Featured
Article
Harrison's Marine Chronometer
John Harrison (1693-1776) invented an accurate marine chronometer after several decades of research and development. While the pendulum clock had already been invented in the 17th century, a clock that could withstand the vagaries of the sea, humidity, and air temperature remained...
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...
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Die Like an Egyptian: How to Reach the Field of Reeds (Aaru) - An Afterlife Guide from New Kingdom Egypt (c. 1550-1069 BCE)
Ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife centered on the idea that death marked the beginning of...
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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...
Latest Content
Article
How the Pacific War Changed Global Warfare
The Pacific War (1941-45) contributed many lasting innovations and developments to global warfare. This theatre of the Second World War witnessed the end of battleships...
Collection
WWII's Pacific War - A Collection of Resources
This collection of resources presents the Pacific theatre of the Second World War (1939-45), which saw the expansion of the Japanese Empire before the USA was brought...
Collection
AP World History Unit 3 - Land-Based Empires (c. 1450–1750)
This collection gathers articles, definitions, and maps covering the empires, rulers, and belief systems related to Unit 3: Land-Based Empires of the AP®...
Definition
James Buchanan - The President Who Lost the Union
James Buchanan (1791-1868) was an American politician who served as the fifteenth president of the United States. He took office during a time of great crisis...
Article
A Supervisor's Advice to a Young Scribe - Words of Wisdom or Satire?
A Supervisor's Advice to a Young Scribe is a Sumerian composition relating a dialogue between an elder scribe and a young graduate from his school...
Definition
Pacific War - The Defeat of Japan in WWII
The Pacific War concerned the theatre of the Second World War (1939-45) fought in the Pacific Ocean and eastern parts of Asia between Japan and the United States and...
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Die Like an Egyptian: How to Reach the Field of Reeds (Aaru) - An Afterlife Guide from New Kingdom Egypt (c. 1550-1069 BCE)
Ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife centered on the idea that death marked the beginning of...
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Map of Elizabethan England Trade with Europe, c. 1600 - Commerce, Companies & Expansion under Elizabeth I
Elizabethan England's trade with Europe around 1600 formed part of a changing early modern commercial system in which...
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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...
For You
Article
Ten North American Native Inventions You Need to Know
The Native Peoples of North America raised cities, built roads, and developed highly sophisticated cultures which encouraged the invention of many items often...
Definition
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a highly influential English philosopher of the Victorian Era. His writings were influenced by the Enlightenment thinkers and German Romanticism. Besides...
Article
A Visual Glossary of Classical Architecture
Abacus - a large slab placed above the column capital to support the architrave or an arch placed above it. Akroterion - a decorative piece added to the roof of a...
Definition
Ife
Ife (aka Ile-Ife) was an ancient African city which flourished between the 11th and 15th century CE in what is today Nigeria in West Africa. Ife was the capital and principal religious centre of the...
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
Nero: Emperor and Court
Of the many emperors of Rome, there is one who has been given considerable attention and is often portrayed in a negative light. In Nero: Emperor and Court, John F. Drinkwater challenges...
Book Review
Uncovering the Culture of Ancient Peru
Uncovering the culture of Ancient Peru is a book by Alix Wood that is part of a series about ancient Britain, Egypt, Greece, India, Mesopotamia, and Peru. The aim of this...
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Ancient Period
Definition
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso, more commonly known to history as Ovid (43 BCE - 17 CE), was one of the most prolific writers of the early Roman Empire. His works of poetry, mostly written in the form of elegiac...
Definition
Julia Domna
Julia Domna (160-217 CE) was a Syrian-born Roman empress during the reign of her husband, Roman emperor Septimius Severus (r. April 193 - February 211 CE). She was also the mother of the emperors...
Definition
Thera
Thera is the ancient name for both the island of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades and the name of the volcano which famously erupted on the island in the middle Bronze Age. The 17th century BCE eruption...
Definition
Mauryan Empire
The Mauryan Empire (322 BCE - 185 BCE) supplanted the earlier Magadha Kingdom to assume power over large tracts of eastern and northern India. At its height, the empire stretched over parts...
Definition
Song Dynasty
The Song (aka Sung) dynasty ruled China from 960 to 1279 CE with the reign split into two periods: the Northern Song (960-1125 CE) and Southern Song (1125-1279 CE). The Northern Song ruled...
Definition
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, constructed 532-537, continues to be revered as one of the most important structures in the world. Hagia Sophia (Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, for 'Holy Wisdom') was designed...
Definition
Mansa Musa I - The Richest Man in History?
Mansa Musa I was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa from 1312 to 1337. Controlling territories rich in gold and copper, and monopolising trade between the north...
Definition
Third Dynasty of Egypt
The Third Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2670-2613 BCE) begins with king Djoser, famous for his Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Although there are some sources which claim a king named Sanakht (also...
Medieval Period
Article
Grief & Consolation in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess
In Geoffrey Chaucer's first major work, The Book of the Duchess (c. 1370 CE), two genres of medieval literature are combined – the French poetic convention of...
Definition
Montezuma - Last Ruler of the Aztecs
Montezuma (aka Moctezuma), or more correctly, Motecuhzoma II Xocoyotzin, meaning 'Angry Like A Lord’, was the last fully independent ruler of the Aztec empire before the...
