When (Arab, North Africa & Anatolia) (1)

* Battle of the Masts (Dhat Al-Sawari) (655) (naval battle):
- The Battle of the Masts (romanized Dhat Al-Sawari) or Battle of Phoenix was a crucial naval battle fought in 655 between the Muslim Arabs, led by Abdullah bin Sa'ad bin Abi'l Sarh and the Byzantine fleet under the personal command of Emperor Constans II. Location of the battle: Mediterranean Sea.

Places (Arab, North Africa & Anatolia) (2)

* Acre, Israel: (đừng nhầm với một đơn vị đo lường cũng gọi là Acre) (The capital of Israel is Jerusalem)
- Acre is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel and is situated on a low promontory at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country and historically, was regarded as a strategic coastal link to the Levant.
◎ a very nice site about travel in Acre (biblewalks.com)

Ceuta & Melilla

_____
* Aswan, Egypt:
-Aswan is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate (tỉnh, province). It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist centre.
_____
* Ceuta (Strait of Gibraltar):
- Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Ceuta (like Melilla) was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. Morocco claims Ceuta, along with Melilla and a number of Mediterranean islands which border it.
◎ elmundodekarin.blogspot.com/ Ceuta
_____
* Pharos of Alexandria (Egypt) (3rd century BC):
- The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt. Its purpose was to guide sailors into the harbour at night time. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
- Pharos was a small island just off the coast of Alexandria. It was linked to the mainland by a man-made connection named the Heptastadion, which thus formed one side of the city's harbour. The tower erected there guided mariners at night, through its fire and reflective mirrors, as well as being a landmark by day.

Places (Arab, North Africa & Anatolia) (1)

* Arab World:

- The Arab world (العالم العربي‎) refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast.

- It consists of 21 countries and territories with a combined population of 360 million people straddling (từ 2 vùng tách biệt là) North Africa and Western Asia.

- The Arab League, a regional organization of countries intended to encompass the Arab world, defines an Arab as: An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic-speaking country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic-speaking peoples.
Egyptians for example, may or may not identify themselves as Arabs.

_____
* Arabian Peninsula:
- The Arabian Peninsula (شبه الجزيرة العربية) is a land mass in Southwest Asia. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula. 7 countries in the Arabian Peninsula are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

_____

* Sinai Peninsula (Egypt):

- The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai (سيناء‎; סיני) is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about 60,000 km² in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and it is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa. The bulk of the peninsula is divided into two Egyptian governorates (~provinces) (with three more splitting the Suez Canal area).

- The region has historically been the center of conflict between various political factions, based largely on its location. In addition to periods of direct rule by Egyptian governments, it was like the rest of Egypt also occupied and controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and the United Kingdom which occupied Egypt from 1882 onwards. Israel occupied Sinai in the Suez Crisis of 1956, and again during the Six Day War of 1967. In the October War of 1973, it was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. In 1982, after the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979, Israel withdrew from the entirety of Sinai. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs, and biblical history. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant regions in Abrahamic faiths.
_____
* Middle East:
- The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and North Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. Countries of the Middle East include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Iran, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. (oh my god, I am not sure about this list.)
_____
* Central Asia:
- Central Asia is from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north. The countries in the Central Asia are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan).

_____

* Straits of Tiran:
- The Straits of Tiran are the narrow sea passages, about 13 kilometres wide, between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas which separate the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea.
- Access to Jordan's only seaport of Aqaba and to Israel's only Indian Ocean seaport of Eilat is contingent upon passage through the Gulf of Aqaba, giving the Straits of Tiran strategic importance. Egypt's blockade of the Straits to Israeli ships and ships bound for Israel in 1956 and again in 1967 was a catalyst to the Suez Crisis in 1956 and the Six-Day War in 1967.
_____
* Persian Gulf (see: Persian Gulf War):

