
and propriety therein.
WILLIAM H. WILSON, THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT, 1989
△ A symbolic focus for many Americans, the Lincoln Memorial makes
The City Beautiful
a fitting western end point to the National Mall.
In the late 19th century, the squalid conditions

endured by the working classes, who were often
crammed into unsanitary tenements in cities such
as Washington, led social reformers towards a
new fashion in city planning: the City Beautiful
movement. Proponents believed that beautification
would sweep away social ills and encourage civic
harmony. Borrowing heavily from the Beaux-Arts
style popular in Paris, and emphasizing the
importance of parks and green spaces, the new
style was embraced enthusiastically in the 1902
McMillan Plan for Washington, DC. Under the plan,
slums near the Capitol were demolished and the
National Mall was redeveloped as a grand
processional way, flanked by harmonious
Neoclassical cultural institutions and culminating
in the stately Lincoln Memorial, which was
eventually completed in 1922. Though never fully
△ Under the McMillan Plan of 1902, the National Mall was laid
implemented, the McMillan Plan continues to
out on an east–west axis, with a branch to the north linking it to
inform city development today. the Ellipse park in front of the White House.
1884 The 169 m (555 ft) 1919 White mobs attack Black
Washington Monument people on Washington’s
is completed. streets, leading to six
days of unrest.
1929 The Great

Depression begins;
1902 Under the many unemployed
influence of the City people come to the
Beautiful movement, city to protest
1867 Howard University the McMillan Plan is about the lack of
is set up for African launched to improve government support.
American students. Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC 263
◁ “I HAVE A DREAM”
In 1963, Civil Rights Movement leader
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous
“I have a dream” speech in front of the
Lincoln Memorial. King’s assassination
five years later led to widespread rioting,
and parts of the city burned for four days.
After the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau was set up to jazz, and figures such as Duke Ellington and poet Langston
help those freed from slavery to find housing and work. Hughes became prominent. In the 1930s, the population
One of its jobs was to found the first university for African surged as President Roosevelt’s New Deal brought
Americans, leading to the creation of Howard University in workers into the city in the wake of the Great Depression. If legislation were
1867. As the city’s population mushroomed, growing fourfold However, discrimination was still rife and tensions passed to make
in the 1860s to 132,000 by 1870, Washingtonians began to between rich and poor, and Black and white, only increased
agitate for improved services. Large municipal projects of after World War II as economic migrants moved up from Washington, DC, a
the 1870s included better sewers, street paving and the South. The city was a fitting focal point for the Civil separate US state, it
sidewalks, and improved public parks. But while new, Rights marches of the 1950s and 60s. By the 1990s, urban
would rank 51st by area,
comfortable suburbs were built for wealthier citizens, the neglect had worsened, and the city had gained a reputation
poor remained in the backstreets and alleys of the city centre as the “murder capital” of the USA. Yet revitalization was 49th by population size
– one of the inspirations for the McMillan Plan (see box). not far away: in the 21st century, investment and new
(before Vermont and
infrastructure have breathed life into long-overlooked
Cauldron of tensions, beacon of hope districts, and the city is once again a magnet for tourists. Wyoming), and first for
As US power rose inexorably in the early 20th century, so And while Washington remains a focus for the nation’s GDP per capita.
Washington, DC blossomed, with new art galleries, concert simmering tensions – evidenced by the invasion of the
halls, and museums opening. Black culture in particular Capitol in January 2021 – its role as the beacon of US
began to thrive. The U Street Corridor became a centre for democracy feels more important than ever.
1954 Racial segregation 1998 Mayor Anthony A.

of public places is Williams is elected; his
declared illegal. policies help reduce
unemployment and
crime, and improve 2016 The National
public services. Museum of African
American History
and Culture opens.
Washington, DC’s
population soared by
300,000 between 1940 and
1943 as federal employees 2009 More than a million
people crowd onto the
flocked to the capital. 1963 Around Capitol’s West Front to
250,000 people watch the inauguration of
join the March on President Barack Obama,
Washington for setting a record for any
Jobs and Freedom. event in the city.
BRASÍLIA 265
Brasília
CAPITAL OF HOPE
One of the world’s youngest cities, Brasília was purpose-built as Brazil’s
capital and as a symbol of the country's determination to succeed. The
result, a futuristic metropolis, is renowned for its Modernist architecture.
Built entirely from scratch in the 1950s, to a single plan The turning point
in the Modernist style, Brasília's breathtaking buildings The decisive moment came during Brazil’s 1955 election.
and sweeping vistas made it immediately world famous. One of the three presidential candidates was Juscelino
It was constructed at staggering speed, in less than four Kubitschek de Oliveira, whose campaign promised to
years, but its story goes back much further. modernize the country, open up the economy, and create
Brazil was claimed by the Portuguese in 1500, but by the long-awaited new capital. Soon after Kubitschek
the late 18th century an independence movement was won the election, celebrated Brazilian architect and
gathering strength. One of the movement’s leaders, planner Lúcio Costa secured first place in a competition
physician and revolutionary Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, to draw up a master plan, and Oscar Niemeyer, who had
proposed that when Brazil won its independence it should previously worked for Costa and with the president,
have a new capital to replace the colonial capital of Rio de became the architect of the city’s main buildings.
Janeiro, which was identified with foreign rule. When Brazil
became independent in the 1820s, its government quickly
decided on a name for the new city, Brasília. However, the
nation had to wait well over 130 years for the money and
political will to build its new capital.
…a new society was being
born, with all the traditional
◁ NATIONAL CONGRESS OF BRAZIL
The Chamber of Deputies, with its bowl-shaped roof, adjoins the barriers cast aside.
twin office towers at the centre of the National Congress building.
This stunning complex was completed in 1958. OSCAR NIEMEYER, INTERVIEW IN THE GUARDIAN, 1 AUGUST 2007
1822 Brazil gains its

independence from Portugal
and the idea of a new capital
is raised once more. 1955 Elections in Brazil
are won by Juscelino
Kubitschek de Oliveira,
with the slogan “Fifty
Years' Progress in Five”.
1789 Joaquim José da

Silva Xavier, known as 1891 The intention to
Tiradentes, suggests found a new inland 1956 Juscelino Kubitschek is inaugurated
that Brazil should have capital is incorporated as president, with a commitment to
a new capital. into Brazil’s constitution. realize Brasília.
△ OSCAR NIEMEYER
The architect with a model of the
hourglass-shaped cathedral,
designed in 1956.
△ CATHEDRAL OF BRASÍLIA The chosen site of the capital was in Goiás state, on These areas are precisely zoned, with houses, apartments,
Oscar Niemeyer’s design features 16 steel Brazil’s central plateau. Extensive clearing, building of shops, and schools arranged together in superquadras
columns that converge to form a vast
crown. Bronze statues of the Four roads, and installation of basic services had to take place ("superblocks"), where the provision of facilities is intended
Evangelists stand near the entrance. before construction could begin. Meanwhile Costa devised to correspond with the number of residents. Niemeyer and
a visionary master plan with a symbolic shape, based on a Costa took care to provide both luxury and less costly
cross. Viewed from the air, the city's layout most resembles housing, including accommodation
an aeroplane, bird, or dragonfly. Twin avenues trace the specifically built for the many foreign
body of the aeroplane from east to west, making a diplomats posted to Brasília.
Monumental Axis (Eixo Monumental), which leads to the
Square of the Three Powers. This axis is the site of the Brasília's architecture
city’s major legislative, executive, and judiciary buildings, Niemeyer’s designs, with their bold use
including elegant Modernist structures such as the of concrete to create a combination of
Supreme Federal Court, National Congress, and forms – from towers to shallow
Presidential Palace. Running roughly from north to south, domes – immediately attracted
through the aeroplane’s “wings”, is a broad expressway, worldwide attention. Strongly
home to the city's residential and commercial blocks. influenced by the pioneering
1956 Work on the 22 April 1960 The

new capital's site city is officially
begins, at a location inaugurated by
1,000 km (620 miles) President Kubitschek.
from the coast.
1957 Lúcio Costa 1961 Justice by Alfredo Ceschiatti,

wins the competition principal sculptor of the capital, is
for conceiving positioned outside the Supreme
a master plan Federal Court.
for the city.
Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, Niemeyer shared the were similarly enthused, keen to emulate aspects of the △ PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
utopian ideals of the Modernist movement. By rejecting design when remodelling urban areas around the world. The president’s official residence (also
known as the Palace of the Dawn) lies on
ornament in favour of minimalist, curvilinear designs, his The population began to increase, too, as more and more the shores of the artificial Paranoá lake,
buildings heralded a new way of urban living. Perhaps the people moved to the city. They filled not only the another element of the city plan.
most striking example of all is the almost transparent, superblocks, but also several satellite towns built outside
crown-like cathedral, finished years after the main city was the central area. These towns, not designed by Niemeyer,
completed. All of these spectacular structures are set off by are more haphazard and sometimes crudely built, with
the surrounding spaces, which were the work of the shops, apartments, and workplaces crammed into small
notable Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. spaces. In contrast, many of the affluent inhabitants of the
Brasília was designed as
Both buildings and landscaping are enhanced by the local upmarket city centre leave Brasília at the weekends, often
terrain, which is flat, allowing for long and dramatic vistas. heading to the bright lights of Rio de Janeiro. a city for around 600,000
Brasília remains a unique achievement and a singular people; the population is
Success and expansion manifestation of Modernist principles, designated by
Brasília was an instant success and an inspiration for UNESCO as both a World Heritage Site and a City of now nearer 3 million.
Brazilians, who saw the city’s modernity as a statement of Design. As a model of urban planning and a symbol of
their country’s hope for the future. Architects and planners Brazil's ambition, it is renowned all over the world.
1962 The 1987 The city receives 2014 Brasília is one

University of the designation of of the cities to stage
Brasília opens. UNESCO World the 2014 FIFA World
Heritage Site. Cup, in the extended
2006 The National Museum Estádio Nacional
of the Republic, with its Mané Garrincha.
sculptural white concrete
dome, is opened.
2000 The population of 2017 UNESCO names

1970 After a struggle Brasília’s Federal Brasília a City of Design,
to secure funds, the District exceeds recognizing design as a
Cathedral of Brasília two million (triple the key part of the city's
reaches completion. planned number). industry and culture.
MORE GREAT CITIES

himself drew up the plans for a
round city to be constructed
beside the Tigris river. Its massive
brick walls had a circumference of
6.4 km (4 miles), were 24 m (80 ft)
four months. Such was the high, and were ringed by a deep
Edinburgh Palmanova gratitude of Europe for the knights’ moat. The walls contained four
heroic defence that money poured great gates from which straight
Auld Reekie (“old smokey”) Star-Shaped City
into the island, allowing de Valette roads, lined by vaulted arcades,
In the mid-18th century, The most distinctive aspect of to construct a new fortified city, ran towards the centre of the city.
Edinburgh’s grandees noted the Palmanova can only be fully named after himself. The knights, At the heart of Baghdad was
civic improvements being carried appreciated from the air: the aided by military engineers, built the royal precinct, with military
out in the industrial cities of city is laid out in the shape of a the city on a narrow peninsula barracks and state offices ringing
England and compared the nine-point star. It was constructed surrounded on three sides by the two most important buildings,
teeming, and often unsound and by the Republic of Venice in 1593, water. It had a uniform grid plan the Great Mosque and the caliph’s
unsanitary, tenements that filled designed as a defence against within high, fortified walls that Golden Gate Palace. No traces of
their own city. They decided Ottoman Turks. The outline of followed the rocky coastline. this remarkable geometric city
something had to be done. Lord the star was etched into the There was only one city gate, remain in modern Baghdad.
Provost George Drummond landscape with a moat. This which was in the land wall, and
launched a Commission of surrounded a nine-sided city with from there a main street ran to
Proposals for Public Works in nine fortified bastions. There were the fortress of St Elmo at the tip of Alexandria
order to “improve and enlarge three concentric defensive walls, the peninsula. Some monuments
Lost City
the city and to adorn it with public pierced by three large gates. were lost to 19th- and 20th-
buildings which may be for the Despite the elegant layout, century development but modern In his quest to spread Hellenic
national benefit”. In 1766, the Palmanova was more fort than Valletta still retains its skyline and culture to the ends of the Earth, the
council ran a competition, town, and no one wanted to live form from the 16th century. brilliant General Alexander the
selecting a plan by architect there. Venice resorted to populating Great founded at least 20 cities
James Craig for the “New Town”. it with pardoned criminals. that carried his name, including
Informed by a love of Classical Baghdad Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander
architecture, Craig devised a selected the site on the
Round City
gridiron plan of wide streets with Valletta Mediterranean coast, and his
broad, solidly constructed Il-Belt (“the city”) In a region rich in ancient architect, Dinocrates, conceived
buildings in white sandstone. The settlements, Baghdad is a relative the plan, laying out his vision on
New Town came to be defined by In 1565, the Knights of Malta, newcomer. It was founded in 762 ce the ground in grain. It followed the
its open spaces, light, and order, commanded by their Grand Master by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur as typical pattern of many Greek
transforming the city from Auld Jean Parisot de la Valette, the new seat of his Islamic empire. cities as prescribed by the great
Reekie into the Athens of the North. withstood an Ottoman siege for According to legend, the caliph urban planner Hippodamus, but
△ Palmanova An aerial view of the star-shaped fortress city. △ Baghdad A 19th-century European rendering of the walled Iraqi city.
exceeded them in the creation of were in dispute over which of by four satellite squares. Gridded
a causeway linking the mainland Jaipur them should be the national plots made it easier to sell property
to the island of Pharos to create Pink City
capital. The compromise was to “sight unseen” to potential
two immense, sheltered harbours. build an entirely new capital city. immigrants back in Europe.
Alexander died within a decade When Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II’s An international competition The city would go on to play a key
and never saw his new city. Almost hilltop city of Amber began to suffer resulted in the selection of Chicago role in the American Revolution
all traces of the ancient city have from congestion and water architect Walter Burley Griffin as the site of the signing of the
vanished, shattered by earthquakes shortages, he decided to build a as the designer of the city; his Declaration of Independence in
and either submerged under the new city on a flat plain nearby. scheme was distinguished by its 1776. It was the nation’s largest
sea or buried beneath the concrete With help from architect Vidyadhar incorporation of vegetation. city until overtaken by New York
of the modern Egyptian city. Bhattacharya, Singh created a Construction began in 1913 and in 1790 and the home of many US
blueprint for the city based on an the Australian parliament took firsts, including the first library,
ancient Hindu doctrine called vastu up residence in 1927. Although hospital, zoo, and stock exchange.
Chandigarh shastra, meaning the “science of Canberra initially remained small,
architecture”. Construction began its growth stunted by the 1930s
The City of Beauty
in 1726 and took four years. The Great Depression and World War II, La Plata
In the bloody partition that split resulting city was divided into nine from the 1950s the city grew
City of Diagonals
India in 1947, the state of Punjab blocks, two containing state quickly and within a couple of
lost its capital to Pakistan. Indian buildings and palaces, the rest decades became the international In 1880, it was decided the wealthy
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru public, and the whole surrounded capital it was designed to be. Buenos Aires province needed a
decided to build a new capital city, by fortified walls with seven gates. capital distinct from the city of the
designed to express what he One of the city’s notable features same name, which was also the
called “the nation’s faith in the was the Jantar Mantar observatory, Philadelphia national capital. No existing city
future”. The initial plans came with the world’s largest stone City of Brotherly Love
was considered large enough, so
from American architects Albert sundial. When Britain’s Prince of the solution was to build a new one
Mayer and Matthew Nowicki, but Wales visited in 1853, the king Philadelphia began as one of from scratch. Engineer Pedro
were developed by celebrated ordered all the buildings to be America’s earliest commercial Benoit planned a perfect square
architect Le Corbusier. The result painted pink; those in the historic developments. The original grid, 36 by 36 blocks. From each
is a city laid out on a grid, divided centre remain pink today. settlement was devised by corner of the grid, grand diagonal
into 56 sectors, each designed as Englishman William Penn, in 1682, avenues converged at the centre’s
a self-contained neighbourhood who wished to create a refuge in large public square, overlooked by
with schools, entertainment, and Canberra the USA for Quakers and other a grand Neo-Gothic cathedral.
shops. Parks and tree-lined Bush Capital
persecuted religious groups. On For decades the city was under-
avenues soften the effect of its a tongue of land between the populated, but in the 21st century it
block-like concrete buildings, and In 1901, when the new Delaware and Schuylkill rivers he has become a thriving city with
today Chandigarh is claimed to be Commonwealth of Australia was sketched out a grid of streets with beautiful architecture, green spaces,
the cleanest city in India. formed, Sydney and Melbourne a large central square, surrounded and a vibrant university scene.
△ Jaipur The Jantar Mantar observatory, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. △ Canberra Australia’s national parliament building, Parliament House, dating from 1988.
Los Angeles p.300 Dubai p.272
Rotterdam
Seattle
Baku
Toronto
Chicago
Doha
São Paulo Abu Dhabi

Hong Kong p.284 Beijing p.276 Seoul p.288 Tokyo p.294
METROPOLISES
Kuala Lumpur
Nur-Sultan MODERN
CHAPTER 5
272 MODERN METROPOLISES
DUBAI 273
Dubai
PEARL OF THE GULF
Once an obscure pearling village bowing to British imperialism, Dubai
has risen in the space of a generation to become a glitzy, wealthy city
of the future, attracting more tourists than many much-larger countries.
The beginnings of the futuristic developments and urban About 250 years after Balbi’s visit, the Al Bu Falasah, a
sprawl that make up modern Dubai could not be more large family within the region’s ruling tribe of Bani Yas, fell
humble. Up until the mid-18th century, there is scant out with the tribe’s new leaders in Abu Dhabi. As a result,
mention of even a settlement in the place the city now the Al Bu Falasah headed north towards the Dubai creek,
occupies. When Muslims from the west of the peninsula where they soon became the new rulers of the settlement.
conquered the region in the 7th century, they spoke of The saltwater inlet of the creek no doubt appealed as a
inhabitants at Al Jumeirah, but said nothing of Dubai. rich resource of fish and as a natural harbour, where
traders of spices, gold, and textiles could easily alight.
The pearling village The Al Bu Falasah family maintained good relations
The earliest recorded mention of a place called “Dibei” with both the surrounding sheikdoms and the British,
was by the state jeweller for Venice, Gasparo Balbi, who who during the 19th century used a series of treaties
came to the region in around 1580 to investigate the local and agreements to help serve their own commercial and
pearling industry. Like many settlements along the banks military ambitions in the region.
of the Persian Gulf at this time, Dubai would have been a Over the course of the next century, the new rulers
small pearling and fishing village, comprising a handful of of Dubai slowly turned their little coastal settlement into
simple homes made of wood and reed, called arish. a thriving port by making it tax-free for merchants and
traders. Even when the invention of the Japanese cultured
pearl left Dubai’s natural pearling industry in tatters in
◁ AERIAL VIEW OF DUBAI the 1930s, the port continued to attract traders from
The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai’s luxury island residence, was created
in the Persian Gulf from reclaimed land. Viewed from the air, all over the world. The stage for Dubai’s future as an
it resembles a stylized date palm. international hub had been set.
1580 Venice’s state jeweller, 1820 The General Treaty

Gasparo Balbi, visits Dubai of Peace between the
(Balbi calls it “Dibei”) and British and the Sheikh of
notes the high quality of the Dubai (and other emirate
settlement’s pearls. sheikhs) creates the
Trucial States.
c. 1830 Members of the Al 1928 First crop of

Bu Falasah family (a branch commercial Japanese
of the ruling Bani Yas) settle cultured pearls is
by the creek in Dubai to produced, leading to the
establish Al Maktoum rule c. 1800–1900 The pearling industry prospers as Dubai’s pearls are collapse of the natural
in the emirate. sold to markets in India and Europe. pearling industry in Dubai.
◁ AL MAKTOUM BRIDGE
In 1963, Sheikh Rashid cut the ribbon on Dubai’s first bridge,
connecting the Dubai and Deira sides of the creek. The bridge
greatly improved circulation and commerce in the fledgling city.
the biggest and busiest commercial port in the Middle

East. That same year, Dubai’s first skyscraper, Sheikh
Rashid Tower (now part of the Dubai World Trade Centre
complex), loomed into view at a height of 149 m (489 ft). The
transition from port to glamorous city of the future really
began, however, when Sheikh Rashid passed away in 1990
and his triumvirate of sons took over.
Future-proofing the city

Sheikhs Maktoum, Hamdan, and Mohammed managed the
development of Dubai with the same far-sightedness as
their father. Appreciating that oil money would one day
run out, they continued to invest in large infrastructure
projects, including the city’s two international airports,
and free trade zones, such as the Dubai Internet City.
The modern era As the end of the 20th century approached, the brothers
The man credited with laying the foundations of modern future-proofed their capital by establishing high-speed
One theory about the Dubai is Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, whose time internet and advanced telecommunications. They also
in power (1958–90) coincided with the British withdrawal relaxed traditionally conservative laws (allowing foreigners
origin of “Dubai” is that
from the Persian Gulf in 1968, and with the emirate to drink alcohol, for example) and began construction of
it comes from “dabaa”, striking black gold (oil) in 1966. the skyscrapers that would make Dubai famous. The
A year into his rule, Sheikh Rashid recruited John Etisalat Tower, with its distinctive “golf ball” pinnacle, was
describing how water
Harris, a British town planner, to turn the collection of completed in 1992, closely followed by the National Bank
“creeps” into the creek. settlements scattered around the port into a functioning of Dubai Tower, its curved shape inspired by the traditional
urban space. Harris oversaw the introduction of Dubai’s dhows (sailing boat) that used to ply the Dubai creek. The
very first water pipes, telephone lines, and electricity grid, wave-like Jumeirah Beach Hotel opened in 1997, as well
and the opening of the state-of-the-art Al Maktoum as a new airport terminal in 1998, boldly announcing
hospital. From 1969, armed with new-found wealth from Dubai’s emergence as a tourist destination.
oil, Sheikh Rashid accelerated the modernizing process. In the shadow of Dubai’s multitude of cranes, gleaming
His most visionary project was the development of skyscrapers, and glitzy designer malls, however, lie
shipping ports, in particular the Jebel Ali Port. Finished in company-run shanty towns, where migrant construction
1979, it saw the once-small village of Dubai transform into workers live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
1969 First export of oil

from Dubai commences,
providing the emirate The population of
with the wealth to Stamp celebrating Dubai’s Dubai today is more than
modernize at pace. underwater oil storage
30 times what it was in
the early 1970s.
1979 With the opening of

