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Islamabad

Islamabad

Islamabad (Urdu: ‏اسلام آباد, population 810,000) is the capital city of Pakistan, located in the Potwar Plateau, north-east of the country. It is located within the Islamabad Capital Territory, though the area has historically been a part of the crossroads of the Punjab region and the North-West Frontier Province (the Margalla pass being a historic gateway to the North-West Frontier Province, and the Potwar plateau historically a part of the Punjab). Islamabad is located at . On 8 October, it was hit by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which struck with a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale.

Geography and climate

The city is situated at the edge of the Potwar plateau, south of the Margalla hills. The modern capital Islamabad and the ancient Gakhar city of Rawalpindi stand side by side, displaying the country’s past and present. The area's micro-climate is regulated by three man-made lakes (Rawal, Simli and Khanpur). The city has hot summers with monsoon rains occurring during July and August. During the winters, even on the few days when pre-dawn temperatures fall below freezing, the afternoons are usually sunny and mild — in the coldest month, January, the average daily maximum temperature is 16°C (61°F).

History

monsoon From independence until 1958 Pakistan's capital was Karachi in Sindh in the far south. Worries about the concentration of investment and development in that city are said to have led to the idea of building a new capital in a different location. During the administration of Pakistani President Ayub Khan, a site immediately north of Rawalpindi was chosen. Rawalpindi was designated as the temporary capital. Work on the new capital started during the 1960s. The planning and construction was largely headed by the Greek urban planner Constantinos A. Doxiadis. His plan revolved around the building of the city in sectors, each containing four sub-sectors separated by green belts and parks. There was a strong emphasis on greenery and open space. When Islamabad was finally built growth was slow - the government did not fully relocate to the city from Rawalpindi until the 1980s. During this time the capital's population was small, at around 250,000. This changed dramatically during the 1990s with the population increasing, instigating the building of new sectors. green belt]

Tourism and sightseeing

Sightseeing

For sightseeing, the views from the sculpted gardens of Islamabad's Shakparian Hill, the fascinating Heritage Museum and huge marble Shah Faisal Mosque are highlights of the modern city. To the west of Islamabad is the Buddhist site of Taxila, dating from 500BC. The sculptures show a strong Greek influence, a result of Alexander the Great's journey through the region.The commercial center of the city is known as the Blue Area running along the length of Jinnah Avenue. Its eastern end runs into Parliament Road, where the majority of government buildings are located. The city is very green, with much afforestation of what was formerly scrub forest and open ground. The city's climate has enabled many exotic plants to be introduced to the area. There is also much wildlife in the north in the Margallas, which have been turned into a national park.

Architecture

Islamabad's architecture walks a tight-rope between modernity and tradition.The Saudi-Pak Tower is a good example of modern and traditional in one building. The city is home to the Faisal Mosque, which is well-known for its architecture and immense size. Quaid-i-Azam University is also located in the capital city along with numerous government buildings and foreign embassies such as the National Assembly building, the Supreme Court building, the President's official residence(Aiwan-e-Sadr) and the Prime Minister's secretariat. Another landmark is a giant silver-colored Globe Statue, installed in 2004 to mark Pakistan's hosting of that year's SAARC Summit.

Tourist attractions and facilities

SAARC
- Shah Faisal Mosque
- Margalla Hills
- Daman-e-Koh
- Shaker Parrian
- Golra_sharif
- Lotus Lake
- Pakistan Museum of Natural History
- Islamabad Museum
- Islamabad Zoo
- Lok Virsa Museum
- Supreme Court of Pakistan
- National Parliament of Pakistan
- Japanese Park
- China town
- Chattar bagh
- Fatima Jinnah Park
- Rawal dam
- Play Land

Hotels and other facilities

- Marriott Hotel
- Holiday Inn Hotel
- Serena Hotel
- Pearl Continental Hotel

Universities in Islamabad

- Quaid-i-Azam University (in sector G-4)
- International Islamic University (in sector H-10)
- Allama Iqbal Open University (in Sector H-8)
- National University of Modern Languages (in Sector H-9)
- COMSATS Institute of Information Technology www.ciit.edu.pk (in Sector H-9)
- Federal Urdu University of Arts,Science and Technology (in Sector G-7)
- National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences(FAST-NUCES) (in Sector H-11)
- Air University (in Sector E)
- Bahria University (in Sector E)
- Al-Huda University (in Sector H-11)
- SZABIST (in Sector F8)

External links

- [http://www.worldisround.com/articles/35849/index.html Images of Islamabad]
- [http://www.pakistanpics.com/ Picture and Photo Gallery of Pakistan]
- [http://www.itspakistan.net/pakistan/default.aspx itsPakistan - About Pakistan and Major Cities]
- [http://islamabad.net/ Islamabad.net - City Web Guide]
- [http://waqas.fotopic.net/c563017.html Photos from Islamabad, by Waqas Usman] Category:Planned cities Category:Capitals in Asia Category:Cities in Pakistan ko:이슬라마바드 ja:イスラマバード

Urdu

Urdu (اردو) is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family which developed under and Arabic influence in the South Asia during the time of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). Taken by itself, Urdu is approximately the twentieth most populous natively spoken language in the world, and is the national language of Pakistan as well as one of the 24 national languages of India. However, Urdu is often considered to be part of a wider Hindustani language, in which case it is the fourth most populous language in the world.

