NY Regents 9.5: Political Powers and Achievements

Constantinople — today called Istanbul, in modern Turkey — sits precisely on the Bosphorus strait, the slender waterway where Europe and Asia face each other across barely half a kilometre of water…

This event unfolded in Constantinople — modern-day Istanbul, Turkey — where a thin triangle of land juts into the waters separating Europe from Asia, with the Bosphorus strait to the east and the Sea…

This is Constantinople — modern Istanbul, Turkey — sitting precisely on the Bosphorus strait where the European and Asian continents face each other across a sliver of water, exactly where the Black…

This is Chang'an, located in what is now Shaanxi Province in central China, sitting on the fertile Wei River plain — exactly the inland heartland the title clue pointed to, ringed by mountain ranges…

The Battle of the Yarmuk was fought in 636 CE along the Yarmuk River, a tributary of the Jordan River just east of the Sea of Galilee, in what is now the border region of modern Jordan, Syria, and…

This event unfolded in Naniwa — roughly the site of modern Osaka — on the eastern coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, tucked inside Osaka Bay where the island chain curves away from the Korean…

This battle took place near Tours, in present-day France — sitting in the broad river country between the Loire and Garonne, roughly in the middle of Western Europe's largest landmass facing the…

This event unfolded in Kufa, a city in what is now Iraq, sitting on the great flat plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — the same fertile corridor that cradled some of the world's earliest…

This event unfolded in Kaifeng, China — a city sitting on the flat North China Plain, close to where the Yellow River curves eastward toward the Yellow Sea. In 960, Zhao Kuangyin founded the Song…

This is Cahokia, located near present-day Collinsville, Illinois, USA — built precisely where the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers meet in the broad, flat heartland of North America. At its peak…

This is Hastings, on the southeastern coast of England — perched on a low ridge just inland from the English Channel, the narrow strip of water separating the island of Great Britain from continental…

This is Jerusalem, in modern-day Israel — the walled hilltop city sitting on a limestone plateau between the Mediterranean coast to the west and the deep Jordan River valley to the east, exactly at…

This event took place in Kamakura, Japan — a coastal settlement on Honshu, the main island of the Japanese archipelago, facing the Pacific and sitting east across the Sea of Japan from the Korean…

This event unfolded in Delhi, the city sitting on the flat Indo-Gangetic Plain in northern India, exactly where the Himalayas to the north give way to the vast lowlands stretching toward the Deccan…

Runnymede is a flat meadow on the southern bank of the River Thames in England, sitting on the island of Great Britain just west of London — exactly the kind of quiet riverside ground where a king…

This is Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine, sitting on the western bank of the Dnieper River — the great waterway that drains much of Eastern Europe southward into the Black Sea, exactly the flat, open…

This is Baghdad, the capital of modern Iraq, sitting on the Tigris River in the broad lowland plain of Mesopotamia — the ancient 'land between the rivers' flanked by the Zagros Mountains to the east…

Karakorum sits in the grassland steppe of central Mongolia, north of China and south of Siberia, in the empty middle of Asia where the Mongol Empire built its capital. By 1260 that empire, stitched…

This event unfolded in Khanbaliq, the city now known as Beijing, in northern China — sitting on the North China Plain where the terrain flattens out just south of the mountains that separate China…

This is Tenochtitlan, the island city built on a lake in the high Valley of Mexico — the same site now occupied by Mexico City, sitting on a plateau ringed by volcanic peaks in the interior of the…

This is Tenochtitlan, founded in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco — sitting in the high basin of central Mexico, exactly the highland plateau the title described, ringed by volcanic peaks. The…

This event unfolded in Nanjing, China — a city on the lower Yangtze River plain, roughly where that great river curves toward the East China Sea, deep in the heart of eastern China. In 1368, Zhu…

This policy was issued from Nanjing, China — a city on the lower Yangtze River plain, roughly midway along China's enormous Pacific-facing coastline. In 1371, the Hongwu Emperor decreed the haijin…

This is Constantinople, now called Istanbul, in modern Turkey — sitting precisely on the Bosphorus strait where Europe and Asia are separated by less than a kilometre of water, exactly the narrow…