Xinjiang-Uygur AR - Kasghar - Map Path Karakoram Highway

A Schematic overview Map of the Entire Length of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), known as the highest paved road in the World. Map Area depicted: Karakoram Highway in the Region between Kashgar in China and Islamabad and Peshawar in Pakistan.

Clearly depicted is the Path of the Karakoram Road through Taxkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Khunjerab Pass, Kunjerab River Valley, Bara Kun Lake, Hunza River Valley, Indus Valley, Khagan River Valley to its destination at Islamabad.

Main Items of interest - Main Mountain Peaks of the Area with Height, small towns, Tourist and Historic Locations and Landmarks, Main Rivers, current WAR ZONE of the Swat Valley and other dangers on this road, the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, Ethnic Regions and language Area's, Kashmir, FATA Federally administered Tribal Area's on the Pakistan-Aghanistan Border and more.

- China Report !!

China and the Silk Road - Modern History of the Silk Road after 2000 - the New Millenium

A Chronology of the Silk Road

Estimated 500 BC - 14Th Century Emergence Maritime Trading Routes

This page was last updated on: January 20, 2020

This page was last updated on: January 20, 2020

-----> History of the Silk Road :

See Also - The Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty history.

[ Back to Top of Page ]

Silk Road (12) The Silk Road in the New Millennium (after 2000) :

2000 AD: Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin, the mother Church of the Armenian Apostolic (Christian) Church and considered the oldest Christian Cathedral in the world, as well as the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots, a ruined 7th century AD Cathedral, two historical sites in Amavir Province of Armenia (State) are made UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites.

March 2, 2001 AD : The Taliban Muslim Fundamentalist Regime of Afghanistan robs its People of their Cultural Heritage by destroying the Silk Road Buddhist statues of Bamiyan. On the face of a mountain near the city, three colossal statues were carved 4,000 feet apart. One of them was 175 feet (53 m) high, and on record as the world's tallest standing statue of the Buddha. The ancient statue was carved during the Kushan period in the fifth century AD. In the aftermath of this savage act of vandalism the world's earliest oil paintings were discovered in caves behind the partially destroyed colossal Buddha statues. The oil based paintings, possibly using either walnut or poppy seed oil, are present in 12 of the 50 caves dating from the 5th to 9th century.

Selecteer een taal

▼

Find DrBen and ChinaReport on Facebook with the latest from www.drben.net.

11-16 December 2001: Masada (Hebrew: מצדה metsada "fortress") the ancient biblical mount and fortification situated on the eastern edge of the Judean District in the Southern District of Israel‍ ‍‍is declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The famed location of the Masada (Suicide) Massacre at the end of the first Roman-Jewish war is situated inside the Masada National Park and has since (2007) added a museum

displaying archeological finds and the lessons learned from them. In addition, the city of Acre (Tell El-Fukhar ; Hebrew: Tell Akko) in northern Palestine (Occupied by Israel), ranked as one of the oldest cities in the world with the earliest finds dated to around 4000 B.C. is also inscribed as World Cultural Heritage.

Asia China Mongolia Transportation - Airports & Railroads Satellite Map

This Satellite Image provides an overview of all International Airports in Asia, all Airports in China (PRC) and Mongolia. In addition all military airbases in China (PRC) listed.

Navigate map and click pins for additional information and video where available. Link through from any pin to location information and backgrounds.

Overview all transportation in the Peoples Republic of China and additional Asian Nations in one glance.

Direct Hotel & Resort booking + additional packages linked by location across China, Mongolia and neighboring Asian Nations.

Saturday, June 17, 2017: With 18 airports and airfields operational in the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region of China (P.R.C.), which is home to long stretch of the so called "silk road in China", the Chinese Government announced the planned construction o‍‍f 10 more airports across the region by the year 2020 (in 3 years). With the suggested message that all airfields are to serve civilian purposes, the announcement included details for the construction of an additional airport in the restive Hotan City Prefecture, to be situated at the famous historic Silk Road Town of Keriya (Chinese: Yutian) in the far east of Hotan Prefecture. According to the announcement, the new Yutian Airport will have a single 3200 meter long runway.

Wednesday, 21 June, 2017: In the oil city of Mosul in northern Iraq , ISIS destroys the Grand Al Nuri Mosque (Arabic: جامع النوري‎ Jāmiʿ an-Nūrī) and its 45 meter (150 ft) tall Al Hadba Minaret, both counted as historic cultural and architectural treasures along the Silk Road in Mesopotamia.

Reportedly, the mosque was blown up with explosions when Iraqi National Army units were within 50 meters of re-taking the historic religious building.

The medieval time mosque was named after Nuruddin Al-Zanki, a local Noble who fought the earliest European crusader armies from his fiefdom which encompassed much of current day "Kurdistan", with territory in Syria, Turkey and North Iraq. The mosque was constructed shortly before the death of Nurrudin in 1172 or 73 AD and originally housed an Islamic School (Madrasa).

In Iraq the act of destruction was immediately condemned as a crime against all Iraqi people, and furthermore a factual admittance of defeat of ISIS.

July 2017: The ancient silk road City of Yazd (Persian: یزد)(also Yezd), Capital of Yazd Province in central Iran, famous for its architectural feautures, religious heritage and for being a thriving Silk Road market town through centuries, is made a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

Along with the city of Yazd various other sites in Asia receive the official UNESCO recognition and funding, including the Old City of Hebron on the west bank of the Jordan River (a part of Jordan occupied and absorbed by Israel).

June 21, 2014: The Citadel of Erbil, locally identified as the Qalat (Kurdish: قەڵای ھەولێر Qelay Hewlêr ; Arabic: قلعة أربيل), an ancient Tell and defended natural stone mound of which the earliest known remains date back as far as the 5th century B.C., situated in the city of Erbil, considered the Capital of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq , is inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Although the citadel has seen large restorations since 2007, when nearly all inhabitants of the protected area were moved out, in order to ensure the continuation of 8000 years of human inhabitation of the site and prevent the citadel from becoming a lifeless museum, it is planned that some 50 families will be allowed to live inside it.

In the same 38th session of the United Nations world heritage committee, the ancient Greek City of Pergamon (Bergama) and its ancient cultural landscape, today a part of Bergama in Izmir Province of Turkey is also listed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. Additionally, Shahr-i Sokhta (Shahr-e Sūkhté (Persian: شهرِ سوخته , meaning "[The] Burnt City") identified as an early bronze age settlement associated with the late 3rd millenium B.C. Jiroft Culture, situated on the banks of the Helmand River in Sistan and Balochistan Provinces of Iran, is also listed.

July 2014: ISIL fighters try to demolish the 840 year old minaret of the Grand Al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul and fail. The minaret is protected by local residents who litterally form a human ring around the Mosque in order to protect their proud heritage.

June/July 2015: Al-Maghtas (Arabic: المغطس), in the west known of the Baptism Site of " Bethany beyond the Jordan " , a historical site along the Jordan River in Jordan world renowned from biblical versus of the Gospel of John and associated events, is inscribed us a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

YouTube video: 10 minute excerpt of Christian Frei showing his film to the people of Bamiyan in the year 2005.

2005: Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei made a 95-minute documentary titled The Giant Buddhas (released in March 2006) on the statues, the international reactions to their destruction, and an overview of the controversy. Testimony by local Afghans validates that Osama Bin Laden ordered the destruction and that, initially, Mullah Omar and the Afghans in Bamiyan opposed it. In the aftermath of the creation of the film Frei travels back to Bamian fulfilling his promise to come and show the results of his work to the people of Bamiyan.

10-17 July 2005: Desert Cities of the Negev (Desert) a part of the so called "Incense Route", today an area in Israel, are listed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. The desert cities in case are Avdat, Haluza, Mamshit and Shivta, together forming a chained group of four towns in the Negev Desert, which flourished during the period from 300 BC to 200 AD which ultimately are linked directly with the

Mediterranean terminus of both the Incense Road and spice trade routes. As a group, these desert cities demonstrate the lucrative trade in frankincense and myrrh that took place from Yemen in south Arabia to the port of Gaza on the Mediterranean. At its height, the route included cities, Qanat irrigation systems, fortresses, and caravan serai. Vestiges of these works are still visible, and demonstrate the use of the desert for commerce and agriculture.

2005 to 2007: in the period of two years, at least six times, dried and parched remains of modern humans are recovered from the depths of the Lop Nor Desert and investigated by authorities.

In 2005, in commemoration of NHK's 80th anniversary, CCTV and NHK jointly produced for the second time a Silk Road documentary. The 10-part series, according to the general director, takes a new approach to the subject, as it reveals many of the archaeological discoveries and relics that have not been disclosed to the public in previous documentaries. The footage was edited into separate Chinese and Japanese versions. Known as "The New Silk Road", the Chinese language series was first aired in 10 March 2006 and, as with the earlier Silk Road I expedition footage taken in 1979, has been classic silk road film documentary material ever since.

2006: National Highway S235, leading from Hami (Kumul) to the dried up Lop Nor basin is completed. The road serves traffic between the small industrial town established at Lop Nor and the infra-structure node at Hami.

8 to 16 July 2006: At the 30th Session of the UN Heritage Committee, both the Krak des Chevaliers (Castle Alhsn ; Arabic: حصن الفرسان), in the 12th Century A.D. a Castle and Lair of the (Christian) Knights Templar, and a currently a site in a the disputed border between Lebanon and Syria, was given UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status. In the same session, the historically associated Citadel of Salah El-Din (--) also Salladin Castle or Sahyun, situated 25 kilometers (16 miles) due north-east of Latakia in north west Syria, is also inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.

2006: The Behistun Insriptions (also Bisotun, Bistun or Bisutun; Persian: بیستون , Old Persian: Bagastana, meaning "the place of god"), a multilingual inscription authored by King Darius I "The Great" of Persia (Life: 550 B.C. - 486 B.C.) at some time during his life and known to the world since the year 1598 AD, are given the status of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Although listed as located in Iran at Mount Bishutun, the site, covering 1116 hectares, is factually situated in the border region (bufferzone) between Iran and Iraq.

On 26 January 2007, Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, the by then former Taliban Governor of Bamiyan together with Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar seen as the main culprit behind the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha's was assassinated in Kabul.

In 2007 large scale renovations and preservation works start in Erbil‍ ‍‍(also Arbil or Irbil)(Kurdish: ھەولێر‎ Hewlêr; Arabic: أربيل‎, Arbīl; Syriac: ܐܲܪܒܝܠ‎, Arbela), the Capital of the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq. In order to restore the historic Erbil Qarbat or Citadel City, all but one of the many families residing in this old quarter of the city are moved out. One family remains as custodians and in order to ensure the continuance of 8000 years of human inhabitantion of this site along the western silk road.

June-July 2007: At the 31st Session of the United Nations Heritage Commission, the Gobustan National Park enclosing the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape found in Garadagh and Absheron Districts of Azerbaijan , not far from the National Capital City of Baku , are added to the listing of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites. The ancient Petroglyphs and rock carvings at Gobustan are situated on the extreme southern end of a rocky outcropping of the Caucasus mountains very near the west coast of the Caspian Sea. Together with cave dwellings, settlements and burial sites, they encompass some 6000 stone inscriptions dating between 40 thousand years B.C. and around 5000 B.C. thus representing a long period in the pre-silk road era between the stone age and more modern era's thus giving modern humanity a unique insight to cultures, habits and knowledge now long disappeared and forever transformed.

2008: The Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran, wonders of Armenian architecture and decorative art, located in the West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan provinces in Iran, an ensemble of three Armenian churches that were established during the period between the 7th and 14th centuries A.D. are inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

2008: Holy Places of the Bahá'í Faith (Persian: بهائی Bahā'i) in Haifa‍ ‍‍(Hebrew: חֵיפָה‬ Hefa [χei̯ˈfa, ˈχai̯fa]; Arabic: حيفا‎ ḥayfa) and the Western Galilee, situated in bufferzone 255 occupied by Israel, are inscribed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

November 12, 2001: Taliban forces abandon the Afghan Capital of Kabul in flight from advancing Northern Alliance troops backed up by US Special Forces‍.‍ The city of Kabul is taken by the Northern Alliance on November 14. In north western Afghanistan the ancient silk road city of Herat (Persian: هرات‎,Harât ,Herât; Pashto: هرات‎; Ancient Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ ἐν Ἀρίοις, Alexándreia hē en Aríois; Latin: Alexandria Ariorum) famous for its citadel of Alexander (The Great) was captured from the Taliban by forces loyal to the Northern Alliance and as well as Special Forces of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Subsequently, its former Governor and Muhadjideen leader Ismail Khan returned to power‍. In a swift campaign which lasts until December 12 of 2001, most of Afghanistan falls to the advance of American Troops under heavy support.

