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The image above shows the Imperial Mosque in Pristina, Kosovo. The mosque was built in 1461 by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror after Kosovo was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1448. After deteriorating into poor condition, it was declared under state protection by Kosovo in 1953, and has undergone several restorations since. I chose this image to demonstrate how Islam is a traditional religion in many parts of Eastern Europe, especially in the Balkans, being spread by the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century. Kosovo continues to be a predominantly Muslim country, in spite of several years of ethnic and religious conflict with Serb countries. It also demonstrates how monument building and religion was often used to legitimize political power

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The picture above shows the Hagia Sophia church or Orhan Mosque in present day Iznik, Turkey. The church was built during the Byzantine Era in the fourth century and restored by Emperor Justinian I. After Nicea was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1331, it operated as a mosque until 1935 when it was designated as a museum. It was then restored (or rebuilt) and converted back into a mosque in 2011. I chose this image because it shows the interaction and importance of different beliefs, polities, and ethnicities in Anatolia. Iznik used to be the Ancient Greek city of Nicea, and hosted the First and Second Councils of Nicea. These councils helped consolidate the Christian religion by hosting an ecumenical council with all the major Christian groups to answer important theological questions. These answers included the Nicene Creed, which is the current statement of belief of mainstream Christianity. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, it was secularized under the regime of Mustafa Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, who was undertaking a series of secularizing reforms meant to modernize the nascent country. Its recent rebuilding reflects a trend of the resurgent role of Islam in Turkish society after decades of secularism, as well as emergent Islamist politics. More broadly, the shifting role of the mosque-museum-chruch demonstrates efforts to legitimize political power through religion and orthodoxy, often in spaces of significant diversity.

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The image I chose to represent Basra was the Shatt Al Arab River - the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates river that flows the city of Basra. I chose the river because Basra's proximity to the confluence highlights its crucial strategic importance in the past and in the future. Basra was first established under the second caliph, Umar I, as a military encampment due to its proximity to the Basra river. Over the subsequent centuries, Basra would be the center of constant unrest from people vying for political power and access to the Shatt Al Arab. This includes the important Battle of the Camel, the Zajj rebellion, the Ottoman incursions, the Iran-Iraq conflicts, and the Iraq War. At the same time, Basra has left a significant culture impression, with the construction of the first architecturally important mosque built in 665, the theological contributions of al Hasan al-Basri, and the city's presence in The Thousand and One Nights as the parting point of Sinbad the Sailor. The proximity to the river also plays a crucial role as an important port through which the flow of goods have brought prosperity to Basra since the Middle Ages and which continues to underline Basra's importance as the site of the newest largest port in the Middle East.

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The image above a statue of Miguel de Cervantes in the Greek city of Nafpaktos, formerly known by its Venetian name Lepanto. I chose this statue because it reflects a lionized history of conflict between the Christian European kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire as they vied for control over territory and the Gulf of Patras. Miguel de Cervantes is honored in the town because he was injured during the critical Battle of Lepantos in 1571, in which the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic States, gained a major victory over the Ottoman Empire. The battle was the largest naval battle since antiquity. Most importantly, the battle was lionized in European culture as a symbol of their religious defense, though as we know, the idea of holy religious war between the two states is not actually as accurate or binary as many early European historians would suggest. Nonetheless, the statue represents another example of how monuments and physical objects can serve to legitimize ideas and power.

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I chose the Kaylan Mosque as the photo to represent Bukhara. The mosque is part of the larger Poi Kalan complex in Bukhara, and was originally built in 1127 under the Kara-Khanid khanate and later rebuilt in 1535 after being destroyed by Genghis Khan. I chose this mosque as my photo to represent the largely ignored presence of Islam in Central Asia by many Eurocentric observers, as well as its proximity to a variety of different cultures and powers. Bukhara, at various points in history, has been under the control of Arabs, Turkic groups, Mongols, Persians, Uzbek khanates, and Russians (both in the 19th century and later as a Soviet state). The mausoleum of the great Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, who at one point captured the Ottoman sultan, is even buried in Uzbekistan. A rich tapestry of cultures and powers meet in Bukhara, and its ancient Islamic complex, built on top of an ancient Zoroastrian temple represents this history as well as the country's current predominant Muslim population. Finally, I also chose this location to bring attention to the fact that what we consider the Turkic people are actually a diverse array of ethnic groups that include both Turks and Uzbeks.

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Volga-Don Canal, Volgograd Oblast, Russia

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The image I chose shows the Volga-Don canal that connects the Volga River with the Don River at their shortest point in Southern Russia. The reason I chose this image is to demonstrate the importance of rivers and other natural features in creating frontier zones between different people that allow for intercultural interaction and exchange. The Volga River has always played an important role in connecting the people of "Europe" with "Asia" and the "Middle East." This is due not only to the Volga's incredible resources, which was partly responsible for the rise of the Russian people, but also for its length which enable the flow of trade through the continents. The Don River also played a similar role. The Ottoman Empire tried to connect the Volga and Don river previously to allow Central Asia Muslims to enter their territories and increase trade, but were ultimately unsuccessful. After their defeat at the hands of the Russians in the first Turco-Russian War, the Ottoman Empire ultimately abandoned these plans along with control of the river, but the dream of connecting the Volga and Don rivers persisted until it was completed in 1952. The importance of these rivers, and the interaction between Russia and the Ottoman Empire spanned their respective histories, often culminating in violent encounters such as the successive Turco-Russian wars.