Speakers and geographic distribution

In Pakistan, Urdu is spoken as a mother tongue by a majority of urban dwellers in such cities as Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur all in the southern province of Sindh. However, in Sindh Urdu is widely identified as the language of the Mohajir Muslim refugees from India who displaced the largely urban 40% minority of Hindu Sindhis who departed for India after independence in 1947; as such it is widely resented by native Sindhis, who remain a largely rural population, and who continue to regard Urdu as a somewhat foreign element deriving from Delhi and Lucknow. In spite of its status as the national language, only 7.57% [http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/statistics.html] of Pakistanis speak Urdu as their first language, compared to 44.15% [http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/statistics.html] who speak Punjabi as their mother tongue. Urdu is, however, together with English the language of prestige: all signage, and education, is in Urdu and the number of Urdu speakers is increasing quickly in urban centres. That being said, Sindhis complain that they are considerably disadvantaged by the pre-eminence of Urdu in the universities, particularly in the mandatory Muslim religious instruction courses and often they obtain spectacularly poor Islamic studies results -- not at all because they are deficient in their adherence to Islam but only because of the universities' insistence on Urdu rather than Sindhi as the language of religious instruction. In India, Urdu is spoken as a mother tongue in the northern and central states by three times the population it has in Pakistan. While Indian Muslims might ostensibly be seen as identifying more with Urdu, Hindus and Sikhs naturally speak Urdu regardless of religion, especially when they have grown up in such traditional Urdu strongholds as Lucknow and Hyderabad. Indeed, many contend that the language spoken in Bollywood films is closer to Urdu than to Hindi, especially in filmi songs. Urdu is also spoken in urban Afghanistan. Outside the South Asia, it is spoken by large numbers of workers in the major urban centres of the Persian Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. Urdu is also spoken by large numbers of immigrants and their children in the major urban centres of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Norway and Australia. Countries with large numbers of first-language Urdu speakers:

- India (48.1 million [1997]),
- Pakistan (11.77 million [2005][http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/statistics.html]),
- Bangladesh (750,000),
- United Kingdom (745,000 [2001][http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=273]),
- Saudi Arabia (550,000),
- United Arab Emirates (500,000),
- United States (350,000),
- Nepal (275,000),
- South Africa (200,000 South Asian Muslims, many of which speak Urdu),
- Oman (90,000),
- Canada (80,895 [2001] [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/lang/highlights.cfm]),
- Bahrain (80,000),
- Mauritius (74,000),
- Qatar (70,000),

- Germany (40,000),
- Norway (26,950 [2005] [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/10/innvbef_en/tab-2005-05-26-02-en.html]),
- France (20,000),
- Spain (18,000 [2004][http://www.pakistanlink.com/Letters/2004/July04/02/10.html]),
- Sweden (10,000 [2001][http://www.answers.com/topic/demographics-of-sweden]), ,
- Thailand (5,000 South Asians),
- Afghanistan,
- Japan,
- Fiji,
- Guyana,
- Australia,
- Denmark,
- Italy,
- New Zealand.

Official Status

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. It shares official language status with English. Although English is used in most elite circles, and Punjabi has a plurality of native speakers, Urdu is the lingua franca, and it is commonly expected to prevail. Urdu is also one of the official languages of India, and in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh, Urdu has official language status. While the government school system in most other states emphasizes Standard , universities in cities such as Lucknow continue to promote Urdu as a language of prestige and learning.

Classification and related languages

Urdu is a member of the Indo Aryan family of languages, which is in turn a branch of the Indo European family. It is part of a dialect continuum which extends across northern South Asia from to . These idioms all have similar grammatical structures and a large portion of their vocabulary in common. Punjabi, for instance, is very similar to Urdu: Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi script can be understood by speakers of Urdu with a little difficulty, but spoken Punjabi has a very different phonology (pronunciation system) and cannot be easily understood by Urdu speakers. However, the language mostly closely linked to Urdu is Standard Hindi. (See below.)

Dialects

Urdu has four recognized dialects, Dakhini, Pinjari, Rekhta, and Modern Vernacular Urdu. Modern Vernacular Urdu is the form of the language that is most widespread and is spoken around Delhi, Lucknow and Lahore. Dakhini (also known as Dakani, Deccani, Desia, Mirgan) is spoken in Maharashtra state in India and around Hyderabad. It has fewer Persian and Arabic words than standard Urdu. In addition, Rekhta (or Rekhti), the language of Urdu poetry, is sometimes counted as a separate dialect.

Grammar

Urdu nouns fall into two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. However, there is disagreement over the gender of some words, particularly words newly introduced from English which do not have genders. In Urdu there is also a singular or a plural noun form.

Levels of formality in Urdu

Urdu in its less formalized register has been referred to as a raikhtha (ریختہ, "rough mixture"). This is essentially Hindustani. The more formal register of Urdu is sometimes referred to as Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Moalla (زبانﹺ اردوﹺ معلہ), the "Language of Camp and Court". The etymology of the word used in the Urdu language for the most part decides how polite or refined your speech is. Urdu speakers would distinguish between paani and aab for example, or between kunwara and mard, or patii and parineeta. If a word is of Persian or Arabic origin, the level of speech is considered to be more formal and grand. Similarly, if Persian or Arabic grammar constructs, such as the Izafat are used in Urdu, the level of speech is also considered more formal and grand. An example of this would be the difference between Jinhe naaz hai Hind par, woh kahaan hai and sanaqaan-e-tasdeeq-e-mashriq kahaan hai.

Politeness

A host of words are used to show respect and politeness. These words are generally used with people who are older in age or with whom you are not acquainted. For example the English pronoun 'you' can be translated into three words in Urdu: the singular forms 'tu' (informal, extremely intimate, or derogatory) and 'tum' (informal) and the plural forms 'aap' (formal and respectful).

Vocabulary

Urdu has a vocabulary rich in words with Indian and Middle Eastern origins. The borrowings are dominated by words from Persian, and Arabic. There are also a number of borrowings from Sanskrit, Turkish, Portuguese and more recently English. Many of the words of Arabic origin have different nuances of meaning and usage than they do in Arabic.