In December of 2001, the historic Tora Bora (black dust) cave complexes - fortified natural caves which had served as rebel and guerilla hide outs since the area was known to westerners in the 19th Century (See previous page: Modern History of the Silk Road (8) 1800 AD to 1900) - situated to the south of the Khyber Pass in the Spīn Ghar mountain range, Pachir Aw Agam District (پچير او اګام ولسوالۍ), Nargarhar Province of Afghanistan become the target of a prolonged and heavy bombing campaign of the United States Airforce as groups of Taliban are found to be entrenched within the caves and tunnels of this area. Al Qaeda main terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden is rumored to be among them, drawing US special Forces and air power to this border region between Afghanistan and the FATA (Federally administered tribal areas) of neighboring Pakistan.

The Tora Bora campaign marks the ending of the US offensive in Afghanistan. While Osama Bin Laden escapes capture by US Forces, important parts of the caves are left utterly destroyed.

Schematic overview Map of the border regions between Afghanistan (left / west) and adjacent Pakistan, of which the FATA are continuously lawless. Regular Pakistani army campaigns try to keep these regions under Government control while local tribes attempt to keep their own rules and loyalties.

2003: Ruins of Aššur (Akkadian; Syriac: ܐܫܘܪ 'Āshūr; Persian: آشور : Āshūr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr, Arabic: اشور : Āshūr ; Kurdish: Asûr), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, in ancient history the Capital of the Old Assyrian Empire (2025–1750 BC), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC), and for a time, the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911 BC – 608 BC), situated on the banks of the Tigris River in Saladin Governate of Iraq is inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

December 26, 2003: (Bam earthquake) A massive earthquake strikes the Kerman Province in south-eastern Iran causing death and destruction. The earthquake, with a reported magnitude of 6.6 on the Richters scale, wipes out entire villages and towns and damages among things the ancient monument of the ruins of Bam. In the aftermath the death toll is estimated at between 20 and 47 thousand while a multitude is injured or rendered homeless.

2004: In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake which struck the regions in the previous december causing widespead damage among things to historic buildings, the ancient silk road city of Bam, also Arg-e Bam (Persian: ارگ بم ) in Kerman Province of Iran, once the largest adobe building in the world and the seat of the Achamaenid Empire in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, is inscribed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

June 28- July 7, 2004: At the 28th session of the United Nations world heritage committee the city of Pars, ancient Pasagardae (Ancient Greek: Πασαργάδαι, Old Persian; Modern Persian: پاسارگاد Pāsārgād), city of the Silk Road and historic Capital of Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: ���������� Kūruš; New Persian: کوروش Kūrosh; Hebrew: כֹּרֶשׁ Koresh; c. 600 – 530 BC), of the Achaemenid Empire (55 BC - 330 BC) situated in current day Iran, is inscribed as UNESCO Wold Cultural Heritage site.

2005: Biblical Tells (Natural stone mounds historically used for speaking sermons (etc)) of Beer Sheba, Megiddo and Hazor in Palestine (Bufferzone controlled by Israel) are given a UNESCO world Cultural Heritage Status.

September 2005: Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, Taliban governor of Bamiyan Province (of Afghanistan ) at the time of the destruction of the famous Bamiyan Buddha's and widely seen as responsible for its occurrence, was elected to the Afghan Parliament.

Asia Report - Map of Asia Entire - All Countries, Borders & Capitals

Full Geographical Overview Map of Asia Entire with Zoom & Scroll Functions, Relief Feautures, Oceans, Main Rivers and Capital Cities.

This Map of Asia includes all Asian Countries with Names and Borders, Disputed Border Regions in Asia, Capital Cities of all Asian Countries and Main Rivers and Mountain Ranges.

Click to Go to the Asia Report Main Menu Map, with Zoom and Scroll Functions. Mouse over the Country of your Interest and get short basic information on each Country.

Once more Click through to the Desired Country and Full Information, Photos, Maps and Photo-Virtual Walks of Cities, Towns, Villages, Monuments, Landmarks and Hotspots covered by www.DrBen.Net and www.AsiaReport.com.

SITE INFORMATION UNDER EDITING - MAP AVAILABLE NOW !!

By the end of 2010 destruction was ongoing, with about 50% of the outlying parts of the historic old city of Kashgar cleared. According to local expat and observer Josh Summers of "Xinjiang; Far West China" (web site) the most visible and presentable old facades have been preserved especially in the main streets of the quarter and around the Id-Kah Mosque. Behind the facades however, the neighborhoods are hollowed out, the freed spaces to be filled with modern supposedly earthquake proof buildings.

March 15 - July, 2011: A popular Civil Uprising against the Syrian Government led by Bashar Al-Assad (Son the deceased notoriously ruthless Dictator " President " Hafez Al- Assad of Syria (1971 - 2000)) spreads across Syrian Cities and territories. When the uprising is bloodily and very violently suppressed by Government troops, the in principle peaceful popular uprising soon transforms into an armed uprising, with multiple rebel groups with varying political ideas and social backgrounds vying to overthrow the central government while also often striving against each other.

Although in essence a legitimate uprising through the peoples descent, the original conflict in Syria connects with ongoing instability in adjacent Iraq, thus evolving into an International War pitching Syria, supported by Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon and by Russia, versus NATO, Anti-Assad Rebel Groups, the United States and various other regional Nations. A third party to arise from the chaos is a ruthless armed terrorist organization which names itself ISIS or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ; الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام). It's leadership, although highly secretive declares the goal of establishing an (terrorist fundamentalist) Islamic State on the territories of Syria, Iraq, and a multitude of other Nations in the Middle-East, North Africa and even Central Asia and south-east Asia.

July of 2011: start of a multi-party Civil War in Syria, is later joined by various outside parties. The Syrian Civil War ongoing, tremendous damage has been done to the Nation, Cities, infrastructure, heritage and people. A multitude of historic sites along the silk road in western Asia are intentionally or unintentionally destroyed in the war or by specific (religiously or politically motivated) actions aimed at their destruction.

May 2, 2011: Osama Bin Laden, inspirational leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, main planner of the September 11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. and destroyer of the Bamiyan Buddha's is killed in his secret hide-out along the Karakoram Highway, which is the by-road of the Silk Road leading between Kashgar in Xinjiang and Islamabad , the Capital of Pakistan.

An early morning raid by American Special Forces teams penetrates the Bin Laden compound near Abbottabad on the Karakoram Highway, killing Osama Bin Laden while securing valuable information. The body of the terrorist leader and several captives are removed with the team as black hawk helicopters return to aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) off the Pakistani Coast. Later that day the body of Osama Bin Laden is buried at sea after an Islamic ceremony.

In June of 2011, the Kashgar to Hotan Railway became fully operational, connecting from Kashgar Main Train Station eastward to Hotan with a stop at each county town along its way. To date there is but one train daily from Hotan to Kashgar with a travel time of some 8 hours.

June 2011: While the Nation of Syria descends into civil war and utter chaos, The Dead Cities (Arabic: المدن الميتة ) or Forgotten Cities (Arabic: المدن المنسية ), a group of 700 abandoned settlements in northwest Syria between Aleppo and Idlib with a history dating to the period between the 1st and 7th century A.D. are made a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site during the 35th session of the United Nations World Heritage Committee.

In 2011: Entirely unexpectedly, Washington University anthropologist Michael Fragetti rediscovers the lost silk road city of Tashbulak, once a stronghold of the Qarakhanids (999 AD - 1211 AD), who at one time controlled a large part of the Silk Road in Transoxiana, in what today is the mountainous border area between Namangan Region of Uzbekistan and neighboring Tajikstan. Situated in pasture land in a hidden valley at above 2000 meters (6500 ft), the small expedition found ceramic shards, undulating buried mounds and other signs of a larger urban settlement at an usual height. Pilot excavations in the next summer of 2012 revealed buried buildings. Since, intensive surveys and further excavations have revealed an ancient civilization lost in history for nearly 1200 years. By now a massive necropolis with over 300 bodies has been identified, along with a water reservoir, an enclosed (walled) citadel, and a space where iron working was done.

25 June- 5 July, 2012: At the 36th session of the United Nations world heritage committee, the Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimmage Route in the town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem Governate of Palestine is inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

In addition, the 72 meter tall (236 ft) Gonbad-e Qabus baked brick tower, a silk road monument in Gonbad-e Qabus dated to the year 1006 A.D., Iran, is also added to the UNESCO World Heritage listing, as is the early 8th century A.D. Masjed-e Jāmé (مسجد جامع اصفهان), main Mosque of the historic silk road city of Isfahan (Persian: اصفهان), in the 2nd millenium A.D. one of the largest and most important trading cities in the world, today Capital of Isfahan Province of Iran situated some 340 kilometers (211 miles) south of Tehran. Originally founded as a site of Zorastrian worship, burnt down and then refounded as an Islamic Religious site, today the Mosque stands a one of the oldest remaining buildings in Iran, a world famous example of Islamic and Persian architecture. Together with the Naqsh-e Jahan Square (Persian: میدان نقش جهان Maidān-e Naqsh-e Jahān; trans: "Image of the World Square"), a square situated at the center of Isfahan city and constructed between 1598 and 1629, it forms the main historic tourist attraction of this important city in central Iran.‍‍‍

Likewise, Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük (--) a stunning pre-silk road neolithic site dated between 7500 BC to 5700 BC and situated in Konya Province, Anatolia Region of Turkey in Asia Minor is inscribed as UNESCO world cultural heritage site.

In the year 2012 an airplane flying out of Hotan to Urumqi was nearly hijacked, since leading to increased security and scrutiny of persons of the airport and the train station.

2012: The 374.84 kilometer (232.91 miles) Hami to Lop Nor Railway is completed in eastern Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region. This is a railway line serving the movement of raw materials dug up from the dried up Lop Nor Lake (salts and minerals) from the basin to Hami and then beyond.

April 23, 2013: Death of Mullah Omar, spiritual and organizational leader of the religiously fundamentalist and extremist Afghan Taliban and co-destructor of the Bamiyan Buddha's, in Kabul, Capital of Afghanistan. On tactical grounds, the death of the leader is kept secret from the world public by other Taliban leaders, until in July of 2013 Pakistan released the news of the death of Mullah Omar, supposedly in a hospital in Pakistan. On July 30 the Afghan Taliban released an official statement which admitted the death of the leader, mentioning only illness as the reason of his demise.

In April 2015, two years after, celebrating the 19th year of his leadership,  the Taliban release a biography of Mullah Omar, which among many things states that the Mullah remains in touch. The supposed continued leadership of Mullah Omar from the next realm is again expressed in July 2015 when it is claimed that Mullah Omar backed peace talks with the official Afghan Government (headed by Hamid Karzai).

June 2013: The Golestan Palace (Persian: کاخ گلستان , Kākh-e Golestān), former Qajar Dynasty (1742–1797) Royal Housing Compound and one of the oldest building of the historic Capital of Iran at Tehran, is given a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Status.

November, 3, 2013: Completion of the 1771 kilometers long Lanzhou to Urumqi High-Speed Railway (also: Lanzhou Second Railway since the first slow train version still exists following its old trajectory entirely in Gansu Province to Jiayuguan), with 31 train stations. Passing from the Yellow River (Huang He) at Lanzhou , to Xining in eastern Tibet ( Qinghai ) and on to Jiayuguan , the end of the Great Wall of China in the hexi corridor up in Gansu Province and via Hami and Turpan to Urumqi , the new railway drastically reduces travel time along parts of the Chinese Silk Road.

The first test train to run the complete track rode on June 3 of 2014.  The full line was opened on 26 December of 2014, heralding a new era of economic development of the west. Travel time along the new line was 20 hours and 12 minutes, which is to be shortened by means of a new generation of even faster high-speed trains which are to cruise at around 400 kilometers per hour.

In February of 2014 a major earthquake rattled (Keriya ; Mugala) Yutian and County of Hotan Prefecture . With a strength measured at 6.9 on the Richter scale the quake was felt throughout the Tibetan Plateau, in Kashmir and north India and as far away as Almaty in Kazakhstan . No deaths or major material damage was reported.

