Featured
Definition
Japanese Tea Ceremony
The Japanese Tea Ceremony (chanoyu or chado) is a cultural tradition involving very particular places, procedures, and equipment for drinking green tea. Originating as a habit of Chinese Buddhist monks to aid their meditation, tea-drinking in Japan and other parts of East Asia became such a refined activity that, from the 13th...
Featured
Definition
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (1812-1815), referred to by some contemporaries as the Second American Revolution, was fought between the United States and the United Kingdom. Often remembered only as a sideshow...
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Twelve Spices That Changed the World - Trade, Empire, and the Global Age of Spices, 1450–1650
Between c. 1450 and 1650, demand for spices and other high-value plant commodities became an important catalyst for European...
Featured
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Map of the Korean War, 1950–1953 - Major Campaigns and Front-Line Movements
The Korean War (1950–1953) began on 25 June 1950 when communist North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), invaded South...
Latest Content
Definition
Battle of Mill Springs - The First Union Victory in the Western Theater
The Battle of Mill Springs (19 January 1862) was the first Union victory in the Western theater of the American Civil War and propelled Union...
Definition
Ulysses S. Grant - The General Who Won the American Civil War
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was a Union general in the American Civil War and, later, the 18th president of the United States of America. He is generally...
Article
Why Were Hiroshima & Nagasaki Bombed in WWII?
The decision to drop the atomic bomb in August 1945 was taken to avoid further Allied casualties in the Pacific War by forcing Japan into an immediate surrender...
Article
The Bombing of Tokyo in WWII - How Napalm Firestorms Destroyed a City
The systematic bombing of Tokyo by US aircraft in repeated raids during the Second World War (1939-45) was intended to force Japan's surrender...
Article
The Debate Between Sheep and Grain - A Sumerian Argument Between Animal Husbandry & Agriculture
The Debate Between Sheep and Grain (circa 2000 BCE) is one of the best-known Sumerian literary debates in a genre that was...
Definition
Korean War - How the Cold War Became a Hot War
The Korean War was a Cold War conflict that took place between North and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. It pitted US-led United Nations (UN) forces against the communist...
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Spread of the Black Death
A map illustrating the spread of the Black Death plague from its origins in central Asia to western and then central Europe, 1347-1352 CE.
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Map of the World War I in Europe, May 1917 - Front Lines, Occupation and a Continent in Crisis
By May 1917, the First World War (1914–1918) had transformed the political and military geography of Europe. The Western Front...
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Map of the European Colonization of North America, 1492–1750 - Voyages, Claims, Settlements & Imperial Rivalries
European colonization in North America developed gradually between the late 15th century and the mid-18th century...
For You
Definition
Zephyrus
Zephyrus was the god of the west wind and the messenger of spring in Greek mythology. He was known as one of the four Anemoi, or wind gods, each of whom represented a cardinal direction and, except...
Definition
Plutarch
L. Mestrius Plutarchus, better known simply as Plutarch, was a Greek writer and philosopher who lived between c. 45-50 CE and c. 120-125 CE. A prodigious and hugely influential writer, he is now...
Definition
Rhea
Rhea (also spelt Rheia) is a Titan and a mother goddess in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven) and the mother of the great deities of Mount Olympus. Rhea was...
Article
Interview: Her Lotus Year. Wallis Simpson in China
Wallis Simpson (1896-1986) is often remembered as the wife of King Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor. British monarch for less than a year in 1936, Edward preferred...
Book Reviews
Book Review
The Army of Alexander the Great
The Army of Alexander the Great (2025) is a highly detailed and insightful examination of one of the most influential military forces in history. Rather than presenting Alexander...
Book Review
The Story of Egypt: The Civilization that Shaped the World
Professor Joann Fletcher cuts a distinctive figure. Sporting a shock of flaming red hair, dressed in black and normally wielding a black umbrella to ward...
Book Review
The Colony and the Company: Haiti after the Mississippi Bubble
The Colony and the Company by Malick W. Ghachem is an articulately written and intellectually ambitious work that offers a compelling historical lens...
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| 1,752 | articles |
| 19,738 | illustrations |
| 2,625 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
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| 1,331 | contributors |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Epaminondas
Epaminondas (or Epameinondas, c. 420 - 362 BCE) was a Theban general who famously defeated Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE. The daring and brilliant pre-meditated tactics of Epaminondas...
Definition
Senusret III - Greatest Egyptian Monarch of the Middle Kingdom
Senusret III (circa 1878-1839 BCE, also known as Senwosret III, Sesostris III) was the 5th king of the 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782...
Article
Conflict Between the Temple and the Crown in Ancient Egypt
The gods of ancient Egypt were worshipped as the creators and sustainers of all life. People acknowledged their supremacy and intimacy daily through rituals...
Article
A Roman Trail in the Moselle Valley
The Moselle Valley is Germany's oldest winegrowing region. The Romans brought viticulture to this area and planted vines along the Moselle River 2000 years ago. After settling...
