Ancient Capitals and Cities

Ancient Capitals and Cities PDF Author: Xiaohong Zhang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781487809355
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book explores the importance of the capital in Chinese history as well as cities more generally. Beginning with the earliest capitals from thousands of years ago all the way to present-day Beijing, the various capital changes of China - including dual-capital systems and even five-capital regimes - are covered in impressive detail. The four ' great capitals of China' - Luoyang, Xi' an, Nanjing, and Beijing - receive particular attention for their central roles in the evolution of Chinese capitals. Aside from the capitals themselves, major cities and city types are also explored at length in this volume: for example, the grass market towns of the Song Dynasty, the Silk Road hubs, and the prosperous port cities that grew in tangent with the booming maritime trade industry during the Qing period, such as Shanghai. This volume covers settlement expansion and type throughout China's history. For those who wish to learn more about Chinese cities and capitals, this book is an ideal choice. We hope readers also have the opportunity to read the other three instalments in this map series.

Ancient Capitals and Cities

Ancient Capitals and Cities PDF Author: Xiaohong Zhang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781487809355
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the importance of the capital in Chinese history as well as cities more generally. Beginning with the earliest capitals from thousands of years ago all the way to present-day Beijing, the various capital changes of China - including dual-capital systems and even five-capital regimes - are covered in impressive detail. The four ' great capitals of China' - Luoyang, Xi' an, Nanjing, and Beijing - receive particular attention for their central roles in the evolution of Chinese capitals. Aside from the capitals themselves, major cities and city types are also explored at length in this volume: for example, the grass market towns of the Song Dynasty, the Silk Road hubs, and the prosperous port cities that grew in tangent with the booming maritime trade industry during the Qing period, such as Shanghai. This volume covers settlement expansion and type throughout China's history. For those who wish to learn more about Chinese cities and capitals, this book is an ideal choice. We hope readers also have the opportunity to read the other three instalments in this map series.

Aztec City-state Capitals

Aztec City-state Capitals PDF Author: Michael Ernest Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The Aztecs ruled much of Mexico from the thirteenth century until the Spanish conquest in 1521. Outside of the imperial capital of Tenochtitlan, various urban centers ruled the numerous city-states that covered the central Mexican landscape. Aztec City-State Capitals is the first work to focus attention outside Tenochtitlan, revealing these dozens of smaller cities to have been the central hubs of political, economic, and religious life, integral to the grand infrastructure of the Aztec empire. Focusing on building styles, urban townscapes, layouts, and designs, Michael Smith combines two archaeological approaches: monumental (excavations of pyramids, palaces, and public buildings) and social (excavations of houses, workshops, and fields). As a result, he is able to integrate the urban-built environment and the lives of the Aztec peoples as reconstructed from excavations. Smith demonstrates the ways in which these city-state capitals were different from Tenochtitlan and convincingly argues that urban design is the direct result of decisions made by political leaders to legitimize their own power and political roles in the states of the Aztec empire.

American Capitals

American Capitals PDF Author: Christian Montès
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022608051X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
State capitals are an indelible part of the American psyche, spatial representations of state power and national identity. Learning them by heart is a rite of passage in grade school, a pedagogical exercise that emphasizes the importance of committing place-names to memory. But geographers have yet to analyze state capitals in any depth. In American Capitals, Christian Montès takes us on a well-researched journey across America—from Augusta to Sacramento, Albany to Baton Rouge—shedding light along the way on the historical circumstances that led to their appointment, their success or failure, and their evolution over time. While all state capitals have a number of characteristics in common—as symbols of the state, as embodiments of political power and decision making, as public spaces with private interests—Montès does not interpret them through a single lens, in large part because of the differences in their spatial and historical evolutionary patterns. Some have remained small, while others have evolved into bustling metropolises, and Montès explores the dynamics of change and growth. All but eleven state capitals were established in the nineteenth century, thirty-five before 1861, but, rather astonishingly, only eight of the fifty states have maintained their original capitals. Despite their revered status as the most monumental and historical cities in America, capitals come from surprisingly humble beginnings, often plagued by instability, conflict, hostility, and corruption. Montès reminds us of the period in which they came about, “an era of pioneer and idealized territorial vision,” coupled with a still-evolving American citizenry and democracy.

History of Capital Cities in China

History of Capital Cities in China PDF Author: Zhi Dao
Publisher: DeepLogic
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The book provides highlights on the key concepts and trends of evolution in History of Capital Cities in China, as one of the series of books of “China Classified Histories”.

