Soldiers with the Afghan National Army (ANA) at an outpost in the Momand Valley on July 16, 2017 in Achin District, Afghanistan. The building was previously used as of a jail by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – Khorasan (ISIS-K) and was taken by Afghan Commandos nine days prior. Operations are currently underway to remove ISIS fighters from Nangarhar Province in Eastern Afghanistan. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)

Schoolchildren look at a lifelike animatronics display of a dinosaur at the dinosaur-themed Zoo-rassic Park in Singapore on November 16, 2016. To raise awareness on the sixth mass extinction, the Singapore Zoo and River Safari displayed lifelike dinosaur animatronics where visitors can trail along the Dinosaur Valley which does not involve living animals. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

Two grasshoppers on the Shark Valley Hiking Trail, at the Everglades National Park near Miami, Florida, USA, 12 August 2025. Located in the southernmost part of Florida, the Everglades wetland is recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of the most unique ecosystems in the world due to its unparalleled biodiversity. A lawsuit over the potential environmental impact of the construction of “Alligator Alcatraz” has halted further construction on this new migrant detention center. (Photo by Cristóbal Herrera/EPA)

In this September 19, 2014 photo, explosives are detonate by Peruvian counternarcotics forces on a part of a clandestine grassy airstrip in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro River Valleys, or VRAEM, the world's No. 1 coca-growing region, in Ayacucho, Peru. The dynamiting of craters by Peruvian security forces into clandestine airstrips cuts into profits but hardly discourages cocaine traffickers who net tens of thousands of dollars with each flight flown from these airstrips. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Disguised participants strike poses on a car during the ancient carnival of Ituren, in the northern Spanish Navarra province on January 30, 2017. The yearly three day festivities, revolving mainly around agriculture and principally sheep hearding, run on the last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of January where Navarra Valley locals from two villages dress up and participate in a variety of activites as they perform a pilgrimage through each village. (Photo by Ander Gillenea/AFP Photo)

U.S. Army soldiers carry an injured soldier who was shot in the leg, through a poppy field on April 24, 2011 in the Arghandab River Valley, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. The injured was evacuated to a waiting Blackhawk UH-60A helicopter by Task Force Thunder Brigade, Charlie company 1st of the 52nd Aviation regiment from Fairbanks, Alaska. It is feared that as weather improves with the approaching summer that the casualty toll will rise. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

In this image provided by the Ministry of Defence, Prince William takes the controls of a Sea King helicopter on April 14, 2011 in Holyhead, Wales. Search and rescue co-pilot Prince William, based at RAF Valley will marry his fiancee Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey in London on April 29, 2011. (Photo by MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)

The Kingdom of Pagan (also commonly known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire) was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-day Burma (Myanmar). Pagan's 250-year rule over the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture, the spread of Burman ethnicity in Upper Burma, and the growth of Theravada Buddhism in Burma and in mainland Southeast Asia.