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Sequoia National Park
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The ability of the sequoias to survive and grow for 3,000 years is a testament to nature's ability to conjure up ever more creative and elegant ways to embody resiliency in the face of lifelong adversity.
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Silicon Valley
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The name is synonymous with innovation. Hard against the southern end of San Francisco Bay, Silicon Valley is the birthplace of Apple, Google and eBay, among other tech giants.
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The Grand Canyon
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The beauty and scale of the Grand Canyon put all of our man-made creations and problems into perspective. When one stands on the edge of this true wonder of the world, it is impossible not to feel a great sense of awe as well as a sense of connection to the universe.
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Sutter's Mill
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The home of the American Gold Rush — amazing stories of hope and discovery.
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Central Park
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The streets of Manhattan surround Central Park in New York City
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Wall Street
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A ribbon of lower Manhattan, Wall Street is the financial capital of the U.S. and a worldwide symbol of wealth and power.
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New York City
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The city that, more than any other in modern times, has been the magnet for people from all around the world, wanting to build a new life, fulfill their ambitions and realize even unanticipated dreams.
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Cape Canaveral
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Space shuttle Atlantis blasts off from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Centern July 8, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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Iguaçu National Park, Brazil
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Home to some of the most beautiful waterfalls on the planet. UNESCO designated the park a World Heritage Site in 1986.
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Vatican Museums, Vatican City
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The museums house Raphael's The School of Athens, Leonardo da Vinci's St. Jerome in the Wilderness and the Belvedere Torso as well as Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel. More than 4 million people visit each year.
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Stonehenge, Britain
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In 2008 archaeologists found cremated remains that suggest that the prehistoric monument Stonehenge, in County Wilshire, could have served as a burial ground as early as 3000 B.C.
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Dublin
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The Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin, Ireland
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Mainz, Germany
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Where Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, thus enabling social media, and thus the Reformation, the British and American revolutions, the Obama election and the Arab awakening.
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Waterloo
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At the Battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18, 1815, an Anglo-Prussian army defeated Napoleon, ending the Napoleonic wars. The Emperor was exiled to St. Helena, and after the Treaty of Paris was signed, a nearly 100-year period of relative peace — Britain's imperial century — ensued.
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The Galápagos Rift
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It was there, in 1977, that scientists diving in the submersible Alvin discovered the black smoker vents and the clams, crabs and giant tube worms with red plumes huddled around the formations. These discoveries revolutionized our understanding of the adaptability of life and opened our eyes to the possibility of biology beneath the icy rind of Jupiter's moon Europa. It's ironic and apt that this remarkable discovery was first made so close to another influential place, the Galápagos Islands, where Charles Darwin first described the finches that would play such a pivotal role in his formulation of the theory of evolution and ultimately how the human species came to exist in this wondrous universe.
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The Louvre
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The world's most visited museum drew a record 8.8 million people in 2011. The Louvre not only houses an art collection but is also a historical site, with additions from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. All that square footage means space for more than 35,000 works of art.
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The Bastille
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A medieval fortress in Paris that represented royal authority, the Bastille was a nearly empty prison when demonstrators stormed its battlements on July 14, 1789. The great act of public defiance is remembered as the flash point of the French Revolution and celebrated every summer.
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European Central Bank, Frankfurt
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The mission of the bank is to maintain price stability in the euro zone — a pretty difficult job for the past three years and one that has commanded the world's attention.
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Athens
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There, through the extraordinary human creativity of classical Greece, ideas of art, science and democracy flourished that have reverberated for centuries.
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Western Wall, Jerusalem
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Located in Jerusalem's Old City, the foot of the Temple Mount's western side is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism. It has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. People write prayers and place them in the wall's crevices. More than a million notes are left in the Western Wall each year; every six months, the notes are collected and buried in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
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Calvary Hill, Jerusalem
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One of the holiest sites in Christianity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains the Stone of Anointing, which is said to be the surface on which Joseph of Arimathea prepared Jesus' body for burial. Each year, thousands of Christians undertake a pilgrimage to the Old City and walk the Via Dolorosa, Jesus' path to the Crucifixion.