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The image I chose shows a marooned fishing ship stuck in the middle of the now dried-up Aral Sea. I chose this image to show how the same environmental features that often shape cultures, interactions, histories, myths, and ambitions are ephemeral if they are not taken care of. The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world, and the center of thriving fishing economy and communities. The Aral sea's position meant it was often recorded by historians of different culture, including Al-Umari (a student of Ibn Taymiyya who recorded the Mamluk dynasty extensively), and Hafizi-Abru, a historian and poet with Timur's court. However, the diversion of the sea's main tributaries for irrigation projects (especially cotton) ultimately caused the river to dry up over the course of the 20th century in one of the worst ecological disasters in human history. The drying up of the sea caused incomprehensible damage to the communities living near it, both economical and biological, as pollution and dust from the sea bed and biological weapons from a secret Soviet base in the sea spread out throughout the area. My point in including this tragic tale is to highlight how ecology and environment, like the other examples in the project, play a crucial role in defining people's cultures and lives, and that they are worth protecting for posterity.

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The image I chose to represent the Zagros Mountains is Mount Dena, the highest point of elevation in the mountain range, towering at 14,465 feet. The reason I chose Mount Dena as my image is to highlight the role these mountains played as a both a frontier and a line of demarcation between different cultures and political entities, such as Mesopotamian and Median cultures, Parthians and Romans, and Persians and the Ottoman Empire. Like Anatolia, Iran has an incredibly geographic and cultural diversity. The Zagros mountains are one of several mountain ranges that protect the interior of Iran from incursions, while also being home to a vast variety of cultures, including Ethinc Persians, Assyrian Christians, Kurds, and Turks as well as Lurs, Bakhtyārī, and Qashqāʾī tribal groups. Like Anatolia, the mountains have extensive animal husbandry, but are also interconnected with major cities and the plains through extensive trade and craftsmanship!

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The photo I chose shows the view of the Danube River from the fortress of Nicopolis in northern Bulgaria. Like the Shatt Al-Arab, the Danube River had played a crucial role in the development of settlements and cultures along with route, and how efforts to control the waterway as a line of defense and as a trading route. The Danube river is the second-longest river in Europe, and connects the Balkans with Central Europe. The river has been, under various times, controlled by the Greeks, the Romans, and the Ottomans. So important was the river to economic interests that the Ottomans signed treaties with the Austrians and the Russians to establish free navigations on its water. But I chose Nikopol (Nicopolis as named by the Byzantines) as my photo to show that before it was a trading tool, the Danube was a defensive tool: the Ottomans used fortifications along the Danube as they expanded into the Balkans and the critical Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, in which Bayezid I routed a Crusader army by the King of Hungry, cementing Ottoman control of the area. Eventually, Nikopol would fall under the control of the Russians in 1877, but the river (along with the fortifications) serve as a reminder of a history of interaction, trade, and conflict between the Ottoman Empire and "European" states.

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The image I chose shows scores of people bathing in the Ganges (Ganga) river. The Ganga river, while comparatively short, is one of the most important rivers in Asia, flowing through one of the most highly fertile and populated areas in the world, supporting hundreds of millions of people and draining 1/4 of the territory of India. The river, at various times, has been controlled by Mauryan Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Harsha Empire, various Muslim empires, and the British empire, hosting a wide diversity of people, like Indo-Aryans, Turks, Mongols, Arabs, Afghans, and Persians. But the photo of the people bathing is significant because the Ganga role is also the most holy river in Hinduism, passing through the historical heartland of Hinduism. The river is the site of extensive Hindu pilgrimages, and bathing in the water (mela) is a well-established rite. However, the river has recently become one of the most polluted rivers in the world, as a consequence of being inundated by the waste of hundreds of millions of people, making bathing a health hazard and causing huge ecological damage.

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Claremont McKenna College, North Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA

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Claremont McKenna College, North Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA

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Claremont McKenna College, North Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA

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https://www.britannica.com/place/Kosovo

https://www.britannica.com/place/Iznik

https://www.britannica.com/event/First-Council-of-Nicaea-325

https://www.britannica.com/place/Basra

https://www.britannica.com/place/Shatt-Al-Arab

https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Lepanto

https://www.britannica.com/place/Bukhara

https://www.britannica.com/place/Volga-River

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Volga-Don-Canal

https://www.britannica.com/place/Aral-Sea

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-00728-7_5

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hafiz-i-Abru

https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Umari

https://www.britannica.com/place/Zagros-Mountains

https://www.britannica.com/place/Danube-River

https://www.britannica.com/place/Nikopol-Bulgaria

https://www.britannica.com/place/Ganges-River/Climate-and-hydrology#ref48080