Theme Week Bangladesh – Dhaka

31 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Rose Garden Palace © Bazaan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rose Garden Palace © Bazaan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dhaka is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world, with a population of 18.89 million people in the Greater Dhaka Area. Dhaka is the economic, political and cultural center of Bangladesh. It is one of the major cities of South Asia, the largest city in Eastern South Asia and among the Bay of Bengal countries; and one of the largest cities among OIC countries. As part of the Bengal plain, the city is bounded by the Buriganga River, Turag River, Dhaleshwari River and Shitalakshya River. The city is located in an eponymous district and division.   read more…

Theme Week Bangladesh – Khulna

30 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

The Sixty Dome Mosque, part of the medieval Mosque City of Bagerhat © Belayet/cc-by-3.0

The Sixty Dome Mosque, part of the medieval Mosque City of Bagerhat © Belayet/cc-by-3.0

Khulna is the third-largest city of Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of Khulna District and Khulna Division. As of the 2011 census, the city has a population of 663,342. The encompassing Khulna metro area had an estimated population of 1.022 million as of 2014. Khulna is the third largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and Chittagong.   read more…

Annapolis in Maryland

30 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

© Carol M. Highsmith

© Carol M. Highsmith

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. Its population was measured at 38,394 by the 2010 census. This city served as the seat of the Confederation Congress (former Second Continental Congress) and temporary national capital of the United States in 1783–1784. At that time, General George Washington came before the body convened in the new Maryland State House and resigned his commission as commander of the Continental Army. A month later, the Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris of 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War, with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States. The city and state capitol was also the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which issued a call to the states to send delegates for the Constitutional Convention to be held the following year in Philadelphia. Over 220 years later, the Annapolis Peace Conference was held in 2007. Annapolis is the home of St. John’s College, founded 1696; the United States Naval Academy, established 1845, is adjacent to the city limits.   read more…

Theme Week Bangladesh – Brahmanbaria

29 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Jamia Islamia Yunusia © Zulfiquar Aungshu/cc-by-sa-4.0

Jamia Islamia Yunusia © Zulfiquar Aungshu/cc-by-sa-4.0

Brahmanbaria is a historical city of Bangladesh. It is the capital of Brahmanbaria Sadar Upazila and Brahmanbaria District and second largest city after Comilla in eastern Bangladesh. Brahmanbaria is one of the oldest municipalities in Bangladesh, and was established in 1769. Brahmanbaria was declared a district headquarters in 1984. Its municipality area has a population of 168,636 according to the 2011 Census. It was a part of greater Comilla District until 1984.   read more…

Theme Week Bangladesh – Chittagong

28 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Ethnological Museum of Chittagong © Tanvir87bd/cc-by-sa-4.0

Ethnological Museum of Chittagong © Tanvir87bd/cc-by-sa-4.0

Chittagong, officially known as Chattogram, is a major coastal city and financial centre in southeastern Bangladesh. The city has a population of more than 2.5 million while the metropolitan area had a population of 4,009,423 in 2011, making it the second-largest city in the country. It is the capital of an eponymous District and Division. The city is located on the banks of the Karnaphuli River between the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Bay of Bengal.   read more…

Portrait: The sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo

28 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Portrait Reading Time:  9 minutes

Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra © Metropolitan Museum of Art - online collection

Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra © Metropolitan Museum of Art – online collection

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni or more commonly known by his first name Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered by many the greatest artist of his lifetime, and by some the greatest artist of all time, his artistic versatility was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival, the fellow Florentine and client of the Medici, Leonardo da Vinci.   read more…

Theme Week Bangladesh – Rajshahi

27 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Varendra Research Museum © Nahid.rajbd/cc-by-sa-4.0

Varendra Research Museum © Nahid.rajbd/cc-by-sa-4.0

Rajshahi, historically Rampur Boalia, nicknamed Silk City, is a metropolitan city, and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of eponymous division and district. Located on the north bank of the Padma River, near the Bangladesh-India border, the city has a population of over 764.000 residents. The city is surrounded by the satellite towns of Nowhata and Katakhali, which together build an urban agglomeration of about 1 million population. Arguably Rajshahi is the most clean and green among cities in Bangladesh.   read more…

Theme Week Bangladesh

26 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Saint Martin's Island © Niaz morshed Shovon

Saint Martin’s Island © Niaz morshed Shovon

Bangladesh (“The country of Bengal”), officially the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar. The country’s maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area. Bangladesh is the 92nd-largest sovereign state in the world, with an area of 147,570 square kilometres (56,980 sq mi). It is also the world’s 8th-most populous country, as well as one of its most densely-populated. Dhaka is its capital and largest city, and is also the economic, political and the cultural center of Bangladesh, followed by Chittagong, which has the country’s largest port. It forms the largest and eastern part of the Bengal region. The country’s geography is dominated by the Bengal delta with many rivers; while hilly and mountainous areas make up the north-east and south-east. The country also has the longest sea beach and the largest mangrove forest in the world. The endangered Bengal tiger is a national symbol.   read more…

Princeton in New Jersey

26 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  6 minutes

Princeton University Boat House at Lake Carnegie © Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD/cc-by-sa-3.0

Princeton University Boat House at Lake Carnegie © Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD/cc-by-sa-3.0

Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, New Jersey, that was established in its current form on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township. As of the 2010 United States Census, the municipality’s population was 28,572, reflecting the former township’s population of 16,265, along with the 12,307 in the former borough. Princeton is roughly equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia. It is close to many major highways that serve both cities (e.g. Interstate 95 and US Route 1), and receives major television and radio broadcasts from each. It is also close to Trenton, New Jersey’s capital city, and Edison.   read more…

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