1968 With the British Jebel Ali Port, the largest
withdrawal from the Persian 1971 The United Arab Emirates artificial harbour in the
Gulf, discussions begin is formed, with Dubai’s Sheikh world, Dubai becomes
about the formation of a Rashid as vice-president and the Middle East’s major
federation of emirates. first prime minister. commercial port.
Dubai will never settle for anything less
than first place.
MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM, MY VISION: CHALLENGES
IN THE RACE FOR EXCELLENCE, 2004
These workers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, first (wooden boats) once again sail on the Dubai creek. Rather △ CITY SKYLINE
arrived in the 1960s during the early days of Dubai’s oil than pearls and exotic spices, their cargo is now wealthy Dubai’s ultra-modern skyline rises above
the desert dunes, dominated by the
boom, with numbers rising from the 1980s onwards. tourists, who disembark to wander through refurbished soaring silhouette of Burj Khalifa.
souks and historic villages, where traditional artisans and
Something old, something new heritage museums sit in reconstructed mud-baked
In the 21st century, Dubai has made headlines as the houses. When the metro system opened in 2009 – the
home of the world’s largest artificial islands – the same year the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa,
Palm Jumeirah opened in 2006 – as well as the was completed, realizing a dream of Sheikh Mohammed –
biggest malls, huge international sporting events, it was the first in the Persian Gulf, enhancing Dubai’s
grass golf courses in the desert, and the globe’s reputation as the most foreigner-friendly city in the region. ▽ MALL CITY
Dubai boasts the world’s largest retail
busiest international air travel hub. North of Add to this low crime rates and a burgeoning cultural mall, Dubai Mall, which encompasses an
the strips lined with skyscrapers and neat scene, and it is easy to see why Dubai entices international enormous aquarium, an ice rink, and
rows of palm trees, and close to the professionals and a growing number of celebrities, such theme parks, as well as over 1,000 shops.
location of the original as British power couple, David and Victoria Beckham, and
pearling village, abras Bollywood royalty, Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
2001 Work begins on Palm 2009 The launch of Slaves of

Jumeirah, the first of the Dubai, a documentary exposing
Palm Islands, artificial the plight of migrant workers,
luxury archipelagos aimed coincides with the opening
1999 The world’s only at increasing residential of Burj Khalifa, the world’s
“seven star” hotel, capacity and tourism to Dubai. tallest building.
Burj al Arab, opens
in Dubai.
2000 Opening of Dubai Internet 2020 Dubai is set to host

City, a free economic zone Expo 2020 (delayed to 2021
where tech giants Nokia, due to COVID-19), with the
Microsoft, Google, and Cisco theme “Connecting Minds,
set up regional offices. Creating the Future”.
Beijing
NORTHERN CAPITAL
China’s capital is a city where monuments from an imperial past are
juxtaposed with the futuristic buildings of the world’s most dynamic
economy, creating an irresistible blend of tradition and modernity.
Lying just north of the Yellow River plain, the Beijing region
was settled as early as 500,000 bce by a form of Homo [The city] is… planned out
with a degree of precision and
erectus known as Peking Man. Although the mythological
Yellow Emperor, one of China’s great cultural heroes, was
beauty impossible to describe.

said to have won a victory at nearby Banquan, the city only
emerges from legend as the site of the capitals of Ji and
Yan, two of the kingdoms that vied for control of China during
MARCO POLO, THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO, c. 1300
the Warring States period. At this point, it was known as
Yanjing. After Yan’s absorption into a unified China by the
Qin in the 3rd century bce, Yanjing remained a provincial or “southern capital”. They remodelled the city, punctuated
capital on the empire’s periphery for the next 1,000 years. its walls with eight gates, and built still-surviving
landmarks, including the Tianning Temple and Niujie
The Tang and Jin city Mosque. Yet another name change – to Zhongdu (“central
Under the Tang dynasty, the city – now renamed Youzhou capital”) – took place under the Jin, who reconfigured and
– became an important garrison centre, and the Fayuan further enlarged the city, and graced it with a string of
Temple, Beijing’s oldest Buddhist shrine, was built in the palaces. The city was flourishing as never before.
mid-7th century ce. Although far from the main dynastic
capitals, Youzhou had for centuries been vulnerable to
attacks by the nomads on China’s northern borders. In BEIJING’S MODERN CITYSCAPE ▷
The gravity-defying headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV)
938 ce, one of these groups, the Khitan, took it as the loom over Beijing’s business district, one of the innovative new
southern base of their Liao Empire and called it Nanjing, buildings that complement the city’s more traditional landmarks.
c. 1200 bce Yanjing is 938 The city comes under the

founded as the walled control of the Khitan Liao dynasty
capital of Yan, the first and is renamed Nanjing.
state around Beijing.
1127 The Jin (Jurchen)
establish themselves
in the city – now called
Yanjing – and later
rename it Zhongdu.
226 bce The Yan state

is absorbed by the Qin
state under Shi Huangdi,
the first emperor of 314–534 ce Renamed
a united China. Youzhou, the city 1179 The Jin build
is controlled by the Daning Palace
nomadic invaders, on Taiye Lake in what
including the Xianbei. is now Beihai Park.
BEIJING 277
The Forbidden City
△ This 19th-century painting shows attendant officials to the imperial court in full court garb.
Now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the imperial palace was the residence of 24 emperors.
The Forbidden City, the new imperial palace complex ordered by the Yongle occasions such as the enthronment of a new emperor. To the north, through the
Emperor in 1406, took around 15 years to construct. Built on a north–south axis, Gate of Heavenly Purity, lay the emperor’s private quarters and, at the northern
the entire complex was enclosed by a wall 3.5 km (2 miles) in length, and a moat. end of the complex, the Imperial Garden, a space for private retreat. All but
Inside, the imperial buildings – containing, according to legend, 9,999 rooms – closed off to the outside world, the Forbidden City remained the residence of the
were laid out following strict feng shui principles. Three magnificent halls lay at emperors, increasingly secluded from the political realities of their realm, until
its core. Grandest of all was the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where the emperor the eventual collapse of imperial rule in 1912. Twelve years later, the doors were
held court during the Ming era; later, during the Qing, it was used for major state thrown open to the public and the complex became a museum.
1275–92 The Venetian merchant 1403 The Yongle Emperor

Marco Polo travels in China, renames the city Beijing;
later writing an account three years later, the
including a description of construction of the
1266 Kublai Khan orders the Mongol Dadu. palaces and halls of
reconstruction of Zhongdu the Forbidden City begins.
as the Mongols’ southern
capital, renaming it Dadu.
It took over a
million labourers and
100,000 specialized
craftsmen to complete
the construction of the
1368 After driving the
1215 The Mongols take Mongols out, the Ming Forbidden City.
Zhongdu, damaging it begin rebuilding the
severely and causing section of the Great Wall
its near abandonment. to the north of the city.
The Mongol city
In 1215, disaster struck Zhongdu. The
Mongols, recently united by Genghis Khan,
swept down from Mongolia, breached the
walls, and engaged in an orgy of looting.
The city smouldered for a month and
remained a ruin for decades until Genghis’s
grandson Kublai, persuaded by his advisers
that his vast new realm required a base
closer to China’s heartlands, ordered a new
capital built just to the north of Zhongdu’s remains. △ TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
Work began on Dadu (“the great capital”) in 1267. The city The Temple of Heaven complex
was the main place of worship
was laid out on a square grid intersected with hutongs, or for emperors in the city during
alleys lined by secluded courtyard houses – a feature of the Ming and Qing eras.
Beijing’s old quarters ever since. Kublai Khan’s luxurious
royal palace in the southern part of the city, described by
the Venetian traveller Marco Polo, was lavishly adorned with (“northern capital”), and
marble, gold, and silver, and surrounded by a hunting park ordered a massive
and a series of lakes channelled from the city’s rivers. In the reconstruction, establishing
commercial areas, clustered shops and markets were the Zijincheng (Forbidden
packed with goods brought in by barge up the Grand Canal, City) as its heart (see box).
the broad waterway linking northern and southern China The city became the Ming
that Kublai ordered to be repaired. The city was protected by capital in 1421. The emperor
a wall that Marco Polo claimed was 40 km (24 miles) long. also restored the Grand
Canal, and further palaces
The Ming reconstruction and pavilions were added
Dadu’s prosperity was not destined to last. Succession by his successor, the
disputes, floods, and plagues sapped Mongol power and Zhengtong Emperor.
sparked a number of revolts. In 1368, the rebel leader Zhu By the mid-15th century, Beijing’s population had swollen △ HALL OF PRAYER
Yuanzhang drove the last Mongol ruler from the city. The to a million. To serve these increasing numbers, the imperial Within the Temple of Heaven complex,
the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was
Ming dynasty he founded initially based itself at Nanjing, government built langfang, premises from which merchants built entirely of wood, without nails. First
over 1,000 km (621 miles) to the south, leaving Dadu to could trade in everything from donkeys to books – the latter constructed in 1420, it was rebuilt in 1889
slide back into obscurity. Only when one of his bought by aspiring bureaucrats studying at the Guozijian, after a lightning strike.
younger sons, then the governor of the old state the Imperial College. Outside influences reached China to
of Yan, seized the throne did the city return a very limited extent, through foreign merchants and,
to centre stage. The new Yongle Emperor from the start of the 17th century, through Jesuit
officially renamed his home base Beijing missionaries such as Matteo Ricci.
1421 With the completion 1521–67 TheJiajing Emperor neglects

of the Forbidden City, the the government, devoting himself to
capital is transferred from Daoism, and chooses to live in
Nanjing to Beijing. isolation outside the Forbidden City.
The production of wucai “five-
enamel” porcelain jars reaches new
Jiajing-era heights of refinement.
wucai jar
1601 The Jesuit Matteo

Ricci establishes a
mission in Beijing,
1449 After capturing the 1553 In response to adopting Chinese dress
Zhengtong Emperor at the continued Mongol as a means of gaining
Battle of Tumu, a Mongol raids, a wall is built acceptance at court.
force fails in an attempt to around Beijing’s
besiege Beijing. Outer City.
The long reigns of the Kangxi,

Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors,
which stretched over 130 years,
gave Beijing, and China, a new sense
of stability. Though continuing the
Ming dynasty’s isolationism, tentative
connections were made with the
West. The Jesuits helped the court
with calendrical calculations, and in
1650 were given permission to
construct a church next to the
imperial elephant stables. Around the
same time, the Dutch joined the
Portuguese in being permitted to
send trade missions (though only
once every eight years), and in 1694
the “Russian House”, the first foreign
embassy, was established in Beijing.
The life of court and city

The Qing emperors built palatial
gardens, including the Yuangmingyuan
△ SUMMER PALACE, 1888 The rule of the Qing (“garden of perfect brightness”), or Old Summer Palace, to
The Yiheyuan (Summer Palace) was built Just as the Mongols had at the end of their rule, the Ming Beijing’s north as a retreat from the heat and noise of the
as an imperial retreat from the Forbidden
City’s stifling summer heat. It became the faced widespread rebellion. As one of the rebel leaders, Li city, and in 1750 the Qianlong Emperor erected the
main residence of the Empress Cixi before Zicheng, stormed into the Forbidden City in 1644, the even-larger Yiheyuan (new Summer Palace). New halls
its partial destruction by the Eight-Nation Chongzhen Emperor, the final Ming ruler, hanged himself were added to the Forbidden City, and grand military
Alliance during the Boxer Rebellion.
from a tree in Jingshan Park. Li did not last long, however: parades and ice-skating competitions among the
within weeks another nomad group, the Manchus, seized bannermen enlivened the life of the court. In 1790, the
Beijing, where they established the new Qing dynasty. court entertainment office invited an operatic troupe from
The Qing formally divided Beijing into two: the Inner City, Anhui (in eastern China) to perform for the emperor, which
comprising the Forbidden City and the northern quarters, eventually developed into the tradition of the Peking opera.
was now reserved for the Manchu “bannermen” (hereditary The bulk of the population rarely saw the emperor, save
warriors and their families), while the Chinese were confined at special parades outside the Forbidden City. Ordinary
to the Outer City in the south. The Qing enforced segregation people lived in simple brick single-storey courtyard
harshly and imposed Manchu customs on the Chinese, such houses, a refuge from life on the crowded streets, where
as the queue, a long pigtail with a shaved head for men. food vendors noisily hawked roast chestnuts and steamed
1709 Under the Kangxi 1750 The Qianlong 1793 A British mission led
Emperor, construction Emperor orders the by Lord Macartney visits
of the Yuangmingyuan construction of the Beijing, but fails to
1661 The Kangxi Emperor (Old Summer Palace) Yiheyuan (Summer establish trading relations.
ascends the imperial begins; the palace and Palace).
throne; his 61-year rule gardens are expanded
begins a period of several times.
prosperity for Beijing.
In 1774, the imperial
government banned the
opening of any more
theatres in the Inner City,
fearing they promoted
1644 The rebel Li 1854 Taiping forces
Zicheng takes Beijing, 1730 An earthquake immorality. set off to capture
but the Manchu enter and causes considerable Beijing but turn
drive him out, founding damage to the back before
the Qing dynasty. Forbidden City. reaching the city.
BEIJING 281
BOXERS IN BEIJING ▷
Soldiers of the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”
militia (or “Boxers”) were a convenient reservoir of
anti-European feeling for Qing traditionalists, but their
attacks on foreign targets backfired on the court.
dumplings, and policemen patrolled nightly,

enforcing the curfew that was rung out from
the Drum and Bell towers in the city centre.
The collapse of the imperial system

The later Qing period ended Beijing’s time of
security. In 1854, 30,000 families fled the
oncoming Taiping rebels, an army inspired by
religious fervour that aimed to storm Beijing but
in the end failed to reach the city. Even so, the cost of
fighting the rebels helped trigger a major financial crisis THE LEGATION QUARTER ▷
After China’s defeat in the
that left many starving. Six years later, during the Second Second Opium War, the
Opium War, British and French troops attacked the city, Qing were forced to allow
foreign legations to set up
and ransacked the Old Summer Palace complex.
in Beijing. By 1900, the
The shock of these tumultuous events promoted the Legation Quarter was
cause of modernization, but as foreign influence grew, home to delegations
from 11 countries.
conservatives grouped around the Dowager Empress Cixi
launched a counter-reaction. In 1899, Cixi supported a
violent uprising by the xenophobic “Boxer” movement mass of urban poor and activist students
(who adopted the slogan “Support the Qing, Destroy the provided a potent mix that fueled radical politics and
Foreigners”). The Boxers entered Beijing and subjected sparked large demonstrations. Though Western-style
the foreign legations there to a two-month siege, before buildings sprouted in Beijing, the collapse of the country
an eight-nation expeditionary force (including Americans into warlordism and the move of the national capital to
and Japanese, as well as Europeans) arrived to fight back, Nanjing in 1927 left it neglected (its name was even
The dish Peking duck
causing the imperial court to flee to Xi’an. The Qing’s prestige downgraded, to Beiping, or “northern peace”). In 1937, war
was shattered and despite further fitful reforms, including a broke out with Japan and under Japanese occupation the was invented in the
promise to adopt constitutional government, the regime city suffered terrible privations. Even when it was liberated Quanjude restaurant
collapsed in 1912 when the last emperor, Puyi, was deposed. at the end of World War II, shortages continued, as civil
The new republican war between Nationalist and Communist in Beijing in 1864.
government struggled to forces wracked the country. Beijing’s
establish its authority, and the reconstruction would have to wait.
1912 The six-year-old 1937 War breaks out

Emperor Puyi is forced to between Japan and
1861 On the death of her abdicate and Yuan Shikai China. Beijing is occupied
husband the Xianfang Emperor, becomes President of the by Japanese troops.
the Dowager Empress Cixi Republic of China.
assumes effective control,
dominating the government
until her death in 1908.
1860 Anglo–French forces 1900 The Boxer militia occupies

occupy Beijing and Beijing and besieges its foreign 1928 Beijing is occupied
destroy the Old legations, provoking intervention by Nationalist forces of
Summer Palace. by an eight-nation coalition. the Kuomingtang.
and the restoration of the city’s role as national

capital made it the centrepiece of new socialist
political and economic policies. The Inner City
walls were largely demolished to allow freer
flow of traffic on wide avenues – a process
completed in 1965 when the Outer City walls
were pulled down to allow the building of an
underground railway. Dayuan – large apartment
blocks – were built to house the growing
population and state-controlled department
stores replaced neighbourhood markets.
Reshaping the city

As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations
of the People’s Republic, an even more
ambitious programme of reshaping the city
was undertaken. Tiananmen Square was
expanded in order to accommodate mass
gatherings and massive new buildings,
combining Soviet-style architecture with more
traditional Chinese forms, were constructed:
△ BIRTH OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC among them, the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen
At 3pm on 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong announced the birth of Square; the Cultural Palace of Nationalities; and the new
the People’s Republic of China to a large crowd gathered in
During the course of its Tiananmen Square. The date became China’s national day, with Beijing railway station. This initiative was part of the Great
celebratory events held in the square ever since. Leap Forward programme, which set up people’s
3,000-year history, communes to administer workplaces and schools,
Beijing has held no The People’s Republic although the promotion of “backyard furnaces” in a rapid
In January 1949, People’s Liberation Army forces entered attempt to industrialize proved to be ineffective. In the
fewer than 16 different
Beijing, marking the virtual end of the Chinese Civil War 1960s, another of the struggles between tradition and
official names. and a new era for the city (which now had its old name change that had long characterized Beijing’s history took
restored). In October 1949, Communist Party leader Mao place in the form of the Cultural Revolution, spearheaded
Zedong announced the foundation of the People’s Republic by young Red Guards who targeted what they saw as
of China (PRC) from a platform on Tiananmen Square. So conservative elements, including intellectuals, teachers,
began a wholesale transformation of both city and country. and even cultural sites across the city.
Tens of thousands of party and government workers The death of Mao Zedong in 1976 marked the beginning
moved into Beijing, marking the most radical shift in of a new phase in Beijing’s history. Under the leadership of
its demography since the coming of the Manchu, Deng Xiaoping and his successors, economic reforms
1959 The Great Hall 1969 The Beijing

of the People and nine underground
other major buildings are system opens.
built to celebrate the 10th
anniversary of the PRC.
Workers’ monument
outside Mao’s mausoleum
1949 Nationalist troops in 1976 Mao Zedong dies

Beijing surrender to the and is laid to rest in a
Communists. Mao Zedong mausoleum in the centre
establishes the People’s of Tiananmen Square.
Republic of China (PRC).
Emblem of the People’s Republic of China

BEIJING 283
The Beijing Olympics represent China’s grand entrance on to

the world’s stage and confirmation of its… superpower status.
MA JIAN, WRITER, 2008
were implemented that allowed limited private ownership. table-topping medal performance and a jaw-dropping
New shopping malls began to spring up across the city, opening ceremony that celebrated both the country’s
and a number of high-tech zones were set up – including traditional culture and its status as a modern economic
Zhongguancun, now regarded as China’s Silicon Valley. leviathan. It was a fitting theme for a city with roots in the ▽ OLYMPIC STADIUM
The boundaries of the city extended steadily, with a series ancient past, but whose dizzying dash towards modernity The original inspiration for the design of
the Beijing National Stadium (or “Bird’s
of new ring roads constructed (now totalling seven) and leaves visitors with the feeling that in the blink of an eye, Nest”) came from Chinese glazed ceramics
more subway lines built to cope with the burgeoning the whole landscape may be transformed once more. and the veining on scholar’s rocks.
population of a capital city of an economy that by the
1990s was growing at over 10 per cent a year.
The transition to modernity was not without its difficulties.
Anxieties about the rate of change were among the factors
that led to a widespread student protest movement in
1989, and the city had to overcome tensions caused by
an influx of migrant workers from the countryside and the
demolition of many of the hutongs and older neighbourhoods
of Beijing to make way for gleaming skyscrapers.
Meanwhile, pollution problems worsened as the number
of vehicles in the city mounted.
The 21st century

By the 2000s, Beijing was transformed, taking its place as
a city at the forefront of modern architectural styles with
innovative structures such as the egg-shaped National
Centre for the Performing Arts and the CCTV Headquarters.
None came to greater global attention than the extraordinary
“Bird’s Nest” stadium, built for the city’s hosting of
the 2008 Olympic Games. The Games were the boldest
statement yet of the new China: the nearly 7 million people
who attended them live and 3.5 billion people who
watched them worldwide were treated to China’s first-ever
1978 Deng Xiaoping becomes 2008 The Olympic

Communist Party leader Games are held in
and begins a process Beijing; China tops
of economic reform. the medal table.
In 1995, there were

more than 8.3 million
bicycles on
Beijing’s roads.
2008 The Beijing–

Tianjin high-speed
1987 Bernardo 2007 An ad-hoc artists’ railway opens,
Bertolucci’s The Last 1989 Martial law is enclave is transformed operating at
Emperor is filmed in imposed after student into the 798 Art District by speeds of up to
the Forbidden City. demonstrations. a redevelopment plan. 350 kph (220 mph).
HONG KONG 285
Hong Kong
PEARL OF THE ORIENT
Coming into its own as a merchant port, Hong Kong blended Chinese and
British influences to become the archetypal Asian metropolis, a symphony
of sky-high architecture, unabashed commerce, and restless energy.
Long before Hong Kong’s incarnation as an island Foreign traders

metropolis, it was the home of various tribes known as The Ming dynasty (r. 1368–1644) neglected the islands
the Yue, who had body tattoos, short hairstyles, and were of Hong Kong, viewing the region as uncivilized. The
experts at offshore fishing. After the first emperor of the Portuguese, who installed themselves in nearby Macau
Qin dynasty annexed southern China – including modern- in 1557, were the first Europeans to bring trade, and were
day Hong Kong and Guangdong – in 214 bce, a number of later followed by the Dutch, French, and British. During the
Han Chinese were forced to settle in the region, and the Yue subsequent Qing era, all foreign trade was channelled
were gradually assimilated into Han Chinese culture. solely through Guangzhou (or Canton) on the mainland,
During the Tang era (618–907 ce), the Tuen Mun district of and Hong Kong remained an undeveloped backwater.
what is now the New Territories is believed to have served as However, in 1842 China was forced to hand over Hong Kong
a port, and a base for salt production and pearl fishing. In the Island to the British after losing the First Opium War; foreign
12th century, members of the Tang clan, whose descendants trade could now be opened up, and for the new landlords
still hold political sway in Hong Kong today, first began to the island’s deep harbour presented a great opportunity.
settle in the region. Over the following centuries, they were
joined by the Hau, the Pang, the Liu, and the Man, collectively
making up the Five Great Clans of the New Territories.
Hong Kong has created one
of the most successful
◁ HONG KONG AT NIGHT
Chinese junk boats date back to the Han dynasty,
from 220 bce. The vessels are an iconic sight on societies on Earth.
Victoria Harbour, juxtaposed against the backdrop
of Hong Kong Island’s skyscrapers. QUEEN ELIZABETH II, 1997
c. 1100 ce Over several centuries,

five clans of Han Chinese
arrive from nearby Chinese
mainland provinces, driving
out local inhabitants, and
1842 China hands Hong
building walled villages
Kong Island to the
on the barren, hilly land.
British “in perpetuity” in
the Treaty of Nanjing, after
losing the First Opium War.
The Treaty
of Nanjing
1880 Hong Kong thrives
as a merchant port,
1557 The Portuguese overseeing about a third
establish Macau, setting of mainland China’s imports
up the first European and exports. Silk and jade
trading port in the region. are popular goods.
Every inch of space was used. As the road narrowed,

signs receded upwards... Hong Kong had the knack of
building where others wouldn’t dare.
JONATHAN GASH IN JADE WOMAN, 1989
Hong Kong under the British The Japanese took Hong Kong in 1941, sparking an
The British set up merchant houses in the new colony, and exodus, but the population surged again after the
trade in silk and jade soon developed. They built a city on the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in
north coast of the island, which they named Victoria, with the 1949. This created a huge pool of cheap labour for a
Central district – the focus for business and administration – thriving textiles and clothing industry. During the next
at its heart; soon cricket fields sat alongside tea houses. prosperous decades, the city stepped onto the world stage.
Without an adequate legal system or policing, life in its early By the 1970s, Hong Kong dazzled with neon lights, as
days was lawless, however, and opium dens and prostitution business owners vied for attention with huge billboards.
proliferated, giving the new settlement a reputation for vice. As Hong Kong boomed, so too did its distinctive culture.
For the expansionist British, control of Hong Kong Island For many audiences in the West, the first glimpse of the
alone was never enough. After victory in the Second Opium city was in Bruce Lee’s martial arts movie Enter the
War – a war forced by the British in order to improve their Dragon. Lee’s celebrity ushered in two decades of
trading concessions further – they were granted a portion successful Hong Kong cinema and Asian-chart-
of the Kowloon peninsula and Stonecutters Island under the dominating Cantopop. Meanwhile, China set up a string
1860 Convention of Peking. More was to follow: after China’s of Special Economic Zones on the mainland close by,
humiliating defeat in the First Sino–Japanese War, European making Hong Kong – long an established financial hub –
powers pressed the crumbing Qing dynasty into yet an international trading gateway to the PRC. By 1990,
another loss of land, and in 1898 Britain was leased the Hong Kong’s GDP was the largest in Asia after Japan.
△ COLONIAL ERA
The British introduced double-decker New Territories – almost all the remainder of Kowloon, plus
trams in 1912 and double-decker 200 outlying islands – for a period of 99 years. The Chinese
buses in 1949. Today Hong Kong were left the tiny walled city of Kowloon, and even that fell
has the world’s largest fleet of
double-decker trams. into British hands with the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912.
Neon city
Hong Kong’s population grew rapidly through the second
half of the 19th century, and by 1900 had reached 370,000.
Further waves of incomers followed the 1911 Chinese
Revolution, and the onset of war with Japan in 1937.
1941 Japan takes Hong 1980 China sets up Special