March 7, 2014: ISIl terrorists start demolishing the ancient ruins of Hatra (Al-Hadr ; Arabic: الحضر ; Persian: هترا ), the priceless cultural relics found in the Al-Jazira Region of Iraq . The ancient ruined site is leveled to the ground.

June 10, 2014: Ancient Nineveh, Mosul in northern Iraq is taken by troops of ISIS.

2014: Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park in Israel, 13 kilometers from Kiryat Gat, encompassing the ruins of Mareshra, one of the important towns of Judah during the time of the First Temple (12 tribes of Judah), and Beit Guvrin, an important town in the Roman era (in Palestine), when it was known as Eleutheropolis together popularly recognized as " Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands " are granted UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Status as representing a microcosm of the ancient caves of (historic) Judea (or Judah). In addition, "Palestine Land of Olive and Vines" also known as the "Battir (--) Cultural Landscape of southern Jerusalem" known for its ancient irrigation systems and canals and in its long history among things the location a last stand of a Jewish Rebellion against the romans in 135 B.C., situated at the small village of Battir in Betlehem Governate of Palestine (right on the border with Israel) are also listed as World Cultural Heritage.

May 2015: After initial successes in founding an alternative state in Syria and parts of northern Iraq, the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced its intention to destroy the site ancient Silk Road site of the Palace of Nimrud (Today: Mosul, Niniweh Governate, Al-Jazira, Iraq) because of its "un-Islamic" Assyrian nature. In March 2015, the Iraqi government reported that ISIL had used bulldozers to destroy excavated remains of the city. Several videos released by ISIL showed the work in progress. In November 2016 Iraqi forces retook the site, and later visitors confirmed the extensive destruction of thisite, among things renowned due to its mention in The (Holy) Bible of Christianity and at the end of the 9th century briefly the Capital of the Assyrians.

July 4, 2014: Terrorist leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, proclaims himself " Caliph " and thus ruler of all Muslims from the pulprit of the famous historic Grand Al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul (Historically: Niniveh of the Assyrians) in northern Iraq, the historic Mosque among things described by famous Silk Road traveler, the Moroccan Ibn-Battuta (Life: 1304 AD - 1368 or 69 AD)). It was the first time that the leader behind the sinister " Islamic armies " of ISIS (Or ISIL) revealed himself. The declaration of the founding of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was followed by a three year spree of seemingly mindless terror, violence, bloodshed and destruction of lives, cities and cultural relics throughout Syria, Iraq and Iran, and other casualties in nations of the world. Some 3 years later Al Baghdadi is suspected dead by an airstrike while about a week later in June 2017, the Grand Al-Nuri Mosque is laid waste by nearly defeated ISIS Forces.

Early 2009: Mimicking city planning measures taken after the 1989 Tiananmen Square student uprising the Chinese Central Government announces a "Dangerous House Reform Program" for the Old City of Kashgar. According to the $500 million plan, the city is to be revised and modernized while the ancient buildings of the Old City of Kashgar will largely be demolished, thus -under pretext of safety and development- breaking up the core of the Uyghur Community in the city.  When the news of the Draconian plan is received silk road experts and local Uyghurs are shocked.

In 2009: Control over the area of the ruins of the city of Ur in northern Iraq were handed back by the US Military to Iraqi authorities, who announced the restorations of the site and plans to bring in tourist when possible.

In 2009 ethnic riots of Uyghurs targeting Han peoples erupted in Hotan and neighboring Kashgar City, soon transmitting up to the regional Capital of Urumqi where chaos also erupted. For days there were pitched battles between local Uyghur people and the local Han Community and Police. Extensive violence and multiple deaths occurred before a hard crackdown by authorities restored calm in the city.

November 4, 2009: Start of the construction of the Lanzhou to Urumqi High-Speed Railway. A significant step in the unlocking of the far western Provinces and the beginning of what will the " Belt- and Road " New Silk Road economic initiative to be officially announced some years later by the Chinese Central Government. Altogether the new railway with revive parts of the ancient silk road connecting them through 31 stations along a 1176 kilometer (1104 miles) long railroad between the two main Provincial Capitals of Lanzhou in Gansu Province along the Yellow River (Huang He) , and Urumqi, the Capital of the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region .‍‍‍

In March of 2010: Less than a year after large scale ethnic rioting shook the city, the world learns of the first planned destruction of the historic old city quarter of ‍the famed Silk Road market town of Kashgar, the Uyghur Ethnic Capital. Throughout the year, homes and buildings which for a 1000 years had determined the character of the old city were reduced to heaps of rubble, clearing block after block. Some spoke of a repressive bureaucratic reflex and a philistine approach to solving social differences.

Xinjiang Autonomous Region Geographic Map 1A

A Geographic overview Map of the entire Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region and large parts of neighboring Nations of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, The Republic of Mongolia, as well as bordering Chinese Provinces and Territories of Inner-Mongolia AR, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region. This Map Includes Cities and Towns (shown by size), Main Monuments & landmarks of Xinjiang AR, the Taklamakan Desert in South-Central Xinjiang AR, major highways, provincial railroads, a variety of border passes in the Karakoram Mountain Range and the Tian Shan Mt. Range, plus main mountains, waterways, rivers and lakes of this large region.

July 30, 2014: Just a day after being visited by Dutch TV Crew (Floortje Dessing), Jume Tahier, Imam of the historic Id-Kah Mosque (Uyghur: ھېيتگاھ مەسچىتى, Хейтгах Месчити‎ Hëytgah Meschiti, Chinese: 艾提尕尔清真寺; pinyin: Àitígǎěr Qīngzhēnsì) (from Persian: عیدگاه Eidgāh, meaning Place of Festivities) , the main Uyghur Mosque in Kashgar, the Uyghur Capital along the Silk Road in the west of Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region is stabbed to death just before the attendance of morning prayers.

In the aftermath it is revealed (by authorities) that he was murdered by three young Uyghurs over his pro-Chinese Government stance. The three are subsequently sentenced to death in a show press and executed not long after as clear warning to the local Uyghur population who's homelands are to be found in Aksu City Prefecture , Hotan City Prefecture and Kashgar City Prefecture of Xinjiang.

In July of 2015 Pishan County of the historic silk road Hotan City Prefecture in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region in the Far West of the Peoples Republic of China was struck by a heavy earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale and striking some 10 kilometers below the surface. In the event some 3000 houses were toppled, six people lost their lives and 38 were injured. In the immediate aftermath of the quake the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced that for the first time it had used a drone aircraft to survey the large stricken area, in a timely manner identifying the key area's in need of help. The unmanned air vehicle probably operated from Hotan Airport and Airbase (PLAAF) in the Hotan Prefecture where since the existence of a base for UAV's was publicly admitted.

23 August (or possibly earlier, in July of), 2015: ISIS troops which have taken the historic city of Palmyra in Syria, detonate explosives inside the world cultural heritage site and ancient ruins of Temple of Baalshamin (معبد بعل شمين) at Palmyra in Syria. UNESCO, the United Nations patron organization for international cultural and natural heritage condemned the act in strongest terms describing at as a wilful " war crime " .

August 30, 2015: the world famous silk road world cultural heritage site of the Temple of Baal (also Bell ; معبد بل) at the ancient ruins of the city of Palmyra in Syria are destroyed by " Islamic " radicals associated with ISIS (ISIL).

Asia Report - Schematic Relief Overview Map of Afghanistan and Cities

A simple schematic map overview Map of Afghanistan, delineating borders with  adjoining Nations of Central Asia and depicting the rough locations of all cities within Afghanistan.

Map includes names of all Provincial Capital cities of Afghanistan and Provinces, relief of terrain.

Browse the map, navigate cities and click through for more information by location.

8 September 2008: At Bamiyan, Afghanistan, archaeologists searching for a legendary 300-meter statue at the site of the already dynamited Buddha's announced the discovery of parts of an unknown 19-meter (62-foot) reclining Buddha, a pose representing Buddha's Paranirvana.

9 September, 2008: Some 7 long years after the Taliban destroyed the 1500 year old Bamiyan Buddha's, edifices of silk road culture and among the greatest historical treasures of Afghanistan, the find of a previously unidentified third Buddha statue at Bamiyan is announced to the world.

According to the Afghan-archeological team led by Professor Zemaryali Tarzi, earlier in the year during the summer they had finally identified a 19 meter long reclining Buddha, the existence of which had been suspected since the times of the single restoration project of the Bamiyan Buddha's during the 1970s. It was found within the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple situated at some 2 kilometers distance due east of the main location of the Buddha's of Bamiyan. Although the find in case deals with a reclining (sleeping) Buddha, according to Professor Tarzi, the search for the 300 meter long reclining Buddha statue described by the Chinese Monk Xuanzang who traveled through Afghanistan on the way to India in 630 AD, is still on.

In addition 89 historical relic items were also found in the search. Another significant find at Bamiyan in Afghanistan was done earlier in 2008 by a Japanese research team, who identified that the ancient murals which had surrounded the previous large Buddha Statues contained oil-based paint. Since, the oil paintings had been done in 650 A.D. this meant previously thought of theories of oil-based emerging in Europe

centuries later, will have to be revised. Since, even older oil based paintings have been identified at Bamiyan and at the location of Mes Aynak, another ancient Buddhist site in Afghanistan situated due south of Kabul.

In 2002: Hotan , the historic silk road desert Oasis Town along the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert, was struck by a major earthquake.

In the current days of the 21st century Hotan rarely makes the news except for the repeated occurrence of violent attacks on representatives of Chinese Government Authority. Among things bombing / stabbings and attacks on Police Stations have occurred in Hotan in recent years.

June 30, 2018: In June 24 to July 4th at the 42nd meeting of the Committee at meeting in Manama (Bahrein) Sasanid Archaeological Landscape of Fars Region, in Iran, encompassing the ancient Sasanid cities of Bishabpur, Firouzabad and Sarvestan is inscribed as ‍UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site bringing the number of heritage sites in the country to 23.

On July 1st, during the same 42nd meeting of the UNESCO world heritage committee the ancient neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is inscribed as world cultural heritage site. Ion ways resembling the famed "Stonehenge" site in the United Kingdom, he Göbekli Tepe archeological contains some 200 massive T-shaped stone pillars (megaliths) site is dated to the pre'-pottery store age and estimated to have been created ‍

- Silk Road Chronology (2) From Warring States to the Qin Dynasty (1000 BC - 206 BC)

- Silk Road Chronology (3) During the Chinese Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD)

- Silk Road Chronology (4) Three Kingdoms Period, the Sui and Tang Dynasties (221 AD - 618 AD)

- Silk Road Chronology (6) Song Dynasty, Mongol Empire and Rise of the Ming Dynasty (906 AD to 1644 AD)

- Silk Road Chronology (7) Qing Dynasty Manchu Empire (1644 AD - 1911 AD)‍‍‍

- Silk Road Chronology (8) Modern History o/t Silk Road I (1800 AD to 1900)

- Silk Road Chronology (11) Modern History o/t Silk Road IV (1950 AD to 2000)

- Silk Road Chronology (12) Modern History o/t Silk Road V: the New Millennium (2000 AD to Present)

between the 10Th Century and 8th century B.C. Through archeological research ongoing throughout the 1990's and the first decade of the new millennium it has been established that at a later time (during the 8th century B.C.) the stone pillars were used to form rectangular rooms of structures that have been dubbed the earliest known (religious) temples known by mankind.

- Silk Road Chronology (5a) The Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 660 AD) - Early Flourishing Period of the Tang Dynasty

Early 2003: ‍Dmitri Vasilyev of Astrakhan State University led a series of archeological excavations at the Samosdelskoye site near the village of Samosdelka (Russian: Самосделка), a fishing village in southern Russia in the Volga Delta about 40 km south-south-west of the city of Astrakhanon near the Caspian Sea. Vasilyev connected artifacts from the site with Khazar, Oghuz and Bulgar culture, leading him to believe that he had discovered the site of Saqsin. The matter is still unresolved. In 2006 Vasilyev announced his belief that the lowest stratum at the Samosdelka site was identical with the site of Atil, the still lost Capital of the Khazar Khaganate (650 AD - 969 AD). Some years later, in 2008, this team of Russian archaeologists announced that they had discovered the ruins of Atil (Atil (Turkish: İtil; cf. Chinese: 阿得/阿得水‍,‍‍ A-de Shui) literally meaning "Big River", a Turkic name for the Volga River), which was the capital of Khazaria from the middle of the 8th century until the end of the 10th century.).