Writing System

English Urdu is written in a derivative of the Persian alphabet, which is itself derivative of the Arabic alphabet. Like Semitic Languages, Urdu script is written from right to left. Urdu is similar in appearance and letters to Arabic, Persian, and Pashto. In their modern incarnation, Urdu differs in appearance from Arabic in that it typically uses the more complex and sinuous Nasta’liq style of script, whereas Arabic is more commonly written in the modernized Naskh style. Nasta’liq is notoriously difficult to typeset, so Urdu newspapers were made from hand-written masters (a.k.a katib or khush-navees) till late 1980s. The daily Jang was the first urdu newspaper composed in Nasta’liq on computer. There are efforts underway to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Urdu support on computers and internet. Now-a-days, nearly all urdu newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals composed on computers via various urdu software. Usually, bare transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters omit many phonemic elements which have no equivalent in English or other languages commonly written in the Latin alphabet. It should be noted that a reasonably comprehensive system has emerged with specific notations to signify non-English sounds, but it can only be properly read by someone already familiar with Urdu, Persian, or Arabic for letters such as:ژ خ غ ط ص or ق and Hindi for letters such as ڑ . This script may be found on the internet, and it allows people understanding the language without knowledge of their written forms to communicate with each other. A list of the Urdu alphabet and pronunciation is given below . Urdu contains many historical spellings from Arabic and Persian, and therefore has many irregularities. The Arabic letters yaa and haa are split in two in Urdu; one of the yaa variants is used at the ends of words for a long ē sound, and one of the haa variants is used to indicate the aspirated consonants. The retroflex consonants needed to be added as well; this was accomplished by placing a superscript ط (toay) above the corresponding dental consonants. Several letters which represent distinct consonants in Arabic are conflated in Persian, and this has carried over to Urdu. Urdu is occasionally also written in the Roman script. Roman Urdu has been used since the days of the British Raj, partly as a result of the availability and low cost of Roman movable type for printing presses. The use of Roman Urdu was common in contexts such as product labels. Today it is regaining popularity among users of text-messaging and Internet services and is developing its own style and conventions. Habib R. Sulemani says, "the younger generation of Urdu speaking people around the world are using [Romanized Urdu] on the Internet and it has become essential for them, because they use the Internet and English is its language. A person from Islamabad chats with another in Delhi on the Internet only in Roman Urdu. They both speak (almost) the same language but with different scripts […]. Moreover, the younger generation of those who are from the English medium schools or settled in the west, can speak Urdu but can’t write it in the traditional Arabic script and thus Roman Urdu is a blessing for such a population."

Examples

Literature

Urdu has only become a literary language in recent centuries, as Persian and Arabic were formerly the idioms of choice for "elevated" subjects. However, despite its late development, Urdu literature boasts some world-recognized artists and a considerable corpus.

Prose

Religious

After Arabic, Urdu holds the largest collection of work on Islamic literature and sharia. These include translations and interpretation of Quran, commentary on Hadidh, Fiqh, history, spirituality, sufism and metaphysics. A great number of classical texts from Arabic and Persian, have also been translated into Urdu. Relatively inexpensive publishing, combined with the use of Urdu as a lingua franca among Muslims of South Asia, has meant that Islam-related works in Urdu far outnumber such works in any other South Asian language. One of the most popular Islamic books was originally written in Urdu, the Faizal-e-Amal.

Literary

Secular prose includes all categories of widely known fiction and non-fiction work, separable into genres. The daastaan, or tale, a traditional story which may have many characters and complex plotting. This has now fallen into disuse. The afsaana, or short story, probably the best-known genre of Urdu fiction. The best-known afsaana writers, or afsaana nigaar, in Urdu are Saadat Hasan Manto, Qurat-ul-Ain Haider, Munshi Premchand, Krishan Chander, Ghulam Abbas, Banu Qudsia and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi. Premchand, a Hindi writer, became known as a pioneer in the afsaana, though some contend that his were not technically the first as Sir Ross Masood had already written many short stories in Urdu. Novels form a genre of their own, in the tradition of the English novel. Other genres include saférnama, sarguzisht, inshaeya, murasela, and khud navvisht.

Poetry

Novel Urdu has been the premiere language of poetry in South Asia for two centuries, and has developed a rich tradition in a variety of poetic genres.
- Ghazal (غزل), as practiced by many poets in the Arab tradition. Mir, Ghalib, Dagh and Faiz are well-known composers of ghazal.
- Nazm
- Qat'ã
- Rubai
- Masnavi
- Musaddas
- Qaseeda
- Geet
- Sehra
- Marsia
- Shehr aashob
- Doha, Urdu Foreign forms such as the sonnet, azad nazm and haiku have also been used by some modern Urdu poets. Probably the most widely recited, and memorized genre of contemporary Urdu poetry is naat—panegyric poetry written in praise of the Prophet Muhammad. Naat can be of any formal category, but is most commonly in the ghazal form. The language used in Urdu naat ranges from the intensely colloquial to a highly Persianized formal language. The great early twentieth century scholar Imam Ahmad Raza Khan, who wrote many of the most well known naats in Urdu, epitomized this range in a ghazal of nine stanzas (bayt) in which every stanza contains half a line each of Arabic, Persian, formal Urdu, and colloquial Hindi. The same poet composed a salaam—a poem of greeting to the Prophet Muhammad, derived from the unorthodox practice of qiyam, or standing, during the mawlid, or celebration of the birth of the Prophet—Mustafa Jan-e Rahmat, which, due to being recited on Fridays in some Urdu speaking mosques throughout the world, is probably the more frequently recited Urdu poems of the modern era. Another important genre of urdu prose are the poems commemorating the martyrdom of imam Hussain and Battle of Karbala, called noha (نوحہ) and marsia. Anees and Dabeer are famous in this regard.

History

Urdu developed as local Indo-Aryan dialects came under the influence of the Muslim courts that ruled the South Asia from the early thirteenth century on. The official language of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and their successor states, as well as the cultured language of poetry and literature, was , while the language of religion was . The mingling of these languages led to a vernacular that is the ancestor of today's . Dialects of this vernacular are spoken today in cities and villages throughout Pakistan and northern India. Cities with a particularly strong tradition of Urdu include Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Lucknow. The birthplace of the Urdu language is not known with certainty. Urdu literature has been found from the Delhi Sultanate. One hypothesis proposes that Urdu originated in or around Delhi over a period of several centuries, and that initially it was used and adopted by Muslims. The word urdu itself comes from the word ordu, "tent" or "army", from which we get the word "horde". Hence Urdu is sometimes called "Lashkari zaban" or the language of the Army. Wherever Muslim soldiers and officials settled, they carried Urdu with them. Urdu (along with Persian) enjoyed commanding status in the literary courts of Muslim rulers and nawabs, and flourished under their patronage, partially displacing Sanskrit as the language of religious intellectuals in Indian society. The prestige bestowed upon Urdu at the expense of Sanskrit was a source of irritation for many religious Hindus, and to this day there remains religiously motivated conflict between the languages that sometimes makes dialogue difficult.