Capital Cities around the World

Capital Cities around the World PDF Author: Roman Adrian Cybriwsky
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 758

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Book Description
This informative resource is a fascinating compilation of the history, politics, and culture of every capital city from around the world, making this the only singular reference on the subject of its kind. Every country, even the world's youngest nations, has a capital city—a centralized location which houses the seat of government and acts as the hub of culture and history. But, what role do capital cities play in the global arena? Which factors have influenced the selection of a municipal center for each nation? This interesting encyclopedia explores the topic in great depth, providing an overview of each country's capital—its history and early inhabitants, ascension to prominence, infrastructure within the government, and influence on the world around them. The author considers the culture and society of the area, discussing the ethnic and religious groups among those who live there, the major issues the residents face, and other interesting cultural facts. Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture features the capital cities of 200 countries across the globe. Organized in alphabetical order by country, each profile combines social studies, geography, anthropology, world history, and political science to offer a fascinating survey of each location.

The Imperial Capitals of China

The Imperial Capitals of China PDF Author: Arthur Cotterell
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468306057
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This history of China’s imperial capital cities reveals “a picaresque chronicle of dynastic succession and court intrigue” across millennia (Publishers Weekly). Throughout the long history of Imperial China, emperors designed their capital cities in ways that reveal the heart of their dynasty. The ley lines of these cities reveal religious preoccupations, while the design of important buildings tells us much about the cultural influences of the period. The Shang Emperor of the third century B.C. made obsessive—and ultimately fatal—attempts to engage the Immortals with cosmologically pleasing urban planning. Meanwhile, the Tang capital at Chang'an betrays the striking creativity and cultural receptiveness that earmark the era as a literary and artistic golden age. And the Forbidden City of fifteenth century Beijing still stands as testament to Ming dynasty architectural virtuosity. Arthur Cotterell provides an inside view of the rich array of characters, political and ideological tensions, and technological genius that defined the imperial cities of China, as each in turn is uncovered, explored, and celebrated. The oldest continuous civilization in existence today stands to become the most influential.

Ancient Capitals of Thailand

Ancient Capitals of Thailand PDF Author: Elizabeth H. Moore
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789748225005
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, the land that was once Siam, and is now the heart of Thailand, saw the rise and fall of some of the most beautiful city states to grace the mainland of Southeast Asia. The remains of these cities constitute a large part of the Thai nation's cultural inheritance, and all are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. This book presents an accessible yet scholarly account of these city states, their art and architecture, accompanied by the gorgeous photography of Michael Freeman.

Capital Cities of Arab Islam

Capital Cities of Arab Islam PDF Author: Philip Khuri Hitti
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452909598
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description


Political Landscapes of Capital Cities

Political Landscapes of Capital Cities PDF Author: Jessica Joyce Christie
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 1607324695
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
Political Landscapes of Capital Cities investigates the processes of transformation of the natural landscape into the culturally constructed and ideologically defined political environments of capital cities. In this spatially inclusive, socially dynamic interpretation, an interdisciplinary group of authors including archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians uses the methodology put forth in Adam T. Smith’s The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities to expose the intimate associations between human-made environments and the natural landscape that accommodate the sociopolitical needs of governmental authority. Political Landscapes of Capital Cities blends the historical, political, and cultural narratives of capital cities such as Bangkok, Cusco, Rome, and Tehran with a careful visual analysis, hinging on the methodological tools of not only architectural and urban design but also cultural, historiographical, and anthropological studies. The collection provides further ways to conceive of how processes of urbanization, monumentalization, ritualization, naturalization, and unification affected capitals differently without losing grasp of local distinctive architectural and spatial features. The essays also articulate the many complex political and ideological agendas of a diverse set of sovereign entities that planned, constructed, displayed, and performed their societal ideals in the spaces of their capitals, ultimately confirming that political authority is profoundly spatial. Contributors: Jelena Bogdanović, Jessica Joyce Christie, Talinn Grigor, Eulogio Guzmán, Gregor Kalas, Stephanie Pilat, Melody Rod-ari, Anne Toxey, Alexei Vranich

Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan PDF Author: José Luis de Rojas
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813059461
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire before the Spanish conquest, rivaled any other great city of its time. In Europe, only Paris, Venice, and Constantinople were larger. Cradled in the Valley of Mexico, the city is unique among New World capitals in that it was well-described and chronicled by the conquistadors who subsequently demolished it. This means that, though centuries of redevelopment have frustrated efforts to access the ancient city’s remains, much can be told about its urban landscape, politics, economy, and religion. While Tenochtitlan commands a great deal of attention from archaeologists and Mesoamerican scholars, very little has been written about the city for a non-technical audience in English. In this fascinating book, eminent expert José Luis de Rojas presents an accessible yet authoritative exploration of this famous city--interweaving glimpses into its inhabitants’ daily lives with the broader stories of urbanization, culture, and the rise and fall of the Aztec empire.