Family History and Genealogy Wiki

Welcome to Genealogy.Wikicities; The Genealogy of The World. This is a web site for the recording of information related to genealogy. Please feel free to contribute to this site, no matter how small or large your input, it all helps towards the creation of a great site.

There are several parts to this site. They include the study of names and the recording of family trees.

Places to Start

 * The Genealogy index.

There is a list of all surnames and a template for page structures is available at People.

If you want to add a person or a name then head use the link for Template or Surname Template to see the recommended format for a page. Do not wory if you do not have all the information to start with. Check first that the person or name does not already have a page by using the search box. If it does then you can edit the page to add your information. If it does not you need to create a page. See the help section for starting a new page.

You can start with some famous people such as Adam, Biblical first man mentioned in the Bible and the Quran or Muhammad, Prophet of God.

If you are looking for an individual you can look using the surnames list or you can enter the name in the Wikicities search-box on the left. If you just want to have a look try the random page.

There are lists of people by category as in the Sufis.

Or perhaps, more contempory people such as Genghiz Khan, Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire/House of Taimur, Aurangzeb, the last of the "Great Mughals". The famous American Mayer Guggenheim or a famouse Knight Robert De Harley (1579-1656).

Finally a page from the founder of the site: Ali Jamal Ashraf founder's son.

Topics

 * Genealogical trees, or Shajraha-e-Nasab
 * Sufi Initiation Chains
 * Given Names: Meanings, historical significance, cultural context, etc.
 * Family Names: Meanings, historical significance, cultural context, etc.

Mission
The idea started with a desire to collection, collate and co-relate of genealogies from the Muslim world and South Asia (and beyond; there's a lot of overlap) and overlaying them with Sufi Initiation Chains (the chain of initiation into the Sufi fold that every Sufi Master has and which goes back to The Prophet) and then adding allied information like the meanings and histories of names, places and events that might merit mention in, for example, the Wikipedia.

A starting focus is on South Asia and the Middle East, but it is not intended to limit this Wiki to those regions. Part of the motivation in starting this database is to help bring home to people that this really is one planet and always has been; exchanges of ideas, inventions, and even people have been constant through history.

And finally, an impossibly goal that is worth the effort, the creation of a global genealogy tree with everyone on Earth.

Copyright And Ownership
It is important to note that this database is developed under the GFDL license and hosted as a community service by Wikicities. Unless they expressly state otherwise, contributors agree to license all their contributions under the same terms.

Process Recommended

 * When adding information from a family record of a genealogy, please upload a scan or picture so we can have a record of the source.

Names
Pages will be named according to the standard spellings of names as defined by the community. Please see Given Names and Family Names. This is necessary so we can define individuals uniquely so that, for example, we have only one Eve or one Hawwa instead of an Eve and a Hawwa; one Muhammad instead of a Muhammad, a Mohammed, a Mohammad, and so on. This is necessary so we can collate and co-relate contributions and build as unified a database as possible.

Templates
There is an evolving template for entries on People, Places, Events, Surnames, Lists by Surname and so on. See Cain or Genghiz Khan for a current example of a best practice.

Language And Text
This database defers and follows the Wikipedia in most matters, however, slight differences exist:
 * Titles (as on this page) are in "title case" with significant words capitalised, instead of the Wikipedia's policy of only the first letter of the first line (except for proper nouns) being capitalized.
 * Spellings and usage is usually as in American English, but other usages (British, South Asian, etc.) are to be accepted without reserve.

"Contradictory" Content
The policies in naming above are in no way intended to discourage or banish parallel chains of descent or other links. In fact, one of the purposes of this database is to collect them all in one place and see if the editors can sort them out&mdash;or provide enough information for the reader to get a complete picture about competing claims. Each item of information should mention, as far as possible and especially in the cases where we have conflicting infomation, the sources, documents, authority on which the information is based.

Privacy Issues
Use caution when adding information about people still living: Unless explicit permission is given, do not publicize full names and birth dates, addresses, phone numbers, or other information which can possibly (however unlikely) be exploited by criminals for impersonating, robbing, or harassing these persons.

Not Wikipedia; Nor A Replacement
This database is seen as being a supplement to Wikipedia and in no way a competitor. It is meant to cover a lot of the content not normally deemed to be of "encyclopedic interest". Contributors are highly encouraged to defer to Wikipedia where content is already in that database. And to consider contributing to that database material that is of "encyclopedic interest". Both databases are covered by the same licensing policy, so copying and moving content between the two is not envisioned as a problem.