Age of Enlightenment: Did you mean...?

Pirates in the so-called Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1740) used all manner of weapons to attack ships and relieve them of their precious cargoes. Heavy cannons, muskets, pistols, cutlasses, and grenades were just some of the weapons pirates...

So far in this series, we've covered a lot of war, disease, climate disaster, and some more war. Well, prepare yourself for something a little more positive. This week, we're talking about the Enlightenment. In this video, you'll learn about...

Wonhyo (l. 617-686 CE) was a Korean Buddhist philosopher whose works impacted a wide array of later philosophers and writers through his teaching that one’s interpretation of the world created one’s reality. He is highly regarded as the greatest...

Although life expectancy was lower in ancient Greece and Rome, many people survived into old age. Those who reached old age tended to accumulate wealth and political power. However, the societies of the ancient Mediterranean were also often...

Pets were as important to the Norse of the Viking Age (c. 790-1100 CE) as they were to any other culture, past or present. The Vikings kept dogs and cats as pets and both feature in Norse religious iconography and literature. The Norse also...

The Baroque era, which lasted from roughly 1580 and 1780, was a time of enormous contrasts: Opulence and innovation, on the one hand; death and crises, on the other. Ongoing religious wars and the opening of global trade networks led to mass...

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German Enlightenment thinker who is widely regarded as one of the most important philosophers of any period. His most famous works of critical philosophy include The Critique of Pure Reason, which challenged...

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) was an English historian most famous for his influential work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume one of which was published in 1776, with the final sixth volume coming in 1788. Gibbon's...

The different Buddhist schools of thought, still operating in the present day, developed after the death of the Buddha (l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) in an effort to perpetuate his teachings and honor his example. Each of the schools claimed to...

The Bronze Age Aegean in the eastern Mediterranean encompassed several powerful entities: the Minoans on Crete; the Mycenaeans on mainland Greece, and the Cypriots on Cyprus. These cultures are often examined separately, and thus the ample...