Brazil: Did you mean...?

The forest is a habitat for people, animals, and plants, a provider of invaluable resources, and an ally in the fight against climate change. The greatest beneficiary of the forest is humanity – but it is also its greatest threat. Over the...

A map of European empires c. 1700. By the 18th century, European power had become truly global through a combination of maritime expansion, state-backed commerce, and military force. The leading Atlantic empires, Spain, Portugal, the Dutch...

The Columbian exchange is a term coined by Alfred Crosby Jr. in 1972 that is traditionally defined as the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World of Europe and Africa and the New World of the Americas. The exchange...

Ferdinand Magellan, or Fernão de Magalhães (c. 1480-1521), was a Portuguese mariner whose expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1519-22 in the service of Spain. Magellan was killed on the voyage in what is today the Philippines...

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 slaves along the Congo River, the kingdom's wealth was...

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 common trait was the use of native species. Although agriculture...

Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) was a Portuguese navigator who, in 1497-9, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa and arrived at Calicut (now Kozhikode) on the south-west coast of India. This was the first direct voyage from...

The Spanish flu (so-named because the Spanish press openly reported on the outbreak while other World War I belligerents suppressed the news) broke out in March 1918 at Camp Funston, an army camp in Kansas, and struck young, healthy adults...

The New England Colonies were the settlements established by English religious dissenters along the coast of the north-east of North America between 1620-1640 CE. The original colonies were: - Plymouth Colony (1620 CE) - New Hampshire...

John Cabot (aka Giovanni Caboto, c. 1450 - c. 1498 CE) was an Italian explorer who famously visited the eastern coast of Canada in 1497 CE and 1498 CE in his ship the Mathew (also spelt Matthew). Sponsored by Henry VII of England (r. 1485-1509...