Urban landscape, Arabic / Middle Eastern

Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad
Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad is located in the mountains northeast of M'Sila, near the town of Bechara (Bishara), about 225 km southeast of Algiers.
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Aleppo
Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities in history. It knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.
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Bukhara
Bukhara is the most complete and unspoiled example of a medieval central Asian town, which urban layout and buildings have had great influence on town planning in Central Asia.
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Byblos
Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal. It is believed to have been founded around 5000 BC.
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Damascus
Damascus is often referred to as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history.
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Harar
Harar is a fortified historic town in southeastern Ethiopia. It has been a major commercial center, linking African and Islamic trade routes.
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Historic Cairo
Cairo was founded in AD 969 as the royal enclosure for the Fatimid caliphs. Historic Cairo encompasses Coptic Cairo and its many old churches and ruins of Roman fortifications.
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Kairouan
Kairouan is a holy city for many Muslims, and many Sunni Muslims consider it the fourth holiest city of Islam, after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, and the holiest city of the Maghreb.
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Kasbah of Algiers
The Kasbah is a unique kind of medina, or Islamic city. It stands in one of the finest coastal sites on the Mediterranean, overlooking the islands where a Carthaginian trading-post was established in the 4th century B.
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M'Zab Valley
The M'zab or Mzab is a region of the northern Sahara, in the Ghardaïa wilaya "province" of Algeria, around 500km south of Algiers.
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Medina of Essaouira
The Medina of Essaouira (formerly "Mogador") is a UNESCO World Heritage Listed city, as an example of a late 18th century fortified town, as transferred to North Africa.
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Medina of Fez
Fes is one of the four so-called "imperial cities" (the others are Marrakech, Meknes and Rabat). It is separated into three parts, Fes el Bali (the old, walled city), Fes-Jdid (new Fes, home of the Mellah), and the Ville Nouvelle (the French-created, newest section of Fes).
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Medina of Marrakesh
Marrakech has the largest traditional market (souk) in Morocco and also has the busiest square in the entire continent of Africa, called Djemaa el Fna.
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Medina of Sousse
Sousse is considered one of the best examples of seaward-facing fortifications built by the Arabs. Its ribat, a soaring structure that combined the purposes of a minaret and a watch tower, is in outstanding condition and draws visitors from around the world.
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Medina of Tétouan
The medina (old town) of Tétouan is very characteristic and traditional. One can find many white houses there, especially low houses.
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Medina of Tunis
The medina of Tunis is found at the centre of the city: a dense agglomeration of alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and colours, boisterous and active trade, a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, tin to the finest filigree, tourist souvenirs to the works of tiny crafts-shops.
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Meknes
The land upon which the city of Meknes is founded and much of its surrounding territory came under the domination of the Roman Empire in 117 A.
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Negev
The four Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta in the Negev Desert are spread along routes linking them to the Mediterranean end of the Incense and Spice route.
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Safranbolu
Safranbolu has played a key role in the caravan trade on the main route between Europe and the Orient.
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Samarkand
Samarkand lies in a large oasis in north-eastern Uzbekistan, and has been the center of great trade routes (like the Silk Roads).
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Shakhrisyabz
The over 2000 years old city of Shakhrisyabz contains fine monuments from the Timurid period (15th century), notably the Ak-Sarai Palace.
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Zabid
The historic town or medina of Zabid is renowned for its domestic architecture and its Islamic university attracting students from far.
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