Featured
Definition
Japanese Tea Ceremony
The Japanese Tea Ceremony (chanoyu or chado) is a cultural tradition involving very particular places, procedures, and equipment for drinking green tea. Originating as a habit of Chinese Buddhist monks to aid their meditation, tea-drinking in Japan and other parts of East Asia became such a refined activity that, from the 13th...
Featured
Definition
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (1812-1815), referred to by some contemporaries as the Second American Revolution, was fought between the United States and the United Kingdom. Often remembered only as a sideshow...
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12 Blue Riband Ocean Liners, 1838–1938 - A Century of the Transatlantic Speed Race
The Blue Riband of the Atlantic was the unofficial distinction awarded to the passenger liner achieving the highest average speed on a...
Featured
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Twelve Spices That Changed the World - Trade, Empire, and the Global Age of Spices, 1450–1650
Between c. 1450 and 1650, demand for spices and other high-value plant commodities became an important catalyst for European...
Latest Content
Definition
Emancipation Proclamation - Lincoln's Call for Freedom
The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by US President Abraham Lincoln on 1 January 1863, at the height of the American Civil War (1861-1865...
Collection
AP World History Unit 2 - Networks of Exchange (c. 1200-1450)
This collection gathers articles, definitions, and maps covering the trade routes, travelers, and networks of exchange related to Unit 2: Networks of...
Collection
AP World History Unit 1 - The Global Tapestry (c. 1200-1450)
This collection gathers articles, definitions, and maps covering the states, cultures, and events related to Unit 1: The Global Tapestry of the AP® World...
Definition
Battle of Mill Springs - The First Union Victory in the Western Theater
The Battle of Mill Springs (19 January 1862) was the first Union victory in the Western theater of the American Civil War and propelled Union...
Definition
Ulysses S. Grant - The General Who Won the American Civil War
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was a Union general in the American Civil War and, later, the 18th president of the United States of America. He is generally...
Article
Why Were Hiroshima & Nagasaki Bombed in WWII?
The decision to drop the atomic bomb in August 1945 was taken to avoid further Allied casualties in the Pacific War by forcing Japan into an immediate surrender...
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The 5 Classical Orders of Architecture - Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan & Composite
The five classical orders of architecture: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite, are systems of proportion, structure, and...
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Map of the World Known to Europeans c. 1000 CE - Trade, Travel & the Limits of Geographic Knowledge
Around 1000 CE, European knowledge of the wider world was uneven and depended heavily on geography, trade, religion, and...
Image
12 Blue Riband Ocean Liners, 1838–1938 - A Century of the Transatlantic Speed Race
The Blue Riband of the Atlantic was the unofficial distinction awarded to the passenger liner achieving the highest average speed on a...
For You
Definition
Cylinder Seal - Ancient Personal Identification
Cylinder Seals were impression stamps used by the people of ancient Mesopotamia. Known as kishib in Sumerian and kunukku in Akkadian, the seals were used by everyone...
Definition
Ancient Egyptian Mythology
Egyptian mythology was the belief structure and underlying form of ancient Egyptian culture from at least c. 4000 BCE (as evidenced by burial practices and tomb paintings) to 30...
Article
Louis XVI, the Girondins, & the Road to Revolutionary War (1791-92)
On 20 April 1792, King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) stood before the Legislative Assembly and, with a faltering voice, read a declaration of...
Definition
Byzantine Coinage
The coinage of the Byzantine Empire continued that of its more ancient predecessors and functioned as a convenient method of payment for goods and services, especially to soldiers and officials...
Book Reviews
Book Review
The Army of Alexander the Great
The Army of Alexander the Great (2025) is a highly detailed and insightful examination of one of the most influential military forces in history. Rather than presenting Alexander...
Book Review
Lore
Every seven years, nine of the 12 Olympians are turned mortal and sent to earth for one week, in an event called the Agon. During the Agon, the mortal bloodlines of famous Greek heroes such as Perseus...