- Silk Road Chronology (5b) The Tang Dynasty (660 AD - 705 AD) - Empress Wu Zetian and the (2nd) Zhou Dynasty Interbellum

2006: With funds from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and about $2.4 million from the U.S. and German governments, work is re-started on the preservation and reconstruction of the Citadel of Herat ((Persian: ارگ هرات‎, Pashto سکندرۍ کلا), also known as the Citadel of Alexander, and locally known as Qala Iktyaruddin (Persian: قلعه اختیارالدین‎)), the citadel first constructed by Alexander the Great in north western Afghanistan in the year 330 BC. Work on the project continues into the year 2011.

- Silk Road Chronology (5c) The Tang Dynasty (705 AD to 907 AD) - the later Tang Dynasty

October 7, 2001: United States invades Afghanistan opening the US War in Afghanistan, a new episode in the already tragic modern history of Afghanistan. Public goals of the campaign are the dismantling of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, which has been granted a safe heaven within Afghanistan by the (partially) dominant Taliban of that country, the denial of Afghanistan to te‍‍rrorists as a training ground, and lastly; the removal of the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. On 7 October 2001 launched Operation Enduring Freedom with the United Kingdom signalling the beginning of the US-Afghan War (which last through to the present day).

September 9, 2001:‍‍ ‍‍At Khwājah Bahā ud Dīn (Khvājeh Bahāuḏḏīn), in Takhar Province of north eastern Afghanistan, an Al Qaeda inspired suicide bomber kills Ahmad Shah Massoud (Dari Persian: احمد شاه مسعود), military commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance and prominent Afghan political figure locally nicknamed the "Lion of Panjshir" (Persian: شیر پنجشیر‎, "Shir-e-Panjshir") and internationally hailed as "The Afghan who won the Cold War". Later Massoud was buried in his home village of Bazarak in the Panjshir Valley with hundreds of thousands attending the funeral regardless the remoteness of the location.

March 2008: Only months before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are set to begin and some 49 years after the Great Tibetan Uprising (of 1959), Tibetan Monks at the Labrang Monastery of Amdo Province (Today: Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, China (P.R.C.))‍‍, one of the six great monasteries of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, protest the policies of the Provincial Government and National Government of the Peoples' Republic of China. Soon afterwards, protests also erupt in Lhasa‍‍‍, the Capital of Tibet (Today: in Tibet Autonomous Region). While International Press is reporting on the protests at Labrang Monastery Chinese security forces lock down the monastery complex and town facing the fiercest anti-Government protests in 20 years. International filmers and photographers among which a National Geographic Team (Hutchins Brothers) and DrBen of ChinaReport.com are diverted away from the Labrang Monastery. In Lhasa protestors armed with iron bars face riot police (paramilitary forces) while shots are reportedly fired throughout the city, Chinese

YouTube video: "Siege at Labrang" - New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof reports on the ongoing protests and siege of Labrang Monastery in 2008.

cab drivers are beaten and tear gas is sued to disperse rioters and crowds. Within days Monks from Sera and Drepung monasteries took to the streets to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Beijing. Similar protests took place in the Ganden and Lutsang monasteries in Qinghai (known in Tibetan as Amdo). It is the beginning of a lengthy period of unrest at Labrang and throughout Tibet (Tibetan Area's of the P.R.C.). as well as the beginning a string of suicides by self-immolation among Tibetans throughout Tibetan area's.

October 23, 2018‍‍: Underwater archeologists of the Black Sea Maritime Archeology Project scouring the depths of the Black Sea announce to the world the finding of the (to date) "Oldest intact shipwreck known to man". The find of the ship wreck at more than 1 mile (1 mile is 1609.344 meters) depth and radio-carbon dated to around 400 BC offers a unique glimpse at the maritime technology and shipping design of "the times of Plato (Life: 428/427 BC or 424/423 BC - 348/347 BC) and Sophocles (Life: 497/6 BC - winter 406/5 BC)", a time during which the Greek City States had a multitude of colonies along the coast of the Black Sea. As the shipwreck proved, the design of the ship conforms to the form previously only found depicted as art work on classical Greek vases and amphora, most notably the "Siren Vase", an artefact dated to several decades earlier than the found shipwreck (The Siren Vase depicts depicts a scene from The Odyssey, in which Odysseus is strapped to the mast as he passes the deadly sirens). The extreme depths at which the shipwreck is situated hold little oxygen and therefor allowed for the unusual preservation of a wooden ship for the period of some 2400 hundred years.

February, 2017: Scientists of the ‍a‍‍n additional cave holding more evidence of the world famous "Dead Sea Scrolls (from the second (Jewish) Temple period (530 BC to 70 AD))" which are texts written mostly in Hebrew scripts holding some of the earliest know biblical texts known to the world. The new cave discovered, dubbed cave 12, is situated on cliffs west of Qumran, near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Archaeological examination found 20th century pickaxes and empty 2000 year old broken scroll jars, indicating that the cave had been discovered and looted in the 1950's. One of the joint Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Liberty University of Virginia project's lead researchers, Dr. Oren Gutfeld, stated, "Although at the end of the day no scroll was found, and instead we 'only' found a piece of parchment rolled up in a jug that was being processed for writing, the findings indicate beyond any doubt that the cave contained scrolls that were stolen."‍‍ (Source: Haarezt; Ruth Schuster, February 8, 2017)

December, 2016: ‍An archaeological team associated with the Israel Antiquities Authority and Israel’s Hebrew University announced finding new fragments of the "Dead Sea Scrolls", inside the so called "Cave of the Skulls", by the Dead Sea. On first find, the pieces are tiny scroll fragments measuring just two centimeters square which prove to be very small and the writing on them is too faded to make out without advanced analysis. The archaeologists aren't even sure if they're written in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic or another language. Nevertheless the pieces may help to identify and place other known Dead Sea Scroll documents which had been looted previously and subsequently have become available through a thriving black market in the second half of the 20th century.

2016: Archaeologists announced the genetic sequencing of barley seeds from 6,000 years ago, which had been found in an exceptionally inaccessible cave 100 meters below the lip of the ancient Masada fortress, near the Dead Sea. It bears note that the archaeologists suspect that particular cave where the ancient grains were found can only be reached by climbing down a sheer cliff face, leading then to suspect that it served as somebody’s prehistoric refuge, rather than a regular residence. The cereal grass barley was domesticated about 10,000 years before the present in the Fertile Crescent and became a founder crop of Neolithic agriculture‍.‍ ‍‍Closer analyses of the barley samples retrieved from the Masada Cave showed the close affinity of ancient samples to extant landraces from the Southern Levant and Egypt, consistent with a proposed origin of domesticated barley in the Upper Jordan Valley.‍‍

2010: In January of the year work starts on extending a railway from the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge which crosses the Oxus River (Amy Daria) southward to Mazar-i-Sharif (Dari and Pashto: مزار شریف‎; also called Mazār-e Sharīf, or just Mazar), the fourth largest city in Afghanistan‍ and Capital of Balkh Province. This railway was completed in November of the same year making Mazar-i-Sharif the first city in Afghanistan to connect itself by rail with a neighboring country. Rail service from Mazar-i-Sharif to Uzbekistan began in December 2011 and cargo on freight trains arrive at a station near Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport (Dari: میدان هوائی مزار شریف‎, Meydâne Havâyeye Mazâre Šarif; Pashto: مزار شریف نړیوال هوايي ډګر‎) (IATA: MZR, ICAO: OAMS), where the goods are reloaded onto trucks or airplanes and sent to their last destinations across Afghanistan.

September 11, 2001: An unprecedented terrorist attack making use of hijacked planes as missiles brings down the two towers of the world trade center in Manhattan, New York, USA with a total death toll of  2,996, including the 19 hijackers. The attack which is claimed by the designated terrorist organisation Al Qaeda plunges the United States of America into a war with Afghanistan where the leadership of Al Qaeda is in hiding‍‍.

September 20, 2001: In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror". The War on Terror will bring war to Afghanistan and Iraq, while opening a global hunt for top Al Qaeda leaders most prominent among them Osama Bin Laden (Full name: Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ; Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن‎, Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin)‍(‍‍Life: March 10, 1957 - May 2, 2011).‍‍

2005: In 2005, a preserved 2000-year-old seed of a Judean date palm (‍‍Phoenix dactylifera), found during archeological excavations at Masada (Hebrew: מצדה‬ metsada, "fortress") and preserved during the 1960's, sprouted. It is the oldest verified human-assisted germination of a seed (the claim in 2012 of a 32,000-year-old arctic flower involved fruit tissue rather than a seed). The palm, named Methuselah after the Biblical figure (not to be confused with a bristlecone pine tree of the same name), was about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall in June 2008. As of November 2011, it is reported at 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) high, having been transplanted from pot to earth.‍‍ By May 2015, the palm was 3.0 metres (9.8 ft) tall and was producing pollen.

November 16, 2018‍‍: World media announce a plan of the Qinghai Provincial authorities (Eastern Tibet's Amdo Province) for diversion of the upper stream parts of the Yellow River (Tibetan: Machu River) towards the city of Xining, Capital of Qinghai Province, in order to supply this fast growing city of some 2.3 million inhabitants with much needed fresh water. The Government, which has named the un-precedeted project "Water Diversion and Infrastructure of the Western Development Program", claims that it has been reviewed by experts and has been assessed as ecologically sustainable. Leknying, the Vice Secretary of the Communist party of Qinghai Province argued that this is "the first ever national river diversion project to provide biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, oriented towards enhancing people’s livelihoods in the area".

December 22,  2001: Burhanuddin Rabbani (Persian/Pashto: برهان‌ الدین رباني)(Life: September 20, 1940, September 20, 2011), a Tajik and former President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (1992 to 1996 (de jure until 2001)) and political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai (Pashto/Dari: حامد کرزی)(Life: December 24, 1957 -  --), the head of the Popalzai tribe of the Durrani tribal confederation.

December 19,  2001: A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Zavkhan Aimag (Province), Mongolia.

March 20, 2003: The Iraq War (Officially: March 20, 2003 – December 18, 2011) begins with the an aerial bombardment of Government and military facilities in the Iraqi Capital Bagdhad and the subsequent invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces. By April 9, U.S. Forces penetrate and occupy the Iraqi Capital of Baghdad, putting an end to the regime of Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein (Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ; Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Maǧīd al-Tikrītī)(Life: July 16, 1979 - April 9, 2003). Although Saddam Hussein manages to escape arrest, he becomes a hunted man taking to hiding. Although U.S. air- and ground forces swiftly defeat the Iraqi Army, the occupation of the country will prove difficult as the country disintegrates into various ethnic and tribal entities which fight each other as well as the U.S Forces and Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists make use of the confusion to make Iraq a substantial base. The war will (officially) last for 9 years leaving Iraq a fragmented Nation in tatters.

YouTube video: Operation Iraqi Freedom NBC News Documentary about the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

August 11, 2003: NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.

December 13, 2003: Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr  (Arabic: الدور‎; pronounced similar to "door")(also Al-Dour) near Tikrit by the U.S. Army. Following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted by an Iraqi court of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'a, and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on 30 December 2006.

December 12, 2003: Death of Heydar Aliyev (Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, [hɛjdær ælirzɑ ɔɣlu ælijɪf]; Russian: Гейда́р Али́евич Али́ев, translit. Geydar Aliyevich Aliyev)(Life: May 10, 1923 - December 12, 2003), former head of the KGB of the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic and 3rd President of independent Azerbaijan (after the fall of the Soviet Union). His leadership and regime are remembered as dictatorial, authoritarian and repressive, relying on heavy handed police repression, rigged elections and bribery to stay in power.

June 28, 2004: The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), transfers sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government. Preliminal hearings in the court case against Saddam Hussein begin 20 days later on June 30.

March 2, 2004: A series of bombings occur in Karbala (Arabic: كَرْبَلَاء‎, Karbalā’, کربلاء, Kerbala), Iraq, killing over 140 Shia Muslims commemorating the Day of Ashura (Yom Ashura or Ashura (Arabic: عاشوراء‎ ʻĀshūrā’) is the tenth day of Muḥarram, the first month in the Islamic calendar and commemorates the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram in the year 61 AH (in AHt: October 10, 680 CE)).

April 24, 2004: Referendums on the Annan Plan for Cyprus, which proposes to reunite the island, take place in both the Greek-controlled and the Turkish-controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots reject the proposal.

