Orange free state: Did you mean...?

With a wealth of natural resources, Brazil was by far the most important colony in the Portuguese empire and was, at one time or another, the world’s leading producer of sugar, diamonds, and tobacco. Colonised from the 1530s...

Letters and their delivery via a state communication system was a feature of many ancient cultures. The writing medium may have differed but the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Incas all had the means...

Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism, a new exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, explores the dynamic historical intersection of politics, religion, and art as reflected...

The USSR's Great Famine of 1932-3 was caused by a combination of aggressive requisitioning of foodstuffs by the state, the sale of grain abroad, persecution of farmers, and the general mismanagement of the countryside...

Trade and commerce were essential components of the success and expansion of the Byzantine Empire. Trade was carried out by ship over vast distances, although for safety, most sailing vessels were restricted to the...

Rationing of food, clothing, petrol, and other essential items was introduced in Britain during the Second World War (1939-45) when the country's imports were severely threatened by German U-boat attacks on merchant...

Aaron Burr (1756-1836) was an American politician and lawyer, who served as the third vice president of the United States (1801-1805). His reputation as a US Founding Father was marred by his killing of political rival Alexander Hamilton...

Pyrrho of Elis (l. c. 360 to c. 270 BCE) was a Greek skeptic philosopher credited with founding the school of Pyrrhonism which taught that one must resist making judgments or stating conclusions because sense perception did not correlate...

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (c. 163-133 BCE) and his younger brother Gaius (c. 154-121 BCE) were tribunes of the plebs in the Roman Republic. Serving in 133 BCE, Tiberius introduced a land reform but was beaten to death after...

The Hittites occupied the ancient region of Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey) prior to 1700 BCE, developed a culture apparently from the indigenous Hatti (and possibly the Hurrian) people, and expanded their...