Central and South Asia
Name | Historical region | Location | Continuously inhabited since | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ghōr | Mandesh | AfgGhōr Province, Afghanistan | - 5000 BC c. 5000 BC | Remains of the oldest settlements discovered by the Lithuanian archaeologists in 2007 and 2008. |
Balkh (as Bactra) | Bactria | AfgBalkh Province, Afghanistan | -1500 ! 1500 BC | |
Varanasi | Iron Age India | IndUttar Pradesh, India | -1100 ! c. 1200–1100 BC | Iron Age foundation (Painted Grey Ware culture). |
Anuradhapura | Rajarata | SriNorth Central Province, Sri Lanka | -950 ! 10th century BC | |
Ujjain (As Avanti) | Malwa | India | -800 ! c. 800 BC | Rose to prominence in ca 700 BC as capital of Avanti during India's second wave of urbanization. Walled in ca 600 BC. |
Samarqand | Sogdiana | Uzbekistan | -700 ! 700 BC | |
Rajagriha (Rajgir) | Magadha | IndBihar, India | -600 ! 600 BC | |
Herat | Aria | AfgHerat Province, Afghanistan | -550 ! c. 550 BC | The city is dominated by the remains of a citadel constructed by Alexander the Great. |
Madurai | Pandyan kingdom | IndTamilnadu, India | -500 ! 500 BC | There are accounts of Megasthenes (c. 350 – 290 BC) a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica, having visited Madurai (then, a bustling city and capital of Pandya Kingdom). |
Vaisali | Magadha | IndBihar, India | -500 ! 500 BC | |
Patna | Magadha | IndBihar, India | -450 ! 5th century BC | As Pataliputra was founded by Ajatashatru. |
Peshawar | Gandhara | PakKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan | -350 ! c. 400–300 BC | Ongoing excavations in the Gor Khuttree region have given proof of the ancient foundations of the city and have established Peshawar as one of the oldest settlements in Central and South Asia. |
Mahasthangarh, Bogra | Pundravardhana | BanBogra District, Bangladesh | - 300BC ! 4th century BC | Remains of the ancient city of Pundranagara. |
Thanjavur | Early Chola kingdom | IndTamil Nadu, India | -300 ! 300 BC | Some scholars believe that the city has been existing since the Sangam Period |
Bamyan | Bactria | AfgBamyan Province, Afghanistan | - 1st century AD ! 1st century AD | |
Kathmandu-Patan, Lalitpur | Nepal | Kathmandu valley, Nepal | - 2nd Century AD ! c. 2nd Century AD | The epigraphically attested history of Kathmandu valley begins in the 2nd century. Folklore speaks of a hoarier past. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Cities By Time Of Continuous Habitation
Famous quotes containing the words central, south and/or asia:
“In a large university, there are as many deans and executive heads as there are schools and departments. Their relations to one another are intricate and periodic; in fact, galaxy is too loose a term: it is a planetarium of deans with the President of the University as a central sun. One can see eclipses, inner systems, and oppositions.”
—Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (18571930)
“Incarnate devil in a talking snake,
The central plains of Asia in his garden,
In shaping-time the circle stung awake,
In shapes of sin forked out the bearded apple....”
—Dylan Thomas (19141953)