Book Review
Dolia: The Containers That Made Rome an Empire of Wine
Caroline Cheung, an assistant professor of Classics at Princeton University, seeks to fill a rather large gap in the scholarship of the ancient Roman wine...
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| 1,752 | articles |
| 19,749 | illustrations |
| 2,625 | videos |
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| 15,904 | translations |
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Ancient Period
Article
The Papyrus Lansing: Be A Scribe…Or Else!
The Papyrus Lansing is an ancient Egyptian document that dates to the reign of the Pharaoh Senusret III (also known as Sesostris III, and, arguably, the legendary Sesostris...
Definition
The Four-Room House
The four-room house, also referred to as “Israelite house” and “pillared courtyard house,” emerged in the central highlands of Canaan during the late 13th -early 12th centuries BCE in...
Definition
Alexander Helios
Alexander Helios (40 BCE – c. late 1st century BCE) was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the second oldest son of Cleopatra VII (69 BCE – 30 BCE) and the twin brother of Cleopatra Selene...
Definition
Trebizond
Trapezus (Greek: Τραπεζοῦς) or Trebizond was a Greek city on the southern shore of the Black Sea, modern Trabzon. According to the Christian author Eusebius, writing more than a millennium after...
Definition
Lutetia
Lutetia Parisiorum was the capital of the Parisii, a tribe in ancient Gaul. The Parisii were a tribe on the Middle Seine, and Lutetia ("place near a swamp") was one of their main settlements. It...
Definition
Red-Figure Pottery
Red-figure Pottery is a style of Greek vase painting invented in Athens c. 530 BCE. The style has drawn red figures and a painted black background. Red-Figure Pottery grew in popularity...
Definition
Warfare - The Development of Resources for Armed Conflict
Warfare is generally understood to be the controlled and systematic waging of armed conflict between sovereign nations or states, using military might and...
Definition
Urartu Religion
The religion of the Urartu civilization, which flourished principally in ancient Armenia from the 9th to 6th century BCE, was a unique mix of indigenous, Hurrian and Mesopotamian gods and...
Medieval Period
Definition
James III of Scotland
James III of Scotland reigned as king from 1460 to 1488. He succeeded his father James II of Scotland (r. 1437-1460) at the age of eight, which led to some nobles taking advantage of...
Definition
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos (Alexius Comnenus) was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1118 CE. Regarded as one of the great Byzantine rulers, Alexios defeated the Normans, the Pechenegs...
Definition
Leprechaun
Leprechauns (also leprecauns or lepracauns) are figures in Irish folklore who guard hidden treasure. Regarded as small and incredibly agile male fairies or goblins, they most often guard a pot...
Article
Diversity in Church Architecture in Medieval England
Medieval English churches differed in size and layout. Their original and evolving role(s), financial and material resources, and architectural fashions helped...
Definition
Timur - The Brutal Conqueror of Central Asia
Timur (1336-1405), also known as Tamerlane, Temür, or Timur Leng, was the founder of the Timurid Empire (1370-1507), which had its heartlands in modern-day Uzbekistan...
Definition
Razia Sultan - The First Female Muslim Ruler of India
Sultan Razia (Raziyyat-Ud-Dunya Wa Ud-Din, r. 1236-1240) was one of the few women rulers in the Indian subcontinent and the first and only female Sultan of Delhi...
Article
Top 5 Must-See Historical Sites in Dublin
Dublin has much to offer in cultural and historical experiences. It is a vibrant and colorful city, with a history dating back many centuries. Dublin has it all - from...
Article
Korean Celadon Pottery
The celadon (or greenware) ceramics produced in ancient Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392 CE), are regarded as some of the finest and most elegant pottery pieces produced anywhere...
Early Modern Period
Article
Interview: Swiss Colonialism Exhibition
The National Museum Zurich recently opened a comprehensive and multi perspectival exhibition on Switzerland’s colonial past: Colonial – Switzerland’s Global Entanglements...