Kong during World Economic Zones near Hong Kong,
War II. The population with its modern port, intended to
shrinks from attract international trade and
1.6 million to 500,000 investment and boost exports.
in under four years.
1973 Enter the Dragon,

filmed in Hong Kong, is an
international hit, making
Hong Kong–American actor
1898 China agrees to Bruce Lee a worldwide star.
lease the New Territories 1997 Celebrations take place as Britain returns the New
(200 small islands) for Territories, Kowloon, and Hong Kong Island to China,
99 years to the British. which designates them a Special Administrative Region.
Hopes after handover Soon, mainland Chinese tourists began venturing △ NEON SIGNS IN KOWLOON
With much fanfare from mainland China, Britain returned to Hong Kong for a glimpse of unfettered Chinese Hong Kong was ablaze in neon from the
1950s to the 80s during economic boom
not only the New Territories, but also Kowloon and Hong capitalism. This trend was fast-tracked in 2018 when times. Many signs have disappeared and
Kong Island to the Chinese in 1997. China agreed to follow the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge opened, allowing there is now a push to preserve the
a “One Country, Two Systems” principle for 50 years, mainlanders to pop into Hong Kong in less than an hour. remaining examples as heritage pieces.
allowing, it was hoped, political freedom and capitalist There have been tensions over China’s increasing control
trade to continue for Hong Kong. The decade leading up to of Hong Kong’s affairs, and how the city continues to
the handover had been an uneasy one, with almost a integrate with the mainland remains to be seen. Yet
million residents emigrating. Yet the territory was left to Hong Kong has long inspired incomers to conjure fortunes
flourish. Building projects turned Hong Kong into a great from its infertile land, and its independent streak lives on
world metropolis, and today the city often tops the global in its politics, soaring skyline, and intoxicating island-
ranking for the number of buildings over 150 m (492 ft) tall. metropolis way of life.
2004 “A Symphony of
Lights” opens. High-tech
light shows are projected
nightly onto the walls of 20
buildings on Hong Kong
Island’s North Shore.
Hong Kong has over
15,000 restaurants, one
of the highest densities in
the world, partly because
few homes have
2018 The world’s longest sea
large kitchens. bridge, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–
Macau Bridge, opens, allowing
1998 Chek Lap Kok Airport opens China’s mainlanders to drive
after six years of construction to Hong Kong.
and at a cost of US$20 billion,
making it one of the world’s
most expensive airport projects.
Seoul
SOUL OF ASIA
Originally a small riverside settlement, Seoul sprinted into modernity from
the late 20th century. High-speed internet and architectural daring feed its
designer skyline and 24-hour lifestyle, which offer a preview of the future.
The site of present-day Seoul was first settled as early as China’s and followed a Confucian ideology. Over the next
4000 bce. Four millennia later, a village sprang up around 500 years, four more palaces were built by the Joseon
the shared border of three kingdoms along the Han river. dynasty, and together they became the Five Grand Palaces.
This community built earthen walls and tombs for their
deceased, but it was the much-later construction of two Language and learning
palaces that drew more settlers to the area. First, King Cultural life in Hanseong blossomed during the 30-year
Munjong of Goryeo built a summer palace in 1068. reign of King Sejong from 1418. His Jiphyeonjeon Hall,
Then, in 1392, King Taejo founded the Joseon dynasty within the Gyeongbok Palace, became a centre of
and ordered the construction of the scholarship, leading advances in science,
Gyeongbok Palace. This “palace of shining literature, and agriculture. Frustrated that
happiness” would be home to the Joseon the average citizen could not read the
monarchs for nearly 200 years. At this Chinese characters used by the elite,
time, the city was known as Hanseong. Sejong masterminded the development
King Taejo also built a defensive wall of a new phonetic written script, hangul,
along the ridges of the four surrounding which promoted widespread literacy and
mountains. Protecting the inhabitants continues to be used today.
from wild tigers and other animals, the
wall also limited contact with foreigners,
sealing off the city from the West and ◁ MAGPIE AND TIGER, 19TH CENTURY
In this example of minhwa (Korean folk art),
other outside influence. The government the comical tiger satirizes Joseon authority
kept its politics and culture close to while the magpie stands for the common man.
▷ DONGDAEMUN DESIGN PLAZA (DDP)

The huge and striking DDP, a cultural complex
designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and opened
in 2014, is clad in 45,000 aluminium panels.
c. 4000 bce Evidence suggests
human settlement in the Han
river area, location of
modern Seoul. 1396 The Fortress Wall 1669 The Honcheonsigye is
is built to keep out wild invented, an astronomical
animals (such as tigers) clock showing the position of
and foreign invaders. celestial bodies.
1443 King Sejong creates

the Korean alphabet and
in 1446 publishes
1392 ce King Taejo names Hunminjeongeum, a
Hanseong (later Seoul) as manual for its usage.
the capital of the Joseon
state and constructs
the Gyeongbok Palace.
SEOUL 289
◁ GYEONGBOK PALACE
The Joseon dynasty palace, dating
from 1392, was regarded as the
heart of Seoul. Major restoration
work was undertaken from 1867,
and again from 1989.
against Japanese rule in 1919

spread from the capital across
the country. The March First
Movement, as it became known,
resulted in thousands of deaths
and arrests, but also fostered a
clear “Seoulite” identity and
strengthened national unity.
The Japanese did, however,
invest heavily, improving roads
and ports, introducing trains,
expanding neighbourhoods,
and constructing Neoclassical
Western-style buildings. They
also enthusiastically promoted
the city as a tourist destination
A new era dawned in the late 19th century. King Gojong, in East Asia. High-quality guidebooks and magazines
the final monarch of the 500-year Joseon dynasty, declared gushed about the architecture, parks, and museums of
the start of the Great Korean Empire in 1897. He was Keijō. With its wonders shared and a new train line
For 60 years, a network determined to modernize the country and end centuries connecting the city to China, the capital of the former
of trams trundled of isolation by opening up relations with Western powers, hermit kingdom was now open to visitors.
following the example of neighbouring China and Japan.
through Seoul from Thanks to joint ventures with the USA, in 1902 the city War and recovery
downtown to outlying became the first in East Asia to have telephones, the By the time Korea finally gained independence from Japan
telegraph, trams, electricity, and water systems. in 1945, its capital was one of the most industrialized cities in
neighbourhoods. Trains
With its eyes on this up-and-coming metropolis, Japan East Asia. Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II led
and buses replaced the annexed Korea and occupied its capital for 35 years from to the division of Korea into North and South protectorates,
tram system in 1968. 1910. The Japanese renamed the city Keijō (Gyeongseong overseen by the Soviet Union and the USA respectively.
in Korean) and imposed measures intended to eradicate As Cold War tensions led to a breakdown in negotiations
Korean identity, including banning the speaking of the about this temporary division, elections were held in South
national language. A series of mass demonstrations Korea and the First Republic of Korea was declared in 1948.
1867 Gyeongbok Palace is 1910 The Japanese annex

reconstructed as a royal Korea and occupy Seoul,
complex of 5,792 rooms, renaming the city Keijō.
after being burnt to the
ground around 1597. 1897 King Gojong declares the
start of the Great Korean The March First
Empire, taking the title of Movement against
Emperor Gwangmu.
Japanese rule, which
started in Seoul in March
1919, is today marked with
a national holiday.
1905 The Japan–Korea Treaty is

signed in Seoul, establishing a 1915 The Joseon Industrial
Japanese protectorate over Korea. Exhibition is held in the grounds
It becomes effective in 1910. of the Gyeongbok Palace.
SEOUL 291
Seoul was adopted as the Republic’s capital. It was only at American influence
this point that the city’s name was officially established, The presence of the US military introduced new kinds of
although it had been in use for some time: “Seoul” was food to the Korean palate. Some of the most well-known
derived from a Korean term for capital. Korean dishes today started as American imports. Spam,
Stability was some way off, though. In June 1950, a tinned cooked meat from Minnesota, found its way into
North Korean forces crossed the mountains at the edge “army stews” in Seoul’s restaurants. Chicken used in
of Seoul and invaded, starting the Korean War. Seoul was Korean soups was now served battered and fried,
devastated by a three-month occupation, during which Kentucky-style, with mayonnaise on the side. ▽ NAMDAEMUN GATE, 1930S
the South Korean government fled the city and moved American Peace Corps volunteers, who began arriving During the first half of the 20th century,
Seoul’s cityscape saw Joseon-era gates
the capital to Busan in the south. Over the next three in Seoul in 1966, influenced local culture in other ways, sit alongside new Western-style buildings
years, the city changed hands multiple times. American promoting the virtues of volunteering and democracy. and trams.
troops entered Seoul in 1950 as part of a
UN counter-attack. Entire districts were
bombed out and leafy, shop-lined avenues
were turned into battlegrounds.
By the end of the war in 1953, Seoul was
left in ruins. Poverty, hunger, and crime
were compounded by a series of coups,
dictatorships, and rebellions. As North
Korean refugees arrived in the city, fleeing
even worse conditions, its population
swelled by 1.5 million to 2.5 million in less
than a decade. The military-controlled
government of President Park Chung-hee
oversaw rapid urban development and the
Seoul suburbs began to sprawl. The
Gyeongbu Expressway, constructed from
1968, and the Hannam Bridge, opened in
1969, linked the south of the Han river to
the old city centre. This created a new
residential and business district in an area
of former rice paddies known as Gangnam.
Development was so rapid that this period is now known As Paris was for France, Seoul was not simply
as the “Miracle on the Han River”. Over several decades,
a modern city emerged from the post-war rubble, one Korea’s largest town. It was Korea.
that was invested in technology, electronics, and science,
rather than agriculture. GREGORY HENDERSON, FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER IN KOREA, 1968
1925 The occupying Japanese

finish construction of the
Neoclassical-style Seoul
Station and, in 1926, Seoul 1948 The First Republic
City Hall. of Korea is proclaimed 1950 During the Korean
and the capital is War, Seoul changes hands
officially named Seoul between North and South
for the first time. Korea four times.
The Statue of Brothers at the

War Memorial of Korea
1945 At the end of World

War II, Korea gains
independence from Japan.
We created an even more festive atmosphere for

what is… the greatest international festival of peace.
CHYUN SANG JIM, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE SEOUL OLYMPIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, 1987
Olympic regeneration
△ The motto for the 1988

Seoul Olympic Games was
“Harmony and Progress”.
▷ Construction of the
Grand Olympic Bridge over
the Han river began in
1985, but was not
completed until 1990.
Seoul hosted the Olympic Games in 1988, investing heavily in urbanization gravitated towards the capital, often attracted by new jobs in the automotive
projects in the seven-year lead-up to the event. The aim was to raise the and consumer electronics industries. Other regeneration projects included
profile of Seoul and make it an economic and cultural hub for East Asia. new housing and new metro lines and, most notably, a scheme to beautify
The government pulled money, people, and other resources from the long-neglected Han river. Upgraded paths were laid along its course and
elsewhere in the country and employed them all in developing the city. locals started to cycle and stroll its length again. The Games were a major
Residents of some Seoul neighbourhoods earmarked for Olympic success and their infrastructure delivered a long-term legacy, with parks,
redevelopment were forced to relocate. Workers from other regions stadiums, and other venues still playing a part in Seoul’s daily life.
1974 Seoul’s first 2002 Seoul hosts the FIFA World

metro line – Subway Cup in its purpose-built Seoul
Line 1 – opens, World Cup Stadium, designed in
serving nine stops. the shape of a Korean kite.
Seoul regularly
tops the charts for
having the fastest internet
1996 The 23-m (75-ft)
Maitreya Buddha at
access in the world – more
1988 Seoul hosts Bongeunsa Temple than triple the global
1971 The 236-m (774-ft) N Seoul the Olympic Games, in Gangnam district
Tower is built at the summit of spurring major is completed. average speed.
Namsan mountain, overlooking housing and
Seoul. The observatory deck riverfront
opens to the public in 1980. regeneration.
SEOUL CITYSCAPE ▷
Seoul sits in a valley ringed by mountains
and the Fortress Wall, completed in 1396.
Large sections have been restored following
damage during the 20th century.
Seoul came of age in 1988: nationwide

anti-government protests resulted in
democratic national elections and the
city hosted the Olympic Games (see
box). Seoulites embraced the event and
rushed to volunteer. The capital courted
more international business, and firms
such as Samsung partnered with
universities in Seoul for research and
development into consumer electronics.
Fast, multifaceted future

Technology was the great hope for a
modern Seoul of the future. Through
the 90s, young Seoulites would bunker down in dimly lit were reborn as parks. Abandoned factories buzzed as new
internet cafes (or “PC bang”) to play popular online games. art spaces. In addition, the five royal palaces and the
This drove the adoption of internet use at home in South city’s hanok (traditional wooden houses) were restored. Seoul’s Lotte World
Korea, which was double that of the USA by 2001. Seoul’s A renewed Seoulite identity began to emerge, which took Tower, opened in 2017,
high population density made it easy to install a broadband pride in its unique, layered, Asian-meets-Western past.
network. By 2010, over 90 per cent of its residents could In 2012, singer Psy and his hit song “Gangnam Style” boasts the world’s
connect to high-speed internet. brought the wealthy Seoul neighbourhood of Gangnam to highest glass-bottom
Efforts were also made to create green space and international attention. Popular K-dramas (South Korean-
observation deck, the
boost the city’s cultural life. The reclamation of the made television series) flaunt the city’s futuristic buildings,
Cheonggyecheon stream was a case in point: after the such as the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in the fashion loftiest swimming pool,
Korean War, it had been paved over with roads and an district. Yet traditional values endure alongside 21st- and the fastest elevator.
elevated expressway, but in 2005 it was brought back into century developments. A landmark of Gangnam itself is the
use as a waterway, lined with nearly 11 km (7 miles) of towering Maitreya Buddha statue at the ancient Bongeunsa
pedestrian-only paths. Herons, fish, and the tinkle of Temple, completed in 1996. Today, futuristic skyscrapers –
flowing water returned to the city. The Seoul Metropolitan monuments of glass and polished steel, the headquarters
Government also identified disused buildings and areas of internationally powerful companies – share the limelight
to “activate” for public use and recreation. Old train lines with Seoul’s Five Grand Palaces.
2005 The Cheonggyecheon stream reopens as 2015 Seoul claims the world’s 2020 The population of
a waterway and pedestrian-only public space. top fibre-optic broadband Greater Seoul hits nearly
provision, with free Wi-Fi in 26 million, meaning that
10,430 public places. The aim for the first time, over
is free Wi-Fi coverage in all 50 per cent of South
public places by 2022. Koreans live in the city.
2019 The film Parasite, set in

2012 The song “Gangnam Seoul, explores class divisions
Style” by Seoul singer Psy and discrimination. It goes on to
is the first YouTube video become the first non-English-
ever to top one billion views, language film to win the Academy
putting K-pop and the Award for Best Picture.
city’s affluent Gangnam
district on the map.
TOKYO 295
Tokyo
EDO (“MOUTH OF THE BAY”)
Tokyo grew from a strategic castle town to become the world’s
largest city. It’s an ambitiously built metropolis that in recent decades
has captured the global imagination as a city of tomorrow.
For most of its history, Tokyo was called Edo (“mouth of the de facto ruler of feudal-era Japan. Unlike previous
the bay”). This area of tidal flats and reed beds, where the shoguns, Ieyasu set up his power base in Edo, far
Sumida river meets Tokyo Bay, has been inhabited for at from the entrenched influences of Kyoto, where the
least 10,000 years, according to archaeological records. emperor – by now little more than a figurehead – and Tokyo is still a medieval
Far from Kyoto, the imperial capital, Edo didn’t enter the old noble families still lived. city by design: wide
history books until the beginning of the feudal era, in Edo was a strategic choice. The Edo family had lost it
the late 12th century, when a minor warrior clan, who to the powerful Uesugi clan, who chose the losing side
boulevards and neat
took the name Edo, built a fort on a hill here. in the war, leaving it in Ieyasu’s grasp. Tokyo Bay was a grids are rare; narrow,
natural harbour and the Sumida river would make it easy
meandering roads are
The shogun’s city to ferry goods into the city, while a plateau overlooked the
Fifteenth-century Japan was a time of near-constant bay, the tidal flats, and the plains beyond – perfect for a more common.
warfare as regional warlords called daimyō vied for castle. And Edo’s proximity to Mount Fuji, worshipped as a
influence and land. In 1600, General Tokugawa Ieyasu god since ancient times, was auspicious. Like Kyoto, the
won a decisive battle with the backing of some key city was designed with geomantic principles in mind, and
daimyō, unifying the country and becoming shogun, guardian temples were built northeast and southwest of
the castle, the two directions that portend evil.
The early Tokugawa shoguns were enthusiastic and
◁ TOKYO SKYLINE resourceful urban planners, overseeing the construction
Where one- and two-storey wooden buildings stood of an extraordinary network of moats, canals, aqueducts,
less than a century ago, central Tokyo is now awash
with skyscrapers. Tokyo Tower, which resembles the and sewers. All were dug by hand, with clans who had
Eiffel Tower in shape but not in colour, is an icon of the city. opposed Ieyasu obliged to provide labourers.
1457 The first Edo

Castle is built by a
vassal of the powerful
Uesugi clan.
1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu,

the son of a minor
warlord who rose
to become shogun
of Japan, chooses
Edo for his capital.
c. 1200 ce The Edo

clan establishes
a fortification on 1624 The city’s first 1636 The construction of Edo Castle
Tokyo Bay, laying kabuki theatre, is completed; at the time, Edo was
claim to the area. Saruwakaza, opens. the world’s largest fortified town.
To solidify his power and ◁ KAJI-HAŌRI

discourage dissent, the This woollen kaji-haōri (literally
“fire coat”) with family crest
shogun required daimyō to was designed for a woman of
spend every other year in samurai rank to wear in the
Edo, and their wives and event of fire.
families to stay permanently.
The large retinues required
to maintain their villas in decorated with gold leaf or
Edo, along with the artisans and merchants thread, for example, was forbidden), but
who followed to supply goods and services, they improvised their own culture,
caused the city’s population to quickly swell. patronizing kabuki (a stylized dance-
drama) theatres and sumo-wrestling
Life and culture in Edo tournaments. They also spent lavishly on
Japan under Tokugawa rule was relatively banquets and courtesans – prized for their
peaceful, but freedoms were limited. The beauty, wit, and skill in the arts – in the
country was largely sealed off from the city’s licensed pleasure quarters.
rest of the world and there was a strict The most evocative examples of Edo’s
class hierarchy. At the top were the rich culture are the woodblock prints
daimyō and their retainers, known as (ukiyo-e) produced in the 18th and 19th
samurai. Farmers were held in some centuries. Great artists like Hokusai and
esteem – rice was required for survival, after all. At Hiroshige created works that celebrated everyday life in
the bottom were artisans and the merchants, the Edo, capturing the charm and swagger of kabuki stars (the
classes that made up the townspeople of Edo. Women, influencers of their day), and depicting scenes outside the
following the neo-Confucian values of the era, were city at a time when movement was strictly regulated.
considered subservient to men, though many worked
to survive or support their families. The making of a “modern” city
In Edo, the daimyō had their villas on the highland The 1868 Meiji Restoration (see box), which ended
plains, where they were safer from earthquakes and feudalism in Japan, gave Edo a new name and a new
floods. The townspeople lived along the Sumida river purpose. Edo was a city that served the shogun; Tokyo,
delta, mostly in wooden tenements that often went up in as the capital of an aspiring modern nation-state,
flames – a famous saying from the era proclaimed that needed to serve a different purpose. And while Edo had
“fires and quarrels are the flowers of Edo”. The city’s its own kind of sophistication, Japan wanted to show the
firemen, drawn from the merchant classes, were local world that it could be modern in the Western sense, too.
△ SAPPORO BEER POSTER, heroes, lauded for their bravery, stamina, and skill. This was a strategic move by a new government, ruled
EARLY 1900s In peacetime, the samurai saw their incomes dry up, by a young emperor and largely made up of high-ranking
Beer was introduced to Japan in the
late 19th century. It was a luxury item, while some merchants became incredibly wealthy. Strict lords and samurai from the rebel provinces, to project
far more expensive than sake. laws prohibited them from flaunting their riches (anything strength and ward off would-be colonizers.
1657 The Great Meireki Fire 1707 Mount Fuji erupts,

kills an estimated 100,000 covering Edo, 100 km
people and destroys more (62 miles) east of the
than half of the city, volcano, in several
including the castle. centimetres of ash.
1832 Hokusai finishes

his iconic Thirty-six
1689 The great haiku poet Matsuo Views of Mount Fuji
Basho sets off from Edo on foot 1721 Edo’s population series; until the age of
for the journey that would inspire surpasses one million, skyscrapers, the
his most famous work, The making it the world’s mountain was visible
Narrow Road to the Deep North. largest city. from the city streets.
TOKYO 297
Meiji Restoration
△ Yōshū Chikanobu’s 1885 woodblock triptych, Horse Track at Shinobazu, shows

one of the popular new diversions introduced after the Meiji Restoration.
By the mid-19th century, after 250 years of rule, the Tokugawa shoguns’ hold Meiji means “enlightened rule” and the new head of state, a 16-year-old
on power was growing increasingly tenuous. Ambitious daimyō (regional boy whose father had died abruptly the year before, would take the
warlords) in the southwest of the country were agitating for reform, and title of Emperor Meiji.
American ships in Tokyo Bay were demanding Japan open its ports. Civil war The court moved from Kyoto to Edo, the castle was transformed into an
broke out in 1867 between the rebel daimyō and Tokugawa loyalists; while not imperial palace, and the city renamed Tokyo (“eastern capital”). As feudalism
without bloodshed, it didn’t upend life as much as the constant wars of the ended, so did restrictions on movement and social class. Ports were opened,
15th century. But when it ended the following year, there was a dramatic and ideas and technology from the USA and Europe began to stream into
power shift: there would be no more shoguns, and full power reverted to the capital, which had a profound effect on politics, the arts, and – as
the emperor, in what came to be known as the Meiji Restoration. electricity, trains, and factories arrived – on the lives of ordinary citizens.
1868 The Meiji 1918 Neon lights go on in

