Images

The oak trunk about to be cut down was read by the Viking shipbuilder not only for its straightness but also for the degree of twist in its fibres. By looking at the bark, the builder could understand whether the wood had grown in a twisted...

The Viking shipbuilders did not enter the forest at random. They first searched for large, straight-grown, knot-free oaks capable of yielding broad planks, because a clinker hull would not forgive poor timber, and the choice made at the start...

The work of building a Viking ship began by determining the type and purpose of the vessel. Whether it would be a warship, a cargo boat, or a coastal craft was decided, and the hull length, need for lightness, and choice of materials were...

The broad-bladed axe was the Viking shipbuilder’s most important tool, and had been designed to turn oak logs into thin boards. Using these axes instead of a saw preserved the grain structure of the wood and allowed clinker hulls to remain...

The Peace of Westphalia (1648), concluded through treaties signed at Osnabrück and Münster (May-October 1648), marked the end of two major conflicts: the Thirty Years’ War and the Eighty Years’ War. What began as a religious and dynastic...

An 1879 engraving titled The Burning of Ulundi. Ulundi was the Zulu capital and scene of the final battle of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

An 1882 oil on canvas painting by Paul Joseph Jamin titled Death of the Prince Imperial. The scene shows the death of Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial in a skirmish during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Château de Compiègne.

A mid-19th-century illustration of a typical village of the Zulu Kingdom. Women are shown making beer.

A 1917 photograph of a Zulu warrior wearing traditional dress. He holds an assegai stabbing spear and a light club. New York Public Library

The Giza plateau formed one of the most important royal funerary landscapes of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, a period sometimes described as the “Age of the Pyramids.” Located near Memphis, the political center of early dynastic Egypt, Giza became...