Urdu and Hindi

Standard Urdu and Standard Hindi are sometimes considered to be distinct languages, and sometimes dialects of a Hindustani language. There are two fundamental distinctions between them: the source of learned vocabulary (Persian or Sanskrit), and the script used to write them (an adaptation of the Persian script written in Nasta'liq style, or the devanagari alphabet). In colloquial situations in Delhi, where neither learned vocabulary nor writing is used, the distinction between the Urdu and Hindi is nearly meaningless. Outside of the Delhi dialect area, the distinction may be more pronounced even in colloquial speech, for "Hindi" in such cases will often refer to the local dialect. The word 'Hindi' has two uses; confusion of these is one of the primary causes of debate about the identity of Urdu.
- One use of 'Hindi' is to indicate those idioms in the North Indian dialect continuum that are not recognized as separate languages from the language of Delhi. and are not considered Hindi because of their long history as literary languages and because of official recognition. , , and are also often recognized to be distinct languages, though sometimes considered Hindi dialects. However, many other local idioms, such as the languages, which do not have such a distinct identity, are almost always considered to be dialects of Hindi. In other words, the boundaries of "Hindi" have little to do with mutual intelligibility, and instead depend on social perceptions of what constitutes a language.
- The other use of the word is Standard Hindi, the specific form of the Delhi dialect of Hindi (called Hindustani) that is India's foremost national language. Standard Urdu is also a standardized form of Hindustani. Such a state of affairs, with two standardized forms of what is essentially one language, is known as a diasystem. Colloquial Urdu, on the other hand, basically is Hindustani; it can be argued that Standard Hindi is a form of colloquial Urdu, intentionally de-Persianized and de-Arabicized, with its formal vocabulary borrowed instead from Sanskrit. The colloquial language spoken by villagers and the lower classes of Delhi is indistinguishable by ear, whether it is called Hindi or Urdu by its speakers. The only important distinction at this level is in the script: if written in the Arab-Persian script, the language is generally considered to be Urdu, and if written in devanagari it is generally considered to be Hindi. However, since independence the formal registers used in education and the media have become increasingly divergent in their vocabulary. Where there is no colloquial word for a concept, Standard Urdu uses Perso-Arabic vocabulary, while Standard Hindi uses Sanskrit vocabulary. This results in the official languages being heavily Sanskritized or Persianized, and nearly unintelligible to speakers educated in the other standard. These two standardized registers of Hindustani have become so entrenched as separate languages that often nationalists, both Hindu and Muslim, claim that Hindi and Urdu have always been separate languages. However, there are unifying forces as well. For example, it is said that Indian Bollywood films are made in "Hindi", but the language used in most of them is the same as that of Urdu speakers in Pakistan. The dialogue is frequently developed in English and later translated to an intentionally neutral Hindustani which can be easily understood by speakers of most North Indian languages, both in India itself and in Pakistan. The songs, however, are typically pure Urdu, and many of the top Urdu poets make their livings writing for "Hindi" films. That is why Indian films are extremely popular in Pakistan, and Pakistani TV is likewise popular in India.

Footnote

As in Ghalib's famous couplet where he compares himself to his great predecessor, the master poet Mir :

Urdu Script : ریختــہ کے تــم ہـی استــاد نہیں ہـو غــالب : کہتے ہیں اگلے زمانے میں کوئی میر بھی تھا Romanized :Raikhtha kai tum hee ustadh nahee ho Ghalib :Kehthay hain aglay zamaanay main ko'ee Mir bhee thhaa Translation :You, alone, are not the only expert of 'Raikhta', Ghalib :It is said that even once there existed someone named, Mir

Bibliography

- Asher, R. E. (Ed.). (1994). The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-0803-5943-4.
- Azim, Anwar. (1975). Urdu a victim of cultural genocide. In Z. Imam (Ed.), Muslims in India (p. 259).
- Chatterji, Suniti K. (1960). Indo-Aryan and Hindi (rev. 2nd ed.). Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay.
- Dua, Hans R. (1992). Hindi-Urdu as a pluricentric language. In M. G. Clyne (Ed.), Pluricentric languages: Differing norms in different nations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-1101-2855-1.
- Dua, Hans R. (1994b). Urdu. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 4863-4864).
- Dua, Hans R. (1994a). Hindustani. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 1554).
- Kelkar, A. R. (1968). Studies in Hindi-Urdu: Introduction and word phonology. Poona: Deccan College.
- Khan, M. H. (1969). Urdu. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 5). The Hague: Mouton.
- Narang, G. C.; & Becker, D. A. (1971). Aspiration and nasalization in the generative phonology of Hindi-Urdu. Language, 47, 646-767.
- Ohala, M. (1972). Topics in Hindi-Urdu phonology. (PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles).
- Rai, Amrit. (1984). A house divided: The origin and development of Hindi-Hindustani. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-1956-1643-X.
See also
alphabetically arranged
- Ghazal
- India
- Languages of India
- Languages of Pakistan
- List of Urdu poets
- Muhajir
- Pakistan
- Persian and Urdu
- Urdu poetry
External links

Sites About Urdu

- [http://www.crulp.org/English%20Site/main.html CRULP] Center for research in Urdu language processing
- [http://www.urdustan.com/ Urdustan.com : oldest Urdu language website]
- [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/digbooks/dig_toc.html?BOOKID=PK1983.N2_1999_V1 Introductory Urdu (Volume 1)]
- [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/digbooks/dig_toc.html?BOOKID=PK1983.N2_1999_V2 Introductory Urdu (Volume 2)]
- [http://ur.wiktionary.org Urdu Wiktionary]
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Hindi-Urdu_phrasebook Wikitravel Hindi-Urdu Phrasebook]
- [http://www.shaikhsiddiqui.com/urdu.html History of Urdu Literature ]
- [http://www.neosense.com/products/urdu-extension/ NeoSense Urdu Extension for Ligature Parsing]
Online Use of Urdu