October 19, 2004: A team of explorers reach the bottom of Krubera Cave (Georgian: კრუბერის გამოქვაბული or კრუბერის ღრმული; Also known as Voronya Cave, sometimes spelled Voronja Cave) situated in the Arabika Massif of the Gagra Range of the Western Caucasus, in the Gagra district of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia, the world's deepest cave, with a depth of 2,080 meters (6,824 feet). For the first time in the history of speleology the depth mark of 2000 meters has been surpassed.

November 22, 2004: The Orange Revolution begins following a disputed presidential election in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych (Ukrainian: Ві́ктор Фе́дорович Януко́вич) won against Viktor Yushchenko (Ukrainian: Віктор Андрійович Ющенко) amid accusations of electoral fraud. A revote results in Yushchenko being declared the winner, making him the third President of Ukraine from January 23, 2005 to February 25, 2010.

March 8, 2004: Death of Muhammad Zaidan (also known as Abu Abbas (Arabic: أبو العباس‎ Abū ʿAbbās) or Muhammad Abbas)(Life: (December 10, 1948 - March 8, 2004)), who together with Tal'at Ya'qoub was the founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (P.L.F.) in 1977 after major disagreements arose between the PFLP-GC, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and other Palestinian factions based in Lebanon. Among things, Zaiden was against the Syrian involvement in the war in Lebanon. From its very beginning in 1977 the Abbas-led PLF was a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization and received support from both the PLO and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Registered as a known terrorist who had been responsible for an part of the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro on the Mediterranean Sea in 1985, Zaidan had been living under the protection of Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein. Zaidan was captured by American forces in Iraq while attempting to flee from Baghdad to Syria on April 14, 2003. He reportedly died in U.S. custody in Iraq on March 8, 2004. He was later buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery in the Syrian Capital Damascus after Israel refused his burial in the West Bank.

March 22, 2004: Death of Sheikh Ahmed Ismael Yassin (Arabic: الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين‎ ash-shaykh Aḥmad Ismāʻīl Ḥasan Yāsīn)(Life: 1937 - March 22, 2004), Palestinian Imam, Politician and co-founder of Hamas (Arabic: حماس Ḥamās, an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah Islamic Resistance Movement)(Initially described as the armed wing of the Islamic Brotherhood). Yassin was a quadriplegic who was nearly blind and had used a wheelchair since a sporting accident at the age of 12. Nevertheless, until his death Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization. He was killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at him as he was being wheeled from early morning prayers. The attack also claimed the lives of both his bodyguards and nine bystanders.

March 24, 2005: "Tulip Revolution". Having been faced with public unrest since 2002, the President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev (Kyrgyz: Аскар Акаевич Акаев, Asqar Aqayeviç Aqayev)(In office: October 27, 1990 - March 24, 2005) is overthrown following mass anti-government demonstrations and flees the country. On March 24, 2005 protesters stormed the presidential compound in the central square of Bishkek and seized control of the seat of state power after clashing with riot police during a large opposition rally. Opposition supporters also seized control of key cities and towns in the south to press demands that Akayev step down. That day, Akayev fled the country with his family, reportedly escaping first to Kazakhstan and then to Russia. He was formally deposed on April 11.

February 14, 2005: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri (Arabic: رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري‎)(Life: November 1, 1944 - February 14, 2005) is assassinated, along with 21 others, by a suicide bomber in Beirut.

April 24, 2005: Syria withdraws the last of its military garrison from Lebanon, ending its 29-year military occupation of the country.

May 13, 2005: Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops massacre at least 200 protesters in the city of Andijan (Uzbek: Andijon / Андижон / ئەندىجان; Persian: اندیجان‎, Andijân/Andīǰān; Russian: Андижан, Andižan) in the Fergana Valley in the easternmost parts of Uzbekistan.

August 31, 2005: A stampede at the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد‎), Iraq, kills 953 Shia Muslim pilgrims who were celebrating a religious festival.

September 12, 2005: Israel demolishes multiple settlements and withdraws its army from the Gaza Strip.

November 9, 2005: At least 60 people are killed and 115 more are wounded in a series of coordinated suicide bombings in Amman, Jordan.

November 11, 2004: Death of Yasser Arafat (Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini ; Arabic: محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني‎‎), Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. With Israel refusing Arafat's wish to be buried near the Al-Aqsa Mosque or anywhere in Jerusalem, his remains are buried in Cairo, Egypt.

July 6, 2006: The Nathu La pass between India and Tibet (under control of China (P.R.C.), sealed during the 1962 Sino-Indian War (Hindi: भारत-चीन युद्ध Bhārat-Chīn Yuddh), re-opens for trade after 44 years.

July 12, 2006: Israeli troops invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing three others. Hezbollah declares open war against Israel two days later .

November 12, 2006: Supported by Russia the breakaway state of South Ossetia (Today: officially the Republic of South Ossetia–the State of Alania or Tskhinvali Region) holds a referendum on independence from Georgia .

November 23, 2006: A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kills at least 215 people and injure 257 other people.

April 11, 2006: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran has successfully produced a few grams of low-grade enriched uranium . On April 20, Iran announces a deal with Russia, involving a joint uranium enrichment firm on Russian soil; nine days later Iran announces that it will not move all activity to Russia, thus leading to a de facto termination of the deal. It is the beginning of a long period of controversy about the suspected development of nuclear weapons by Iran.

July 1, 2006: The Qinghai-Tibet railway (or Qingzang railway (Standard Tibetan: མཚོ་བོད་ལྕགས་ལམ།, mtsho bod lcags lam; simplified Chinese: 青藏铁路; traditional Chinese: 青藏鐵路; pinyin: Qīngzàng Tiělù)) launches a trial operation, making Tibet (T.A.R.) the last province-level entity of China (P.R.C.) to have a conventional railway . With the railway connection to Golmud ( Qinghai Province) completed in 1984, the new extension of the railway extends to the Tibetan Capital of Lhasa, thereby for the first time connecting Beijing and Lhasa (via Lanzhou, Xining and Golmud) by railroads.

December 30, 2006: Death of Saddam Hussein (Full name: Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ; Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Maǧīd al-Tikrītī)(Life: April 28, 1937 - December 30, 2006), until his fall in 2001 the 5th President and military dictator of Iraq. Convicted of a string of crimes against humanity and against his own people, he is executed by hanging.

February 3, 2007: A truck bomb explodes in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 135 people and injures 339 others.

April 18, 2007: A series of attacks take place across Baghdad, Iraq, killing nearly 200 people.

August 14, 2007: (2007 Yazidi communities bombings). Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Qahtaniya (Kurmanji Til Ezer Arabic: القحطانية‎ DMG al-Qaḥṭānīya, also spelled Giruzer, Kar Izir, Kahtaniya) and Jazeera, northern Iraq. Four coordinated suicide bombings strike against the Yazidi (or Yezidis (/jəˈziːdiːz/ (listen) yə-ZEE-deez) (Kurmanji Kurdish: Êzidî) Communities.

September 6, 2007: (Operation out of the box ; Hebrew: מבצע מחוץ לקופסה‎, Mivtza Michutz La'Kufsa)) Israeli Air Force airplanes attack a suspected nuclear reactor at the Al Kibar site (Dair Alzour) in the Deir ez-Zor region in Syria in an airstrike. Nearly four years later, in April 2011 during the Syrian Civil War, the IAEA officially confirmed that the site was a nuclear reactor. Israel did not acknowledge the attack until 2018.

November 6, 2007: A suicide bomber kills at least fifty people in Mazar-i-Sharif (Dari and Pashto: مزار شریف‎, also called Mazār-e Sharīf, or just Mazar), Capital of Balkh Province (Pashto and Persian: بلخ‬‎, Balx), Afghanistan, including six members of the National Assembly (also known as the Afghanistan Parliament).

February 1, 2008: Iran opens its first space center, the Semnan Space Centre (Persian:پایگاه فضایی سمنان) situated some 50 kilometres from the city of Semnan (Persian: سمنان‎, also Romanized as Semnān and Samnān), Capital of Semnan Province (Persian: استان سمنان‎, Ostān-e Semnān) in the north of the country. The Nation launches a Kavoshgar-1 rocket into space on February 4.

May 12, 2008: An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale strikes the town of Wenchuan located at 80 kilometres (50 mi) west-northwest of Chengdu, Capital of Sichuan Province, China (P.R.C.), killing an estimated 87,000 people. The event, which becomes a National Tragedy as many children are found to have been trapped inside their ill-built school buildings, will go down in history as the Great Sichuan earthquake or Wenchuan earthquake (Chinese: 汶川大地震; pinyin: Wènchuān dà dìzhèn; literally: "Great Wenchuan earthquake").

August 1, 2008: Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions die on K2 (Urdu: کے ٹو‬‎, Kai Ṭū), also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori (Balti and Urdu: چھوغوری‬‎), at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level the second-highest mountain on Earth located on the China (PRC)–Pakistan border between Baltistan in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, China (P.R.C.). It is the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.

August 1, 2008: Georgia invades the breakaway state of South Ossetia, sparking a war with Russia as the latter intervenes in support of the separatists in both South Ossetia (Ossetian: Республикӕ Хуссар Ирыстон / Паддзахад Аллонстон, Respublikæ Xussar Iryston / Paddzaxad Allonston; Georgian: ცხინვალის რეგიონი, Tskhinvalis regioni ; Russian: Республика Южная Осетия / Государство Алания, Respublika Yuzhnaya Osetiya / Gosudarstvo Alaniya, since 2008 officially the Republic of South Ossetia–the State of Alania or Tskhinvali Region) and Abkhazia (Abkhazian: Аҧсны́, translit. Apsny ; Georgian: აფხაზეთი Apxazeti ; Russian: Абха́зия, tr. Abházija, since 2008 officially the Republic of Abkhazia). In the aftermath these states are created independent by their populace with the support of Russia, however no other states recognise their sovereignty.

August 8-24, 2008: The 2008 Summer Olympic Games take place in Beijing, China (P.R.C.).

December 5, 2008: Human remains found in 1991 are identified as Tsar Nicholas II (Russian: Николай II Алекса́ндрович, tr. Nikolai II Aleksandrovich)(Life: May 18, [O.S. May 6] 1868 - July 17, 1918) of Russia, using DNA analysis.

December 27, 2008: Israel invades the Gaza Strip (Arabic: قطاع غزة‎ Qiṭāʿ Ġazzah [qɪˈtˤɑːʕ ˈɣazza]) in response to rockets being fired into Israeli territory by Hamas and due to weapons being smuggled into the area.

May 13, 2008: Death of Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah (Arabic: سعد العبد الله السالم الصباح‎ Saʿd al-ʿAbd Allāh as-Sālim as-Sabāh)(Life: 1930 - May 13, 2008), 4th Emir of Kuwait. A former flag officer of the Military of Kuwait, Sheikh Saad was the leader involved in liberating Kuwait from Saddam Hussein's regime. He refused to deal with any of Iraq's ministers or the heads of the Palestine Liberation Organization attempting to compromise the security of the country. During the exile of His Highness Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (Arabic: الشيخ جابر الأحمد الجابر الصباح‎)(Life: (June 29, 1926 - January 15, 2006)) and his declaration of martial law; Sheikh Saad was appointed briefly as the military governor from 1991 to 1992.

In 2009 ethnic riots of Uyghurs targeting Han peoples erupted in Hotan and neighboring Kashgar City, soon transmitting up to the regional Capital of Urumqi where chaos also erupted. For days there were pitched battles between local Uyghur people and the local Han Community and Police. Extensive violence and multiple deaths occurred before a hard crackdown by authorities restored calm in the city.

January 18, 2009: In the Gaza War: Hamas announces they will accept Israel Defense Forces offer of a ceasefire, ending the conflict. On January 21, Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent air strikes by both sides continue in the weeks to follow.

June 13, 2009: Mass protests erupt across Iran following a disputed presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Persian: محمود احمدی‌نژاد‎, translit. Mahmūd Ahmadinezhād) was reelected president (In office: August  3,2005 - August 3, 2013), the largest demonstrations in the country since the Iranian Revolution. During his presidency, Ahmadinejad was a controversial figure within Iran, as well as internationally. He was criticized domestically for his economic policies and disregard for human rights.

October 25, 2009: Two suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 155 people and injure at least 721 people. It was the deadliest attack in Iraq since August 2007. The blasts badly damaged St George's church, the only Anglican church in Iraq.