Restoration restores Tokyo’s Ginza district.
rule to the emperor and
Edo is renamed Tokyo.
1914 Tokyo Station, the city’s main Nihombashi, a
rail terminus, which is modelled canal bridge now
on Amsterdam Centraal, opens.
overshadowed by the
city’s elevated highway, is
considered Tokyo’s centre;
all distances from the
capital are measured
from this point.
1909 Tokyo’s
population
passes
two million.
Tokyo was transformed into a ◁ OLYMPICS POSTER

model city for the new Japanese The 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the first
to be held in Asia, were a global showcase for
empire, which would include Korea, a progressive post-war Japan.
Taiwan, and Manchuria as Japan
embarked on its own colonization
project. With feudalism over, Tokyoites (like the edokko, or “children of
cooperative daimyō were offered Edo”, before them) were used to fires, and
something like severance packages many quickly rebuilt their properties – so
▽ MODERN GIRLS IN GINZA, 1928
Ginza – the first Tokyo district to get (perhaps a provincial governorship) quickly that the city had little chance to
electric street lights and brick and their lands in Tokyo were taken by institute urban planning. However, many
buildings – became the flourishing the state for new purposes. Museums, also decided to settle in the far west of
centre of the new “modern” culture.
This was the place to see and be seen parks, universities, hospitals, and the city, in districts that had been
in the latest Western fashions. military training facilities were built, village-like but were transforming into commuter towns.
often modelled on developments in Paris, Berlin, or As the 20th century wore on, it was these western
London. Some villas were also purchased by wealthy districts – Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku, for example –
merchants, who could finally acquire status symbols that became more developed and culturally relevant.
long prohibited to them.
At first, Western ideas were limited to the capital’s World War II, occupation, and the Olympics
elite, but as the 20th century began they started to reach An expansionist Japan, which had already annexed parts
the emerging middle class. The new trading companies of China, officially entered World War II on the Axis side in
and department stores had work for young men and 1940. In Tokyo, daily life was one of increasing scarcity, and
women, who commuted on the new tram lines and many children were evacuated to the countryside. The city
adopted Western dress and hairstyles. It was a heady, was bombed over a hundred times by Allied forces and
disorienting time, when certain parts of Tokyo more once again was laid to ash. When Japan surrendered, what
closely resembled Europe than the rest of Japan; at remained of the citizenry was war-weary and hungry, with
the same time, many residents still lived in wooden little energy to resist the Allied occupation that followed.
tenements, adhering to a way of life that little reflected Illicit markets thrived and people struggled to survive.
the great changes elsewhere in the city. By the 1960s, life was returning to a new normal –
one touched by American influences like blue jeans,
The Great Kantō Earthquake jazz, and aspirational consumerism. Like cities around
In 1923, on a windy September day at noon, when stoves the world, Tokyo was the site of major student protests
all over the city were alight for lunch, the Great Kantō during this era, largely targeting the terms of Japan’s
Earthquake shook Tokyo to its core, and did more to military alliance with the United States.
transform the city than any Meiji government project. And the city did what it had always done: it rebuilt.
Fires swept through the city, in particular the tightly The 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics were viewed at
packed former merchant quarters, causing far more the time as Tokyo’s comeback, and much of the city’s
casualties and damage than the initial quake. current infrastructure dates to the frantic construction
1923 The Great 1958 The Tokyo 1964 The shinkansen

Kantō Earthquake Tower, a symbol (bullet train) makes
(magnitude 7.9) 1944 A single night of the city’s its debut with a
strikes the coast of firebombing, the post-World War II route connecting
south of Tokyo. deadliest in history, kills reconstruction, Tokyo and Osaka.
an estimated 100,000 is completed.
people and destroys
nearly half the city.
1952 The Allied 1964 Tokyo hosts the

occupation of Summer Olympics,
1927 The first section of Japan, led by the the first games held
the Tokyo Metro (the first United States and in Asia and the first
underground railway headquartered in to be internationally
anywhere in Asia) opens. Tokyo, ends. televised.
that took place in the preceding years: the shinkansen In the 1980s, when Japan’s economy was soaring, △ SHINJUKU AT NIGHT
(bullet train) and the elevated highway, but also the the capital became a source of global fascination, its The Shinjuku neighbourhood of
Kabukichō is Japan’s largest nightlife
covering up of the canals of the shogun era. Now rather colourful neon streets, dense crowds, and giant video district. Its neon visuals are a symbol
fetid and unused, they were considered eyesores. advertisements becoming a kind of visual shorthand for of modern urban life.
the city of tomorrow, and an inspiration for cyberpunk
Contemporary Tokyo aesthetics everywhere. During the height of Japan’s
Boom or bust, Tokyo kept on building. The city’s economic bubble (which burst in the early 1990s), land in
destruction after the Great Kantō Earthquake and Tokyo’s Ginza neighbourhood was among the most
during World War II meant there weren’t many expensive in the world.
noteworthy old buildings to save, and centuries of While many still associate Tokyo with a kind of cityscape
fires had contributed to the idea that buildings weren’t made famous in films like Blade Runner (1982), the city
really permanent anyway. Old structures were torn has already moved on. More recent developments feature
down and built anew. Skyscrapers and a staggering new glittering glass towers, terraced green spaces, wooden
city hall went up in Shinjuku. Building on Edo-era land latticework (reminiscent of traditional architecture), and
reclamation projects, artificial islands in Tokyo Bay were revitalized waterways – the features of a city hoping
refashioned into leisure and commercial districts. once again to be seen as a beacon of the world to come.
1967 Yoyogi Park, a

military barracks
during the Allied
occupation, and later 2012 Construction
In 2020, the Olympic Village, is completed on the
is refashioned into a Tokyo Skytree, which
Tokyo’s population green public space. becomes the tallest
topped 14 million. The tower in the world.
Greater Tokyo Metropolitan
Area, home to over 37
million people, is the
world’s largest
conurbation. 1995 A religious cult
releases toxic nerve gas on
the Tokyo Metro during the
morning commute, killing
13 and injuring thousands.
Los Angeles
LA-LA LAND
Creative, bold, and not always angelic, sunny LA has spent the last 240
years transforming itself from a tiny Spanish pueblo into the world’s
largest dream factory, a storied cityscape of movies, music, and industry.
Los Angeles’ first-known citizen was a diminutive female

in her early 20s known as La Brea Woman. Her fractured Tip the world over on its side
skull and part of her skeleton were found at the La Brea
tar pits in LA’s Miracle Mile neighbourhood in 1914. She and everything loose will
lived around 10,000 years ago, and research suggests
she ate stone-ground grains. land in Los Angeles.
The Chumash people had arrived by 5000 bcE and
established a sophisticated artisan culture in the Ballona FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, ARCHITECT
wetlands, just south of present-day Venice Beach. From

around 200 cE, they were gradually displaced by the Tongva, Cabrillo claimed the island for Spain, exploring San Pedro
hunter-gatherers who had migrated from the arid interior. and Santa Monica bays on the mainland before heading
The most influential of several local peoples, they built further north. For the next 200 years, California was
sea-going vessels for fishing and lived in small villages, mostly ignored by Europeans, save for a mapping mission
several of which survived well into the colonial period. by explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno, who spent 1602 looking for
safe harbours along a shoreline that many Spaniards still
The Spanish arrival considered to be the western edge of a Californian island.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a veteran of Hernán Cortés’ Aztec
campaigns (see p. 69), was the first European to explore the
Californian coast. Sailing north from New Spain (modern- GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY ▷
Built in 1935, the Griffith Observatory has space exhibits and a
day Mexico), he landed on Santa Catalina Island in October planetarium, and offers views of the city and the Hollywood Sign.
1542. Despite several hundred years of Tongva settlement, It has featured in films including Rebel Without a Cause.
5000 bcE A Chumash 200 CE The Tongva people 1602 Spaniard Sebastián
culture in the Los begin a gradual western Vizcaíno tracks the
Angeles area is migration into the Los coast looking for
practising basketry Angeles Basin. safe harbours.
and using tar for
waterproofing.
In the early 1500s,
around 25 Tongva villages
existed in the area, with a
combined population of
about 500.
Tongva woman,
1905
1000 bcE Chumash

people settle along 1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo lands
the coast, where they on Santa Catalina Island and surveys
engage in fishing San Pedro Bay. It is the area’s first
and build boats. European contact.
LOS ANGELES 301
◁ SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL MISSION

Founded in 1771 by the Franciscan order as the fourth of
21 Spanish missions in California, the San Gabriel Mission
moved to its present site in 1775.
San Gabriel Arcángel, the first Franciscan mission in

the Los Angeles area, was founded in 1771. Six years later,
after establishing the town of San Jose to the north, near
San Francisco Bay, new Spanish Governor Felipe de Neve
proposed the foundation of a settlement close to San
Gabriel to act as a bulwark against Spain’s colonial rivals.
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (“The
Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels”, shortened to “El
Pueblo”) was laid out in 1781 and settled with 44 pioneers
from what is now northwest Mexico. They were chosen for
their resourcefulness, and only two of them were white.
Mexican takeover
The village gradually developed into a self-sufficient
farming community, with Native Americans employed as
paid labourers. A second mission was established at nearby
San Fernando in 1797, but the settlement faced sporadic
flooding and a powerful earthquake in 1812. When Mexico
gained its independence from Spain in 1821, it took over a
year for news of the revolution to reach the isolated pueblo.
The Spanish missions After swearing allegiance to the Mexican cause, LA was
Keen to out-manoeuvre their British, French, and Russian granted city status in 1835.
Indigenous people competitors, the Spanish began to strengthen their The missions were loyal to the Spanish church and, wary
presence in the frontier lands of California in the late of their influence, the Mexican government broke up the
suffered as the city grew.
18th century by building a network of Catholic missions. estates, many of which became cattle ranches. Settlers
Villages were uprooted In 1769, a reconnaissance party led by California’s first began to arrive from the fledgling USA, while the Tongva
and local laws allowed governor, Gaspar de Portolá, set out from Loreto, New and other Indigenous groups became increasingly
Spain, and travelled north through present-day Los marginalized. But a greater upheaval was to come:
Indigenous “vagrants” to Angeles County. Stopping to camp by a river that in 1846 the Mexican–American War began. There was
be bought as servants. meandered past a Tongva village, they named the fighting in and around the city, but by January 1847
waterway El Río de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Mexican resistance in California was over, and in 1850,
Ángeles de Porciúncula, and the seed of a city was born. it was incorporated into the USA.
1771 The San Gabriel 1821 With Mexican

Arcángel mission is built independence, the region
in the LA area using forced is no longer under the
Indigenous labour. control of Spain.
Cross marking the site

Between 1781 and
of the original pueblo of LA
1850 LA’s population
grew remarkably slowly,
from 44 inhabitants
1781 El Pueblo de Nuestra to around 2,000.
Señora la Reina de los
Ángeles is founded by 44
settlers from New Spain.
1833 The Spanish
missions are
secularized, leaving
land open to ranchers.
Thousands of men... began to “ride the
rails”, stowing away in empty boxcars
and jumping trains.
HADLEY MEARES ON THE IMPACT OF THE SANTA FE RAILWAY, LA CURBED, 2017
Under new government, development accelerated. bay that Juan Cabrillo had
LA’s street names were anglicized and tensions brewed explored two centuries
between Spanish-speakers and newer Anglo immigrants. before. It was dredged in
Many arrivals were attracted to ranching, which remained 1871, breakwaters were
the region’s key industry, especially during the California built to protect the harbour,
Gold Rush of the 1840s and 50s, when beef fed thousands and the city of San Pedro
of prospectors. Yet, with a population of around 2,000, LA was incorporated into
itself still wasn’t much larger than a village. For the next LA in 1909.
two decades it remained a shady, lawless place where Beautiful buildings
gangs roamed the streets. And then everything went boom. were also joining the
city’s functional early
The golden age dawns structures. Beaux-Arts
LA’s population exploded 20-fold between 1870 and 1900. offices and theatres rose in Downtown, and the Bradbury △ 1900s MAP OF LOS ANGELES
Growth was spurred by the building of railways and the Building, noted for its ornate interior and iron balustrades, By 1900, LA’s population had just
broken 100,000. It had yet to engulf
1892 discovery of oil. Electric streetcars began rattling opened in 1893. Rugged Griffith Park, one of the USA’s surrounding settlements such as
around the increasingly sophisticated city centre, as the city largest urban spaces, was established in 1896. Santa Monica, which it was connected
spawned a fire department, a public library, newspapers, and Oil had first been pumped to the surface in 1892. By the to by an electric railway.
churches of several different denominations. Meanwhile, city 1920s, the region was producing 25 per cent of the world’s
promoters set about hyping LA as the promised land, with its supply, a deluge that fuelled its 20th-century motorcar
warm climate, cheap and fertile land, and California sun. addiction. The first car in a city that would soon become
The most crucial of several new railways was the jammed with them hit the road in 1897. That year, LA made
long-distance Santa Fe railway, which linked the growing its first motion picture, a grainy 25-second street scene
city with the rest of the nation in 1887. With it came featuring horse-drawn carriages and men in bowler hats.
migrant workers – Chinese, Irish, Germans, and Americans In 1910, a 17-minute silent short called In Old California,
from the east coast – who added diversity to the growing directed by D.W. Griffith, was shot in the village-like district of
hub. Around the same time, LA made plans to acquire its Hollywood, 11 km (7 miles) northwest of Downtown. The new
first proper seaport in the form of San Pedro, the muddy art form would transform LA and change the USA forever.
1846 US marines 1887 Real-estate

occupy Los Angeles agent Harvey
at the start of Henderson Wilcox
the Mexican– buys 65 hectares
American War. (160 acres) of land 1910 Hollywood is
northwest of LA and incorporated into LA
names it Hollywood. and the district’s first
movie is shot.
1887 The Santa Fe D.W. Griffith,

railway links LA Hollywood’s first
to Chicago and movie director
opens the city to 1907 LA’s port
mass migration. opens after the
dredging of the
San Pedro
mudflats.
◁ Marilyn Monroe was born in LA

in 1926. A huge star in the 1950s,
The golden age of Hollywood
she has come to epitomize fame,
glamour, and the ephemeral
nature of Hollywood.
▽ Hollywood stars have been

imprinting their hands (and feet)
into the cement on Hollywood
Boulevard since the 1920s.
△ The Hollywood Sign was erected in 1923 as a temporary real-estate

advertisement but quickly became iconic. The “land” suffix was removed in 1949.
That’s what
Hollywood’s golden age began in around 1912, when the first big film production company,
Universal, started operating in the LA suburb. The era lasted around 50 years and saw huge
Hollywood is – a
technological advances – from sound and colour to crosscuts and special effects – and an
abundance of talent concentrated in one place. Actors like Clark Gable and Greta Garbo
set, a glaring, gaudy,

became the epitome of the film star. However famous, most actors worked within a studio
system in which eight big production companies exercised tight control. In the early 1960s, the
rise of television and antitrust regulations dented the popularity of cinema and the power of
the studios, but later in the decade, the “New Hollywood” era ushered in a more independent
approach to filmmaking, headed by directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and Sidney Lumet.
nightmarish set.
The 21st century has seen a lucrative revival dominated by sequels and superheroes. ETHEL BARRYMORE, ACTRESS, 1942
1913 Completion of 1929 The first Academy

Los Angeles Awards are held
Aqueduct, which at the Hollywood 1939 Raymond Chandler’s
diverts water from Roosevelt Hotel. LA-based novel The Big
farming land. Sleep is published. It later
becomes a film starring Freeways began to
Humphrey Bogart and appear in LA from 1940,
Lauren Bacall. culminating in the opening
of the world’s first stack
interchange
in 1953.
1923 The iconic 1943 The Zoot-Suit

Hollywood Sign Riots see baggy-
is unveiled on suited Latino and
Mount Lee in the Black men targeted by
Hollywood Hills. white servicemen.
SUNSET BOULEVARD ▷
Sunset Boulevard runs roughly east–west for 35 km (22 miles)
from Downtown LA to the Pacific Ocean, passing through West
Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It began its life as a cattle trail.
The birth of Tinseltown

Hollywood became the quintessence of LA as the film
industry entered its golden age (see box), and soon the
whole city was known as “Tinseltown”. Movie stars and the
rich and famous flocked to live in deluxe new suburbs as
the city, powered by oil and entertainment, grew five-fold
between 1900 and 1920, swallowing up numerous
surrounding towns. Decorated by ornate movie palaces
like Million Dollar Theater and entertainment venues such
as the Hollywood Bowl, and presided over by politicians
whose relationship with organized crime was often cosy, it Modern growing pains
seemed as if everyone was living in a Raymond Chandler By the mid-1980s, the hangover had started to hit hard
novel: talking sharp, while wading waist-deep in corruption. as deprivation and violence rose in parts of the city.
World War II was only a minor blip in LA’s meteoric ascent. The changing mood saw hippy harmonies and soft rock
Shipbuilding and aeroplane manufacture kept the economy replaced by mostly Black hip-hop that engaged with city
buoyant even as social problems arose: 1943 saw a grim life and racial injustice. The videotaped beating of a Black
wave of violence as white servicemen turned on fashionably man, Rodney King, by LAPD officers in 1991 sparked the
dressed Mexican and Black people in the Zoot-Suit Riots. 1992 LA riots, and marginalized areas like Compton and
Watts saw high crime and drug use.
California dreaming Meanwhile, poor urban planning resulted in traffic
Post-war LA embraced the motorcar with unbridled zeal. congestion and smog, and forest fires became fiercer and
Freeways multiplied, suburbs sprawled, and smog coated more regular. Out-of-control blazes in the 2010s destroyed △ STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
In 1988, N.W.A. put gangsta rap and the
everything in a dirty film. As the baby boomers boomed, many properties and threatened still more. primarily African-American city of Compton
so did LA’s industry, assembling cars, making furniture, But LA is changing. In the next decade, the growing on the map. Other rappers from the LA area
include Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar.
and stitching clothes, while the film business matured, Latino community is set to become a majority for the first
and real-estate agents got rich subdividing land. time since the 1850s. In the economic sphere, the city has
There was music too. LA’s 60s musical awakening began diversified through tourism, aerospace engineering, and
on the coast with surf pop and the addictive harmonies computer manufacturing. The arts remain upbeat, with a
of the Beach Boys, before migrating to the more bohemian still-buoyant movie industry, dazzling new architectural
confines of Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, where it projects, and a strong international influence. In 2028, LA will
spawned the likes of the Byrds, the Doors, Joni Mitchell, become only the third city to host the Olympic Games three
and Crosby, Stills & Nash. times. America’s dream factory is as dynamic as ever.
1984 LA becomes 1994 The Northridge 2017 The Me Too movement

the only US earthquake kills exposes sexual harassment
city to host the around 60 people and in Hollywood. Film producer
Summer Olympic causes over US$20 Harvey Weinstein is later
Games twice. billion of damage. convicted of rape and jailed.
The US poster
for La La Land
2017 La La Land, a
joyous tale of love
1957 The Troubadour and dreams in LA,
opens. The hugely 1997 The Getty Center, directed by Damien 2018 Woolsey
influential club helps an architectural Chazelle, wins six wildfire progresses
cement the careers of marvel and one of the Academy Awards. through Malibu to
the Byrds, the Eagles, 1991 Rodney King is beaten by USA’s most-visited singe the cusp of
and Guns N’ Roses. police, sparking riots in 1992. museums, opens. the city of LA.
MORE GREAT CITIES

