[Batavia] ('good land'), East Indies. 6S. 107E. First European settlement f. by Pieter Both, 1610; new city f. by Jean Koen, 1621. Unsuccessfully besieged by Kings of Bantam and Jacantra, 1619. Earthquake experienced, 1699.
Bayana, Punjab. 26N. 77E. Contains temple with inscription dated 1043. Fort near captured by Mohammed Ghori, 1196; by Sikanda Lodi, 1492; by Humayun, 1535.
[Bayazid], Turkish Armenia. 39N. 44E. Captured by Russians, 1828, 1854, 1877. Yielded to Turkey by Treaty of Berlin, 1878.
Bednore ('bamboo city'), Mysore. 14N. 75E. Capital of Rajah of Ikari, 1645. Taken by Hyder Ali, 1763; by General Matthews, 1783; by Tippoo Sahib, 1784.
[Beer-Sheba] ('well of the oath'), Palestine. 31N. 35E. Only ruins remain of ancient city famous in Biblical history from time of Abraham's digging a well and planting a grove.
Begampur, Bombay. 18N. 76E. Contains tomb of daughter of Aurungzebe.
[Behar] ('monastery'), Bengal. 25N. 86E. Famous as ancient centre of Buddhism, and as city in which Buddha preached.
Behistun ('place of the gods'), Persia. 34N. 47E. Rock on which cuneiform inscriptions recounting deeds of Darius I. are engraved; discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1835.
Beit Jibrin, Syria. 32N. 35E. Visited by W. M. Thomson, and described in 'The Land and the Book.'
[Bela], Baluchistan. 26N. 66E. Contains tomb of Sir Robert Sandeman.