- [http://www.shairy.com Shairy.com:] Largest collection of Online Urdu poetry,Urdu Shairee, Shairy and forum
- [http://www.alqamaronline.com/ Al Qamar Online Urdu Network from London]
- [http://www.urduweb.org/wiki/ UrduWiki]
- [http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com Collaborative blog discussing the Urdu language and the affiliated culture]
- [http://www.urduweb.org/wiki/BloggingInUrdu Blogging In Urdu]
- [http://www.urduweb.org/wiki/UrduBlogsDirectory List of blogs in Urdu]
- [http://urdutemplates.blogspot.com/ Templates for blogging in Urdu]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/ BBC News in Urdu]
- [http://www.boriat.com Roznama Boriat Karachi] - Spoof News in Urdu Category:Languages of India Category:Languages of Pakistan Category:Urdu ko:우르두어 ms:Bahasa Urdu ja:ウルドゥー語 th:ภาษาอูรดู

Potwar

Potwar in nothern Pakistan is the country of the war-like Gakhar clan, later confirmed by the first Mughal Emperor Babur; "Sultan Sarang was now of age, and finding that he could not oust his cousin (Hati Khan) by force of arms, he procured his death by posion and assumed the chiefship in 1525. He and his brother made their submission to Babar, and Adam Khan, with a Gakhar force, attended him to Delhi, and for this the Potwar country was confirmed to them by the Emperor. " Rawalpindi Gazetteer 1894 (see also Baburnama). The Potwar Plateau lies between the Indus river on the west and the Jhelum river on the east. Its northern boundary is formed by the Margalla Hills and the Kala Chitta Range. The Kala Chitta Range rises to an average height of 450 - 900 m and extends for about 72 km. The southern boundary is the Salt Ranges (see [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-8-2004_pg7_32]). The ruins of the Shahi destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 11th Century and of ancient Gandhara destroyed in the 6th Century by the Hunas (Indo-Hephthalites) litter the countyside. Taxila is an ancient UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Potwar. Taxila (then called taksh-shila) was an Buddhist seat of learning, connected across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road, attracting students from all over the world. Ancient Takshashila was renowned all over the Buddhist world as home to a great university. It came under the control of the Persian Achaemenid Empire and then Alexander the Great and the Sassanians (see Indo-Sassanian). As a city in Gandhara it flourished during the first-fifth centuries AD. It was finally destroyed in c.450-c.565 by the Hunas (Indo-Hephthalites) Rawalpindi is a city in Potwar. The material remains found on the site of the city of Rawalpindi prove the existence of a Gandhara Buddhist establishment contemporary to Taxila but less celebrated than its neighbor. It appears that the ancient city also went into oblivion as a result of the same Hunas (Indo-Hephthalites) devastation. The Muslim invader, Mahmud of Ghazni (979 1030 A.D.), gifted the ruined city to the Gakhar Chief, Kai Gohar. The town, however being on invaders’ route, could not prosper and remained deserted until Jhanda Khan, another Gakhar Chief, restored it and gave the name of Rawalpindi after the village Rawal in 1493 AD. It was the capital of Pakistan; the new capital Islamabad was built next to it. Rohtas Fort located in the Potwar is another UNESCO World Heritage site, built by Sher Shah Suri in 1541 to control the Gakhars who remained loyal to the deposed Mughal Emperor Humayun ((see [http://www.travel.web.pk/destinations/archaeological_sites/rohtas_fort.asp], [http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=586]). Rawat Fort is located 17 km east of Rawalpindi, on the Grand Trunk (G.T) Road leading to Lahore. The grave of a Gakhar Chief, Sultan Sarang Khan is located inside the fort. He died in 1546 AD fighting against the forces of Sher Shah Suri. If one dares to climb the broken steps inside the tomb, one may get a panoramic view of the plateau and the Mankiala Stupa. The remains of this Buddhist Stupa lie about 32 km south east of Rawalpindi in Mankiala village. Apparently, this Gandhara stupa was built in the reign of Kanishka (128-151 AD). According to legend, Buddha had sacrificed parts of his body here, to feed seven hungry tiger-cubs. In 1930, several gold, silver and copper coins (660 - 730 AD) and a bronze casket having Khroshti inscriptions, were discovered from this stupa[http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.zyworld.com/slam33/rwt01.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.zyworld.com/slam33/rawat.htm&h=182&w=252&sz=15&tbnid=iPG_Prt6jXkJ:&tbnh=76&tbnw=106&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drawat%2Bfort%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D] Pharwala Fort is about 40 km from Rawalpindi beyond Lehtrar road. The Gakhar ruler, Sultan Kai Gohar built it in 15th century on the ruins of a 10th century Hindu Shahi Fort. Emperor Babur attacked the fort in 1519 AD before Hati Khan had acknowledged him. The Salt Range is dotted with Hindu temples, of which the most notable is the Katas Raj[http://www.arth.upenn.edu/saltrange/george/Ketas.html]. Located 25 kilometers from Chakwal, Katas Raj is notable in many ways. The temple was not abandoned by local Hindus when they migrated to East Punjab in 1947. Many legends sacred to the Hindus are associated with it, some of them involving Shiva himself. It has always been the site of holy pilgrimage. Even nowadays, through an agreement between India and Pakistan, Hindu worshippers perform a pilgrimage to the temple every year and bathe in the sacred pool around which Katas Raj is built. While Katas Raj has not received the publicity that it deserves, the two semi-ruined temples of the Hindu shahi period (650-950 AD) have been frequently photographed by newspapers and history journals. The remains are very beautifully carved and conforms to the best in temple architecture. Katas Raj is also held sacred by Hindus for another reason. Legend says that the five Pandava brothers, heroes of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, stayed here for four out of the 14 years that they spent in exile. A joint project with Professors Abdur Rehman, past Chairman of the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, and Farid Khan, founder of the Pakistan Heritage Society, has begun to analyse and document these important monuments in the history of South Asian temple architecture with funding from the University of Pennsylvania. Two seasons of excavation have been carried out at the site of North Kafirkot.[http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/arth/meister/pakistan.html]
- Jhelum Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 Online Edition.[http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/JEE_JUN/JHELUM_or_JEHLAM.html]
- Gujrat Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 Online Edition. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/GUI_HAN/GUJRAT.html]
- "Potwar Plateau." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. [Accessed November 10, 2005].

Islamabad Capital Territory

Islamabad Capital Territory is the capital of Pakistan. It is located to the north of Punjab and to the south of North-West Frontier Province.