the process of transforming itself
into a modern, forward-thinking
metropolis, with projects like
Masdar, a self-contained sub-city
powered by renewable energy,
However, the period following in 1940, the country was and the Saadiyat Island cultural
Rotterdam the 1991 collapse of Moscow rule transformed. Today, Doha is a zone, with branches of the Louvre
has seen the Azerbaijani capital city of 2.4 million people, and is and Guggenheim museums.
Manhattan on the Meuse
reborn. Paid for by the revenue of in constant flux with the
Rotterdam has been called the Caspian Sea oil fields, 21st- construction of ever-taller
“ultimate city of reconstruction”. century Baku is a city of glitzy skyscrapers, dazzling cultural Nur-Sultan
The city was founded in the architectural showpieces, such as centres, and other investment City of Peace
mid-13th century, but bombing by the wave-shaped Heydar Aliyev projects befitting of the capital of
the German air force during World Centre designed by British–Iraqi one of the world’s richest countries. The capital of Kazakhstan was
War II almost completely destroyed architect Zaha Hadid and the trio renamed in 2019 after former
the centre. The municipality saw of skyscrapers known as Flame President Nursultan Nazarbayev,
it as a once-in-a-lifetime Towers, meant to represent Abu Dhabi and has a history of name changes.
opportunity to reimagine the city tongues of flame shooting up Manhattan of the Middle East The city was originally founded on
as a more functional and beautiful from the earth – they flicker at the Ishim river in 1830 by Siberian
place. It became one of the world’s night with LED lights. Archaeological evidence shows Cossacks as Akmolinsk. During the
leading laboratories for design that the area around Abu Dhabi Soviet era it was a small regional
and architecture, pioneering was settled as far back as centre known as Tselinograd,
prototypes that were later adopted Doha 3000 bce. The modern city began reverting to a variant of its original
across Europe and America, when Bedouin of the Bani Yas name, Akmola, after the regime’s
Pearl City
such as the world’s very first tribe settled here in the 1790s. collapse. When the city took over
pedestrianized shopping street. As recently as the middle of Abu Dhabi (“father of gazelle” – the role of capital from Almaty in
It remains a work in progress. the 20th century, even though it the animals were abundant here 1998, it became Astana. Since
was the chief settlement in Qatar, at one time) remained a minor then, oil wealth has been spent on
Doha was no more than a small settlement until the discovery of international planners and
Baku fishing and pearling village. It was oil in the mid-20th century. When architects with the aim of creating
City of Winds
founded sometime in the 1820s. the United Arab Emirates was an audacious showpiece for the
A century later it had a population formed in 1971, Abu Dhabi was independent nation. The resulting
Baku has a history that stretches of about 12,000, but this diminished made its capital, but despite its cityscape features a slew of
back to at least 885 ce, and when the pearl trade was devalued status and new-found wealth, the remarkable buildings, many of
encompasses periods of rule by by the advent of cultured pearls in town modernized slowly. In the which reference Kazakh heritage,
the Persians and Ottomans, and Japan and the Great Depression of 21st century, Abu Dhabi has such as the Baiterek tower,
both Imperial and Soviet Russia. the 1930s. When oil was discovered released the handbrake and is in inspired by the Kazakh “tree of life”.
△ Rotterdam The striking Market Hall in central Rotterdam. △ Doha The city’s skyscrapers include the cylindrical Doha Tower (foreground, right).
Bay. It was named in honour of destroyed a third of the city, “the most multicultural city in the
Kuala Lumpur Chief Si’ahl of the local Duwamish Chicago flourished as a centre for world”. That may not be true but
KL
and Suquamish Native American manufacturing and meatpacking, the City of Toronto public transit
tribes. It boomed during the first and as a transportation hub. In helpline provides a service in over
Meaning “muddy river confluence” years of the 20th century 1885, Chicago gave the world its 80 languages. While not the
in Malay, Kuala Lumpur was following the Klondike Gold Rush first skyscraper and, following an nation’s capital, the city is home
founded by Chinese tin miners in and again in the latter part of the influx of African Americans from to the Stock Exchange and the
1857. Despite its malaria-infested century thanks to the presence of the south in the 1920s and 30s, it headquarters of the country’s
jungle location, it prospered and the Boeing aircraft factory and the nurtured a particular strain of five largest banks.
became capital of the Federated advent of mass air travel. In Chicago jazz and blues. In recent
Malay States in 1896. When recent times, it has been a centre times, industry has been replaced
Malaya (later Malaysia) declared for new tech, home to the likes of as the economic backbone by São Paulo
independence from Britain in Microsoft and Amazon. Its status finance and technology, but the Sampo
1957, Kuala Lumpur continued as as a major Pacific port has also city retains its blue-collar image
the new nation’s capital. Since that made it a hub for immigration, and a reputation for rough-and- Founded by Jesuit missionaries in
time, it has ridden the Southeast especially from Asia; more than tumble politics. 1554, São Paulo is the largest city
Asian economic boom to become 15 per cent of its approximately in Brazil and second most-
a sprawling city bristling with 3.9 million residents are of Asian populous in the entire Southern
skyscrapers, most notably the descent. The city has a reputation Toronto Hemisphere, with over 21 million
Petronas Towers, once the tallest for liberalism and it has one of The 416 in its metropolitan region. It was
buildings in the world and still the the largest LGBTQ+ communities overshadowed by Rio de Janeiro
tallest twin towers. Although the in the USA. The Toronto area has been until the end of the 19th century,
majority of the population is inhabited for more than 10,000 when it experienced an economic
Malaysian Chinese, the city is a years, but the city was founded boom based on the export of
mix of cultures, in which mosques Chicago by the British as York in 1793. coffee. On the back of this, the city
and temples mix with high-rises, Windy City It was renamed in 1834 to welcomed waves of immigrants
Chinese shophouses and Malay distinguish it from New York. As a from Europe, the Middle East,
kampungs (villages). The largest city in the American major destination for immigrants and Asia. It is today the major
Midwest occupies land once to Canada, Toronto grew rapidly economic centre of not only Brazil
roamed by native Fox, Miami, through the remainder of the but all of South America. It is also
Seattle Potawatomi, and Sauk tribes. In 19th century. Today, it is the most ethnically diverse, with sizeable
Emerald City 1803, the US Army built Fort populous city in Canada and still a Italian, Arab, and Jewish
Dearborn on the south bank of magnet for immigration: more communities, and the largest
The city that gave the world the Chicago river. In 1837, its than half of its residents belong to Japanese population outside Japan.
Starbucks and the grunge band population reached 4,000 and a minority population group. A São Paulo has few historical
Nirvana was officially established Chicago was incorporated as a popular urban myth has it that the buildings or beauty spots, but it
in 1869 on the shores of Elliott city. Despite a fire in 1871 that United Nations rated Toronto as is dynamic and industrious.
△ Kuala Lumpur The Petronas Towers are the world’s tallest twin towers. △ Toronto The CN Tower dominates the Toronto skyline.
308 INDEX
Index Anglo-Saxons 87
Ankara (Turkey) 35
Anna, Empress of Russia 236
Anthemius of Tralles 32
Anyang (China) 10
Avenida 9 de Julio
(Buenos Aires) 230
Avenida da Libertade
(Lisbon) 175
Avignon (France) 20
Bechet, Sidney 100
Becket, Thomas 87
Beckham, David and
Victoria 275
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Anza, Captain Juan Bautista Ayuytthaya (Thailand) 141 (New York City) 220
Page numbers in bold refer to al-Hakim, Caliph 38, 39 de 211 Ayyubid dynasty 39, 132, 133 Bega Begum 50
main entries. al-Husayni, Mohammed Anzac War Memorial Azerbaijan, Baku 306 Beihai Park (Beijing) 276
Amin 42 (Sydney) 208 Aztecs 67–69, 70, 71, 72, 300 Beijing (China) 11, 13, 202,
9/11 attacks 221 al-Idrisi 173 Apadana (Persepolis) 44–46 azulejos tiles 174–75 276–83
798 Art District (Beijing) 283 al-Mansur, Caliph 268 apartheid 195–97 Beijing-Tianjin high-speed
Alans 173 Arab invasions 173 B railway 283
A Alaric 19 Arab League 135 Babur, Emperor 50 Belfast (UK) 232
ABBA 171 Albert the Bear, Margrave Arab Spring Revolution 135 Babylon (Iraq) 37, 82–83, Belgrano, Manuel 228
Abbas, Shah of Persia 243, of Brandenburg 119 Arab–Israeli conflict 42–43 130, 243 Belisarius, General 20
244, 245 Albrecht V of Austria 114 Aragon 179 Bacall, Lauren 304 Bell Tower (Xi’an) 65
Abbasid Caliphate 38, 39 Alcatraz (San Francisco) 212 Arc de Triomf (Barcelona) 181 Bachchan, Abhishek and belle époque 99
Abbey Theatre (Dublin) 160, Alexander I of Russia 238, 239 Arc de Triomphe (Paris) 98 Aishwarya Rai 275 Bellini, Gentile, The Miracle of
161 Alexander II of Russia 126, 239 Argentina Bagan (Myanmar) 83 the Cross at the Bridge of
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Alexander III of Russia 127 Buenos Aires 226–31 Baghdad (Iraq) 130, 268 San Lorenzo 184–85
Caliph 38 Alexander Gardens La Plata 269 Bahadur Shah Zafar, Belvedere Palace
Aboriginal people 204, 207 (Moscow) 126 Aribau, Bonaventura Emperor 52 (Vienna) 115
abras 275 Alexander the Great 27, 29, Carles 180 Baha’i faith 55 Benares see Varanasi
Abu Dhabi (UAE) 13, 273, 306 37, 46, 47, 83, 268–69 Aristophanes 26 Bahlul Lodi, Sultan 48 Benares Hindu University
Abuja (Nigeria) 13 Alexandria (Egypt) 130, 268–69 Aristotle 27 Baixa district (Lisbon) 175 (Varanasi) 139
Academy (Athens) 27, 28 Alexandria (USA) 258, 260, 261 Ark of the Covenant 37 Baker, Kenneth, District Six 195 Benoit, Pedro 269
Academy Awards 304 Alfama quarter (Lisbon) 176 Armenians 40, 41 Baku (Azerbaijan) 306 Benton, Thomas Hart,
Academy of Sciences Alfred, Prince, Duke of Armstrong, Louis 152, Balbi, Gasparo 273 Workers of America 219
(St Petersburg) 238 Edinburgh 206 153, 218 Balfour, Arthur 42 Bergman, Ingrid 171
Achaemenid Empire 45–47, 243 Ali Qapu Palace (Isfahan) 245 Arno river 102, 107 ball game 76 Berlin (Germany) 118–23
Acre (Israel) 40 Alighieri, Dante 103 Arsenale (Venice) 186, 189 ballet 126, 239 Berlin Wall 122, 123
Acropolis (Athens) 24–25, 26, 28 Aliya Rama Raya of Art Deco 12, 100, 203, 224 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Berliner Dom 120, 121
Acropolis Museum (Athens) 29 Vijayanagar 58, 59 Art Nouveau 99, 112, 113, (USA) 261 Bernini, Gian Lorenzo 21
Acropolises (Tikal) 74–75 Allenby, General 155, 171, 183 Baltimore (USA) 260 Bertolucci, Bernardo 283
Act of Union (South Africa) 195 Edmund 41, 42 Artaxerxes of Persia 47 Bangkok (Thailand) 140–45 Beukelszoon, Willem 163
Act of Union (UK, 1800) 160, Allied occupation Artigas, Joan Gardy 183 Bangladesh 54 Beverly Hills (Los Angeles) 305
161 Austria 117 Ashigawa shogunate 256 Bani Yas 273 Bhakti movement 138
Adams, John 260 Germany 122 Ashoka, Emperor 136 Banks, Joseph 204 Bhumibol Bridge
Adderley Street (Cape Japan 298 Ashurbanipal of Assyria 47 Barbosa, Duarte 58 (Bangkok) 144–45
Town) 194 Altes Museum (Berlin) 120 Asian financial crisis 145 Barcelona (Spain) 178–83 Bird’s Nest stadium
Adelaide (Australia) 13 Alvarado, Pedro de 68, 69 Asian Games 54 Barcelona Cathedral 179 (Beijing) 283
Aeschylus 26 Amber Road 114 Assyrians 37 Baroque style 21, 35, 81, 90, Birger Jarl 169
Afghanistan 50, 51, 244, 245 American Civil War 152–53, Astor family 217 111, 114, 116, 117, 222, 236 Birka (Sweden) 169
Afonso Henriques of 261 Atahualpa 80, 81 Barracas neighbourhood Bismarck, Otto von 120
Portugal 173 American Revolutionary Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal 35 (Buenos Aires) 229 Blaauwberg, Battle of
African Americans 153, 258, War 148, 166, 215, 258, 269 Athena 25, 26 Barrio Norte 192
260, 261, 262, 263, 304, 305 Amiens, Treaty of 192 Athens (Greece) 10, 24–29 (Buenos Aires) 230 Bladensburg, Battle of 260
Afrikaners 194, 195 Amir Abu Shuja 47 Augustus, Emperor 18, 19 Bashō, Matsuo 256, 296 Blitz, London 92
Ağa, Sedefkâr Mehmet 34 ’Amr ibn al’As 130, 132 Aurangabad (India) 51 Basilica Cistern (Istanbul) 32 Bloody Sunday massacre 239
agora (Athens) 25, 27, 28 Amstel river 163 Aurangzeb, Emperor 51, Basilica of Our Lady of Blue Mosque (Istanbul) 34
Agra (India) 50 Amsterdam (Netherlands) 11, 138, 139 Guadalupe (Mexico City) 72 Bo-Kaap (Cape Town) 194
agriculture 8–9, 12, 13 162–67, 236 Aurelian, Emperor 18, 19 Basquiat, Jean-Michel 220, 221 Boer Wars 195
Ahmet I, Sultan 34 Amsterdamse Bos park 167 Aurelian Walls (Rome) 18, Bastille, storming of the 97 Bogart, Humphrey 304
Ahuitzotl, Emperor 68 An Lushan, General 64 19, 22 Batavian Republic 166 Bohemia 109
Aibak, Qutb-ud-din- 48 an-Nasir Muhammad, Australia Baths of Caracalla 23 Boleslav I of Bohemia 109
Ain Jalut, Battle of 132 Sultan 40 Canberra 269 Batista, Fulgenico 224, 225 Bolsheviks 127, 128, 239, 240
Akbar, Emperor 50, 138–39 Anabaptists 164 Melbourne 155 Bauhaus (Berlin) 121 Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) 126
Akhmatova, Anna 241 Andersson, Benny 171 Sydney 204–209 Baybars, Sultan 40, 132 Bondi Beach (Sydney) 207
Akshardham Temple (Delhi) 55 Angkor (Cambodia) 11, 83 Austria, Vienna 114–17 Bazalgette, Joseph 92 Bongeunsa Temple
Al Bu Falasah family 273 Anglican Church 158 Austrian Empire 190 Beach Boys 305 (Seoul) 292, 293
Al Maktoum dynasty 273, Anglo–Dutch Wars 166 Austro-Hungarian Beat Generation 212, 213 Book of Kells 160
274 Anglo–French War 147 Empire 154 Beatles, the 92 Booth, John Wilkes 261
al-Aqsa Mosque Anglo–Irish Treaty 161 Autshumato, Chief 196 Beauvoir, Simone de 101 Bord Gáisa Energy Theatre
(Jerusalem) 38, 39 Anglo–Normans 158 Avars 114 Beaux-Arts style 262, 303 (Dublin) 161
INDEX 309
Bordeaux (France) 154 Buenos Aires (Argentina) 12, Caracol (Belize) 76 Charles I of England 89 Chrysler Building
Borges, Jorge Luis 228, 229 226–31 Caral-Supe complex (Peru) 10 Charles IV, Emperor 109 (New York City) 218
Borromini, Francesco 21 building materials 10 Carlos I of Portugal 177 Charles IV of Spain 71 Chumash people 300
Bosphorus 31, 35 Bukka 57 Carnaby Street (London) 93 Charles V, Emperor 20, 21, 68, Church of the Holy Apostles
Boston (USA) 216 Bulgakov, Mikhail 129 Carnation Revolution 69, 70, 164, 180 (Athens) 28
Boswell, James 22 Bund, the (Shanghai) 198, (Portugal) 176, 177 Charles VI, Emperor 114 Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Botany Bay (Australia) 204 200, 201, 203 Carnegie family 217 Charles VIII of France 104 (Jerusalem) 38, 39, 41
Botticelli, Sandro 104, 105 Burj al Arab (Dubai) 275 Carnival (Venice) 187, 189, 191 Charles Bridge (Prague) 110 Church of Our Lady Before
Madonna of the Burj Khalifa (Dubai) 12, 275 Cartagena (Colombia) 233 Charles University Tyn (Prague) 108–109
Magnificat 105 Burle Marx, Roberto 267 Carthaginians 16, 179 (Prague) 109, 110 Church on Spilled Blood
Boudicca, Queen of Busan (South Korea) 291 Cartier, Jacques 147 Charrúa people 227 (St Petersburg) 239
the Iceni 86, 87 Buyid dynasty 47, 243 Carvalho, Sebastião de 175 Château Frontenac hotel Churchill, Winston 92, 223
Bowles, Thomas 86–87 Byrds, the 305 Casa Batlló (Barcelona) 182 (Québec City) 149 cities, first 8–9
Bowring Treaty 142, 143 Byron, Lord George Gordon 17 Casa Milà (Barcelona) 182 Chauhan dynasty 48 City Beautiful movement
Boxer Rebellion 65, 280, 281 Byzantine Empire 20, 31–33, Casa Rosada (Buenos Aires) Chazelle, Damien 305 (Washington, DC) 262
Bradbury Building 184, 186 228, 229 Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin) 123 City Hall (Buenos Aires) 228
(Los Angeles) 303 caste system (India) 138 Chek Lap Kok Airport City Hall (Cape Town) 195, 197
Brahe, Tycho 110 C Castelo São Jorge (Lisbon) 173 (Hong Kong) 287 City Hall (San Francisco) 212
Brahms, Johannes 116 Ca’ d’Oro (Venice) 186 Castro, Fidel 222, 224–25 Chekhov, Anton 127 city-states
Bramante, Donato 21 cable cars 210–11, 213 Catalans 28 Cheonggyecheon stream Greek 10, 25
Brandenburg Gate Cabral, Pedro Álvares 174 Çatalhöyük (Turkey) 8 (Seoul) 293 Italian 186
(Berlin) 120 Cabrillo, Juan Rodríguez 300, Catalonia 178–83 cherry blossom 253 Ciudad Universitaria
Braque, Georges 99 303 Cathedral (Florence) 102, 103, Chesapeake Bay (USA) 258 (Mexico City) 72
Brasília (Brazil) 10, 233, Caesar, Julius 17, 18, 19, 104, 105, 107 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Ciutadella (Barcelona) 180, 181
264–67 102, 173 Cathedral of the Assumption (USA) 261 civic administration 9
Bratislava (Slovakia) 154 Café Florian (Venice) 190 (Moscow) 124 Chiado district (Lisbon) 177 Civil Rights Movement 263
Bravo, Alonso Garcia 70 Cairo (Egypt) 130–35 Cathedral of Brasília 266, 267 Chiang Kai-shek 202 Cixi, Dowager Empress 280,
Brazil Cajuns 152 Cathedral of Christ the Saviour Chicago (USA) 10, 12, 307 281
Brasília 264–67 Calakmul (Mexico) 76 (Moscow) 126, 128, 129 Chikanmobu, Yōshū, Horse Clean Air Act (UK, 1956) 92
gold 174, 175 Caligula, Emperor 18 Catherine II the Great of Track at Shinobazu 297 Cleisthenes 26
independence 265 Calloway, Cab 218 Russia 238, 239 Chile, Valparaíso 233 Clement XII, Pope 22
Portuguese royal family Cambodia, Angkor 83 Catholic Church China Clementinum (Prague) 11, 110
in exile 175 Camus, Albert 101 England breaks with 88 Beijing 276–83 Cleopatra VII, Pharaoh 130
Rio de Janeiro 233 Canaanites 37 in Mexico 69, 70, 72 Hong Kong 284–87 Cloaca Maxima (Rome) 16
São Paulo 307 Canada Rome 16, 20 Shanghai 198–203 Clock Tower (Singapore) 249
Bridge of Sighs (Venice) 189 Montréal 155 Celtic language 160 Xi’an 60–65 Clovis I of the Franks 95
British East India Québec City 146–49 Celts 95, 109, 114 China Art Museum cocoa 166
Company 52, 59, 89, 139, Toronto 307 Central Park (New York City) (Shanghai) 202 Codex Mendoza 70
198, 246 Vancouver 233 216, 219 China Central Television Cola di Rienzo 21
British Empire 52–54, 92, 139, Canadian Pacific Railway 149 Central Post Office Building Headquarters (Beijing) Cold War 122, 290
147–49, 192, 194, 196, 204, Canaletto 190 (Stockholm) 171 276–77, 283 Coleman, Glenn,
246, 248–49, 273, 274, canals 12 Centre Pompidou (Paris) 101 chinampas 67 Bridge Tower 12
285–87 Amsterdam 163, 164, 165, Cerdà, Ildefons 180, 181 Chinatown (San Francisco) Colombia, Cartagena 233
British Mandate in 167 Cervantes, Miguel de 154, 178 212 Colosseum (Rome) 11, 16–17,
Palestine 42 Venice 184–91 Ceschiatti, Alfredo, Justice 266 Chinese Civil War 282 18, 22, 23
British Museum (London) 29 Canary Wharf (London) 93 Chak Tok Ich’aak I of Tikal 75 Chinese Revolution 286 Columbus, Christopher 260
British North America Act 148 Canberra (Australia) 13, 269 Chakri dynasty 141–45 Chioggia, Battle of 187 Comédie-Française 97
Brixton riots (London) 92 Canterbury (England) 87 Chamber of Deputies Chitimacha people 150 Commonwealth Games 55
Broadway (New York City) Cap-Diamant (Brasília) 264–65 cholera 12 Communism
215, 219 (Québec City) 148, 149 Champlain, Samuel de 147 Chōmei, Kamo no 255 China 198, 200, 201, 202,
Bronx (New York City) 216, 221 Cape Colony 192, 194, 195 Chanapata civilization 79 Chongzhen Emperor 280 281–83
Brooklyn Bridge Cape Flats (Cape Town) 196, Chanca people 79 Chopin, Frederic 117 Cuba 225
(New York City) 12 197 Chandigarh (India) 13, 269 Chora Church (Istanbul) 33 Czechoslovakia 113
Browning, Robert and Cape of Good Hope (South Chandler, Raymond 304, 305 Christ, Jesus 38 Russia/Soviet Union
Elizabeth Barrett 107 Africa) 192 Chandni Chowk (Delhi) 51 Christ the Redeemer 127–29, 239–41
Bruckner, Anton 116 Cape Town (South Africa) 12, Chanel, Coco 100 (Rio de Janeiro) 233 Compton (Los Angeles) 305
Bruegel, Pieter the Elder, 192–97 Chang’an (China) see Xi’an Christian II of Denmark 169 Confucianism 63, 288
The Sack of Rome 21 Cape Town Stadium 197 Changi Airport (Singapore) 251 Christianity Connaught Place (Delhi) 53, 54
Brunelleschi, Filippo 104, 107 Capitol (Washington, DC) 260, Changle Palace (Xi’an) 62 Athens 28 conquistadors 68, 69, 227, 233
Bruno, Giordano 21 261, 263 Chao Phraya river 140–41, 143 California 211 Constantine, Emperor 16, 19,
Brutus, Decimus Junius 173 Capitol Hill (Washington, DC) Chapultepec (Mexico) 67 Constantinople (Istanbul) 31 20, 31, 38
Budapest (Hungary) 154–55 258–59 Chapultepec Castle Jerusalem 38–43 Constantinople 186
Buddhism 61, 63, 136, 253, Capitoline Hill (Rome) 16, 19 (Mexico City) 72 Mexico 69, 70 fall of 34, 124, 187
254, 255, 257 Capitoline Museums (Rome) 22 Charlemagne 20, 102, 114 Rome 16, 18, 19, 20 see also Istanbul
310 INDEX
convicts, penal colonies 204, David, King 37 drama, Greek 25, 26 Empire State Building film 23, 101, 251, 286, 293, 303,
206 de Brujin, Cornelis de 47 drugs 167, 198, 200, 201, 213 (New York City) 12, 304, 305
Cook, Captain James 204 de Clare, Richard 246, 286 218, 219 finance 13, 250, 251
cooperation, large-scale 8 “Strongbow” 158 Drum Tower (Xi’an) 65 empires 11 First Intifada 43
Copenhagen (Denmark) 232 de Hooch, Pieter 165 Dubai (UAE) 12, 272–75 Endeavour, HMS 204 First Republic of Korea
Coppola, Francis Ford 304 Decembrist Revolt 238 Dubai Internet City 274, 275 English Civil War 89 290–91
Coptic Christians 41, 130, Decena Trágica, La Dubai Mall 275 Enlightenment 119 First Temple (Jerusalem) 37
135 (Mexico City) 72 Dubček, Alexander 113 environmental consciousness Fitzgerald, F. Scott 99, 100
Coricancha temple (Cusco) 80 Delft (Netherlands) 165 Dublin (Ireland) 158–61 13, 171, 191, 213, 293 Five Grand Palaces (Seoul)
Cortés, Hernán 68, 69, 71, 300 Delhi (India) 8, 48–55 Dufy, Raoul 99 Ephesus (Turkey) 82 288, 293
Cortex Borbonicus 68 Delhi, Battle of 52 Dusit (Bangkok) 143 Erdoğan, Recep Tayyip 35 Five Great Clans
Costa, Lúcio 265, 266 Delhi Development Dutch East India Company Erechtheion Temple (Hong Kong) 285
cotton 153 Authority 54 164, 166, 192 (Athens) 26 Flatiron Building
Cotton Club (New York City) Delhi Metro 55 Dutch Empire 166, 192, 196, Ericsson 171 (New York City) 12, 217
218 Delhi Sultanate 48, 57, 138 246, 285 Erie Canal (USA) 216 flooding
Coubertin, Baron Pierre de 29 Delian League 26 Dutch Golden Age 164, 165 Erlitou (China) 10 Bangkok 145
Counter-Reformation 21 democracy, Athenian 10, 25, Dutch Republic 164 Escoffier, Auguste 99 Florence 107
courtesans 296 26, 29 Dutch Revolt 164 Estado Novo (Portugal) 176, Mexico City 70
Craig, James 268 Democratic Republic of the Dvořák, Antonín 113 177 New Orleans 153
Crassus, Marcus 17 Congo (DRC) 13 Dylan, Bob 220, 221 Estruch, Antoni, Siege of Venice 191
Creoles 150, 152 Deng Ziaoping 202, 282, 283 Barcelona 180 Florence (Italy) 28, 102–107
Crete 10, 189 Denmark E Ethiopia, Lalibela 83 Florentine Codex 68
cricket 206, 207 Copenhagen 232 Eagle Warriors 68, 69 Etisalat Tower (Dubai) 274 Flower Dome (Singapore)
crime 12 rule in Sweden 169 earthquakes Etruscans 16 246–47
criollos 70, 71 diamonds 166, 194, 195, Lisbon 175 Euphrates river 8 Folies Bergères (Paris) 98
Crosby, Stills & Nash 305 233 Los Angeles 305 EUR (Rome) 23 Fondation Louis Vuitton
Crusades 28, 33, 38–40, 132, Dias, Bartolomeu 192 Mexico City 73 Euripides 26 (Paris) 101
184, 186 Díaz, Bernal 67 San Francisco 212, 213 European Union 161 Fontanka Embankment
Cuauhtémoc, Emperor 69 Díaz, Porfirio 72 Eastern Roman Empire 20, Eurovision Song Contest 171 (St Petersburg) 241
Cuba, Havana 222–25 Dickens, Charles 92, 259 31 Euston Station (London) 91 football 177, 183, 197, 231,
Cuban Revolution 224–25 Diderot, Denis 97 Edinburgh (UK) 268 Evelyn, John 163 267, 292
Cubism 99 Dilmun (Bahrain) 9 Edo see Tokyo Existentialism 101 Forbidden City (Beijing) 278,
Culhua-Mexica 67 Dinis I of Portugal 173 Edo Castle (Tokyo) 295 Expo 2020 (Dubai) 275 279, 280, 283
Cultural Revolution 282 Dinkins, David 221 education 12 Exposition Universelle (Paris) foreign concessions (China)
Culture Palace of Nationalities Dinpanah (Delhi) 50 Egypt 99, 100 198, 200
(Beijing) 282 Dionysius 25 Alexandria 268–69 Expressionism 221 forest fires 305
Curzon, Lord 245 disease 12 Cairo 130–35 Fort Canning (Singapore) 246
Cusco (Peru) 78–81 Disneyland (Shanghai) 203 first cities 10 F Fortress Wall (Seoul) 288, 293
Cylon 25 District Six (Cape Town) 195, Luxor 82 Fabergé eggs 239 Forum Romanum 19
Cyprus 189 196, 197 Eichmann, Adolf 230 factories 12 Foster, Norman 123
Cyrus the Great of Persia 37, Ditadura Nacional (Portugal) Eid 52 fado 176 Fra Angelico 104
45, 243 176, 177 Eiffel Tower (Paris) 100 Faridabad (Delhi) 54 France
Czech National Museum Dix, Otto, Portrait of the Eisai 255 fascism 22–23 Bordeaux 154
(Prague) 112, 113 Journalist Sylvia Eisenstein, Sergei 128 fashion 92, 93, 97, 100, 101, colonial empire 147–48,
Czech Republic, Prague von Harden 120 Eixample (Barcelona) 179, 230 150–51
108–13 Docklands (London) 93 180, 181 Fatimid Caliphate 39, 130, invasion of Mexico 72
Czechoslovakia 112 Dodd, Louis 90 Eixo Monumental (Brasília) 132 Marseille 232
Doge’s Palace (Venice) 133, 266 Fauvism 99 Paris 94–101
D 186, 187, 189 Ekberg, Anita 171 Fayuan Temple (Beijing) 276 Francis I, Emperor 106
da Gama, Vasco 133, 174, 177 Doha (Qatar) 306 El Peix (Barcelona) 183 February Revolution 239 Francis I, Pope 231
daimyō 295, 296, 297, 298 Dolguruky, Yuri 124 Elgin, Lord 28, 29 Federal District (Brasília) 267 Franciscans 69, 70
Daitoku-ji (Kyoto) 255 Dolores (Mexico) 71 Elizabeth I of England 88 Ferdinand I, Emperor 114 Franco, Francisco 183
Dam Square (Amsterdam) Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem) Elizabeth II of the United Ferdinand II, Emperor 110, 111 Franco–Prussian War 99
166, 167 38, 39, 40, 41 Kingdom 285 Ferlinghetti, Lawrence 212, 213 François I of France 96
Damascus (Syria) 82, 130, 132 Donatello 104 Elizabeth, Empress of Fernsehturm (Berlin) 123 Frank, Anne 167
Damascus Gate (Jerusalem) 41 Dongdaemun Design Plaza Russia 236, 237 Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi) 48 Frankfurt (Germany) 13
Daming Palace (Xi’an) 63, 65 (Seoul) 288–89, 293 Ellicott, Andrew 260 Feroz Shah Tughlaq 48 Franks 20, 109, 114, 179
Dandridge, Dorothy 218 Donnacona, Chief 147 Ellington, Duke 153, 218, 263 Ferozabad (Delhi) 48 Franz Joseph, Emperor 116
Daning Palace (Beijing) 276 Doors, the 305 Ellis Island (New York City) Ferragamo, Salvatore 107 Frederick I of Prussia 119
Danube river 114, 154–55 Dorsoduro (Venice) 189 216, 217 Festival of Britain (1951) 92 Frederick II the Great of
Daoism 279 Dos Pilas (Guatemala) 76 Embarcadero Freeway Fifth Avenue (New York Prussia 119, 120
Darius I of Persia 45, 46, 47 Dostoevsky, Fyodor 239 (San Francisco) 213 City) 217 Freedmen’s Bureau 263
Darius III of Persia 47 Doyle, Roddy 161 Emerald Buddha (Bangkok) Filbert Street French Concession
Daulatabad (Delhi) 48 Draco 25 141, 142 (San Francisco) 211 (Shanghai) 200, 201, 203
INDEX 311
French Quarter (New Orleans) Germany Great Exhibition Gustav Adolfs torg Henry II of England 87
150, 153 Berlin 118–23 (London, 1851) 91 (Stockholm) 170 Henry VII of England 88
French Revolution 97 Munich 154 Great Fire of London 89, Gwangmu, Emperor of Henry VIII of England 88, 158
Fertile Crescent 8 reunification of 123 90, 91 Korea 290 Henry Street (Dublin) 160
Freud, Sigmund 116 World War I and II 120–21 Great Fire of Stockholm 170 Gyeongbok Palace Hepburn, Audrey 23
Friedrich of Hohenzollern Getty Center (Los Angeles) 305 Great Hall of the People (Seoul) 288, 290 Hermitage Museum
119 Ghalib, Mirza 48, 52 (Beijing) 282 Gyeongbu Expressway (St Petersburg) 237, 238
Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector ghats, Varanasi 136–37, 139 Great Kantō Earthquake 298, (Seoul) 291 Herod the Great 38
of Brandenburg 119 Ghaziabad (Delhi) 54 299 Herzfeld, Ernst 47
Friedrich Wilhelm II of Ghibeti, Lorenzo 104 Great Korean Empire 290 H Herzl, Theodor 41
Prussia 120 Ghirlandaio, Domenico, Great Leap Forward 282 Habaguanex 222 Het Schip (Amsterdam) 166
Fuji, Mount (Japan) 295, 296 Resurrection of the Boy 104 Great Northern War 169, 236 Habsburg Empire/dynasty Heyden, Jan van der 165
Fujiwara clan 253 Ghori, Muhammad 48 Great Plaza (Tikal) 74–75, 110–13, 114–17, 164, 180 Hidalgo, Miguel 71
Fullerton Building Gilbert, Victor Gabriel, Le 76, 77 Hadid, Zaha 23, 288, 306 Higashiyama district
(Singapore) 249 Carreau des Halles 94–95 Great Purge 240, 241 Hadrian, Emperor 28, 38 (Kyoto) 257
funeral masks 76 Ginsberg, Allen 212 Great Sphinx of Giza 132 Hagia Sophia (Istanbul) 32, High Line, The
funiculars 175 Ginza district (Tokyo) 297, Great Stink (London) 91–92 34, 35 (New York City) 221
298, 299 Great Trek 194 Haight-Ashbury district Hinduism 54, 136–39
G Giudecca (Venice) 188 Great Wall of China 278 (San Francisco) 213 hip-hop music 305
Gable, Clark 304 Giuliani, Rudi 221 Great Zimbabwe 9, 83 Haiti, slave rebellion 152 hippies 213
Gabrieli, Andrea and gladiators 18 Greece, Athens 24–29 Hall of a Hundred Columns Hippodamus of Miletus 10
Giovanni 188 glasnost 129 Greek War of Independence 28 (Persepolis) 46, 47 Hiroshige 254, 296
Gaiseric, King of the glass, Venetian 186, 188 Greeks, ancient 10 Hall of Supreme Harmony Hitler, Adolf 117, 121
Vandals 19 global cities 12, 13 Athens 24–27 (Forbidden City) 278 Hittites 37
Galilei, Galileo 106 Globe Theatre (London) 88 Ephesus 82 Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Hoban, James 260
Gallería Güemes glyphs, Mayan 75, 77 Istanbul 31 Maktoum, Sheikh 274 Hofburg (Vienna) 115
(Buenos Aires) 230 Goethe, Johann Greenlaw, Alexander 59 Hamilcar Barca 179 Hoffmann, Josef 117
Gamla Stan (Stockholm) 169, Wolfgang von 21 Greenmarket Square Hamilton, Alexander 260 Hogarth, William, Gin Lane 91
170, 171 Gogol, Nikolai 239 (Cape Town) 192 Hampi (India) 56–59 Hogenberg, Frans 78–79,
Gandhi, Mahatma 54 Goh Chok Tong 250 Greenwich Village Hampton Court Palace 188
Ganges river 136–37, 139 Goiás state (Brazil) 266 (New York City) 220, 221 (London) 90 Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of
Gangnam (Seoul) 291, 293 Gojong of Joseon 290 Gregory I, Pope 20 Han, River 288, 291, 292 Mount Fuji 296
gangsta rap 305 gold 194, 195, 206, 211, 212, Gregory, Lady 160 Han Chinese 285 Holbein, Hans 88
gangsters 201, 218 233, 303, 307 grid plans 10 Han dynasty 11, 61–62, 285 Hollywood (Los Angeles) 303,
Gaozu, Emperor 61, 62 Golden Gate Bridge Griffin, Walter Burley 13, 269 hangul script 288 304, 305
Garay, Juan de 227 (San Francisco) 212, 213 Griffith, D.W. 303 Hannibal 16 Hollywood Boulevard
Garbo, Greta 171, 304 Golden Horn (Istanbul) 34 Griffith Observatory Hannam Bridge (Seoul) 291 (Los Angeles) 304
García Márquez, Gabriel 233 Golden Pavilion (Kyoto) 256 (Los Angeles) 300–301 Hanoi (Vietnam) 155 Hollywood Bowl
Gardel, Carlos 229 Gorbachev, Mikhail 129 Griffith Park (Los Angeles) 303 Hanseatic League 11, 87, (Los Angeles) 305
Garden Cities 13 Gothic Quarter (Barcelona) 179 Grito de Dolores 71 119, 169 Holocaust 43, 167, 171
Gardens by the Bay Goths 19, 20, 28, 184 Gropius, Walter 121 Harajuku district (Tokyo) 298 Holocaust Memorial
(Singapore) 246–47, 251 Government House Grosz, George 120 Haram ash-Sharif (Berlin) 123
Garibaldi, Giuseppe 22 (Sydney) 206 Metropolis, 1917 118–19 see Temple Mount Holy Roman Empire 20, 109,
Garonne river 154 Grachtengordel Group Areas Act Harappa (Pakistan) 9 114, 119
Gate of Heavenly Purity (Amsterdam) 167 (South Africa) 197 Harihara 57 Hong Kong (China) 12, 198,
(Forbidden City) 278 Grafton Street (Dublin) 160 Guadalquivir river 154 Harlem (New York City) 219, 220 284–87
Gaudí, Antoni 181, 182, Grand Bazaar (Istanbul) 34 Guantánamo Bay (Cuba) 224 Harris, John 274 Hong Kong–Zuhai–Macau
183 Grand Canal (Beijing) 279 Guatemala, Tikal 74–77 Hatton, W.S., Sydney and Bridge 287
Gauls 16 Grand Canal (Venice) 186, Gucci 107 its Harbour 206 Honorius, Emperor 19
Gehry, Frank 101, 183, 188, 190 Güell, Eusebi 182 Hau clan (Hong Kong) 285 Honorius III, Pope 20
209 Grand Egyptian Museum Guelphs and Ghibelines 102 Haussmann, Georges-Eugène Honshū (Japan) 253
geisha 257 (Cairo) 135 Guerra Sucia 231 97, 98 Hopkins, Andrew LaMar,
General Post Office Grand Hotel (Cape Town) 194 Guevara, Ernesto “Che” 224–25 Hauz Khas (Delhi) 48, 55 The Bed Chamber of Marie
(Cape Town) 194 Grand Olympic Bridge Guggenheim, Peggy 191 Havana (Cuba) 222–25 Catherine Laveau 152
General Post Office (Seoul) 292 guilds 95, 102 hawkers (Singapore) 250, 251 hoplites 26
(Dublin) 160, 161 Grand Palace (Bangkok) Guimar, Hector 99 Heian era 254, 255, 256 Hôtel de Ville (Paris) 96
Genghis Khan 50, 279 140–41, 142 Guinness, Arthur 160 Heian Shrine (Kyoto) 257 Houses of Parliament
Genoa (Italy) 11, 186, 187 Grand Tour 22, 106–107 GUM (Moscow) 127 Heian-kyō see Kyoto (Cape Town) 195
Genpei War 254 Grande Arche de La Défense Guozijian (Beijing) 279 Helena, Empress 38 Houses of Parliament
geomancy 253 (Paris) 100 Gupta dynasty 11 Heliopolis (Cairo) 134 (London) 91
George V of the United Grateful Dead 213 Gurgaon Cyber City (Delhi) 55 Hemingway, Ernest 99, 100 Housing & Development
Kingdom 52 Great Angen Fire (Kyoto) 254 Guru Nanak 138 Henri II of France 106 Board (HDB) (Singapore)
