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Seri Rambai
The ''Seri Rambai'' is a seventeenth-century Dutch cannon displayed at Fort Cornwallis in George Town, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Penang and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the largest bronze gun in Malaysia, a fertility symbol and the subject of legends and prophecy. The cannon's history in the Malacca Straits began in the early 1600s, when Dutch East India Company officers gave it to the Sultan of Johor in return for trading concessions. In 1613, the Sultanate of Aceh attacked and destroyed Johor, captured the sultan, and took ''Seri Rambai'' to Aceh. Near the end of the eighteenth century the cannon was sent by Aceh to Selangor and mounted next to one of the town's hilltop forts. In 1871, the British colonial government launched an attack on the town in retaliation to a pirate attack, destroying the forts and confiscating the ''Seri Rambai''. The gun was originally displayed at George Town's Esplanade; in the 1950s it was moved to Fort Cornwallis. ...
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George Town, Penang
George Town is the capital of the States and federal territories of Malaysia, Malaysian state of Penang. It is the core city of the George Town Conurbation, Malaysia's List of cities and towns in Malaysia by population#Largest metropolitan areas by population, second largest metropolitan area with a population of 2.84 million and the second largest metropolitan economy in the country. The city proper spans an area of encompassing Penang Island and surrounding islets, and had a population of 794,313 . Classified as a Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Gamma −, "Gamma −" city, the second highest in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur, George Town is the commercial centre for northern Malaysia and one of the few World Bank high-income economy, high-income economies of the cities outside the Klang Valley. According to Euromonitor International and the Economist Intelligence Unit, George Town has the highest potential for revenue growth among all Malaysian cities and contr ...
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Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements () were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the British Raj in 1858 and then under direct British control as a Crown colony in 1867. In 1946, following the end of World War II and the Japanese occupation, the colony was dissolved as part of Britain's reorganisation of its Southeast Asian dependencies in the area. The Straits Settlements originally consisted of the four individual settlements of Penang, Singapore, Malacca, and Dinding. Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands were added in 1886. The island of Labuan, off the coast of Borneo, was also incorporated into the colony with effect from 1 January 1907, becoming a separate settlement within it in 1912. Most of the territories now form part of Malaysia, from which Singapore separated in 1965. The Cocos (Keeling) I ...
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Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population of 10 million people as of 2024, 13% of the country's population. Over 17.4 million people (25% of Thailand's population) live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region as of the 2021 estimate, making Bangkok a megacity and an extreme primate city, dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in both size and importance to the national economy. Bangkok traces its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Ayutthaya era in the 15th century, which eventually grew and became the site of two capital cities, Thonburi Kingdom, Thonburi in 1767 and Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932), Rattanakosin in 1782. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam during the late 19th century, as the count ...
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Ministry Of Defence Headquarters (Thailand)
The Ministry of Defence headquarters is a historic building in Bangkok's Phra Nakhon District. It sits opposite the Grand Palace on Sanam Chai Road, in the heart of the historic Rattanakosin Island. The building, in the neo-Palladian architecture, neo-Palladian style of the neoclassical architecture, neoclassical movement, was built as the Front Soldiers' Barracks in 1882–1884 to designs by Italian architect Joachim Grassi. It has served as the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Thailand), Ministry of Defence since the ministry's establishment in 1887. History The site of the building, just east of the Grand Palace and south of the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine, City Pillar Shrine, used to be the location of three former princely palaces built in the reign of King Rama I (1782–1809). By the time of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868–1910), the palaces had become disused, and parts of the site were occupied by granaries, stables and silkworm-rearing houses. Chulalongkorn wo ...
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Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine ''Oxford Poetry'', before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressin ...
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Jakarta History Museum
The Jakarta History Museum (), also known as Fatahillah Museum or Batavia Museum, is located in the Old Town (known as ''Kota Tua'') of Jakarta, Indonesia. The building was built in 1710 as the ''Stadhuis'' (city hall) of Batavia. Jakarta History Museum opened in 1974 and displays objects from the prehistory period of the city region, the founding of Jayakarta in 1527, and the Dutch colonization period from the 16th century until Indonesia's Independence in 1945. The museum is located in south side of Fatahillah Square (former Batavia city square) near Wayang Museum and Fine Art and Ceramic Museum. The building is believed to be modeled after Dam Palace. History The VOC The building where the museum is established was formerly the city hall of Batavia, the ''Stadhuis''. The first Stadhuis was finalized in 1627 in the location of the present building. The construction of this building was continued in 1649. In 1707, the building was renovated as a whole, which resulted i ...