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Istanbul
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The bridge between East and West is the only city in the world to be on two continents, Europe and Asia. Formerly Constantinople and Byzantium, it was where the capital of the Roman Empire moved when Rome fell. Future capital of "Eurabia" once the integration of the E.U. toward Turkey, Israel and the Middle East moves the axis of the West back east.
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Mecca
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It is the holiest city in Islam, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and site of the Koran's composition. More than 13 million Muslims visit this Saudi city annually, several million during the hajj, the pilgrimage that is the fifth pillar of Islam.
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Damascus
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The archetypal crossroads. It is heartbreaking that the city with the most artistic content in the world — and, by definition, the greatest evidence of mankind's creative ability to live together over more than 25 centuries — may be on the brink of being ripped apart.
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Ethiopia
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The single most significant place in human history is where hominids first evolved and emerged. More specifically, the Afar region of Ethiopia has been the site where many of the most significant early hominid fossils have been unearthed, including the Australopithecus afarensis fossil find by Donald Johanson, dubbed Lucy.
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Africa
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The African Rift Valley, from Ethiopia down to Malawi, has been the center of the evidence of our origins and evolution. Some people call it the cradle of human evolution.
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The Great Pyramid and Sphinx, Giza
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Believed to have been built about 2500 B.C., the Sphinx is the world's oldest known monumental sculpture. The part human, part lion figure was once buried up to its neck in sand but was fully excavated in the 20th century. The tourists followed.
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Timbuktu
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It was the hub of one of the most important trading routes in Africa as far back as the 11th century, and the remnants of that are still there.
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Simien National Park, Ethiopia
(https://friendstamilchat.in/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.timeinc.net%2Ftime%2F2012%2Finfluentialplaces%2Fsemien.jpg&hash=18c38f76c42d128914b99e74af3aa2b6dca98c96)
The location of the highest point in Ethiopia, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. The park, which is accessible only by an unpaved road, contains some of the most beautiful mountains in Africa.
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Taj Mahal, India
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Built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in the mid–17th century, the domed Crown of Palaces in Agra attracts nearly 4 million visitors each year. Jahan built the Taj in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and it is one of the finest examples of architecture that combines Indian, Turkish and Persian styles.
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Mahabodhi Temple, India
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Its name translates as the Great Awakening Temple. This is the site where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. The temple, along with the nearby bodhi tree, is one of the four main Buddhist pilgrimage sites.
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Angkor, Cambodia
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Angkor was once the seat of the Khmer Empire. The ruins of the Siem Reap, known as the Great Gate to Angkor, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist destination.
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Great Barrier Reef, Australia
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The world's largest coral-reef system, known for its stunning biodiversity, lies off the coast of Queensland and covers 133,000 sq. mi. (345,000 sq km).
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Sydney Opera House
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The curved wings of the Sydney Opera House create the most recognizable silhouette in the skyline of Australia's largest city. In 2003, Danish architect Jorn Oberg Utzon received the Pritzker Prize for designing "one of the great iconic buildings of the 20th century."
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Fukushima, Japan
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Police search Ukedo beach, for the bodies of victims from the 2011 tsunami and earthquake, on February 27, 2012 in Namie, Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
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Koshima
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In the far south of Japan, a young Japanese macaque named Imo introduced two habits. Both were very useful habits; they were picked up by the rest of her troop, showing that monkeys can develop traditions and pass them on. Studies on animals owe a debt to Imo and Koshima.
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The North Pole
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From inspiring explorers at the turn of the 20th century to inciting debate over climate change today, the North Pole and surrounding Arctic have had a profound impact on our world.
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The Moon
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The surface of the moon, looking back toward earth. Earth adrift and alone in the darkness of space, the mere sight of which compels you to render pointless all human conflict and the mere thought of which drives you to care for its fragile ecosystem.