Georgetown (Washington, DC) Great Depression 166, 212, Gustav I of Sweden 169 Henri III of France 96 249, 250, 251
258, 260 219, 262, 263 Gustav III of Sweden 170 Henri IV of France 97, 147 Houten, Coenraad van 166
312 INDEX
Howard University Indus Valley culture 9, 10 Japan Kantner, Paul 213 Kyoto (Japan) 11, 252–57,
(Washington, DC) 262 industrialization 12, 13 Kyoto 252–57 Kapnikarea (Athens) 28 295, 297
Hoysala dynasty 57 Institutional Revolutionary Osaka 233 Karlín district (Prague) 111 Kyoto Protocol 257
Huacaypata square (Cusco) Party (PRI) (Mexico) 72 Tokyo 294–99 Karnak (Egypt) 10
79, 81 Iran 9 World War II 248, 249, 286, Kashi, Kingdom of 136 L
Huangpu river 198, 200 Isfahan 242–45 290, 298, 299 Kashi Vishwanath Temple La Brea tar pits 300
Huáscar 80 Persepolis 44–47 Japanese Empire 290, 298 (Varanasi) 138 La Brea Woman 300
Huayna Cápac 80, 81 Iran–Iraq War 245 Japan–Korea Treaty (1905) 290 kathak dance tradition 138 La Cabaña (Cuba) 222
Huerta, Victoriano 72 Iraq 8 Jasaw Chan K’awiil I Katsura Imperial Villa La Citadelle
Hugh, Margrave of Baghdad 268 of Tikal 76, 77 (Kyoto) 256 (Québec City) 148–49
Tuscany 102 Ireland Jasaw Chan K’awiil II Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan 306 La Guardia, Fiorella 218, 219
Hughes, Langston 263 Dublin 158–61 of Tikal 76 Kazan Cathedral La Plata (Argentina) 269
Huguenots 119, 165 English rule 158, 160, 161 jazz 100, 152, 153, 218, 219, (St Petersburg) 239 La Plata river 227
Hui, Emperor 62 Great Famine 91, 160–61, 221, 225, 263, 307 Kazmaoğlu, Adnan 35 La Salle, René-Robert
Huitzilopochtl 67 216 Jebel Ali Port (Dubai) 274 Keats, John 22 Cavalier, Sieur de 150
Hulanicki, Barbara 92 independence 161 Jefferson, Thomas 258, 260 Kennedy, John F. 123, 224 Lady of Tikal 76
human sacrifices 68–69 Irene, Emperor 28 Jefferson Airplane 213 Kennin-ji (Kyoto) 255 Lagos (Nigeria) 13, 233
Humayun, Emperor 50 Iroquoians 147 Jerusalem (Israel) 36–43, 243 Kew Gardens (London) 90, 91 Lakhta Centre
Humayun’s Tomb (Delhi) 50 irrigation 57 Jesuits 71, 110, 111, 279, 280 Khan, Bismillah 139 (St Petersburg) 241
Humbolt, Alexander von 71, Isar river 154 Jewish communities 109, 112, Khilji area (Delhi) 55 Lal Kot (Delhi) 48
120 Isfahan (Iran) 242–45 117, 119, 166, 167, 171, 243 Khilji dynasty 48 Lalibela (Ethiopia) 83
Humbolt University Isfahani, Hajji Mohammed Ji Kingdom 276 Khitan nomads 276 Lamar, Kendrick 305
(Berlin) 119, 120 Hossein 245 Jiajing Emperor 279 Khoisan people 192 Lang, Friz 121
Hundertwasserhaus Isidore of Miletus 32 Jim Crow laws 153 Khomeini, Ayatollah 245 Latin Quarter (Paris) 95,
(Vienna) 117 Islam 34–5, 38–43, 54, 130, 273 Jin dynasty 276 Khrushchev, Nikita 129 101
Hundred Years’ War 96 Ismail I, Shah of Persia 244 Jing’an Temple (Shanghai) 202 Khwarezmian dynasty 39, 40 Latino community
Hung Chao 65 Ismail Pasha 134 Jingshan Park (Beijing) 280 Kiev (Ukraine) 124 (Los Angeles) 304, 305
Hungary, Budapest 154–55 Israel Jinmao Tower (Shanghai) 202, Killike people 79 Laurel Canyon
Huns 184 declaration of state 203 King, Martin Luther Jr. 263 (Los Angeles) 305
hunter-gatherers 8 of 42 Joan Miró Park (Barcelona) 183 King, Rodney 305 law codes 8, 25
Hurricane Katrina 153 Jerusalem 36–43 Jōchō 254 King David Hotel Le Corbusier 12, 13, 182,
Hus, Jan 110 Istanbul (Turkey) 30–35 John Paul II, Pope 23, 43 (Jerusalem) 42 267, 269
hutongs 283 Italy Jonson, Ben 88 King Power MahaNakhon Le Moyne de Bienville,
Hvel, Václav 113 Florence 102–107 Joplin, Janis 213 skyscraper (Bangkok) 145 Jean-Baptiste 150
Hyde Park (Sydney) 206, maritime republics 11 Jordan, Petra 82 Kinshasa (DRC) 13 Le Nôtre, André 260
208 Naples 232 Jordan river 37 Kipling, Rudyard 248 League of Cambrai 188
Palmanova 268 Joseon dynasty 288, 290 Kirov, Sergei 240 Lee, Bruce 286
I Rome 16–23 Joyce, James 100, 160, 161 Klimt, Gustav 117 Lee Kuan Yew 248, 249, 250
Ibn Battuta 243 unification of 106 Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sor 70 Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi L’Enfant, Pierre Charles 53, 260
Ibrahim, Abdullah 196 Venice 184–91 Juárez, Benito 72 116 Lenin, Vladimir 127, 128, 240
Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan 50 Iturbe, Augustín de 72 Judah 37 Knights Templar 39 Leningrad (Soviet Union) 240–41
Iceni 87 Itzcoatl, Emperor 67 Judaism Koh-i-Noor diamond 51 see also St Petersburg
Ieyasu, Tokigawa 256, 295 Ivan I of Russia 124 Jerusalem 37–43 Kohlmarkt (Vienna) 114–15 Leningrad, Siege of 240, 241
Iglesia de la Compañía de Ivan III the Great of Russia 124 see also Jewish Kolkata (India) 52 Leo III, Emperor 32
Jesús (Cusco) 81 Ivan IV the Terrible of communities kore (statue) 25 Leo III, Pope 20
Ile de la Cité (Paris) 95 Russia 124 Judas Maccabaeus 37 Korea Leonardo da Vinci 96, 97, 105
Iltutmish, Sultan 48 Jugendstil 116, 117 Japanese invasion and Leonowens, Anna 143
immigration 12, 91, 92, 122, J Julius II, Pope 20, 188 rule 290–91 Leopold I, Emperor 115
165, 166, 195, 207, 209, Jack the Ripper 92 Jumeirah Beach Hotel see also South Korea Lepanto, Battle of 188, 189
212, 216, 229, 230, 246, Jackson, Andrew 152 (Dubai) 274 Korean War 291, 293 Lepié, Ferdinand, View of the
248, 274–75, 303 Jahanara Begum 51 Justinian, Emperor 28, 32, 33 Kowloon (Hong Kong) 284–85, Old Town of Prague with
Imperial Palace (Kyoto) 253, Jai Singh II, Maharaja of 286, 287 the Church of Our Lady
254, 257 Jaipur 51, 269 K Kraków (Poland) 155 Before Tyn 108–109
Impressionism 99 Jaipur (India) 269 Kabir 138 Kremlin (Moscow) 124, 126 Leptis Magna (Libya) 83
Inca Empire 79–81 Jalan Kukoh (Singapore) 251 kabuki theatre 295, 296 Krishna Deva Raya of Les Halles (Paris) 94–95
India Jama Masjid (Delhi) 51 Kachachaturian, Aram 239 Vijayanagar 57, 58–59 Lesage, Jean 149
Chandigarh 269 Jamestown, Virginia 258 Kahanamoku, Duke 207 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) 307 Letchworth (UK) 13
Delhi 48–55 Jamia Millia Islamia (Delhi) 53 Kahlo, Frida 73 Kubitschek de Oliveira, LGBTQ+ communities 213, 221
Hampi 56–59 janissaries 34–35 The Two Fridas 73 Juscelino 265, 266 Li Zicheng 280
independence 53, 54 Jansson, Eugène, Dawn over Kalmar Union 169 Kublai Khan 278, 279 Liang dynasty 65
Jaipur 269 Riddarfjärden 168–69 Kamakura shogunate 256 Kuomingtang 281 Liao Empire 276
Varanasi 136–39 Jantar Mantar (Delhi) 51 Kammu, Emperor 253 Kurosawa, Akira 255 libertarianism, Amsterdam 167
India Gate (Delhi) 53 Delhi 51 Kan’ami 256 Kuwasseg, Charles, A View of Libeskind, Daniel 161
Indian Rebellion (1857) 52, 139 Jaipur 269 Kangxi Emperor 280 Amsterdam 162–63 Libuše, Princess 109
INDEX 313
Libya, Leptis Magna 83 Madrid (Spain) 180 Mark, St 184 Mexico 11 Moscow (Russia) 124–29,
Lido (Venice) 191 Mafia, US 222, 224, 225 Marlowe, Christopher 88 and Los Angeles 302 236, 240
Liffey river 158–59 Mahabharata 48 Marseille (France) 232 Mexico City 66–73 Moscow, Battle of 129
Lincoln, Abraham 261 Mahfouz, Naguib 135 Marshall, James 211 Mexico City (Mexico) 66–73 Moscow Exhibition (1921) 128
Lincoln Center Mahler, Gustav 116 Martí, José 224 Mfeketo, Nomaindia 197 Moscow Metro 12, 128, 129
(New York City) 220 Majolikahaus (Vienna) 116 Martyn, Edward 160 Michael VIII Palaeologus, MOSE project (Venice) 191
Lincoln Memorial Maktoum bin Rashid Al Masaryk, Tomáš 112, 113 Emperor 33 Moses, Robert 220
(Washington, DC) 262, 263 Maktoum, Sheikh 274 Mashhad (Iran) 245 Michelangelo 20, 21, 105 Moskva river 124, 129
Lisbon (Portugal) 172–77 Malacca 246 Masjid-e Shah (Isfahan) David 102 Mosque al-Azhar (Cairo) 132
Lisbon World Exposition 177 Malan, F.D. 195 242–43, 244, 245 Mikhail I of Russia 124 Moulin Rouge (Paris) 99
Liu clan (Hong Kong) 285 Mälaren, Lake (Sweden) 169, masks, Venetian Carnival 187 Milan (Italy) 18 Mount Hiei (Kyoto) 253, 255
Liverpool (UK) 232 171 Matisse, Henri 99 military junta, Argentina 231 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Lliga de Catalunya 181 Malay Peninsula 192, 246, 249 Maudsley, Alfred Percival 77 Milk, Harvey 213 111, 114, 115
Lodhi Art District (Delhi) 55 Malaysia 249 Maurya Empire 136 Millennium Dome (London) MRT railway (Singapore) 250,
Lodhi Gardens (Delhi) 48 Kuala Lumpur 307 Maxentius, Emperor 19 93 251
Lodi dynasty 48, 50 Malevich, Kazimir 128 Maximilian I, Emperor 114, 188 Million Dollar Theater Mucha, Alfons 112
Loma Prieta earthquake 213 Mali, Timbuktu 83 Maximilian I of Mexico 72 (Los Angeles) 305 Mughal dynasty/Empire 50–52,
Lombards 102, 184 Malibu (USA) 305 Maxwell, Donald 248 Milton, John 25 138–39
Lomonosov, Mikhail 126 Malik Shah I, Sultan 243 MAXXI (Rome) 23 Milvian Bridge, Battle of 19 Muhammad Ali Pasha 41, 134
London (UK) 11, 12, 13, 86–93 Malmö (Sweden) 232 May Revolution 227, 228 Ming dynasty 65, 198, 278, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq 48
London Bridge 87 Malta, Valetta 268 Maya civilization 11, 74–77 279, 280, 285 Mumbai (India) 12, 13
London Eye 93 Mamluks 40, 48, 130, 132, 133 Maydan-e Naqsh-e Jahan minhwa (Korean folk art) 288 Munich (Germany) 154
London Underground 12, 92 Man clan (Hong Kong) 285 (Isfahan) 244–45 Minoan civilization 10 Munjong of Goryeo 288
Loos, Alfred 117 Manchuria, Japanese Mazzini, Giuseppe 22 Minuit, Peter 215 Murano (Venice) 186, 188
López Obrador, Andrés occupation of 201 Me Too movement 305 Miracle Mile Museo Soumaya
Manuel 73 Manchus 280, 282 Medici, Catherine de’ 106 (Los Angeles) 300 (Mexico City) 73
Loredan, Doge Leonardo 188 Manco Cápac 79 Medici, Cosimo de’ Miró, Joan 183 Museum of Art, Architecture,
Loren, Sophia 23 Manco Cápac II 80 (il Vecchio) 104 Mission Dolores and Technology
Los Angeles (USA) 13, 300–305 Mandela, Nelson 196, 197 Medici, Cosimo I de’ 105, 106 (San Francisco) 211 (Lisbon) 177
Los Angeles Aqueduct 304 Manhattan (New York City) Medici, Cosimo II de’ 106 Mississippi river 150, 153 Museum of Modern Art
lost cities 11 215, 216, 221 Medici, Giovanni de’ 104 Mitchell, Joni 305 (San Francisco) 212
Lotte World Tower (Seoul) 293 Manin, Daniele 190 Medici, Lorenzo de’ 105 Moctezuma II, Emperor 68, 69 Museuminsel (Berlin) 120
Lotus Temple (Delhi) 55 Manjakiyya Madrasa Medici, Piero I de’ 105 Modernism 12, 13, 113, 183, Mussolini, Benito 23
Louis XIV of France 96, 97, 100 (Jerusalem) 40 Medici dynasty 102, 104–106 265, 266, 267 Mussorgsky, Modest 126
Louis XVI of France 97 Mann, Thomas 191 Medvedev, Dmitry 129 Mohammed bin Rashid Al Myanmar 13
Louis, Spyridon 29 Manuel II of Portugal 177 megacities 12–13 Maktoum, Sheikh 274, 275 Bagan 83
Louisiana (USA) 150, 152 Manueline style 174 Mehmet II, Sultan 34 Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Mycenaean culture 25
Louvre (Paris) 95, 96, 97 Manutius, Aldus 187 Mehrauli (Delhi) 48 Shah 47 Myriokephalon, Battle of 33
Louvre pyramid (Paris) 101 Mao Zedong 200, 201, 202, 282 Meiji, Emperor 297 Mohenjo-Daro (Pakistan) 9
Lovell, Tom, Destruction of Maradona, Diego 231 Meiji Restoration 257, 296–98 Monet, Claude 98 N
Persepolis 46 Marais (Paris) 95 Melbourne (Australia) 155 Mongols/Mongol invasions Nacotchtank people 258
Lübeck (Germany) 169 Maratha Empire 51, 52, 139 Melnikov, Konstantin 128 124, 132, 198, 243, 278, 279 Nadir Shah of Persia 51
Lumet, Sidney 304 Marathon, Battle of 26 Memorial Bridge (Bangkok) 143 Monnickendam, Martin, Namdaemun Gate (Seoul) 291
Lumière brothers 99 Marble Palace Memphis (Egypt) 10, At the Jeweller’s 166 Nanjing (China) 281
Luna Park (Sydney) 208 (St Petersburg) 238 130, 132 Monroe, Marilyn 304 Nanjing, Treaty of 198, 285
Luoyang (China) 10, 61, 63, 65 March First Movement Mendoza, Antonio de 69, 70 monsoon 145 Napier (New Zealand) 12
Lustgarten (Berlin) 119 (Korea) 290 Mendoza, Pedro de 227 Montesquieu 97 Naples (Italy) 232
Lutyens, Edwin 52, 53 March Revolution 116 Merian, Matthäus, Monteverdi, Claudio 188, 189 Napoleon I of France 22, 97,
Luxor (Egypt) 82 March on Washington 263 Defenestration of 1618 110 Montjuïc (Barcelona) 183 106, 116, 120, 126, 132,
Lyceum (Athens) 27 Mardi Gras (New Orleans) Mesoamerica, first cities 10, 11 Montmartre (Paris) 99 134, 52, 166, 175, 190,
150–51, 152 Mesopotamia 8, 9, 10, 13 Montréal (Canada) 149, 155 228, 238, 239
M Mari (Syria) 9 Metochites, Theodore 33 monumental buildings Napoleon III of France 97, 98
Macartney, Lord 280 Maria Theresa, Empress 106, Metropolitan Cathedral first 9 Naqib al-Ashraf revolt 41
Macau (China) 285 114, 115 (Mexico City) 70 middle ages 11 Naqsh-e Rustam (Iran) 47
Machado, General Gerardo 224 Marie Antoinette, Queen of Metropolitan Opera Moors 154, 173, 179 Narai of Ayutthaya 141
Machetes, Conspiracy of the 71 France 97 (New York City) 217 More, Sir Thomas 13 Naranjo (Guatemala) 76
Machiavelli, Niccolò 105 Mariinsky Theatre Metropolitan Rapid Transit Morea (Peloponnese) 189 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 135
Machu Picchu (Peru) 81 (St Petersburg) 239 system (Bangkok) 145 Morocco National Bank of Dubai
McKenzie, Scott 213 Marina Bay (Singapore) 246, Metternich, Prince 116 Portuguese conquests Tower 274
McMillan Plan 249 Mexican Revolution 72 in 174 National Centre for the
(Washington, DC) 262, 263 Marina Bay Sands Mexican War of Spanish campaigns in 182 Performing Arts
Macquarie, Lachlan 206 (Singapore) 251 Independence 71 mortality rates 12 (Beijing) 283
Madero, Francisco 72 maritime empires 11–12 Mexican–American War 211, mosaics, Venice 184, 186 National Congress
Madres de Plaza de Mayo 231 Mark the Evangelist 130 302, 303 Moscone, George 213 (Brasília) 265, 266
314 INDEX
National Congress building Nobel, Alfred 170, 171 Ospedale della Pietà Paris (France) 11, 94–101, 262 philanthropy 13
(Buenos Aires) 228 Nobunaga, Oda 256 (Venice) 189, 190 Paris, Treaty of 148, 224 Philip II of Macedon 27
National Mall Normans 87 Ostia (Italy) 11 Park Chung-hee 291 Philip II of Spain 180
(Washington, DC) 262 North Korea 290, 291 Ostrogoths 20, 102 Park Hotel (Shanghai) 202 Philip V of Spain 180
National Monument Northern Ireland 92, 161 Ottawa (Canada) 149 Parliament (England/UK) 87, 89 Phillip, Captain Arthur 204, 205
(Amsterdam) 167 Northridge Earthquake Ottawa river 155 Parliament (Ireland) 158 Piaf, Edith 100, 101
National Museum of African (USA) 305 Ottoman Empire 28, 29, 33, Parliament House (Delhi) 53 Piazza della Signoria
American History Notre-Dame de Paris 95, 101 34–35, 40–41, 114, 115, Parliament House (Florence) 102
(Washington, DC) 263 Nouvel, Jean 101 133, 134, 154, 186, 187, (Stockholm) 171 Piazza Venezia (Rome) 22
National Pantheon (Lisbon) 174 Novellanus, Simon 78–79 188, 189, 268 Parliament House (Sydney) 206 Picasso, Pablo 99, 183
National Theatre (Prague) 112 Novgorod (Russia) 124 Our Lady of Guadalupe Parque das Nações Pilate, Pontius 38
National University (Athens) 28 Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan) 306 (Mexico City) 70, 71, 72 (Lisbon) 177 pilgrimage 10, 38, 57, 79, 83,
nationalism 22, 42, 71, 111, Nuun Ujol Chaak of Tikal 76 Outin, Vladimir 129 Parramatta (Australia) 204 136, 139
135, 161, 181, 182, 183, Nystad, Peace of 236 overcrowding 12 Parthenon (Athens) 26, 28, 29 Pinnacle residential
195, 225, 249 Oxenstierna, Axel 169 Partition (India) 54 development (Singapore)
Nationalists (China) 281, 282 O Oxford (UK) 154 Pastry War 71 251
Native Americans 150, 258, Obama, Barack 225, 263 Patpong (Bangkok) 144 piracy 184, 222
300, 302 Obecní Dům (Prague) 112, 113 P Paul VI, Pope 54 Piraeus (Greece) 29
Natives (Urban Areas) Act OCBC Skyway Pachacuti 79, 81 Pavón, Battle of 228, 229 Pisa (Italy) 11, 104, 186
(South Africa) 195 (Singapore) 246–47 Paço da Ribeira (Lisbon) 174, Peabody Trust 92 Pizzaro, Francisco 80
Naypyidaw (Myanmar) 13 October Revolution 239 175 Peacock Throne (India) 50, 51 Place de l’Etoile (Paris) 98
Nazi regime 167, 230 Odoric of Pordinone 47 Padrão dos Descobrimentos Pearl Harbor 200 Place Royale (Paris) 96
Nebuchadnezzar II of Odysseus 173 (Lisbon) 172–73 pearl industry 273 plague 89, 179, 186, 187,
Babylon 37, 82 Oestrimmi people 173 Paes, Domingo 58 Pearse, Patrick 161 189, 195
Necho, Pharaoh 47 O’Gorman, Juan, Retablo de Pakistan 9, 54 Peck, Gregory 23 Plaka district (Athens) 29
Nehru, Jawaharlal 53, 54, 269 la Independencia 71 Palace of the Soviets Peisistratos 25 Plato 13, 27, 28
neo-Confucianism 296 Ohione people 211 (Moscow) 128 Peking see Beijing Plaza de Armas (Cusco) 81
Neoclassical style 53, 194, oil industry 274, 275, 306 Palace of Xerxes Peking, Convention Plaza de Mayo
238, 239, 249, 291 Olbrich, Joseph Maria 117 (Persepolis) 45, 47 of (1860) 286 (Buenos Aires) 226–27, 230
Neolithic peoples 8 Old Royal Naval College Palacio de Bellas Artes Peking Man 276 Poland, Kraków 155
neon signs (Hong Kong) 287 (Greenwich) 90 (Mexico City) 72 Peking opera 280 Polding, Archbishop John 206
Nerly, Friedrich, Santa Maria Old St Paul’s Cathedral Palacio de Correos Peloponnesian War 27 Pollock, Jackson 221
della Salute 189 (London) 89 (Mexico City) 72 Penang (Malaysia) 246 pollution 12, 13, 55, 72, 191,
Nero, Emperor 18 Old Town Square Palais des Tuileries (Paris) 96 Peninsular War 71, 180 283, 305
Nestorian Christians 63, 64 (Prague) 109, 111 Palatine Hill (Rome) 16, 19 peninsulares 70 Polo, Marco 65, 186, 278, 279
Netherlands Olmsted, Frederick Law 216 Palau de la Música Catalana Penn, William 269 Pompeius, Gnaeus 17
Amsterdam 162–67 Olympic Games 23, 28–9, 72, 93, (Barcelona) 183 Pennell, Joseph, New York Pompey the Great 37
Rotterdam 306 100, 101, 121, 171, 183, 209, Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana Syline 214–15 Ponte Salazar (Lisbon) 176
Neue Wache (Berlin) 120 283, 292, 293, 298, 305 (Rome) 23 People’s Party (Thailand) 143 Ponte Vecchio (Florence) 102,
Neve, Felipe de 302 omnibuses 91, 206 Palazzo Medici (Florence) 104 People’s Republic of China 103, 107
New Amsterdam 166, 215 One Country, Two Systems Palazzo Vernier dei Leoni 282, 286 Pontine Marshes (Italy) 23
New Deal 263 (China) 287 (Venice) 191 Pepys, Samuel 89 Pop Art 221
New Delhi (India) 48, 52–53, 54 Ōnin War 256 Palenque (Mexico) 11 perestroika 129 pop music 92, 93, 161, 232, 305
New Orleans (USA) 150–53 Opera House Palestine 39, 42–43 Pericles 26, 27 population 8, 11, 12, 13
New South Wales (San Francisco) 212 Palestine Liberation Perón, Eva 230, 231 Porcioles, Josep Maria de 183
(Australia) 204 Opera House (Stockholm) 170 Organization (PLO) 43 Perón, Juan 230–31 Portocarrero, René, Paisaje de
New Spain 69, 70, 71 opium 198, 200, 201, 246, Palladio, Andrea 188, 189 Persepolis 44–47 La Habana 225
New Territories (Hong Kong) 286 Palm Jumeirah (Dubai) 272–73, Persian Empire 26, 37, Portolá, Gaspar de 302
285, 286, 287 Opium Wars 198, 281, 285, 286 275 44–47, 243 Portsmouth Square
New York City (USA) 10, 12, Orange, House of 166 Palmanova (Italy) 13, 268 Persian Gulf 273, 274, 275 (San Francisco) 212
13, 166, 214–21, 261 Orchard Road (Singapore) 251 Palme, Olaf 171 Peru 10 Portugal
New York Subway 12 Øresund Bridge Palmyra (Syria) 11 Cusco 78–81 colonial empire 174, 192,
Nicholas II of Russia 127, 239 (Denmark/Sweden) 232 Palóu, Father Francisco 211 Pessoa, Fernando 177 246, 265, 285
Niemeyer, Oscar 265, 266–67 Orient Express 35 Pan Yunduan 198 Pestsäule (Vienna) 115 Lisbon 172–77
Nieuwe Kerk (Amsterdam) 163 Oriental Pearl Tower Panama Canal 233 Peter I the Great of Russia 126, Potomac river 258
Nigeria (Shanghai) 198–99, 202 Pang clan (Hong Kong) 285 236, 239 Potsdamer Platz (Berlin) 123
Abuja 13 Orlov, Grigory 238 Panini, Giovanni Paolo, View of Peter III of Russia 238 pottery 8, 25, 256, 279
Lagos 13, 233 Orseolo, Doge Pietro II 184 the Colosseum 16–17 Petra (Jordan) 82 Powell, James 220
Nika Revolt 32 Orthodox Christianity 124 Panini, Giuseppe 22 Petrograd see St Petersburg Praça do Comércio (Lisbon) 175
Nile river 10, 130 Osaka (Japan) 233 Panipat, Battle of 50 Petrograd, Battle of 240 Prague (Czech
Niños Héroes 72 Oslo Peace Accords 43 Pantheon (Rome) 18, 28 Pheonicians 173 Republic) 108–13
Niujie Mosque (Beijing) 276 Osman II, Sultan 35 papacy 20, 22 Phibun, Field Marshal 143, 144 Prague Castle 109
Nixon, Richard 202 Ospedale degli Innocenti Papal States 20, 22 Philadelphia (USA) 216, Prague Spring 113
Nō dance theatre 256, 257 (Florence) 104 Parc Güell (Barcelona) 182 260, 269 Přemysl 109
INDEX 315
Přemyslid dynasty 109 Ramayana 57, 58 Romans 10–11 Safavid Empire/dynasty 244–45 Santa Maria della Salute
Prendergast, Maurice, Ramon Berenguer IV, Athens 27, 28 Safi-al-Din, Sheikh 244 (Venice) 189
Central Park 216 Count of Barcelona 179 Barcelona 179 Saga, Emperor 253 Santa Maria Maddalena
Preservation Hall Raphael 238 Budapest 155 Sagrada Familia (Rome) 21
Jazz Band 153 Rashid bin Saeed Al Egypt 130 (Barcelona) 179, 181, 182 Santa Monica
Presidential Palace Maktoum, Sheikh 274 Ephesus 82 Saichō 253 (Los Angeles) 303
(Brasília) 266, 267 Rashōmon (Kyoto) 253, 255 Florence 102 St Basil’s Cathedral Santa Trinità (Florence) 104
Presidential Palace (Delhi) 53 Rastrelli, Bartolomeo 236 Istanbul 31 (Moscow) 124–25, 128 Santiago de Cuba 222
presidio (San Francisco) 211 Ratanakosin (Bangkok) 141, 142 Jerusalem 37–38 St George’s Cathedral Santuário de Cristo Rei
printing 187, 188 Ravenna (Italy) 20 Leptis Magna 83 (Cape Town) 194 (Lisbon) 176, 177
Prohibition 218, 219 Ravidas 138 Lisbon 173 St George’s Street São Paulo (Brazil) 307
Prokoviev, Sergei 239 Razia Sultana 48 Londinium (London) 86, 87 (Cape Town) 194 Sardinia 179
Protestantism 110 Réard, Louis 101 Lutetia (Paris) 95 St Lawrence river 147, Sarnath (India) 136
Psy 293 Red Fort (Delhi) 48–49, 50–51 Naples 232 148–49, 155 Sartre, Jean-Paul 101
Ptolemies 37 Red Square (Moscow) 124–25, Petra 82 St Mark’s Basilica (Venice) Sasanian Empire/dynasty 11, 47
Pucci, Emilio 107 126, 127, 128 Rome 16–20, 23 184, 186, 188, 189 Sassetti, Francesco 104
Pudong district (Shanghai) 202 Red Terror 240 Vindobona (Vienna) 114 St Mary’s Cathedral Sattler, Hubert, Istanbul’s
Puente de la Mujer Redentore church (Venice) 189 Rome (Italy) 11, 16–23, 258 (Sydney) 206 Waterside Setting 30–31
(Buenos Aires) 231 Reformation 88, 110, 164 Rome, Treaty of 23 St Paul’s Cathedral Savonarola, Girolamo 104
Puerto Madero refugees 54, 177, 208 Romulus Augustulus, (London) 86, 90 Sayyid dynasty 48
(Buenos Aires) 231 Reichstag (Berlin) 121, 122, 123 Emperor 20 St Peter’s Basilica (Rome) 20, Schmidt, Erich 47
punk rock 93 Reign of Terror 97 Romulus and Remus 16 21, 22, 23 Schonberg, Arnold 117
Purana Qila (Delhi) 50 Reis, Piri 133 Rooney, Sally 161 St Peter’s Square (Rome) 21, 23 Schönbrunn Palace
Puritans 89 Rembrandt van Rijn 164 Roosevelt, Franklin D. 263 St Petersburg (Russia) 126, (Vienna) 114
Pushkin, Alexander 239, 241 Self-portrait 165 Rot Fai open-air market 127, 236–41 scribes 9
Puyi, Emperor 281 The Night Watch 165 (Bangkok) 145 St Stephen’s Cathedral Seattle (USA) 307
Pyramids of Giza 132, 135 Renaissance 19, 20–21, 96, Rothschild family 41 (Vienna) 114 Secession 116, 117
pyramids, Mesoamerican 10 102–106, 110, 113 Rotterdam (Netherlands) 306 St Vitus Cathedral 112 Secession Building
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste 98, 99 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 97 Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, (Vienna) 117
Q Dance at Le Moulin de la Royal Academy of Arts Treaty of 147 Second Intifada 43
Qaitbay, Sultan 133 Galette 99 (London) 91 Sainte-Chapelle (Paris) 95 Second Temple (Jerusalem) 37,
Qatar, Doha 306 Republic Day (Delhi) 54 Royal Exchange (London) 88, Saladin 132, 133 38, 41
Qazvin (Iran) 244 Restoration 89 89, 90, 91 Salah ad Din ibn Ayyub, segregation, racial 195, 196, 197
Qazvini, Mullah Salih 243 Revolt of the Harvesters Royal Observatory Sultan (Saladin) 39 Seine river 95, 96, 97
Qila Rai Pithora (Delhi) 48 (Barcelona) 180 (Cape Town) 194 Salamis, Battle of 26 Sejong of Joseon 288
Qin dynasty 276, 285 Reynolds, Joshua 91 Royal Palace (Amsterdam) 165 Salazar, António de Seleucids 37
Qin Shi Huangdi, Emperor 61, Rhodes, Cecil 195 Royal Palace (Stockholm) 170 Oliveira 176, 177 Selim I, Sultan 40, 41
64, 65 Rialto (Venice) 184 Royal and Pontifical Salimgarh Fort (Delhi) 48–49 Selim III, Sultan 34
Qinalong Emperor 280 Rialto Bridge (Venice) 186, 188 University of Mexico 70 salsa 225 Seljuk Turks 33, 38, 132, 243
Qing dynasty 198, 200, 278, Ricci, Matteo 198, 279 Royal Society (London) 89, 90 Salvi, Nicola 22 Senate (Rome) 16, 18, 19
279, 280–81, 285, 286 Richards, Peter 200 Royal Standard of Ur 8 San Clemente (Rome) 20 Seoul (South Korea) 288–93
Qinglong Town (Shanghai) 198 Riebeeck, Jan van 192 rubber 246 San Fernando (USA) 302 Seoul City Hall 291
Quant, Mary 92, 93 Rikyū, Sen no 255 Rudolf I of Germany 114 San Francisco (USA) 210–13 Seoul Station 291
Québec Bridge 149 Ringstrasse (Vienna) 116 Rudolf II, Emperor 110–11 San Francisco–Oakland Seoul Tower 292
Québec City (Canada) 146–49 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 175, rural migration 160–61 Bay Bridge (San Francisco) Septimus Severus,
Querandí people 227 233, 265, 267 Ruskin, John 106, 107, 190, 191 212, 213 Emperor 19, 31, 83
Quinn, Lorenzo 191 Rio de la Plata 227, 228 Russell, Robert Tor 53 San Gabriel Arcángel Mission serfdom (Russia) 126, 239
Qutub Minar (Delhi) 48 Risorgimento 22, 190 Russia (Los Angeles) 302 Seutter, Matthaeus 10
Rivera, Diego 73 Moscow 124–29 San Ildefonso College Seven Sisters (Moscow) 128
R The Great City of St Petersburg 236–41 (Mexico City) 70 Seven Years’ War 148, 150,
racial tensions 220, 262, 263, Tenochtitlan 66–67 see also Soviet Union San Jose (USA) 302 155, 222
304, 305 Robben Island Russian Academy of Arts 236 San Lorenzo (Florence) 107 Seville (Spain) 154
see also apartheid (South Africa) 196 Russian Civil War 240 San Martín, José de 228 sewage systems 9, 12, 92
Raffles, Thomas Stamford 246 Robert the Monk 39 Russian Revolution 127, 239 San Paolo fuori le Mura Sewell, Robert 59
Raffles Hotel (Singapore) 248 Robespierre, Maximilien 97 Russo–Japanese War 127 (Rome) 20 sex trade
railways 12 Rockefeller, John D 216 San Pedro (Los Angeles) 303 Bangkok 144
Rajpath (Delhi) 53 Rockefeller Center S Sanchéz, Miguel 71 Shanghai 201
Rama I of Thailand 141, 143 (New York City) 219 Saavedra, Cornelio 228 Sanskrit College (Varanasi) Shah Jahan, Emperor 50, 51
Rama III of Thailand 142 Rodchenko, Alexander 128 Saavedra, Juan de 233 139 Shahjahanabad (Delhi) 50–51,
Rama IV of Thailand 142, 143 Rodrigues, Amália 176 Sacré-Coeur (Paris) 98 Santa Catalina Island 52, 53
Rama V of Thailand 143 Roebling, John 12 Sacsayhuamán fortress (Los Angeles) 300 Shakespeare, William 88
Rama VII of Thailand 143 Rokotov, Fyodor 238 (Cusco) 79 Santa Fe railway 303 Shanghai (China) 8, 12,
Rama IX of Thailand 144 Roman Empire 11, 18, 20 sadhus 139 Santa Justa lift (Lisbon) 175 198–203
Rama X of Thailand 144 Romanov dynasty 124–27 sadō (the way of tea) 256 Santa Lucia station (Venice) 190 Shanghai, Battle of 201
316 INDEX
Shanghai Expo (2010) 202, 203 slums 12 Stonecutters Island taipans 201 Tikal (Guatemala) 11, 74–77
Shanghai Maglev 202 smallpox 80, 204 (Hong Kong) 286 Taiping Rebellion 200, 280, 281 Timbuktu (Mali) 83
Shanghai Tower 202, 203 Smetana, Bedřich 113 Stonewall Riots 220, 221 Taj Mahal (Agra) 50 Time of Troubles (Russia)
Shanghai World Financial Smith, John 258 Stora Nygatan (Stockholm) 169 Takauji, General Ashikaga 256 124
Centre 202, 203 Smithsonian Institution 261 Storrs, Sir Ronald 42 Taksin of Thonburi 141 Times Square (New York City)
Shankar, Ravi 139 Smolny Institute 238 Storyville (New Orleans) 152, Talikota, Battle of 58, 59 219
Shankaracharya, Adi 136 Snoop Dog 305 153 Tang clan 285 Timgad (Algeria) 10
shanty towns (Cape Town) 197 social structure 12 Straits of Johor 249 Tang dynasty 62–63, 65, 253, Timur 243
Shapur I of Persia 47 Socrates 27, 28 Straits Settlements 246 254, 276 Tintoretto 188
Shard, the (London) 93 Solís, Juan Diaz de 227 Strauss family 116 tango 227, 228, 229 Tipu Sultan of Mysore 59
Shaw, George Bernard 161 Solomon, King 37 street culture 221 Tarquinius Superbus, King of Titian 188
Shea Stadium Solomon R. Guggenheim street lighting 12 the Etruscans 16 Titus, Emperor 18, 19
(New York City) 220 Museum (New York) 220 Strindberg, August 170 Tatlin, Vladimir 128 Tlacopan (Mexico) 67
Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque Solon 25 Stuyvesant, Peter 215 taxation 11 Tlatelolco (Mexico City) 69, 70
(Isfahan) 244, 245 Sores, Jacques de 222 Sueves 173 Tchaikovsky, Piotr 126, 239 Tlaxcala (Mexico) 69
Sher Shah Suri 50 Soto, Hernando de 150 Suez Canal (Egypt) 134, 190, tea ceremony 256, 257 Toghril Beg 243
Shergarh (Delhi) 50 South Africa, Cape Town 192–97 194, 246 Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) 230 Tokugawa shogunate 256,
Shi Huangdi, Emperor 276 South Korea Sui dynasty 62, 63 Teatro La Fenice (Venice) 190 295–97
Shibuya district (Tokyo) 298 division of Korea 290 Süleyman I the Magnificent, technology 55, 129, 171, 213, Tokyo 8, 12, 256, 257, 294–99
Shikibu, Murasaki, The Tale Seoul 288–93 Sultan 34, 35, 40, 41 283, 287, 291, 293 Tokyo Metro 298, 299
of Genji 254 Soviet Union 127–29, 240–41 Sulla 27 Tehran (Iran) 245 Tokyo Skytree 299
Shinjuku district (Tokyo) 298, 299 collapse of 123, 129, 225, Sumatra 246 Tekka Wet Market Tokyo Station 297
Shinkansen (bullet train) 298, 299 241 Sumida river 295, 296 (Singapore) 251 Tolstoy, Leo 126
Shintō 255, 257 see also Russia Summer of Love 213 Temple of Athena Polias Toltecs 67
shipbuilding Spain Summer Palace (Beijing) 280 (Athens) 26 Tomara dynasty 48
Amsterdam 163 Barcelona 178–83 Summer Palace Temple Bar (Dublin) 161 Tongva people 300, 302
Belfast 232 colonial empire 67, 68–71, (St Petersburg) 236 Temple of Heaven (Beijing) 279 Topkapı Palace (Istanbul) 34, 35
Venice 184, 186 79, 80–81, 150–51, 154, sumo-wrestling 296 Temple Mount (Jerusalem) Torcello (Venice) 184, 188
Shiva 136, 138 179, 180, 211, 222–24, Sun Stone (Mexico City) 70 36–37, 38, 40 Toronto (Canada) 155, 307
Shook, Edwin 77 227–28, 300, 302 Sunset Boulevard Temple of Olympian Zeus Torre Latinoamericana
Shostakovich, Dmitri 241 missions 302 (Los Angeles) 305 (Athens) 28 (Mexico City) 73
Si-o-se Pol (Isfahan) 244, 245 Seville 154 Sunthorn Phu 142 Temple of Saturn (Rome) 19 Torricelli, Evangelista 106
Sicily 179 Spanish Civil War 182, 183 Supreme Federal Court Temple of the Two Headed tourism, Venice 190–91
Sikander Lodi, Sultan 55 Spanish Steps (Rome) 22 (Brasília) 266 Serpent (Tikal) 76 Tower of London 87
Sikhism 138 Spanish–American War 222, surfing 207 Templo Mayor (Tenochtitlan/ Tower of the Winds
Sikrit, Queen of Thailand 144 224 Suri dynasty 50 Mexico City) 67, 68, 69 (Athens) 27, 28
silk, Benarasi 139 Sparta 27 surrealism 73 Ten Commandments 37 trade 8, 9, 10, 11, 58, 87, 88,
Silk Road 61, 62–63, 186, 244 Special Economic Zones 202, Sweden, Stockholm 168–71 Tendai Buddhism 255 89, 90, 136, 150, 158, 163,
Silva Xavier, Joaquim José 286 swinging London 92, 93 Tenochtitlan (Mexico) 66–69 164, 166, 169, 173, 174,
da (Tiradentes) 265 spice trade 11, 164, 186, 192, Sydney (Australia) 204–209 Teotihuacan (Mexico) 10, 67, 75 180, 184, 186, 188, 189,
Sinan, Mimar 35 246 Sydney, Lord 204 Terracotta Army 60–61, 64, 65 190, 192, 198, 232, 246,
Sinatra, Frank 224 Spire of Dublin 161 Sydney Cove 204, 206 terrorism 43 258, 280, 285
Singapore 13, 246–51 Spree river 119 Sydney Cricket Ground 206, Texcoco, Lake (Mexico) 67 Trajan, Emperor 10, 18
Singapore Food Agency 251 Square of the Three Powers 207, 208 Texcoco (Mexico) 67 transport systems 12, 13
Singapore Sling 248 (Brasília) 266 Sydney Harbour Bridge 208, Thailand, Bangkok 140–45 Trekboers 194
Singapore Zoo 250 Srivijaya Empire 246 209 Thames river 86−87, 90, 91 Trevi Fountain (Rome) 21
Sino–Japanese Wars 200, Staatsoper (Berlin) 119 Sydney Opera House 209 Thanom, Field Marshal 144 Trinity College (Dublin) 158, 160
281, 286 Stadacona (Canada) 147 Sydney Town Hall 206 Theatre of Dionysius Trinity Tower (Moscow) 124
Siri (Delhi) 48 Stalin, Joseph 113, 121, 128, Symphony of Lights (Athens) 25 Trotsky, Leon 73, 240
Sistine Chapel (Rome) 20, 21 129, 240 (Hong Kong) 287 Theatre Square (Moscow) 126 Troubadour (Los Angeles) 305
Six-Day War 42, 43 Standard Bank building Syntagma square (Athens) 28 Themistocles 26 Troubles (Northern Ireland) 92
Sixtus V, Pope 21 (Cape Town) 194 Syria 9, 11 Theodora, Empress 32 Trucial States 273
Siyaj Chan K’awiil II of Tikal 75 Statue of Liberty Damascus 82 Theseus 25 Trump, Donald 221
Siyaj K’ak’ of Tikal 75 (New York City) 217 Thespis 25 tsunami, Lisbon 175
Skansen open-air museum steam engines 12 T Thirty Years’ War 110, 111, 119 Tudor dynasty 88
(Stockholm) 171 steamboats, Mississippi 153 Table Bay (Cape Town) 192, Tiananmen Square Tuen Mun district
skyscrapers 12, 55, 72, 73, Stein, Gertrude 99 194, 196, 197 (Beijing) 282 (Hong Kong) 285
202–203, 217, 231, 274, Steinbeck, John 221 Table Mountain (Cape Town) Tianning Temple (Beijing) 276 Tughlaq dynasty 48
275, 283, 284–85, 287, Stock Exchange (London) 90, 192–93, 195, 197 Tiber river 16 tulips 164
293, 306, 307 92, 93 Tabriz (Iran) 244 Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico, Tullumayo river 79
slavery 11, 70, 153, 192, 194, Stockholm (Sweden) 11, Tachara (Persepolis) 46 The Minuet 187 Tumu, Battle of 279
258, 260, 261, 263 168–71 Taejo of Joseon 288 Tiffany, Louis Comfort, Túpac Amaru II 81
Slavs 28, 109, 114 Stockholm Bloodbath 169 Tagus river 173, 176, 177 View of Cairo 130–31 Turgenev, Ivan 241
Slovakia, Bratislava 154 Stockholm metro 171 Tahrir Square (Cairo) 134, 135 Tigris river 8 Turin (Italy) 10
INDEX 317
Turkey Valencia (Spain) 179 Voltaire 97 woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) Y