December 8, 2009: A series of attacks in Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 127 people and injure at least 448 more. The "Islamic State of Iraq" -an umbrella group around ‘Al-Qaeda in Iraq’ claimed responsibility for the attacks on December 10.

April 7, 2010: Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev Baqiyev (Kyrgyz: Курманбек Салиевич (Сали уулу) Бакиев, Qurmanbek Saliyeviç (Sali Uulu) Baqiyev) flees the country amid fierce anti-government riots in the capital, Bishkek.

June 10-14, 2010: Ethnic riots in Kyrgyzstan between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks result in the deaths of hundreds.

July 29, 2010: Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (as of 2010; abbreviated as KP or KPK; Urdu: خیبر پختونخوا‬‎; Pashto: خیبر پښتونخوا‎)(North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)) of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.

March 6, 2011: Civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War is triggered when 15 youths in Daraa (Arabic: درعا‎, Levantine Arabic: [ˈdarʕa], also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "fortress", compare Dura-Europos) in the extreme south of Syria are arrested for scrawling graffiti on their school wall denouncing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Daraa then became known as the "cradle of the revolution".

October 23, 2011: A magnitude 7.2 Mw earthquake jolts eastern Turkey near the city of Van (Turkish: Van; Armenian: Վան; Kurdish: Wan‎; Ottoman Turkish: فان‎; Medieval Greek: Εύα, Eua), Van Province, killing over 600 people and damaging about 2,200 buildings.

October 30, 2011: UNESCO admits Palestine as a member, following a vote which 107 member states support and 14 oppose. Around the same tie the world population reaches 7 billion people.

October 30, 2011: UNESCO admits Palestine as a member, following a vote which 107 member states support and 14 oppose. Around the same tie the world population reaches 7 billion people.

January 10, 2012: A bombing in Khyber Agency (Pashto: خېبر قبايلي سيمه‎; Urdu: خیبر‎)(a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan, kills at least 30 people and 78 others injured.

January 23, 2012: Iran-European Union relations: the European Union adopts an embargo against Iran in protest of its continued effort to enrich uranium.

February 19, 2012: Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France, following sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January.

August 31, 2012: Armenia severs diplomatic relations with Hungary, following the extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent pardoning of Ramil Safarov, who was convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004. The move is also met with fierce criticism from other countries.

September 7, 2012: Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its embassy in Tehran, and orders the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Ottawa, over support for Syria, nuclear plans and human rights abuses.

November 14, 2012: Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. In the following week 140 Palestinians and five Israelis are killed in an ensuing cycle of violence. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is announced by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton after the week-long escalation in hostilities in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.

November 29, 2012: The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-member observer state status.

October 18, 2013: Saudi Arabia rejects a seat on the United Nations Security Council, making it the first country to reject a seat on the Security Council. Jordan takes the seat on December 6.

November 24, 2014: Iran agrees to limit their nuclear development program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Juanary 19, 2014: 2014 Bannu bombing: a Taliban vehicle bomb attack on a Pakistani military convoy in the city of Banū (or Bannu (Pashto: باني ګل / بنو‎, Urdu: بنوں‬‎ ) in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa kills at least 26 soldiers and injures 38 others. According to TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, "The bombing was carried out to (avenge) the killing of Maulana Waliur Rehman, commander of TTP South Waziristan, who was killed on May 29, 2013, in a U.S. drone strike in Miranshah.

February 22, 2014: 2014 Ukrainian revolution: The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Turchynov, after days of civil unrest leaving around 100 people dead in Kiev.

March 16, 2014: Crimean status referendum, 2014: A controversial referendum on the status of the Crimean Peninsula is held by the legislature of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and by the local government of Sevastopol (both subdivisions of Ukraine). The referendum requested local populations whether they wanted to join Russia as a federal subject, or if they wanted to restore the 1992 Crimean constitution and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine. After the events of Euromaidan, the referendum was held during a Russian military takeover of Crimea. The referendum is not internationally recognized by most countries. The March 16 referendum's available choices did not include keeping the status quo of Crimea and Sevastopol as they were at the moment the referendum was held.

March 21, 2014: After a military invasion and take over is complete Russia formally annexes Crimea after President Vladimir Putin signs a bill finalizing the process. In response, during an emergency meeting on March 24, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and Canada temporarily suspend Russia from the G8. On March 27, The United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 68/262, recognizing Crimea within Ukraine’s international borders and rejecting the validity of the 2014 Crimean referendum. Russia however stays to its claims and keeps up its occupation of the Crimea.

April 7, 2014: Continuing its assault on Ukrainian Sovereignty, the Russian supported and armed "Donetsk People's Republic" unilaterally declares its independence from Ukraine. Following these events, on April 10, in wider response to the 2014 Crimean crisis, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passes a resolution to temporarily strip Russia of its voting rights; its rights to be represented in the Bureau of the Assembly, the PACE Presidential Committee, and the PACE Standing Committee; and its right to participate in election-observation missions.

April 28, 2014: United States President Barack Obama's new economic sanctions against Russia go into effect, targeting companies and individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

May 12, 2014: With strong support from Russia the rebellious "Luhansk People's Republic" unilaterally declares its independence from Ukraine.

May 22, 2014: The breakaway "Donetsk People's Republic" and the "Luhansk People's Republic" declare the formation of Novorossiya (New Russia), also referred to as the Union of People's Republics.

June 5, 2014: A Sunni militant group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as the ISIS or ISIL) begins an offensive through northern Iraq, aiming to capture the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad and overthrow the Shiite government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

June 29, 2014: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant declares itself a caliphate.

July 8 - August 26, 2014: Amid growing tensions between Israel and Hamas following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June and the revenge killing of a Palestinian teenagerin July, Israel launches Operation Protective Edge against Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip starting with numerous missile strikes, followed by a ground offensive a week later. In seven weeks of fighting, 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis are killed.

August 8, 2014: The United States military begins an air campaign in northern Iraq to stem the influx of ISIL militants.

September 22, 2014: The United States and several Arab partners (Among them: Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) begin their airstrike campaign in Syria. Among things the air campaign targets Syrian troops, ISIL and the Al Nusra front of militants and involves air support for Kurdish ground forces in northern Syria.

February 12, 2015: Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France reach an agreement on the conflict in eastern Ukraine that includes a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons. However, several days later, the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels claim that, within its first day, the ceasefire was broken 139 times, as both sides failed to withdraw their heavy weapons and fighting had continued.

March 5 - 8, 2015: The ancient city sites of Nimrud (Arabic: النمرود‎)(ancient Assyrian city of Kalhu (the Biblical Calah)) near Mosul, Hatra (Arabic: الحضر‎ al-Ḥaḍr, Persian: هترا‎) - also near Mosul - built by the Assyrians or possibly in the 3rd or 2nd century BC under the influence of the Seleucid Empire, and Dur-Sharrukin ("Fortress of Sargon"; Arabic: دور شروكين‎)(present day Khorsabad in Iraq)(the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria ; 722 BC - 705 BC) are demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In the process of destruction they loot countless historical objects and artefacts some of which later appear in international black markets for ancient antiques.

March 12, 2015: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant becomes allies with fellow jihadist group Boko Haram operating in northern Africa, effectively annexing the group.

May 20, 2015: The two constituent republics of Novorossiya, the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, announce the suspension of the Novorossiya project, returning to separate (though internationally unrecognised) states.

May 21, 2015: ISIS captures the ancient city of Palmyra (Palmyrene:  Tadmor; Arabic: تَدْمُر‎ Tadmur) in Homs Governate (Arabic: مُحافظة حمص‎ / ALA-LC: Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ) in Syria. Within days they start up the destruction of its ancient historic sites. According to eyewitnesses, on 23 May 2015 the militants destroyed the Lion of Al-lāt and other statues; this came days after the militants gathered the citizens and promised not to destroy the city's monuments. ISIL destroyed the Temple of Baalshamin on 23 August 2015 according to Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim and activists. On 30 August 2015, ISIL destroyed the cella of the Temple of Bel. On 31 August 2015, the United Nations confirmed the temple was destroyed; the temple's exterior walls and entrance arch remain. It became known on 4 September 2015 that ISIL had destroyed three of the best preserved tower tombs including the Tower of Elahbel. On 5 October 2015, news media reported that ISIL was destroying buildings with no religious meaning, including the Arch of Triumph. On 20 January 2017, news emerged that the militants had destroyed the tetrapylon and part of the theater.

June 25-26, 2015: ISIL claim responsibility for three attacks around the world during Ramadan. Among the attacks are the so called Kobanî massacre: ISIL fighters detonate three car bombs, enter Kobanî (also Kobanê [koˈbaːne], Arabic: كوباني‎, Classical Syriac: ܟܘܒܐܢܝ‎), officially Ayn al-Arab (Arabic: عين العرب), Syria, and open fire at civilians, killing more than 220, and a Kuwait mosque bombing: A suicide bomber attacks the Shia Mosque Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq at Kuwait City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت‎), Kuwait, killing 27 people and injuring 227 others. Three other Islamist attacks took place on the same day in France, Tunisia, and Somalia. The attacks followed an audio message released three days earlier by ISIS senior leader, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, encouraging militants everywhere to attack the stated enemies of ISIS during the month of Ramadan.

Satellite Image Overview Map of Kuwait

July 24, 2014: Turkey begins a series of airstrikes against PKK and ISIL targets after the 2015 Suruç bombing in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa Province on July 20.

A Google supported overview map of the small Arabian Nation of the State of Kuwait between Iraq and Saudi Arabia of the Arabian Peninsula. Map includes main divisions and borders, Capital City and other cities, location of districts, important transportation features such a harbors, location of Mosques in Kuwait City, infrastructure and (military) bases and further landmarks, monuments and hotspots of Kuwait.

September 30, 2015: Russia begins air strikes against ISIL and anti-government forces in Syria, in support of the Syrian government.

18 September, 2015: knife-wielding attackers (presumably Uyghur militants) killed at least 50 civilians—mostly Han—at a coal mine (Sogan colliery) in Aksu while Chinese authorities claim that 11 civilians and five police officers had been killed. In the aftermath of the incident a 56 day long military and police operation was started by Xinjiang Government authorities. During the operation some 28 people declared to have been suspects in the attack on the Sogan coal mine and said to be operating under orders from "foreign terrorist organisations" were killed while one person surrendered by November 12.

October 26, 2015: October 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake - A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush region and causes 398 deaths, with 279 in Pakistan, 115 in Afghanistan and 4 in India. The earthquake is felt in between of New Delhi, India, Kathmandu, Nepal, in Kabul, Afghanistan, across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, in Turkmenistan in the west and as far east as Aksu and Kashgar, Hotan, and Kizilsu in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (P.R.C.).

November 12, 2015: Two suicide bombers detonated explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut, Lebanon, killing 43 people and injuring over 200 others.

November 12, 2015: Multiple terrorist attacks claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Paris, France, result in 130 fatalities.

November 24, 2015: Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet on the Turkish-Syrian border in the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the 1950s.

December 15, 2015: The Islamic Military Alliance (IMCTC) (Arabic: التحالف الإسلامي العسكري لمحاربة الإرهاب‎)(or Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT)) is formed in order to fight terrorism.

January 12, 2016: Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the Blue Mosque (or Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii)) in Istanbul, Turkey.

February 12, 2016: Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio) and Patriarch Kirill (or Cyril ; (Russian: Кирилл, Church Slavonic: Ст҃ѣ́йшїй патрїа́рхъ кѷрі́ллъ, secular name Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev, Russian: Владимир Михайлович Гундяев) sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their schism in 1054.

April 2, 2016: Clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani military in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh (Russian: Нагорно-Карабах, lit. 'mountainous Karabakh'; Armenian: Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ; Azerbaijani: Dağlıq Qarabağ), also known as Artsakh (Armenian: Արցախ)) kill at least 193 people, which becomes the heaviest breach of the 1994 ceasefire.

June 28, 2016: ISIL is suspected to be responsible for attacking Atatürk Airport (Turkish: İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı) in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 45 and injuring around 230.

July 15-16, 2016: In Turkey, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council (Turkish: Yurtta Sulh Konseyi), unsuccessfully stages a coup against the state institutions, resulting in the deaths of at least two hundred and forty and the triggering of a series of unprecedented purges throughout the country.

December 19, 2016: Andrei Karlov (Russian: Андре́й Генна́дьевич Ка́рлов), the Russian ambassador to Turkey, is assassinated in Ankara.

