Cities of the World Educational Posters & Prints “Ma...-”
for social studies classrooms, home schoolers, theme decor for office and studio.

Maastricht, the Netherlands is a one of the oldest towns in Europe, located at a shallow crossing of the Meuse River.

Both Neolithic and Paleolithic archeological evidence are in the area, the Celts predated the Romans, followed by the Carolingian Empire in the Early Middle Ages.

Most Ancient European Towns Network: Argos, Beziers, Cadiz, Colchester, Cork, Evora, Maastricht, Roskilde, Tongeren, Worms.

Macau, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong, lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong-Kong.

Macau is a former Portuguese colony that was settled by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. It is both the first and last European colony in China.

Machu Picchu, “Old Peak”, one of the most recognized image of the Inca Empire, was built as an estate of an Inca emperor, the site chosen for its sacred landscape features in alignment with key astronomical events.

Situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba River valley in the Andes Mountains of Peru, Machu Picchu was known to the local population before being brought to international attention in 1911 by historian Hiram Bingham.

It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.

Machu Picchu is also across a valley from the ruins of Vilcabamba, a city founded by Manco Inca in 1539 as a resistence to the conquistadors. Vilcabamba was destroyed in 1572 by the Spanish.

Mada'in Saleh, also known as Al-Hijr (Arabic for “rocky place”) and Hegra (Gr. and Latin by Pliny), is a pre-Islamic archaeological site consisting of 131 rock-cut monumental tombs, with elaborately ornamented facades, of the Nabatean kingdom. The city of Petra is well known for its Nabatean structures.

Settlement in the area dates from the 6th century BCE with a close to the surface water table. As an oasis known as Hegra, it became a crossroad on the overland caravan route from the Red Sea holding a monopoy on the trade of incense, myrrh and spices.

Mada'in Saleh was proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.

The site of Madrid, Spain, along the Manzanares River on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe, has been occupied since prehistoric times.

The motto of Madrid is “Fui sobre agua edificada, mis muros de fuego son. Esta es mi insignia y blasón”. (On water I was built, my walls are made of fire. This is my ensign and escutcheon.)

FYI - the Strawberry tree, known in Spanish as the madroño, is a symbol of Madrid, along with the bear.

Notable people associated with Madrid include: Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Jacinto Benavente y Martinez, Andres Segovia.

Magdeburg, located on the Elbe River and one of the most important medieval cities of Europe, was ounded by Charlemagne in 805 as Magadoburg (Old High German magado for big, mighty and burga for fortress).

The Magdeburg rights, its version of German town law, granted them autonomy from local secular or religious rulers. Privileges granted included self-governance, economic autonomy, criminal courts, and militia.

Mainz, on the west bank of the Rhine River across from the confluence of the Main River in western Germany, began as a Roman fort Mogontiacum in the late 1st century BC. It is across the Rhine from the famous spa town of Wiesbaden.

In the 1450 Johannes Guttenburg invented his moveable type printing press in Mainz.

Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, is located on the northern coast of Bioko Island (formerly Fernando Pó), on the rim of a sunken volcano.

Managua, located on the southern shores of Lake Managua, is the capital city of Nicaragua. The name Managua originates from the term Mana-ahuac, from the indigenous Nahuatl language, translates to “adjacent to the water” or site “surrounded by water”.

Managua is situated on a fault line and has experienced many earthquakes.

Manama, Al Manamah, the largest city of Bahrain, has been the captial since 1971. Manama, mentioned by Islamic chroniclers at least as far back as 1345, was conquered by Portugal in 1521 and then by the Persians in 1602.

Mandalay, the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar).

Located at the foot of Mandalay Hill on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, Mandalay has numerous Buddhist monasteries and more than 700 pagodas. The Kuthodow Pagoda consists of 729 white stupas, each containing a slab of stone inscribed with a page of the Buddhist canon.

Mandalay, whose name may be related to the word mandala, is reference in a Rudyard Kipling poem where the phrase “the road to Mandalay” originates, and Daphne du Maurier called the house in her novel Rebecca Mandaley. George Orwell was also stationed in Mandalay.

Manila, the capital of the Philippines, located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay of the island of Luzon, was called the “Pearl of the Orient”.

The earliest written account of the city is from the 10th-century. Eventually Manila became a center of Spanish activity as one end of the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade route linking Latin America and the Far East. (The silver from Mexico and Peru in exchange or Chinese silk, Indian gems, and the spices of the East Indies.)

Mannheim is located at the confluence of the River Rhine and the River Neckar. A distinct feature of Mannheim is its grid layout as different from most German cities.

Notable people associated with Mannheim include Constanze Mozart, Steffi Graf, and Karl Benz who built his first motor car there in 1885.

Maputo, the capital and largest city of Mozambique, is located on the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa.

Marrakesh, the second largest city in Morocco, is at the foot of the High Atlas, founded at the site of an oasis.

Notable people associated with Marrakesh include Averroes, Josephine Baker, Elias Canetti.

Marseille is the second largest city in France, after Paris, is also the largest commercial port and largest French city on the Mediterranean coast.

Marseille is considered the oldest city in France and was founded as a trading port by the Greeks who called it Massalia.

During the first century AD Christianity arrived in Marseille and according to provencal tradition Mary Magdalen visted the area with her brother Lazarus.

Marseille was one of the first places in France to encounter the plague epidemic, probably due to it being a major port. In the 1300s some 15,000 people died from a population of 25,000, and in 1720 100,000 people died in another epidemic.

La Marsellaise, the national anthem of France, was the marching song of the citiy's volunteers to Paris in 1792 to defend the revolutionary government.

Famous people from Marseille: Jacques Fabian Gautier D'Agoty, Antonin Artaud, Honoré Daumier, Francoise Duparc, Pytheas of Massalia, Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli, Marius Petipa, Arthur Rimbaud, Edmond Rostand, Maria Taglioni.

Mashhad, one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world, is the second largest city in Iran, and the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name.

Notable people associated with Mashhad is Ferdowsi, the revered Persian poet and author of Shahnameh, Iran's national epic.