Introduction

Islamabad was designed and built to be a modern capital for Pakistan. It is located amongst the Margalla Hills at the northern end of Pothowar Plateau. It was established in 1960 by the orders of then President General Ayub Khan. The capital is full of natural terraces and meadows and the southern plain drained by the Kurang River with the Margalla Hills in the north east.

Area and population

The city is divided into eight basic zones:
- Administrative
- Diplomatic Enclave
- Residential Areas
- Educational Sectors
- Industrial Sectors
- Commercial Areas
- Rural Areas and
- Green Areas Each sector has its own shopping area and public park. The population of the city is around 950,000 people with an area of about 910 square kilometers. The city lies at latitudes 33° 49' north and longitudes 72° 24' east with altitudes ranging from 457 to 610 meters.

Climate

It offers a healthy climate, pollution free atmosphere, plenty of water and a lush green area. It is a modern and carefully planned city with wide tree-lined streets, large houses, elegant public buildings and well-organised bazars/markets/shopping centres. The average humidity level is 55% with an average rainfall of 1150 millimeters each year. The city is quite moderate when it comes to its weather. The maximum average temperature is 29 °C and goes down to average minimum of around 14 °C.

Education

Islamabad has some of the fine educational institutes of Pakistan, including Quaid-e-Azam University, International Islamic University and National University of Science and Technology. Quaid-e-Azam University offers courses in a number of subjects. The institute is located in a semi hilly area, east of the Secretariat buildings and near the base of Margala Hills. This Post-Graduate institute is spread over 1500 acres (6 km²). Major buildings of the campus have been designed in such a way as to form an axial spine with the library in the center. Quaid-e-Azam University now occupies an enviable position in the academic world.

Shah Faisal mosque

The enormous Shah Faisal Mosque sits at the foot of the Margalla Hills. It represents an eight-faceted desert 'tent' supported on four giant concrete girders and surrounded by four 90-metre high concrete minuets. The central 'tent' is faced in white marble and decorated inside with mosaics and a spectacular chandelier. The mosque was designed by the Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay, and largely financed by donations from Saudi Arabia. About 15,000 people fit inside, with room for another 85,000 in the courtyard.

External links

- [http://www.itspakistan.net/pakistan/islamabad.aspx Read More About Islamabad on itsPakistan]
- [http://www.itspakistan.net/pakistan/gallery_isb.aspx Picture Gallery of Islamabad on itsPakistan] Category:Subdivisions of Pakistan ko:이슬라마바드 수도권

North-West Frontier Province

The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is the smallest of the four provinces of Pakistan and is home to the Pashtuns (Afghans) and various other groups. Neighbouring regions include Afghanistan to the west and north, and the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir to the northeast and east. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas stand as a buffer between the NWFP and parts of Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory are to the south and east. The principal language is Pashto and the provincial capital is Peshawar. Some Pashtuns refer to the province as Pakhtunkhwa which means 'Land of the Pashtuns' in Pashto, while other Pakistanis sometimes refer to the province as 'Sarhad' in Urdu.

History

Urdu The NWFP was traditionally a part of Afghanistan, but was divided during the British rule of India (see Durand Line). Since ancient times the NWFP has been invaded by numerous groups including the Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Kushans, Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Mughals, Sikhs, and the British. The region was populated by unknown early groups possibly related to the Elamo-Dravidians or some groups indigenous to Afghanistan. Indo-European Aryan invaders conquered the region between 2000 and 1500 BCE and the Indo-Iranian languages they brought to the region became predominant. Later, these groups would become the Pashtuns and the various Dardic peoples who currently populate the region. The Vale of Peshawar was home to the Kingdom of Gandhara starting around the 6th century BCE and later ancient Peshawar became a capital of the Kushan Empire. The region was visited by such notable historical figures as Darius II, Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Winston Churchill among others. The region was, in ancient times, a major center of Buddhism as attested by recent archaeological and hermeneutic evidence:

- "The region of Ghandara has long been known as a major center of Buddhist art and culture around the beginning of the Christian era. But until recently, the Buddhist literature of this region was almost entirely lost. Now, within the last decade, a large corpus of Gandharan manuscripts dating from as early as the 1st century A.D. has come to light and is being studied and published by scholars at the University of Washinton. These scrolls, written on birch-bark in the Ghandaran language and the Kharosthi script, are the oldest surviving Buddhist literature , which has hitherto been known to us only from later and modern Buddhist canons. They also institute a missing link between original Indian Buddhism and the Buddhism of East Asia, which was exported primarily from Ghandara along the Silk Roads through Central Asia and thence to China".
Lecture: " Rediscovering the lost Buddhist literature of Ghandara" by Prof. Richard Salomon, University of Washinton, Seattle at Stanford University (2005) Buddhism remained prominent in the region until Muslim Arabs and Turks conquered the area before the 2nd millennium CE. Over the centuries local Pashtun and Dardic tribes were converted to Islam, while retaining some local traditions such as Pashtunwali or the Pashtun code of honor. The NWFP became part of larger Islamic empires including the Ghaznavid Empire and the empire of Muhammad of Ghor and was nominally controlled by the Delhi Sultanate and Ilkhantate Empire of the Mongols. The NWFP was an important borderland that was often contested by the Mughals and Safavids of Persia. During the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the NWFP required formidable military forces to control and the emergence of Pashtun nationalism through the voice of local warrior poet Khushal Khan Khattak united some of the tribes against the various empires around the region. The area, as a predominantly Pashtun region, merged following a loya jirga with the Durrani Empire founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 and remained mainly under Afghan control until the coming of the British. A series of conflicts known as the Anglo-Afghan wars during the imperialist Great Game between Britain and Russia led to the eventual dismemberment of Afghanistan. The annexation of the region led to the demarcation of the Durand Line and administration as part of British India. The Durand line is a term for the poorly marked 2,450 kilometer (1,519 mile) border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. After being defeated in two wars against Afghans, the British succeeded in 1893 in imposing the Durand line, dividing Afghanistan and what was then British India (now Pakistan). Named for Sir Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of the Indian government, it was agreed upon by representatives of both governments. One of the two representatives of the Afghan government was the revered Ahmadi Sahibzada Abdul Latif of Khost. The border was drawn intentionally to cut through the Pashtun tribes. During the early 20th century the so-called Red Shirts led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan agitated through non-violence for an independent Pashtun state. Following partition, the NWFP voted to join the new state of Pakistan in 1947. However, Afghanistan's loya jirga of 1949 declared the Durand Line invalid. During the 1950s, Afghanistan supported a secessionist movement in the NWFP known as the Pakhtunistan movement. The issue kept Pakistan and Afghanistan at odds for decades until the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Following the invasion over 3 million Afghan refugees poured into Pakistan, most residing in the NWFP. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the NWFP served as a major base for supplying the Mujahideen who fought the Soviets during the 1980s. The NWFP remained heavily influenced by events in Afghanistan and the civil war led to the rise of the Taliban, which had emerged in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a formidable political force that nearly took-over all of Afghanistan. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the NWFP became a frontline region again as part of the US-led 'war on terror'.

