Featured
Article
Ten Halloween Facts and Traditions You Need to Know - A Celebration of Transformation
Halloween is the most popular holiday in the world, after Christmas (based on level-of-celebration and consumer spending) and, increasingly...
Featured
Definition
Ghosts in the Ancient World - The Return of the So-Called Dead
A belief in an afterlife was central to every major civilization of the ancient world and this encouraged the recognition of the reality of ghosts as...
Featured
Image
12 Largest Contiguous Land Empires Before 1880 - From the Mongol Empire to Rome, Qing China & Russia
Land empires were expansive states whose rulers exercised authority over large, substantially connected territories and...
Featured
Image
Map of the Rise of the Delhi Sultanate: Mamluk Dynasty - State Formation and Conquest in Medieval India, 1206–1290
The Delhi Sultanate's Mamluk (or Slave) period (1206–1290) marked the emergence of a powerful Muslim-ruled state...
Latest Content
Definition
Army of Northern Virginia - General Lee's Army
The Army of Northern Virginia was the main field army of the Confederate States in the eastern theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Famously led by General...
Definition
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor - The Great Matchmaker
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459-1519), belonged to the imperial House of Habsburg, and the imperial electors made him King of the Romans in 1486 during...
Definition
James Longstreet - Civil War Hero and Lost Cause Villain
James Longstreet (1821-1904) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War, serving chiefly under Robert E. Lee in the Eastern theater. He was regarded...
Collection
First 16 US Presidents - From Washington to Lincoln
Since the founding of the United States, the office of the presidency – and the men who have occupied it – have had a profound impact on the hearts, minds, and...
Definition
Seven Years' War - The 18th-Century World War
The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) was a global conflict fought between the great powers of Europe in the mid-18th century. The culmination of several decades of conflict...
Article
Top 10 Roman Sites in Bulgaria
Roman Bulgaria occupied an important position in the heart of the Balkans, between the Black Sea, the Aegean, and Asia Minor. In the north, the Danube River formed a heavily...
Free for the World, Supported by You
World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. Please support free history education for millions of learners worldwide for only $5 per month by becoming a member. Thank you!
Become a MemberHistory should be free for everyone!
If you find World History Encyclopedia helpful, a $10 contribution helps keep trusted history free and accessible to millions of readers and students worldwide. Thanks for making a difference!
Donate $10Maps
Image
Map of the Latin Empire - A Crusader State in Constantinople - The Fourth Crusade and the Fragmentation of Byzantium
The Latin Empire (Imperium Romaniae, 1204–1261) emerged after the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) captured and...
Image
12 Largest Contiguous Land Empires Before 1880 - From the Mongol Empire to Rome, Qing China & Russia
Land empires were expansive states whose rulers exercised authority over large, substantially connected territories and...
Image
Map of the Sasanian Empire at Its Height, c. 620 - Khosrow II and the Byzantine–Sasanian War, 602–628
The Sasanian Empire (224–651), also known as Sassanian Persia, was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire and one of the...
For You
Article
Seven Kings Must Die Film - Historical Accuracy
Seven Kings Must Die (2023) is a historical drama film based on Bernard Cornwell's novel Warlord (2020) and is a sequel to the TV series The Last Kingdom (2015-2022...
Article
Sacred Cakes in Ancient Greece
Sacred cakes in ancient Greece were baked loaves, biscuits, pastries, and sponges sweetened with honey (meli) and prepared as unburnt offerings to the gods and goddesses and...
Definition
Gallienus
Gallienus was Roman emperor from 253 to 268 CE. Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus, the eldest son of Emperor Valerian, was named co-emperor by his father in 253 CE. He was one of many who would...
Definition
Battle of Immae
The Battle of Immae (272 CE) was fought between the forces of the Roman emperor Aurelian (270-275 CE) and those of the Palmyrene Empire of Zenobia (267-273 CE) resulting in a Roman victory...
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
Thinking Big: How the Evolution of Social Life Shaped the Human Mind
Thinking Big: How Evolution of Social Life Shaped the Human Mind, by Drs. Clive Gamble, John Gowlett, and Robin Dunbar, explores the prehistoric...
Book Review
1368: China and the Making of the Modern World
Globalization is a current buzzword in business, communications, and politics, especially in this early part of the 21st century. Traditional American historical...
Statistics
| 2,993 | definitions |
| 1,764 | articles |
| 19,866 | illustrations |
| 2,643 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,380 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,342 | contributors |
| 15,631 | keywords |
| 62,010 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
Iliad
Homer's Iliad describes the final year of the Trojan War, a legendary conflict between an alliance of Greek cities and the city of Troy in Anatolia. It was probably written in the 8th century BCE...
Definition
Vesta
Vesta was the goddess of the hearth, the home, and domestic life in the Roman religion (idenitified with the Greek goddess Hestia). She was the first-born of the titans Kronos and Rhea and, like...
Definition
Fates
The Fates (also known as the Moirai in Greek mythology) are three sister goddesses responsible for assigning destinies to mortals at their birth, a human's lifespan, and the timing of their death...
Article
Herodotus on Cats in Egypt
The Greek historian Herodotus provides an accurate description of the devotion of the ancient Egyptians to cats in Book II of his Histories, but this passage is often cited out of...
Definition
Xerxes I
Xerxes I (l. 519-465, r. 486-465 BCE), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. His official title was Shahanshah which, though usually translated as `emperor'...
Definition
Theseus
Theseus is a legendary hero from Greek mythology who was considered an early king of Athens. Famously killing villains, Amazons, and centaurs, Theseus' most celebrated adventure was his slaying...