Definition
Silk Road
The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453...
Definition
Ardagh Chalice
The Ardagh Chalice, one of the finest examples of Irish metalwork from the Middle Ages, was found in 1868 CE as part of a hoard at an Irish ringfort in Reerasta, near Ardagh, Co. Limerick...
Definition
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade (1147-1149) was a military campaign organised by the Pope and European nobles to recapture the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia which had fallen in 1144 to the Muslim Seljuk...
Definition
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also referred to as the Investiture Contest or Investiture Dispute, was a conflict lasting from 1076 to 1122 between the papacy of the Catholic Church...
Definition
Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard (1015-1085) was a Norman knight best known for conquering much of Southern Italy and Sicily during the 11th century. His many exploits include the expulsion of the Byzantines...
Definition
Edda
Edda is a term used to describe two Icelandic manuscripts that were copied down and compiled in the 13th century CE. Together they are the main sources of Norse mythology and skaldic poetry that...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) was a Spanish conquistador who famously discovered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the isthmus of Panama in 1513. An utterly ruthless adventurer and...
Definition
Charles Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805), 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl Cornwallis, was a British military officer and statesman best known for surrendering to George Washington at the Siege of Yorktown...
Definition
Antinomian Controversy - Inspiring the Separation of Church and State in the USA
The Antinomian Controversy (1636-1638) was a religious-political conflict that divided the Massachusetts Bay Colony of New England in the...
Article
Siege of Charleston
The Siege of Charleston (29 March to 12 May 1780) was a major military operation during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Hoping to establish a foothold in the American South...
Article
Interview: Dr. Bastian Eclercy on Guido Reni at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt
Misunderstood, neglected, forgotten. The Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany is rediscovering one of the star painters of the Italian Baroque...
Definition
Pilgrim-Wampanoag Peace Treaty
The Pilgrim-Wampanoag Peace Treaty is the document drafted and signed on 22 March 1621 CE between governor John Carver (l. 1584-1621 CE) of the Plymouth Colony and the sachem...
Article
4 Women of the French Revolution
The French Revolution (1789-1799) sought to dismantle the oppressive society of the old regime and build a new world based on the principles of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"...
Article
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury on 20 September 1643 was a major engagement between Royalist and Parliamentarian armies during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). The Royalist forces loyal...
Modern Period
Definition
Reichstag Fire
The Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933 was a possible arson attack on the German parliament building. The fire was blamed on a communist anarchist Marinus van der Lubbe (1909-1934), but it...
Article
Manabozho Tales
Manabozho tales are the stories of the trickster figure and culture hero of the Ojibwe (Ojibway/Chippewa) and other Algonquin Native American nations of present-day northern United States...
Collection
Daily Life in the London Blitz
In this collection of resources, we examine daily life during the London Blitz, the period of intense bombing of the British capital from 1940 to 1941 during the Second World...
Article
The Man Who Married the Thunder Sister
The Man Who Married the Thunder Sister is a legend of the Cherokee nation about a young warrior who falls in love with a Thunder Sister and follows her home where he finds...
Definition
Battle of the Alamo - The Fall of Heroes
Of all the battles of the Texas Revolution, the Battle of the Alamo (6 March 1836) is the most famous. It is not only among the best-known and most widely studied in American...
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...
Article
Badger-Woman
Badger-Woman is a story of the Arapaho nation about a noble young hunter who refuses the advances of his sister-in-law and is then betrayed by her. The tale is similar to those of other civilizations...
Article
Henry Box Brown on Slavery in the United States
The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown (1851) is the autobiography of Henry Box Brown (l. c. 1815-1897), who became the most famous fugitive slave of his time...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Homo Erectus
Homo erectus, or 'upright man', is an extinct species of human that occupies an intriguing spot within the human evolutionary lineage. These prehistoric hunter-gatherers were highly successful...
Definition
Ice Age
An ice age is a period in which the earth's climate is colder than normal, with ice sheets capping the poles and glaciers dominating higher altitudes. Within an ice age, there are varying pulses...
Definition
Long Barrow
A long barrow is a class of Middle Neolithic (approximately 3500-2700 BCE) burial monument which is found extensively throughout the British Isles and is related to other forms of contemporary...
Definition
Homo Rudolfensis
Homo rudolfensis is an early human species that lived in East Africa between c. 2.5 and 1.8 million years ago. It is known from a handful of skull, jaw and teeth fragments that remind alternatingly...
Article
The Neanderthal-Sapiens Connection
In May 2010, after years of intense discussions surrounding possible fossils of mixed Homo sapiens and Neanderthal descent floating around the scientific community, a team...
Article
The Stonehenge Burials
A great deal has been written about why the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, southern England, was constructed. Perhaps it was designed as a temple to the ancestors...
Definition
Chauvet Cave
The Chauvet Cave (also known as the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave) is a Palaeolithic cave situated near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in the Ardèche region of southern France that houses impeccably preserved...
Definition
Newgrange
Newgrange is a Neolithic monument located in the region of Bru na Boinne, County Meath, Ireland. The name is fairly modern and comes from the 'newer' grange (farm) of the monks of Mellifont Abbey...
