People & stories
People & stories
Behind every view there are people: warlords who founded cities, exiled poets, architects who gave their lives to a single church. Here are 83 historical figures linked to our destinations and 181 local stories. History and folk legend are labelled separately, and every story has a source.
Japan
Nara period · 701–756
Emperor Shōmu
The emperor who ordered the casting of the Great Buddha of Nara
1 related places
Early Heian period · 758–811
Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
Seii Taishōgun (shogun)
1 related places
Early Heian period · 774–835
Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi)
Founder of Shingon Buddhism
1 related places
Heian period · 845–903
Sugawara no Michizane
Scholar and poet, later revered as the god of learning
1 related places
Late Heian period · 1118–1181
Taira no Kiyomori
Founder of Japan's first samurai-led government
1 related places
Late Heian to Kamakura period · 1147–1199
Minamoto no Yoritomo
Founder of the Kamakura shogunate
2 related places
Muromachi period · 1358–1408
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
Third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate
1 related places
Muromachi period · 1432–1486
Ōta Dōkan
Builder of Edo Castle, warrior and poet
1 related places
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Sengoku to Azuchi-Momoyama period · 1537–1598
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
The first commoner to become kampaku (imperial regent)
2 related places
Sengoku to Azuchi-Momoyama period · 1538–1599
Maeda Toshiie
Founder of the Kaga domain
1 related places
Sengoku to Edo period · 1543–1616
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Founder of the Edo shogunate
7 related places
Azuchi-Momoyama to early Edo period · 1562–1611
Katō Kiyomasa
Builder of Kumamoto Castle
1 related places
Azuchi-Momoyama to early Edo period · 1567–1636
Date Masamune
Founder of the Sendai domain, 'the One-Eyed Dragon'
1 related places
Bakumatsu (late Edo) · 1835–1869
Hijikata Toshizō
Vice-commander of the Shinsengumi
1 related places
Bakumatsu to Meiji · 1837–1913
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Last shogun of the Edo shogunate
1 related places
Bakumatsu to Meiji · 1838–1911
Thomas Glover
Scottish merchant
1 related places
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Post-war · 1943–1955
Sadako Sasaki
Victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb
1 related places
Türkiye
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Australia
18th century · 1738–1814
Arthur Phillip
Commander of the First Fleet and first Governor of New South Wales
1 related places
19th century · 1791–1865
James Stirling
Founder of the Swan River Colony and first Governor of Western Australia
1 related places
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20th century · 1867–1943
John Bradfield
Father of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
1 related places
20th century · 1918–2008
Jørn Utzon
Designer of the Sydney Opera House
1 related places
France
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China
Late Warring States to Qin · 259–210 BC
Qin Shi Huang
China's first emperor
1 related places
Tang dynasty · 602–664
Xuanzang
Monk, traveller and translator
1 related places
Tang to Wu Zhou · 624–705
Wu Zetian
The only widely recognised empress regnant in Chinese history
2 related places
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7th century · ？–650
Songtsen Gampo
Founder of the Tibetan Empire
1 related places
Tang dynasty · 772–846
Bai Juyi
Poet
1 related places
Northern Song · 1037–1101
Su Shi (Su Dongpo)
Writer, calligrapher, painter and gourmet
2 related places
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Late Yuan to Ming · 1328–1398
Zhu Yuanzhang (Hongwu Emperor)
Founding emperor of the Ming dynasty
1 related places
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Ming dynasty · 1360–1424
Zhu Di (Yongle Emperor)
Third Ming emperor and builder of the Forbidden City
2 related places
17th century · 1617–1682
The Fifth Dalai Lama
The first Dalai Lama to hold both religious and political power in Tibet
1 related places
Qing dynasty · 1711–1799
Qianlong Emperor
Sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty
2 related places
Late Qing and early Republic · c. 1849–1931
Wang Yuanlu
Discoverer of the Library Cave at Mogao
1 related places
United States
18th century · 1680–1767
Bienville
Governor of French Louisiana, 'the Father of New Orleans'
1 related places
18th–19th century · c. 1758–1819
Kamehameha I
Founding monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
1 related places
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19th century · 1822–1903
Frederick Law Olmsted
Father of American landscape architecture
1 related places
20th century · 1882–1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd President of the United States
1 related places
Italy
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Malaysia
Egypt
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India
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Iceland
Cambodia
Norway
Germany
Thailand
13th–14th century · 1238–1311
King Mangrai
Founding king of the Lanna kingdom and founder of Chiang Mai
1 related places
18th century · 1734–1782
King Taksin (Taksin the Great)
The only king of the Thonburi Kingdom
1 related places
18th–19th century · 1737–1809
Rama I
Founding monarch of Siam's Chakri dynasty
3 related places
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