December 31, 2016: United States troops withdraw from Afghanistan, leaving behind 8,400 troops stationed at 4 garrisons ( Kabul, Kandahar, Bagram, and Jalalabad).

April 6, 2017: In response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town, the U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage U.S.-Russia ties.

April 13, 2017: In the 2017 Nangarhar airstrike the U.S. drops the GBU-43/B MOAB, the world's largest non-nuclear weapon, at an ISIL base in Achin District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan with the goal of destroying tunnel complexes.

June 7, 2017: Two terrorist attacks are simultaneously carried out by five Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded. It becomes the first ISIL attack in Iran.

June 18, 2017: Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fire six surface-to-surface mid-range ballistic missiles from domestic bases targeting ISIL forces in the Syrian Deir ez-Zor Governorate in response to the terrorist attacks in Tehran earlier that month.

July 10, 2017: Iraqi Civil War: Mosul is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

September 25, 2017: Iraqi Kurdistan votes in a referendum to become an independent state, in defiance of Iraq; by October 15, the crisis escalates into a short-lived armed conflict over disputed territories.

October 25, 2017: Syrian Civil War: Raqqa ((Arabic: الرقة‎ ar-Raqqah; Kurdish: Reqa), also called Raqa, Rakka and Al-Raqqah) is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

November 3, 2017: Syrian Civil War: both Deir ez-Zor (Arabic: دير الزور‎ Dayr az-Zūr; Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܙܥܘܪܬܐ Dayrāʾ Zəʿōrtāʾ) the largest city in eastern Syria and Al-Qa'im (Arabic: القائم‎) in Iraq are declared liberated from ISIL on the same day.

November 3, 2017: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the border region between Iraq and Iran leaving at least 530 dead and over 70,000 homeless.

December 6, 2017: The United States officially recognises Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‬ Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس‎ al-Quds) as Israel's capital.

December 9, 2017: The Iraqi military announces that it has "fully liberated" all of Iraq's territory from "ISIS terrorist gangs" and retaken full control of the Iraqi-Syrian border.

January 20, 2018: Turkey, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 12th President of Turkey, announces the beginning of a military offensive to capture a portion of northern Syria from Kurdish forces, amidst the ongoing Kurdish-Turkish conflict.

April 8, 2018: At least 70 people are reported to have died and hundreds suffering injuries after a sarin chemical attack in Douma, the last rebel-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta (Arabic: غوطة دمشق‎ / ALA-LC: Ghūṭat Dimashq).

April 30, 2018: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין "בִּיבִּי" נְתַנְיָהוּ‬) accuses Iran of not holding up its end of the Iran nuclear deal after presenting a cache of over 100,000 documents detailing the extent of Iran's nuclear program. Iran denounces Netanyahu's presentation as "propaganda".

June 12, 2018: Greece and the Republic of Macedonia reach a deal to end a 27-year naming dispute between both countries, which would result in Macedonia being officially renamed the Republic of North Macedonia.

August 7, 2018‍‍: In response to a failed deal regarding Iran's nuclear program and in protest of Iran’s ongoing nuclear and ballistic programmes and the revenues made from these programmes by the Iranian government, the United States reimposes sanctions on Iran.

August 12, 2018‍‍: At the Fifth Caspian Summit in Aktau, Kazakhstan, the five littoral states - Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan - sign the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, ending the 20-year long dispute over the Caspian Sea's legal status.

September 22, 2018‍‍: Following months of public protests and strikes in cities across in Iran, an attack at a military parade on Quds Boulevard in Ahvaz kills at least 29 people in Ahvaz, Iran. The shooters killed 25 people, including soldiers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and civilian bystanders. Although the Ahvaz National Resistance claimed responsibility in the name of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA), Iran accursed several other parties and Nations of involvement in the attack. On 1 October 2018, in retaliation for the attacks, Iranian Revolutionary Guards fired missiles and carried out drone attacks in Abu Kamal of Syria targeting "militants in Syria it blamed for an attack", Sepah News reported.

October 8, 2018‍‍: The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of the United Nations releases its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC, warning that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" are needed to ensure that global warming is kept below 1.5 °C. The report includes dire warnings on the predicted climate changes in the world including all of the states along the path of the silk road.

September / October, 2013: The "New Silk Road "Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR) (Chinese: 一带一路) or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road (Chinese: 丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路) initiative was unveiled by Xi Jinping during visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, and was thereafter promoted by Premier Li Keqiang during state visits to Asia and Europe. With an initial emphasis on infra-structure projects to connect a variety of Asian Nations by road, rail and sea, the Chinese government calls the large scale economic initiative "a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future" with the aim of accelerating economic growth in Central Asia, Europe, South Asia, East Africa and the Pacific. Observers, however, see it as a push for Chinese dominance in global affairs with a China-centered trading network which includes "debt diplomacy" and neo-colonial debt bondage for many of the 68 countries involved in the projects.

A google satellite image based map of the 3 Stans; Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Map features regional delineations, International Borders, National Capitals, main geographical features: main cities and towns, mountains, rivers and lakes, railroads, historic landmarks, scenic sights and tourist hotspots.

Use this map to find locations and navigate via pins to additional information, backgrounds and maps.

Satellite Overview Map of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (3 Stans)

May 2015: After planning began in 2014 following the Russian armed annexation of the Crimea Peninsula, in may 2015 construction started on a bridge across the Kerch Strait operating the Sea of Azov from the main bulk of the Black Sea between the Russian mainland and Ukraine. When completed, the bridge project consisting of parallel bridges spanning 18.1 km (11.2 mi) and dubbed Crimean Bridge (Russian: Крымский мост, tr. Krymskiy most), or colloquially the Kerch Strait Bridge, will accommodate road and rail traffic thereby facilitating economic exchanges and military traffic between the Crimean Peninsula and the Russian mainland. The construction of the bridge was internationally sanctioned in response to the Russian military involvement in Ukraine.

May 15, 2018: Opening of the Crimean Bridge (Russian: Крымский мост, tr. Krymskiy most), or colloquially the Kerch Strait Bridge to road traffic. President of Russia Vladimir Putin led a convoy of trucks, driving one himself, across the bridge in an inauguration ceremony. The bridge was opened for vehicle traffic on 16 May 2018, while the double rail tracks on the bridge were still under construction with rail traffic to be started in early 2019. The Crimean Bridge consist of three segments: from the Taman Peninsula to Tuzla Spit is 7 km (4 mi); across Tuzla Island is 6.5 km (4.0 mi); and from Tuzla Island to the Crimean Peninsula is 5.5 km (3.4 mi) (19 km (12 mi) total). The main span over the Kerch Strait shipping canal has a steel arch support, 227 m (745 ft) wide with a merger 35 m (115 ft) clearance above the water to allow for ships to pass under, effectively barring large ships from sailing into the Sea of Azov.

November 25, 2018‍‍: Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate after Russia blocked all traffic under the Crimean Bridge into the Kerch Strait  (Russian: Керченский пролив, Ukrainian: Керченська протока, Crimean Tatar: Keriç boğazı) — the only passage into the Azov Sea (Russian: Азо́вское мо́ре, Azóvskoje móre; Ukrainian: Азо́вське мо́ре, Azóvśke móre; Crimean Tatar: Azaq deñizi, Азакъ денъизи, ازاق دﻩﯕىزى) — because of what it said was an approach of Ukrainian vessels (according to TASS). Russia then fires upon and then seizes three Ukranian ships (2 gunboats and a tug boat) which are attempting to enter the Sea of Azov through the Kerch strait after having asked the Russians for free passage. In the immediate aftermath the Ukranian military is put on high alert while all available navy ships are sent out to sea awaiting further Russian actions. Ukraine calls for an immediate meetings of the United Nations Security Council which takes place on November 26. NATO and a string of European Nations, the USA and others strongly condemn what they see as Russian military aggression and the violation of multiple agreements for allowing free passage on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. On november 26, the Ukranian National Security and Defense Council of which President Petro Poroshenko is chairman, approved a proposal to introduce martial law for 60 days, to start on wednesday November 28.

October 29, 2016: After years of planning and several failed attempts at its construction, on October 29, 2016 Tajik president Emomali Rahmon officially launched the construction of the Rogun dam on the Vakhsh River (Tajik: Вахш, translit. Vaxsh, also known as the Surkhob (Сурхоб) in north-central Tajikistan, and the Kyzyl-Suu (Kyrgyz: Кызылсуу, translit. Qızılsuu), in Kyrgyzstan in Tajikistan). At the ceremony, the river's flow was ceremonially diverted through the reconstructed diversion tunnels. The planned construction of the dam was expected to take two years when completed to be the highest rock fill dam in the world measuring 335 metres (1,099 ft) high with six 600 MW turbines.

November 20, 2018‍‍: With only 75 meters of the intended height of 355 meters built, the first generator of the Rogun hydro-electric dam on the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan starts operations. The start up of the first generator unit of 600MW is performed by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. Altogether the planning and construction of the dam have taken some 40 years with the project stalled at various junctures by politics, civil war, floods, unimplemented agreements, and consistently by financial setbacks. With a total ramified cost between $3.9 billion and $5.1 billion the Rogun Dam project is set to be completed by the year 2028, at which time dam is set to measure 335m tall (1,100 feet), to be higher than Jinping-1 Hydropower Station in China (305m).

YouTube Video: ISIS destroys part of Roman Amphitheatre in Palmyra.

2004: In 2004 a collection of thirty-four letters from the Silk Road explorer Sir Aurel Stein was found in the archives of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs and catalogued, although not transcribed or studied. Neither of Stein's biographers, Jeannette Mirsky (published 1977), nor Annabel Walker (published 1995) knew about these letters, and there are no references to them in more recent publications either. What is perhaps even more interesting is that the Society's letters are addressed to a man whose name does not appear in any published works on Stein; a man who remains an elusive figure more than half a century after his death – Colonel Reginald Schomberg D.S.O. (1880-1958), an explorer and spy who himself explored (Chinese Turkestan) Sinkiang in 1927-1929 and 1930-1931, respectively. It has been confirmed (Dr. Rosie Llewellyn-Jones MBE (Independent Scholar) – ‘My Dear Schomberg’: Letters from Sir Aurel Stein) that Schomber's last trip to Xinjiang actually helped facilitate Aurel Stein's  fourth and last expedition there in 1930-31.

- Silk Road Chronology (9) Modern History o/t Silk Road II (1900 AD to 1925)

Summer, 2005: Afghan National government starts up really archeological excavations at the Buddhist archeological site of Tepe Narenj (Tappe-e Narenj ; Orange Hill), outside of Kabul. Since that year the Afghan Institute of Archaeology continues to excavate at the site for one month each summer since (2005 - 2013) under leadership of Zafar Paiman. So far the iconography of the archaeological artifacts recovered demonstrates the practice of Tantric Buddhism in the area with a highpoint in the 5th or 6th century. It is believed that Muslim armies destroyed the monastery in the ninth century and was forgotten until post-conflict excavations were finally possible following the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

October, 2003: After the initial excavations by Folke Bergman and subsequently in 1979 as part of the expedition of the NHK Silk Road Documentary, an excavation project, organized by the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute starts at the Xiaohe (Little River) Cemetery (Chinese: 小河墓地; pinyin: Xiǎohé mùdì), also known as Ördek’s Necropolis, on the west side of (former) Lop Nor (In Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region, China (P.R.C.). A total of 167 tombs containing a multitude of mummified bodies of Tocharian men, women and children have been uncovered since the end of 2002, and excavations have revealed hundreds of smaller tombs built in layers. In 2006, a coffin wrapped with ox hide in the shape of a boat was found. It contained a remarkably intact mummy of a young woman, which came to be called the Beauty of Xiaohe (or Beauty of Loulan). In the aftermath of the excavations, In years 2009–2015, the remains of in total 92 individuals found at the Xiaohe Tomb complex were analyzed for Y-DNA and mtDNA markers. Genetic analyses of the mummies showed that the maternal lineages of the Xiaohe people originated from both East Asia and West Eurasia, whereas the paternal lineages all originated from West Eurasia.

December, 2018‍‍: In December Uzbekistan made public its proposal to link the Central Asian Nations by means of a railway link between Russia and Pakistan through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan (by extending the existing link across the Amy Darya River (Oxus) between Termez in Uzbekistan and Balkh in northern Afghanistan). According to Uzbek officials, the construction of the proposed railway link would boost mutual trade and "be beneficial for the landlocked countries and time and money could be saved".

