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Religion

Cvliacanae, Americae regionis, descriptio. Hispaniolae, Cvbae, aliarvmqve insvlarvm circvmiacientivm, delineatio. Credit: dLOC
Review

Digital Library of the Caribbean

Educators, students, and scholars interested in understanding the strategic conflicts between European powers, the experience of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade, the emergence of the modern capitalist system, and the rise of neoliberalism would find in dLOC a wealth of content to draw
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Excerpt from letter by Lady Mary Wortley

Travel writing by women can reveal a number of themes in world history. One useful example are the letters written by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1786) who worked as a missionary in Turkey.

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Excerpt from the Asokavadana

The Asokavadana is a text written in Sanskrit that brings together oral traditions about Ashoka’s reign that did not die out when the Mauryan Empire collapsed, but spread throughout India

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Ashokan Pillar with a Single-Lion Capital at Vaishali, India

This is a photograph of one of the Ashokan pillars, topped with a single lion. (Other pillars are topped with three lions, an emblem that is now on the state seal of India and Indian coins,

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Selections from Ashoka, Rock and Pillar Edicts

The “rock and pillar edicts,” inscriptions that King Ashoka ordered carved in stone on large rocks in prominent places or on tall pillars that he had erected for this purpose, are the best record we have of Ashoka’s reign. The edicts are found in a number of different locations

Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Emperor Ashoka and Buddhism

Buddhism is based on the ideas of a north Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama (fl. ca. 500 B.C.E.), called the Buddha (“enlightened one”), who through meditation gained insight into what he understood were cosmic truths.

Close-up image of an early modern Ottoman sajjadah rug
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Early Modern Ottoman Carpet at the Walters Art Museum

This carpet is a specific type of carpet woven in the Islamic world called a sajjadah or prayer rug.

Close-up image of an early modern Ottoman sajjadah rug
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Islamic Carpet made in Ottoman Turkey at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This carpet is a specific type of carpet woven in the Islamic world called a sajjadah or prayer rug.

Image of a sixteenth-century Ottoman carpet showing a portion of the carpet's main design field that contains a triple arch design with slender double columns and a hanging lamp in the central archway
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Islamic Carpet made in Safavid Iran

This carpet called the Qazvin Carpet (also known as the "Salting Carpet") was made in late-sixteenth century Safavid Iran likely in a royal atelier.

Image of a sixteenth-century Ottoman carpet showing a portion of the carpet's main design field that contains a triple arch design with slender double columns and a hanging lamp in the central archway
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Early Modern Islamic Carpets as Transcultural Objects

Islamic carpets were ubiquitous in the early modern period (1500-1800) in Europe as much as it was in the Islamic world. They were important objects of decor within homes, imperial palaces, and religious buildings.