Geography and main attractions

war on terror, Pakistan.]] The NWFP sits mainly on the Iranian plateau and lies primarily in Central Asia, while parts of it overlap onto South Asia as well and this has led to considerable seismic activity (see 2005 Kashmir earthquake) in the province. The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, while the Attock bridge is a major crossing point over the Indus river in the east. The province has an area of 74,521 km² and its districts include Hazara (not to be confused with the Hazara people of Afghanistan), home to the town of Havelian, the western starting point of the Karakoram Highway. The capital and largest city of the province is Peshawar and other main cities include Nowshera, Mardan, Charsadda and Abbotabad. The province's main districts include Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Bannu, Peshawar, and Hazara. The region varies in topography from dry rocky areas in the south to forests and green plains in the north. The climate can be extreme with intensely hot summers to freezing cold winters. Despite these extremes in weather, agriculture remains important and viable in the area. The hilly terrain of Swat, Kalam, Naran and Kaghan is renowned for its beauty and attracts a great many tourists from neighbouring regions and from around the world. Swat-Kalam is also termed 'a piece of Switzerland' as there are many landscape similarities between it and the mountainous terrain of Switzerland. The chai-khanas of Peshawar's Old City allow visitors to witness the multicultural inhabitants in a relaxed setting. The Khyber Bazaar, Qissa Kahani Bazaar and other parts of Peshawar can remind visitors of an Arabian Nights tale. The Takht-i-Bahi is perhaps the most impressive Buddhist ruin in the province and dates back to the 1st century BCE.

Demographics and society

Takht-i-Bahi The NWFP has an estimated population of roughly 18 million that does not include more than 3 million Afghan refugees and their descendents in the province. The major language spoken in the NWFP is Pashto, and most of its residents are Pashtuns, especially in the lowlands and the southern areas of the NWFP. The main local tribes include the Afridi, Orakzai, Bangash, Khattak, Mahsud, Mohmand, Wazir, and Yusufzai and many other smaller tribes. The mountainous northern regions of the province known as the Kohistan District is also home to diverse ethnic groups and languages, such as Khowar, Hindko, Kohistani, Shina, Torwali, Kashmiri and Kalami. In addition, Afghan refugees, although predominantly Pashtun (including the Ghilzai and Durrani tribes), include hundreds of thousands of Persian-speaking Tajiks and Hazaras as well other smaller groups found throughout the province. Nearly all of the inhabitants of the NWFP are Muslim with a Sunni majority and Shia, Ismaili, and Ahmadi minorities, the latter having been declared 'non-Muslim' by the government following pressure from extremist groups in the 1970s.

Economy and education

Agriculture remains important and the main cash crops include wheat, maize, rice, sugar beets, as well as various fruits are grown in the province. Some manufacturing and high tech investments in Peshawar has helped improve job prospects for many locals, while trade in the province can involve nearly every product known to man as the bazaars in the province are renowned throughout Pakistan. Numerous workshops throughout the province support the manufacture of small arms and weapons of various types. Trade with Afghanistan remains important as well, including illegal drug trafficking that largely moves through the province on its way to markets in the West. The trend towards higher education is rapidly increasing in the province and the NWFP is home to Pakistan's foremost engineering university (GIK Institute) which is located in Topi, a town in the lower part of the province. The University of Peshawar is also a notable institution of higher learning. The Frontier Post is perhaps the province's best known newspaper and addresses many of the various issues facing the local population.

Social issues

The NWFP continues to have an image problem. Even within Pakistan it is regarded as a "radical state" and a "backwater" due to the rise of Islamist parties in the province and purported support for the remnants of the Taliban who are believed by some to be hiding in the province. In reality the NWFP has been the most stable and peaceful of Pakistan's provinces. The plagues of sectarianism, terrorism and insurrection have not been a problem in the North-West Frontier and the local economy has met with significant gains in spite of hosting millions of Afghan refugees, many of whom have been integrated into the local society. The NWFP remains closely linked to Afghanistan and is a natural bridge for Pakistan's hopes to conduct trade with Central Asia, including the possibility of oil and natural gas pipelines. Pashtuns within the NWFP have sought to rename the province Pakhtunkhwa, which translates to "Land of the Pakhtuns" in Pashto. This has been opposed by the people of the mountainous northern regions of NWFP, many of whom are non-Pashtuns.

External links

- NWFP WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT [http://nwfpwildlifedept.gov.pk/].
- The Frontier Post [http://frontierpost.com.pk/]. Category:Provinces of Pakistan Category:2005 Kashmir earthquake ko:노스웨스트프런티어 주

North-West Frontier Province

History

Geography and main attractions

Demographics and society

Economy and education

Social issues

External links

8 October

October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years). There are 84 days remaining in the year.