- Silk Road Chronology (10) Modern History o/t Silk Road III (1925 AD to 1950)

March, 2005: Re-discovery of the lost city of Tigranakert (Armenian: Արցախի Տիգրանակերտ, Arts'akhi Tigranakert) a ruined Armenian city dating back to the Hellenistic period named after Armenian king Tigranes II "the Great" (Reign: 95 BC - 55 BC) or Tigranes the Great's father, Tigranes I (Reign: ca. 123 BC - 95 BC). Shortly after re-dsicovery archeological excavations start at the site which occupies an area of about 50 hectares and is located in the province of Martakert in the Republic of Artsakh (Armenian: Արցախի Հանրապետություն, Artsakhi Hanrapetut'yun)(Previously: Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), de jure Aghdara in Azerbaijan, approximately four kilometers south of the Khachenaget River. Archeological excavations are currently ongoing under the directorship of Dr. Hamlet L. Petrosyan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Archaeologists have uncovered two of the main walls of the city, as well as Hellenistic-style towers and an Armenian basilica dating to fifth to seventh centuries. In 2008, the excavation team began to face funding issues, although the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have promised to allocate 30 million drams to continue further research. In June 2010, a museum dedicated to the study and preservation of artifacts unearthed from Tigranakert's ruins was opened in the adjacent Shahbulag Castle, near the former city of Aghdam.

2012: Under support of the Government of Turkey, extensive repairs and construction began at the ancient Sumela Monastery (Greek: Μονή Παναγίας Σουμελά, Moní Panagías Soumelá; Turkish: Sümela Manastırı), a Greek Orthodox monastery and one of the oldest Churches in the world, dedicated to the Virgin Mary (Panagia, meaning "The all-holy one" in Greek, a title often used for the Virgin Mary) at Melá Mountain (Turkish: Karadağ, which is a direct translation of the Greek name Sou Melá, "Black Mountain") within the Pontic Mountains (Turkish: Kuzey Anadolu Dağları) range, in the Maçka district of Trabzon Province of the East Black Sea Region in modern Turkey. Between 2015 and Assumption Day 2018 (August 15 ; The Assumption of Mary into Heaven (often shortened to the Assumption) is, according to the beliefs of the Catholic Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life) the monastery was closed to all visitors (officially due to dangers of rocks falling) allowing further reconstruction and archeological field work.

YouTube video: Sumela Monastery at Melá Mountain in Maçka district of Trabzon Province, Turkey - reopened to the public. Video visit in fall of 2018 by H.A.K.

During the 2015-2017 restoration works, a secret tunnel was discovered which lead to a place which is believed to have served as a temple or chapel for Christians. Also, unseen frescoes were discovered depicting heaven and hell as well as life and death Today, the monastery nestled in a steep cliff at an altitude of about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) facing the Altındere valley, is once again open to the public and a site of great historical and cultural significance, as well as a major tourist attraction within Altındere National Park. Reconstruction work and further research are ongoing.

July 2011: Under protection of the Ghazni Texas Agribusiness Development Team-IV and Ghazni Afghan National Police officers architects from the U.S. National Park Service’s Historic American Building Survey (HABS,) in association with the Cultural Heritage Center of the U.S. Department of State, documented the Ghazni Minarets, at Ghazni, Ghazni Province in Afghanistan using laser scanning. The scan data were processed to create architectural drawings in order to provide a record of the existing conditions and a resource for future preservation efforts. This partnership will also provide training in archaeological site management to cultural heritage specialists at the Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan. After the careful scanning, recording and documentation of the Ghazni Minarets, public outreach efforts have included the handing out of Children’s booklets about the Ghazni Minarets at schools and museums throughout the Ghazni province in 2012. Later on, a 2013 trilingual exhibition at Kabul’s Timur

YouTube video: "Introduction of Ghazni Minaret(s)" in Ghazni, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan - November 2017

Shah Mausoleum, which featured historic images along with the drawings and photos created during the documentation project. The exhibition was also on view at the Shrine of Hazrat Ali in Mazari-Sharif in April 2014.

2012: Following an architectural competition for a new design, which was won by a Spanish architectural firm (AV 62 Arquitectos), in 2013 the Afghan National Museum (Persian: موزیم ملی افغانستان, Mūzīyam-e mellī-ye Afghānestān; Pashto: د افغانستان ملی موزیم‎, Də Afghānistān Millī Mūzīyəm) in Darulaman of Kabul starts construction of new enlarged museum that will be up to current day standards while allowing for enhanced and strict security for the museum collections.

2017: For the first time since initial archeological excavations were undertaken at the Pelerin Castle ((Latin: Castrum Perigrinorum, French: Château Pèlerin, Italian: Castello Pelegrino), also Atlit fortress, Castle of the Son of God and Pilgrim's Castle) in northern Israel by C.N. Johns in 1930 - 1934, female archeologist and historian Vardit Shotten-Hallel of the Israel Antiquities Authority gained access to the ruined Castle site (Athlit) after lengthy negotiations with the Israeli military. Among things Shotten-Hallel studies the chapel of the inner sanctum of the Castle, which remains partially intact, of which she later theorizes that it might have served as a kind of substitute Church of the Holy Sepulchre (rendering explicable the popular name of the site as Castle of the Sun of God). The design of the Castle's chapel, with a rotunda and twelve columns, resembles the Jerusalem shrine marking the place where Jesus is said to have been crucified and where his empty tomb is located. According to Shotten-Hallel “It is as if they were creating a synthetic image of the holy city”.

YouTube Video: Atlit, the Crusader Castle (Château Pèlerin) in 2015.

2011: Under leadership of Professor Adrian Boas Haifa University’s launched a four month effort of archeological excavations at the ruins of the Teutonic Knights Castle of Starkenberg (also French Montfort Castle ; Hebrew: מבצר מונפור‎, Mivtzar Monfor; Arabic: Qal'at al-Qurain or Qal'at al-Qarn - "Castle of the Little Horn" or "Castle of the Horn") in upper Galilee (today northern Israel) which was constructed between 1228 and 1240 and was destroyed by the Mamluks in 1272. It was the first such excavation since a 1926 expedition organised by Bashford Dean, curator of the Arms and Armour Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and executed under guidance of William L. Calver. Since 2011 excavations at Montfort Castle have continued every summer. In August 2015 and 2016 the excavations were aided by students from Royal Holloway, University of London. After the initial removal of tons of rock debris, the archeological teams have documented the castle’s design and decoration and cataloged a collection of small artifacts. The material found contradicts the conventional view of Crusaders—and particularly of these warrior monks—

YouTube Video: Montfort Castle - ruined  Crusader Castle in 2017, by Wow Travel Vlogs.

as existing in crude conditions. Montfort, which served as the regional headquarters of the Teutonic Knights after their move from the crusader stronghold of Acre in 1229, was a formidable place of stylish living comparable to the fine manor houses and wealthier monasteries of its day in Europe. Underneath the Central Keep of the Castle, the archaeologists uncovered deep cellars for stocking supplies. Above the cellars they traced the remains of a finely plastered white floor and decorative pilasters of a large hall, as well as a chapel with an elegant apse that is still partially intact. The third floor once held sumptuous apartments for the order’s highest officer, the Grand Master. These boasted vaulted ceilings and frescoed walls decorated with gilded wood and punctuated with stained-glass windows, shards of which were found in the debris. Other finds made so far include some 42 heavy stones which were catapulted into the castle during the siege of 1272 and stone wine press found in the former inner court of the Castle.

2016: A large Viking Treasure discovered in 3,000-Year-Old Grave in Uppland in Sweden reveals ancient connection to the silk road city of Samarkand (in current day Uzbekistan). As part of a treasure cage hidden inside a Viking grave dating to around the year 955 AD, 163 silver coins are recovered at a digging site in Molnby in Vallentuna, Uppland, Sweden. The treasure found is the largest known Viking Era stash of treasure to date. Some of the 163 silver coins carry Arabic language inscriptions, linking the coins found in northern Europe to the Central Asian silk road city of Samarkand.  Other coins found as part of the stash were produced in areas around Volga (In modern day Russia) and are imitations of the Arabic coins. The youngest of the coins was produced either in 935 AD or 936 AD. It was hidden about twenty years later. The treasure found in Uppland Sweden is contemporary with another famed Viking treasure site, the world cultural heritage site known as Birka (Birca in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (literally: "Birch Island"), which was founded in the 8th century and abandoned at some time in the 10th century when Viking culture

YouTube Video: The Birka silver ring carrying Arabic language inscription.

disappeared. The archaeological sites of Birka and Hovgården, on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking Scandinavia and their influence on the subsequent history of Europe. Generally regarded as Sweden's oldest town, Birka (along with Hovgården) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Birka was the Baltic link in the river and portage route through Ladoga (Aldeigja) and Novgorod (Holmsgard) to the Byzantine Empire (395 AD - 1453 AD) and the Abbasid Califate (750 AD - 1258 AD ; restored: 1261 AD - 1517 AD). Foreign goods found from the graves of Birka include glass and metal ware, pottery from the Rhineland, clothing and textiles including Chinese silk, Byzantine embroidery with extremely fine gold thread, brocades with gold passementerie and plaited cords of high quality. At Birka a silver ring from a Viking-era grave was found. It is the first ring with coloured glasswork carrying an Arabic language inscription from that era found in Scandinavia. An inscription on the glass inset discovered during scanning on February 23, 2015 reads either “for Allah” or “to Allah” in an ancient Arabic script, the researchers report February 23 in Scanning. Scandinavians traded for fancy glass objects from Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as 3,400 years ago. Thus, seagoing Scandinavians could have acquired glass items from Islamic traders in the same part of the world more than 2,000 years later rather than waiting for such desirable pieces to move north through trade networks.

11-12 June, 2019‍: On Tuesday June 11 of 2019 the world heard of the news that Chinese Authorities in Khotan City Prefecture of Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region had recently destroyed the historic local (Central) Uyghur Cemetery of the ancient silk road Oasis town of Khotan (at LatLong: 37°5′N 79°54′E) wholesale leaving nothing but sand and dust. According to claims by historian Rian Thum since then substantiated with use of satellite imagery the entire cemetery including several sacred shrines has been destroyed. According to a government placard found near the cemetery relatives were given 6 days to properly identify the remains of their relatives fat the graveyard, after which the Khotan City Government would transport the identified remains to Imam Musa Kazim graveyard in the vicinity of the town. All unidentified remains were to be destroyed. In the days following the news of the destruction of the Central Uyghur Grabeyard in Khotan additional news and satellite imagery revealed the further destruction of the western Uyghur cemetery, previously located in the western outskirts of Khotan Town.

Later in the year satellite imagery reveals the intentional destruction of many more Uyghur Mosques and cemeteries throughout the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

June-July, 2014: During Ramadan in 2014 (June 28 - July 27), ethnic riots broke out in the historic silk road city of Yarkand (Chinese: Shache County) in the far west of Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region of the Peoples' Republic of China. According to Chinese state sources, at least 96 people were killed and 215 arrested when separatists attacked a police station and government offices in Yarkand’s Elishku township. According to the official state narrative, local authorities’ discovery of suspicious explosives had prompted an extremist rampage as knife-wielding gangs terrorised the streets, burning cars, killing civilians and targeting government offices. In contrast, the US-sponsored Radio Free Asia reported that Chinese security forces massacred at least 2,000 Uyghurs after a violent riot over the extrajudicial killing of a Uyghur family that had disputed the headscarf restrictions. A week after the riots this number was repeated by exile Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer who has claimed that at least 2,000 ethnic minority Uyghurs may have been killed by Chinese security forces following riots in the restive Shache (Yarkand) county in China’s western Xinjiang region, far more than reported by the state media.

October 10, 2015: A series of suicide bombings kills at least 100 people at a peace rally in Ankara (historically known as Ancyra and Angora), Turkey, and injures more than 400 others.

Tuesday June 11, 2019:  Following heavy rain fall the largest tower of the 12th century ancient walled city (citadel) of Ghazni in Ghazni Province of Afghanistan collapsed leaving only 14 towers standing. In the decade past, already15 of the total of 36 towers had collapsed due to a combination of neglect and increasing rainfall combined with periods of drought. Officials say four out of the remaining 14 towers of Ghaznain Fort are on the verge of collapse as sadly warfare in the region has slowed rehabilitation efforts.

A Support DrBen's work and website by browing his TeeSpring Online Store. Shop for amazing DrBen designed mugs, teeshirts, phone covers and other products. Click the images to find the store.