Definition
War of the Austrian Succession - How One Woman's Right to Rule Plunged Europe into War
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) was a major conflict fought between the great powers of Europe, sparked by a dispute...
Definition
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian violin virtuoso and composer of baroque music (c. 1600-1750). Best known for his violin concertos, notably The Four Seasons, Vivaldi made a significant...
Definition
Mary Read
Mary Read, sometimes spelt Reade (b. c. 1690), was an infamous pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1720) active in the Bahamas until her capture by the Jamaican authorities in 1720...
Article
Tobacco & Colonial American Economy
The most important cash crop in Colonial America was tobacco, first cultivated by the English at their Jamestown Colony of Virginia in 1610 CE by the merchant John Rolfe...
Definition
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English philosopher and liberal social reformer best known as the founder of utilitarianism based on the greatest happiness principle, that is, rationally...
Definition
Sepoy
A sepoy was an Indian soldier in the armies of various states and European trading companies in the Indian subcontinent and then, from the second half of the 19th century, in the British Indian...
Definition
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, and author. Bacon is often considered one of the founders of modern scientific research and scientific method, even as "the...
Modern Period
Definition
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was an American author of novels and short stories, who produced some of the most memorable works of American literature: the novels The Scarlet Letter...
Definition
Sioux
The Sioux are a native North American nation who inhabited the Great Plains region of, roughly, modern Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. They are one of the many...
Article
Wihio Tales
Wihio tales are the Cheyenne legends featuring the trickster figure Wihio, who appears, variously, as a wise man, fool, villain, or hero and is associated with the spider. Wihio Tales continue...
Article
Mondamin
Mondamin (also given as Mon-Daw-Min, The Gift of Corn, and The Origin of Corn) is a tale from the Ojibwe Nation on how the people received corn from the Great Spirit through the vision quest of...
Image Gallery
Paul Gauguin: A Gallery of 30 Paintings
In this gallery, we showcase 30 paintings by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), the French post-impressionist artist who made such an impact on modern art from the late 19th century...
Collection
British House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a royal house that first ruled Hanover and then Great Britain from 1714 to 1901. The British Hanoverians began with George I when he succeeded the last of...
Article
Battle of Queenston Heights
The Battle of Queenston Heights (13 October 1812) was a major battle in the War of 1812. A US army, under General Stephen Van Rensselaer, crossed the Niagara River in an attempted...
Definition
Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel (l. 1868-1969) was a world traveler, writer, and Buddhist spiritualist who wrote over 30 books on her journeys which took her 18,641.136 miles (30,000 km) around...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Predynastic Period in Egypt - The Time Before History Began
The Predynastic Period in ancient Egypt is the time before recorded history, from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty...
Definition
Homo Floresiensis
Homo floresiensis, nicknamed 'hobbit' because it only stood about 1 meter tall, is an extinct species of fossil human that lived on the island of Flores, Indonesia during the Pleistocene...
Definition
Ҫatalhöyük
Ҫatalhöyük is one of the largest Neolithic settlements ever discovered. Built more than 9000 years ago in modern Konya Plain, central Turkey, it is known in archaeology as a proto-city, a link...
Definition
Lindow Man
The Lindow Man (officially Lindow III) is the top half of a male body, found preserved in a peat bog in Cheshire, England. The peat bogs at Lindow Moss date back to the last ice age and were...
Definition
Venus Figurine
The term Venus figurine is used to describe the more than 200 small statuettes of voluptuous female figures that have been found at Upper Paleolithic sites across Europe and some parts of...
Definition
Europe
Europe is a continent forming the westernmost part of the land mass of Eurasia and comprised of 49 sovereign states. Its name may come from the Greek myth of Europa, but human habitation of the...
Definition
Stone Age
From the dawn of our species to the present day, stone-made artefacts are the dominant form of material remains that have survived to today concerning human technology. The term “Stone Age”...
Article
The Megalithic Temples of Malta
The megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo rank amongst the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. Construction of these temples started c. 3500 BCE, an impressive architectural...
