"A lot of people have passed through this country the Byzantines, the Muslims, Tamerlane, the Mongols, the Ottomans, " said Mr. Haddad, seated in the shadow of the convent of St.

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But the ancient Thracian tribes who once ruled here loved the area, settling sites more than 2, 000 years ago that were later built up by conquering Romans and Byzantines.

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The mysterious Nuraghic people came around 1800 BC, followed by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Germanic Vandals, Byzantines, Pisans, Genoese and Spanish, before the island was incorporated into a unified Italy in 1861.

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It was still the largest building in the world when Ottoman Turks set about converting it into a mosque after capturing Istanbul from the Byzantines in 1453, and formed a blueprint for its famous neighbour, the Blue Mosque.

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