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Jakarta
Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and an autonomous region at the provincial level. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's List of islands by population, most populous island, Jakarta is the List of cities in ASEAN by population, largest metropole in Southeast Asia and serves as the diplomatic capital of ASEAN. The Special Region has a status equivalent to that of a Provinces of Indonesia, province and is bordered by two other provinces: West Java to the south and east; and Banten to the west. Its coastline faces the Java Sea to the north, and it shares a maritime border with Lampung to the west. Jakarta metropolitan area, Jakarta's metropolitan area is List of ASEAN country subdivisions by GDP, ASEAN's second largest economy after Singapore. In 2023, the city's Gros ...
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Constantine Phaulkon
Constantine Phaulkon ( Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Γεράκης, ''Konstantinos Gerakis''; γεράκι is the Greek word for " falcon"; also known as Costantin Gerachi, ''Capitão Falcão'' in Portuguese and simply as ''Monsieur Constance'' in French; 1647 – 5 June 1688) was a Greek adventurer who became chief minister to King Narai of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and assumed the Thai noble title " Chao Phraya Wichayen" (เจ้าพระยาวิชาเยนทร์).Chakrabongse, C., 1960, Lords of Life, London: Alvin Redman Limited Origins Constantine Phaulkon was born to Greek parents within Assos Castle in the region of Erisso (''pertinenza di Erisso'') on northern Cephalonia (then under Venetian rule). His father's name was Zuane ( Greek: Τζουγάνης that is John) and his mother's is still unknown. The Gerakis (Γεράκης) / Gerachi family was already established in the village of Plagia (Πλαγιά), since the 16th century. Early career A ...
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Narai
King Narai the Great (, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Prasat Thong dynasty. He was the king of Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1656 to 1688 and arguably the most famous king of the Prasat Thong dynasty. His reign was the most prosperous during the Ayutthaya period and saw the great commercial and diplomatic activities with foreign nations including the Middle East and the West. During the later years of his reign, Narai gave his favorite – the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon – so much power that Phaulkon technically became the chancellor of the state. Through the arrangements of Phaulkon, the Siamese kingdom came into close diplomatic relations with the court of Louis XIV and French soldiers and missionaries filled the Siamese aristocracy and defense. The dominance of French officials led to frictions between them and the native mandarins and led to the turbulent revolution of 1688 towards the end of h ...
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The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. S ...
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Ayutthaya Kingdom
The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai people, Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (city), Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. European travellers in the early 16th century called Ayutthaya one of the three great powers of Asia (alongside Vijayanagara Empire, Vijayanagara and China). The Ayutthaya Kingdom is considered to be the precursor of modern Thailand, and its developments are an important part of the history of Thailand. The name Ayutthaya originates from Ayodhya (Ramayana), Ayodhya, a Sanskrit word. This connection stems from the Ramakien, Thailand's national epic. The Ayutthaya Kingdom emerged from the Mandala (political model), mandala or merger of three maritime city-states on the Lower Chao Phraya Valley in the late 13th and 14th centuries (Lopburi province, Lopburi, Suphan Buri province, Suphanburi, and Ayutthaya). The early kingdom was a maritime confedera ...
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Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767)
The Burmese–Siamese War of 1765–1767, also known as the war of the second fall of Ayutthaya () was the second military conflict between Burma under the Konbaung dynasty and Ayutthaya Kingdom under the Siamese List of Thai monarchs#Ban Phlu Luang dynasty (1688–1767), Ban Phlu Luang dynasty that lasted from 1765 until 1767; the war ended the 417-year-old Ayutthaya Kingdom.Harvey, pp. 250–253 Burma under the new Konbaung dynasty emerged powerful in the mid-18th century. King Alaungpaya, the dynastic founder, led his Burmese forces of 40,000 men, and with his son Prince of Myedu as vanguard commander, invaded Siam in late 1759 to early 1760. The Burmese reached and attacked Ayutthaya in April 1760 but the arrival of rainy season and sudden illness of Alaungpaya prompted the Burmese to retreat. The traditional Siamese strategy of passive stand in the Ayutthaya citadel against Burmese besiegers worked for one last time, postponing the eventual fall of Ayutthaya for seven years ...
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