The University traces its foundation back to a lecture given by Joseph Ransom to the early colonists. The lecture is said to have been on the flora and fauna of the swamps of Albasa. Joseph was the son of Dr. Philip Ransom. He was the doctor who had accompanied the wagon that brought the first human settlers to this coast over 600 years ago. After the lecture the colonists persuaded Joseph to do a public lecture once a week for “the moral strength and intellectual improvement of all souls gathered here”. Today “all souls gathered here” is the University’s motto. A handful of these lectures by Joseph still survive in the university archive. The first building erected as a formal university stood near the Wooden Palace in what is now Uptown. Unfortunately, unlike the Palace, it was destroyed in a fire just over 200 years ago. By that time the city had expanded, Uptown had grown into a bustling metropolis and the decision was made to build a much larger stone building in the then new neighborhood of Edgebury. Soon after construction was completed it became the most prestigious university in the new empire of Kalhom comprising the cities of Albasa, New Pompa and Donanna. When the Hoxha regime swept to power just over 50 years later, they poured massive resources into the university. An incredible leap in scientific progress was achieved. The university produced a slew of technological and scientific wonders. However, when the regime fell nearly 100 years ago, the scientists responsible where rounded up by the Generals of the victorious nation of Mixa and either executed or imprisoned. The knowledge so swiftly gained was lost and despite increased funding the university has never managed to rival the advances it made during the tail end of the Great War. After the Great War, Kalhom was broken back up into three separate states. Shortly after the fall of the regime, the university gained a new rival in Albasa, the new City University. While the University of Albasa is still regarded as one of the premiere seats of learning in the world, City University, and rivals in both Donanna and New Pompa, have slowly gained formidable reputations of their own and there are fears amongst the staff that the University of Albasa is about to lose its perceived dominance in many fields of academic study, especially in newer disciplines like psychology.