Ephesus 82 Valerian, Emperor 47 Vroom, Hendrick Cornelisz, 253, 296 Yad Vashem Holocaust
Istanbul 30–35 Valetta (Malta) 268 Return from the Indies 164 Worker and Kolkhoz Memorial (Jerusalem) 43
Tutankhamun, Pharaoh 82, 135 Valparaíso (Chile) 233 Woman 128 Yalta Conference 122
Tutu, Archbishop Desmond Vancouver (Canada) 233 W working conditions 12 Yamuna river 48, 50
196, 197 Vancouver, George 233 Walker, Jimmy 218 World Cup 197, 231, 267, Yan Kingdom 276, 279
Twain, Mark 121, 137, 150, Vandals 19, 20, 173 Wall Street Crash 218, 219 292 Yangshao people 61
212, 217 Vanderbilt family 217 Wang Mang 62 World Design Capital Yangtze delta 198
Tweed, William “Boss” 217 Varanasi (India) 136–39 War of 1812 152, 260 (Cape Town) 197 Yarra river 155
Vasari, Giorgio 105 War Memorial of Korea 291 World Fairs 112, 216, 217, Yax Ehb Xook of Tikal 75
U Vasco da Gama Bridge War of the Spanish 219, 220 Yax Nuun Ayiin I of Tikal 75
U2 161 (Lisbon) 177 Succession 180 World Trade Center Yax Nuun Ayiin II of Tikal 76, 77
Uesugi clan 295 Vatican 22, 238 Warhol, Andy 221 (New York City) 220, 221 Yeats, Jack B.,
Uffizi Gallery (Florence) 106, 107 Vatican Museums (Rome) 23 Campbell’s Soup Cans 220 World War I The Liffey Swim 158–59
Ulvaeus, Björn 170 Vedado (Havana) 224 Wari people 79 Anzacs 208 Yeats, W.B. 160, 161
Umar, Caliph 38 Velázquez, Diego 154 Warring States Period 276 Berlin 120, 121 Yelamu people 211
Umayyad Caliphate 38 Velázquez de Cuéllar, Wars of the Roses 88 London 92 Yellow Emperor 276
Umm Kolthum 135 Diego 69 Washington, DC (USA) 10, 53, Netherlands 166 Yellow River/Valley 10, 276
Ümraniye district (Istanbul) 35 Velvet Revolution 113 216, 258–63 Ottoman Empire 35 Yeltsin, Boris 129
United Arab Emirates Venetian Empire 186–90 Washington, George 260 Paris 100 Yerba Buena see San Francisco
Abu Dhabi 13, 306 Venetian Lagoon 184, 190 Washington Monument Prague 113 Yeşilvadi Mosque (Istanbul) 35
Dubai 272–75 Venice (Italy) 11, 13, 28, 29, (Washington, DC) 262 Russia 239, 240 Yiheyuan (New Summer
formation of 274 184–91, 236, 268, 273 Wat Pho (Bangkok) 142 Singapore 249 Palace) (Beijing) 280
United Kingdom Venice Beach (Los Wat Phra Kaeo (Bangkok) 141, Vienna 117 Yik’in Chan K’awiil of Tikal 76,
Belfast 232 Angeles) 300 142 World War II 12 77
Edinburgh 268 Venice Biennale 191 Watts, James 12 Amsterdam 167 Yongle Emperor 278, 279
Liverpool 232 Veracruz (Mexico) 69, 71 wayang (Chinese street Athens 29 Yongzhen Emperor 280
London 86–93 Vermeer, Johannes 165 opera) 248 Beijing 281 Yoritomo, General Minamoto 254
Oxford 154 Veronese, Paolo 188 Weimar Republic 121 Berlin 121–22 Yuangmingyuan (Old Summer
United Nations 117 Verrazzano, Giovanni Weinstein, Harvey 305 Florence 107 Palace) (Beijing) 280, 281
HQ (New York City) 220 da 215 Weiyang Palace (Xi’an) 62 Hong Kong 286 Yue people 285
United States Versailles (France) 260 Welles, Orson 117 Japan 248, 249, 286, 290,
Chicago 307 Victoria Harbour Wenceslas Square (Prague) 113 298, 299 Z
independence 258 (Hong Kong) 284–85 West, Benjamin, The Death of Leningrad 240–41 Zapata, Emiliano 72
influence in Thailand 144 Victoria Memorial Hall General Wolfe 148 London 92 Zaryadye Park (Moscow) 129
and Korea 291 (Singapore) 249 West End (London) 90, 91 Los Angeles 305 Zayanderud river 244
Los Angeles 300–305 Victoria, Queen of the Western Wall (Jerusalem) 40, Moscow 129 Zeitz Museum of Contemporary
and Mexico 72 United Kingdom 155, 207 41, 42 New York 219 Art Africa (Cape Town) 197
New Orleans 150–53 Vienna (Austria) 111, 114–17 Westminster (London) 91 Paris 100 Zen Buddhism 253, 255
New York City 214–21 Vienna, Siege of 116 Westminster Abbey (London) Portugal 177 Zen’ami 256
Philadelphia 269 Vienna Uprising 116 87, 88 Prague 113 Zhengtong Emperor 279
San Francisco 210–13 Vienna Boys Choir 114 White House (Washington, DC) Québec City 149 Zhongguancun (Beijing) 283
Seattle 307 Vienna Philharmonic 260, 261 Rome 23 Zhou dynasty 61, 63
Washington, DC 258–63 Orchestra 117 White Mountain, Battle of the Rotterdam 306 Zhou Enlai 202
Universal Exposition Vietnam, Hanoi 155 110, 111 San Francisco 213 Zhu Wen, Emperor 65
(Barcelona) 181, 183 Vietnam War 144, 155 Whitman, Walt 215 Shanghai 200, 201 Zichy, Mihály, Auditorium
Universal Forum of Cultures 183 Vijayanagar Empire 57–59 Wide Streets Commission 158 Singapore 248, 249 of the Bolshoi Theatre,
Universal Studios Vikings 87, 158, 169, 232 Wien river 114 Thailand 144 1856 126
(Singapore) 251 Vilcabamba (Peru) 80 Wiener Werkstätte Vienna 117 Zimbabwe, Great Zimbabwe 9,
University of Paris 95, 96, 101 Villa, Pancho 72 (Vienna) 117 Wren, Sir Christopher 87, 83
Unter den Linden (Berlin) 119, Virupaksha Temple Wilcox, Harvey Henderson 303 90, 91 Zionist movement 41
120 (Hampi) 56–57 Wild Goose Pagoda Wright, Frank Lloyd 220 Žisžka, Jan 110, 111
Ur (Mesopotamia) 8, 9 Visigoths 173, 179 (Xi’an) 63, 64 writing 9 Zócalo (Mexico City) 70, 73
Ur-Nammu, law code of 8 Vistula river 155 Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Wu Zong, Emperor 63 Zoffany, Johann, The Tribuna of
urban migration 13 Vittala Temple (Hampi) 58, Barcelona 179 Wudi, Emperor 62 the Uffizi 106
Uruk 9 59 Wilhelm I of Germany 120 Wyckoff, Pieter Claesen 216 Zoot-Suit Riots (Los Angeles)
utopian cities 13 Vittoriano (Rome) 22 Wilhelm II of Germany 120 304, 305
Utzon, Jørn 209 Vittorio Emmanuelle II of William IV of the X Zoroastrianism 47
Italy 22 Netherlands 166 Xerxes I of Persia 46–47 Zuccari, Federico 105
V Vivaldi, Antonio 189, 190 William of Orange 164 Xi’an (China) 11, 13, 60–65,
V&A Waterfront (Cape Town) 197 Vizcaíno, Sebastián 300 Williams, Anthony A. 263 253, 281
Václav I of Bohemia Vlatava river 109 Winter Palace (St Petersburg) Xianbei 276
(St Wenceslas) 109 Völkel, Reinhold, Café 236–37, 238, 239 Xiao He 62
Václav III of Bohemia 109 Griensteidl, 1896 116 Wolfe, General James 148 Xuanzang 63, 64, 136
318 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgments
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 319
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GREAT

