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Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire (1206-1368) was founded by Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), first Great Khan or 'universal ruler' of the Mongol peoples. Genghis forged the empire by uniting nomadic tribes of the Asian steppe and creating a devastatingly effective...
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1940s Utility Fashion
Utility fashion, a consequence of wartime fabric and clothing rationing, made its appearance in the 1940s, with all-purpose suits that could be worn in any circumstance and which were very warm to cope with the harsh winters of the time.
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Victorian Menswear
A 19th-century illustration showing typical menswear clothing of the Victorian era. The man on the left wears a morning coat with typical cut away front while the other figures wear the popular frock coat. The figure on the left is wearing...
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Detail of Coptic Wool Textile
This colourful fragment of a tabby weave is an example of Coptic art. While linen was the preferred textile of ancient Egypt, wool became increasingly important during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. By Late Antiquity, woolen garments had...
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Ancient Egyptian Culture
Ancient Egyptian culture flourished between c. 6000 BCE with the rise of technology (as evidenced in the glasswork of faience) and 30 BCE with the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. It is famous today for the great...
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Medieval Knight
Knights were the most-feared and best-protected warriors on the medieval battlefield, while off it, they were amongst the most fashionably dressed and best-mannered members of society. To reach this elevated position, however, became more...
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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 time frame, it is generally applied to those pirates...
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Ancient Greek Sculpture
The sculpture of ancient Greece from 800 to 300 BCE took inspiration from Egyptian and Near Eastern monumental art, and evolved into a uniquely Greek vision of the art form. Greek artists captured the human form in a way never before seen...
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Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city near Masvingo, central Zimbabwe which was inhabited between c. 1100 to c. 1550 (flourishing c. 1300 - c. 1450) in the region’s Late Iron Age. Capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe of the Bantu-speaking Shona people...
Definition
Transatlantic Slave Trade - The Shame of Nations
The transatlantic slave trade (also given as the Atlantic slave trade, circa 1492 to 1860) was the practice of enslaving the citizens of African states and transporting them across the Atlantic Ocean to the "New World" of the Americas. Although...