Babylon

- The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran (formerly called Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula.
_____
* Babylon:
- Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was there.
_____
* Mesopotamia ((land) between the rivers):
- Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous (bản xứ, bản địa) Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.
_____
* Anatolia:
- Anatolia (Tiểu Á) (Anatolía" có nghĩa "Mặt trời mọc") là một bán đảo châu Á nằm giáp với châu Âu, với Biển Đen ở phía Bắc, Địa Trung Hải ở phía Nam, và Biển Aegean (một nhánh của Địa Trung Hải) ở phía Tây, và vùng đất châu Á rộng lớn ở phía Đông. Tại đây có thành phố Constantinople, thủ đô của Đế quốc Byzantine, nay là Istanbul, 1 thành phố của Thổ Nhĩ Kì.
_____
* Kaaba, Makkah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia:
- The Kaaba (الكعبة‎, English: The Cube) is a cube-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham and his son Ishmael, after Ishmael had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque built around it, the Masjid al-Haram. All Muslims around the world face the Kaaba during prayers, no matter where they are. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime if they are able to do so. Multiple parts of the Hajj require pilgrims to walk 7 times around the Kaaba in a anticlockwise direction. This circumambulation, the Tawaf, is also performed by pilgrims during the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage). However, the most dramatic times are during the Hajj, when about 6 million (officially) pilgrims simultaneously gather to circle the building on the same day.

Who (Arab, North Africa & Anatolia) (1)

ABOUT:
1. (islamic-dictionary.com) Ibn, or bin, means 'son of'. Eg: Ali `ibn` Abi Talib (AS) means Ali `son of` Abi Talib
__________
* Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC):
- Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greekorigin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents like the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis.

Princesse Shéhérazade
cartoon
France 2 (1999)

_____
* Harun al-Rashid (c.763-809) (Iraq) (reign 786-809)
- Hārūn al-Rashīd (هارون الرشيد‎) was the 5th Abbasid Caliph in Iraq. He was born in Rey, Iran, close to modern Tehran. He ruled from 786 to 809, and his time was marked by scientific, cultural and religious prosperity. Art and music also flourished significantly during his reign. He established the library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom"). Since Harun was intellectually, politically and militarily resourceful, his life and the court over which he held sway have been the subject of many tales: some are factual but most are believed to be fictitious. An example of what is known to be factual is the story of the clock that was among various presents that Harun had sent to Charlemagne. The presents were carried by the returning Frankish mission that came to offer Harun friendship in 799. Charlemagne and his retinue deemed the clock to be a conjuration for the sounds it emanated and the tricks it displayed every time an hour ticked. Among what is known to be fictional is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which contains many stories that are fantasized by Harun's magnificent court and even Harun al-Rashid himself.
- The family of Barmakids which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate declined gradually during his rule.
_____
* Al-Kindi (c.801-873):
- Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (يعقوب بن اسحاق الكندي‎) was a Muslim Arab scientist, philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is best known for his efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world.
_____
* Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965-c.1040) (optics):
- Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham was an Arab or Persian scientist and polymath. Alhazen made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to physics, astronomy, mathematics, ophthalmology, philosophy, visual perception, and to the scientific method. He was also nicknamed Ptolemaeus Secundus ("Ptolemy the Second") or simply "The Physicist" in medieval Europe. Alhazen wrote insightful commentaries on works by Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Greek mathematician Euclid.
- See more: Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham's biography (gap-system.org); Ibn al Haytham - The First Scientist - Alhazen Biography (ibnalhaytham.net)
_____
* Al-Biruni (973-1048) (Nhà Bác học Al-Biruni):
- Al-Biruni (born 973 in Kath, Khwarezm, died 1048 in Ghazni) was a Persian Muslim scholar and polymath of the 11th century. He is considered as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in mathematics, astronomy, physical and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a geographer, historian, chronologist and linguist. He is also considered as impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations and was given the title al-Ustdadh ("The Master"). According to Francis Robinson, Al-Biruni earned the "founder of Indology" and "first anthropologist" titles for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India.
_____
* Ibn Battuta (1304-c.1369) (Morocco) (Islam) (traveller):
- Hajji Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, or simply Ibn Battuta, was a Moroccan Berber Islamic scholar and traveller known for the record of his travels and excursions published in the Rihla (literally, "The Journey"). His journeys spanned nearly 30 years and covered almost the entire known Islamic world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance far surpassing that of his predecessors and his near-contemporary Marco Polo. On account of the Rihla, Ibn Battuta is considered one of the greatest travellers of all time.He travelled more than 121,000 km, a figure unlikely to have been surpassed by any traveller until the coming of the Steam Age some 450 years later.
- Ibn Battuta sinh ra tại Tangier, Morocco. Có thể gọi ông là một Macco Polo (c.1254-1324) của thế giới Arab.