Article
Shulgi and Ninlil's Barge - A Poem Celebrating a Divine Event
Shulgi and Ninlil's Barge is a Sumerian poem dated to the reign of Shulgi of Ur (2094 - circa 2046 BCE) celebrating the caulking of the barge of the goddess...
Definition
Olmec Civilization
The Olmec civilization, located in ancient Mexico, prospered in Pre-Classical (Formative) Mesoamerica from c. 1200 BCE to c. 400 BCE. Monumental sacred complexes, massive stone sculptures...
Medieval Period
Definition
El Tajin
El Tajin is located near the coast of eastern Mexico and was an important Mesoamerican centre which flourished between 900 and 1100 CE. A part of the Veracruz culture, the city's architecture...
Article
Battle of Crécy
The Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346 CE saw an English army defeat a much larger French force in the first great battle of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453 CE). Edward III of England (r...
Article
In Search of the Promised Land: Saint Brendan’s Voyage
Between the 9th and the 10th century CE, in an unknown European abbey, an anonymous author told the story of an Irish monk and his 14 companions who embarked...
Definition
Vinland
Vinland (Old Norse Vínland, 'Wine Land') is the name given to the lands explored and briefly settled by Norse Vikings in North America around 1000 CE, particularly referring to Newfoundland, where...
Definition
Castles of Bellinzona
The Castles of Bellinzona are a set of three medieval fortifications located in and surrounding the city of Bellinzona, which is located in Canton Ticino, Switzerland. These castles...
Definition
Kingdom of Kanem
The Kingdom of Kanem (aka Kanim) was an ancient African state located in modern-day Chad, which flourished from the 9th to 14th century CE. With its heartland in the centre of the African...
Definition
Tower of London
The Tower of London is a castle located in London alongside the River Thames which was first built by William the Conqueror from c. 1077 and significantly added to over the centuries. Often...
Article
The Portuguese Colonization of São Tomé and Principe
São Tomé and Principe are islands located in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. They were uninhabited before being colonised by the Portuguese from 1486. So...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Katharina Zell
Katharina Zell (also known as Katharina Schütz, Katharina Schütz-Zell, l. 1497-1562) was a reformer, theologian, and prolific writer in Strasbourg who helped establish the basic tenets of...
Definition
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked enemies of their state, namely Spain, in the Caribbean and on the American coast (the Spanish Main) throughout the 17th century. Initially hunters...
Article
Francis Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe
The English mariner, privateer, and explorer Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) made his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580 CE. Only the second to achieve...
Definition
Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo (14-19th century CE) was located on the western coast of central Africa in modern-day DR of Congo and Angola. Prospering on the regional trade of copper, ivory, and...
Definition
Michel de L'Hospital
Michel de L'Hospital (also known as L'Hôpital, c. 1505-1573) was a French statesman who served during the reigns of four kings – Francis I, Henry II, Francis II, and Charles IX – as...
Article
Religion in Colonial America
Religion in Colonial America was dominated by Christianity although Judaism was practiced in small communities after 1654. Christian denominations included Anglicans, Baptists...
Curriculum Collection
AP World History Unit 4 - Transoceanic Interconnections (c. 1450–1750)
Between 1450 and 1750, new maritime technology allowed European states to reach the Americas, Africa, and Asia by sea for the first time, linking...
Definition
Golden Age of Piracy
The Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) refers to a period when robbery on the high seas and at colonial ports reached an unprecedented level. Although not all historians agree on the precise...
Modern Period
Definition
Jefferson Davis - President of the Confederate States
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was a planter, soldier, and politician from Mississippi, who served as the first and only president of the Confederate States during...
Article
Sojourner Truth's Escape from Slavery
Sojourner Truth's Escape from Slavery comes from the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, an account of the famous abolitionist's life as given to her friend and admirer Olive...
Definition
Dunkirk Evacuation
The Dunkirk Evacuation of 26 May to 4 June 1940, known as Operation Dynamo, was the attempt to save the British Expeditionary Force in France from total defeat by an advancing German army...
Article
Friedrich Gentz's Stance on the French Revolution - The Fusion of Berlin Enlightenment and British Conservatism
The story of the French Revolution is incomplete without the Prussian-Austrian diplomat and writer Friedrich von...
Article
Coal Mining in the British Industrial Revolution
Coal mining boomed during the British Industrial Revolution as it provided fuel for steam engines of all kinds in factories, transport, and agriculture. Draining...
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
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? - Frederick Douglass' Challenge to America
"What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?" is Frederick Douglass' masterwork of oration, delivered on 5 July 1852 at the Corinthian...
Article
Day of the Dead
The Day of the Dead, known in Spanish as Día de los Muertos, is a holiday that celebrates life and honors the dead through traditions, food, decorations, and activities intended to sustain...
Prehistoric Period
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...
Definition
Homo Naledi
Homo naledi is an extinct species of human discovered in Rising Star Cave in South Africa in 2013 CE in what has become the biggest single-species hominin find in Africa to this day, which is...
Article
The Dolmens of Sicily
It is a well-known fact that Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, went through a quite complex prehistoric period. So much so that it is difficult to navigate through...
Definition
First Agricultural Revolution
The First Agricultural Revolution, beginning c. 12-20,000 years ago, was characterized by the emergence of different agricultural systems in different parts of the world, whose...
Definition
Neolithic Period
The term Neolithic Period refers to the last stage of the Stone Age - a term coined in the late 19th century CE by scholars which covers three different periods: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic...
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”...
Definition
Knap of Howar
The Knap of Howar is a Neolithic site on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland. The name is Old Norse for `mound of mounds' or `large barrow'. The building preserved at the site...
Article
The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art
Rock art (also known as parietal art) is an umbrella term which refers to several types of creations including finger markings left on soft surfaces, bas-relief...