Events

- 451 - At Chalcedon, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor, the first session of the Council of Chalcedon begins (ends on November 1).
- 1480 - Great standing on the Ugra river
- 1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1600 - San Marino adopts its written constitution.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Perryville - Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell halt the Confederate invasion of Kentucky by defeating troops led by General Braxton Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky.
- 1871 - Three major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and Holland, Michigan
- The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous of these, burning 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) in one day, eventually destroying about 17,450 buildings, and killing about 250 people while leaving another 90,000 homeless.
- The Peshtigo Fire burns 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) across six counties in one day and kills 1,200 to 2,500 people, making it the deadliest in United States history.
- The Holland Fire destroys at least two towns.
- 1895 - Queen Min of Joseon, the last empress of Korea, was assassinated.
- 1912 - First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against Turkey.
- 1918 - World War I - In the Argonne Forest in France, United States Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.
- 1932 - The Indian Air Force is established.
- 1939 - World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
- 1941 - World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
- 1944 - The radio show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet debuts
- 1952 - A three-train disaster in London kills 112 people.
- 1956 - New York Yankees baseball pitcher Don Larsen pitches first (and only) perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
- 1957 - Baseball: Walter O'Malley announces that the Dodgers are going to move from Brooklyn, New York to Los Angeles, California
- 1962 - Spiegel scandal: Der Spiegel publishes the article "Bedingt abwehrbereit" ("Conditionally prepared for defense") about a NATO manoeuver called "Fallex 62", which uncovered the sorry state of the Bundeswehr (Germany's army) facing the communist threat from the east at the time. The magazine was soon accused of treason.
- 1967 - Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: Operation Sealords - United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
- 1978 - Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.60mph at Blowering Dam, Australia.
- 1982 - Poland bans Solidarity.
- 1990 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount
- 1991 - The Croatian Parliament cuts all remaining ties with Yugoslavia
- 1998 - Oslo Airport Gardermoen, Norway opens.
- 1999 - New Coligny Calendar, NCC, The beginning of a new era of the Colignay Calendar, the oldest material Celtic calendar.
- 2001 - A twin engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy killing 118.
- 2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security, which will be headed by Tom Ridge.
- 2003 - Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark's engagement to Australian lawyer Mary Donaldson is announced
- 2004 - Martha Stewart goes to jail.
- 2004 - Schapelle Corby is arrested for drugs smuggling in Bali.
- 2005 - 2005 Kashmir earthquake hits parts of northern South Asia at 03:50 UTC.

Births

- 1515 - Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (d. 1578)
- 1676 - Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro, Spanish scholar (d. 1764)
- 1713 - Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi and Talmudist (d. 1793)
- 1715 - Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (d. 1774)
- 1720 - Jonathan Mayhew, American minister and patriot (d. 1766)
- 1747 - Jean-François Rewbell, French politician (d. 1807)
- 1765 - Harman Blennerhassett, Irish lawyer (d. 1831)
- 1789 - John Ruggles, American politician (d. 1874)
- 1818 - John Henninger Reagan, American and Confederate politician (d. 1905)
- 1834 - Walter Kittredge, American musician and composer (d. 1905)
- 1870 - Louis Vierne, French organist (d. 1937)
- 1877 - Hans Heysen, German-born landscape artist (d. 1968)
- 1883 - Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1887 - Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (d. 1956)
- 1888 - Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
- 1889 - C. E. Woolman, American airline founder (d. 1966)
- 1890 - Edward Rickenbacker, American pilot (d. 1973)
- 1895 - Juan Perón, President of Argentina (d. 1974)
- 1895 - Zog I, King of Albania (d. 1961)
- 1901 - Doris Allen, American psychologist (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and ethnomusicologist (d. 1977)
- 1910 - Kirk Alyn, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1910 - Gus Hall, American union organizer and Communist Party leader (d. 2000)
- 1910 - Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (d. 2003)
- 1917 - Billy Conn, American boxer (d. 1993)
- 1917 - Walter Lord, American author (d. 2002)
- 1917 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
- 1917 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
- 1918 - Jens Christian Skou, Danish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1920 - Frank Herbert, American writer (d. 1986)
- 1927 - Jim Elliot, American missionary (d. 1956)
- 1927 - César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2002)
- 1928 - Neil Harvey, Australian cricketer
- 1928 - Bill Maynard, British actor
- 1932 - Ray Reardon, Welsh snooker player
- 1936 - Rona Barrett, American gossip columnist
- 1936 - David Carradine, American actor
- 1938 - Fred Stolle, Australian tennis player
- 1939 - Paul Hogan, Australian actor
- 1941 - Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and civil rights activist
- 1943 - Chevy Chase, American comedian and actor
- 1943 - R. L. Stine, American author
- 1944 - Susan Raye, American country singer
- 1946 - Jean-Jacques Beineix, French film director
- 1946 - Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Congressman and Presidential candidate
- 1947 - Tony Wilson, British bassist and singer
- 1948 - Sarah Purcell, American television host
- 1948 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (d. 2004)
- 1949 - Sigourney Weaver, American actress
- 1950 - Robert Kool Bell, American musician (Kool & the Gang)
- 1952 - Jan Marijnissen, Dutch politician
- 1956 - Stephanie Zimbalist, American actress
- 1959 - Nick Bakay, American actor, voice actor, and comedian
- 1964 - CeCe Winans, American singer
- 1965 - Ardal O'Hanlon, Irish comedian
- 1965 - C-Jay Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones)
- 1969 - Julia Ann, American porn actress
- 1969 - Dylan Neal, Canadian actor
- 1970 - Matt Damon, American actor
- 1972 - Jason Bahr, American composer
- 1976 - Renate Groenewold, Dutch speed skater
- 1979 - Kristanna Loken, American actress and model

Deaths

- 1286 - John I of Dreux, Duke of Brittany (b. 1217)
- 1317 - Fushimi, Emperor of Japan (b. 1265)
- 1621 - Antoine de Montchrétien, French dramatist and economist
- 1647 - Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (b. 1562)
- 1652 - John Greaves, English mathematician and antiquarian (b. 1602)
- 1656 - John George I, Elector of Saxony (b. 1585)
- 1659 - Jean de Quen, French Jesuit missionary and historian
- 1735 - Yongzheng Emperor of China (b. 1678)
- 1754 - Henry Fielding, English author (b. 1707)
- 1772 - Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French composer (b. 1711)
- 1793 - John Hancock, American revolutionary and businessman (b. 1737)
- 1795 - Andrew Kippis, English non-conformist clergyman and biographer (b. 1725)
- 1809 - James Elphinston, Scottish philologist (b. 1721)
- 1834 - François-Adrien Boieldieu, French composer (b. 1775)
- 1869 - Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (b. 1804)
- 1894 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and writer (b. 1809)
- 1928 - Larry Semon, comedian (b. 1889)
- 1931 - Sir John Monash, Australian soldier general (b. 1865)
- <