CENTRES OF GREAT RIVER

30 Istanbul 102 Florence

36 Jerusalem 108 Prague

44 Persepolis 114 Vienna

48 Delhi 118 Berlin

56 Hampi 124 Moscow

60 Xi’an 130 Cairo

66 Mexico City 136 Varanasi

74 Tikal 140 Bangkok

78 Cusco 146 Québec City

82 More Great Cities 150 New Orleans

MARITIME CITIES CITIES BY DESIGN MODERN

158 Dublin 236 St Petersburg 272 Dubai

214 New York City 308 Index

222 Havana 318 Acknowledgments

226 Buenos Aires

232 More Great Cities

◁ This postcard shows

The very earliest cities were largely unplanned, their shape

Greek city-states, and were reputedly invented by the architect

Trade and the Middle Ages

New facilities for growing cities

The rise of the megacity

The problem… is this: how to make

Mexico City p.66

Cusco p.78 Jerusalem p.36 Persepolis p.44

VIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM, 1735 ▷

753 bce According to 509 bce King Tarquinius

The Capitoline Wolf sculpture,

c. 650 bce The Curia Hostilia is 390 bce Rome is sacked

Statue of Emperor Panel from

I found Rome a city of bricks and left it

△ Situated in the Forum, the Umbilicus Urbis Romae

Serving as market, meeting place, and administrative,

410 Rome is sacked by

Remains of the 4th-century

271 In response to a barbarian 402 Emperor Honorius

Emperors in the Byzantine Empire – the remaining,

800 The Frankish ruler 1144 Rome becomes an

A fleet of Arab pirates

The Sack of Rome

◁ BRITISH GENTLEMEN IN ROME, C. 1750

uprising in 1849, resulting in an independent Roman

Caffè Greco counted

There is no end. There is no beginning.

1938–43 Building of the

Athens’ situation on Greece’s Attica peninsula, within easy

547 bce Peisistratos

◁ PORCH OF THE ERECHTHEION TEMPLE

migrants from the rest of Greece, and

The golden age

480 bce The Athenian

Detail from a Greek cup

404 bce Sparta defeats 100-50 bce The octagonal

399 bce Socrates is tried on

Time and envy have dealt with

Byzantines, and the Acropolis became the fortress of

124–132 ce Roman Emperor 1311–1402 Athens is occupied

2009 The Acropolis