Definition
Zephyrus
Zephyrus was the god of the west wind and the messenger of spring in Greek mythology. He was known as one of the four Anemoi, or wind gods, each of whom represented a cardinal direction and, except...
Definition
Megara (Wife of Hercules)
Megara was the first wife of the Greek hero Herakles (better known as Hercules). She was the daughter of King Creon of Thebes who gave her in marriage to Hercules in gratitude for...
Definition
Behistun Inscription
The Behistun Inscription is a relief with accompanying text carved 330 feet (100 meters) up a cliff in Kermanshah Province, Western Iran. The work tells the story of the victory of the...
Definition
Xipe Totec
Xipe Totec (pron. Xi-pe To-tec) or 'Flayed One' in Nahuatl, was a major god in ancient Mesoamerican culture and particularly important for the Toltecs and Aztecs. He was considered the god...
Medieval Period
Article
The Stained Glass Windows of Chartres Cathedral
The 167 stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral, built 1190-1220 CE, are the most complete group surviving anywhere from the Middle Ages. Several windows date...
Article
Cliffs, Caves, Churches: A Weekend in Doolin, Ireland
County Clare, Ireland, is best known for the Cliffs of Moher, the ancient dolmen of Poulnabrone, and its rich musical heritage, but it offers many other fascinating...
Article
The Portuguese Colonization of São Tomé and Principe
São Tomé and Principe are islands located in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. They were uninhabited before being colonised by the Portuguese from 1486. So...
Definition
Hel
Hel is the queen of the afterlife realm of Hel in Norse mythology. She is the daughter of the god Loki and giantess Angrboda and sister of Fenrir the wolf and Jörmungandr the World Serpent. Although...
Definition
Ögedei Khan
Ogedei Khan (aka Ogodei) ruled the Mongol Empire from 1229 to 1241. He was the third son of Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), the empire's founder. Ogedei's accomplishments included creating a new...
Definition
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1143 to 1180 CE. Manuel continued the ambitious campaigns of his grandfather Alexios I and father John II to aggressively expand...
Definition
Shogun
The shoguns of medieval Japan were military dictators who ruled the country via a feudal system where a vassal's military service and loyalty was given in return for a lord's patronage. Established...
Article
Interview with Gordon Campbell
In this interview, World History Encyclopedia talks to author and scholar Gordon Campbell all about his new book Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth published by Oxford...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Kingdom of Benin
The Kingdom of Benin, located in the southern forests of West Africa (modern Nigeria) and formed by the Edo people, flourished from the 13th to 19th century CE. The capital, also called...
Definition
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony (1607-1608 CE, also referred to as the Sagadahoc Colony) was an English settlement established in the present-day town of Phippsburg, State of Maine, USA, in August 1607...
Collection
Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States were the leaders of the American Revolution (c. 1765-1789), who led the push for American independence from Great Britain, founded...
Definition
James Madison
James Madison (1751-1836) was a statesman, diplomat, and a Founding Father of the United States, who served as the fourth US president from 1809 to 1817. He played an important role in the...
Definition
Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571 CE) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, medallist, and goldsmith whose most famous works today include the bronze statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa...
Article
Women Scientists in the Scientific Revolution
Women scientists during the Scientific Revolution (1500-1700) were few in number because male-dominated educational institutions, as well as scientific societies...
Article
Saratoga Campaign
The Saratoga Campaign (20 June to 17 October 1777) was one of the most important military campaigns of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), in which a British army under General...
Article
The Man Who Wrestled with a Ghost
The Man Who Wrestled with a Ghost (also given as The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost) is a Teton Sioux tale on how one should interact with the spirits of the dead in circumstances...
Modern Period
Definition
League of Nations
The League of Nations was founded in January 1920 to promote world peace and welfare. Created by the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the First World War (1914-18), the League...
Article
Battle of the Thames
The Battle of the Thames (5 October 1813), or the Battle of Moraviantown, was a decisive engagement in the War of 1812, in which a US army under General William Henry Harrison defeated...
Article
Battle of Guam - The US Takes Back its Territory in WWII
The Battle of Guam, in the Mariana Islands, took place in July and August 1944 during the Pacific War of the Second World War (1939-45). Guam had been US...
Article
Burning of Washington
The burning of Washington (24 August 1814) by a British force was a pivotal moment in the War of 1812 and in US history. Hoping to pull US military resources away from Canada, the British...
Article
The Difference Between the Mensheviks & Bolsheviks
The Mensheviks ('Minoritarians') and Bolsheviks ('Majoritarians') were two rival factions within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known...
Definition
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer of Romantic Music. Liszt first gained international fame as a piano virtuoso, an activity in which he was a pioneer, and then as a composer of...
Definition
Tamahay (Eastman's Biography)
Tamahay (Tahama, Tamaha, "Pike", l. c. 1776-1864) was a Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux guide and scout who sided with the Americans against the British during the War of 1812. He was...
Definition
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, also known as the Me 109, was Germany's most important single-seater fighter plane throughout the Second World War (1939-45). Produced in greater numbers than...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Migration Age
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions or German: Völkerwanderung (wandering of the peoples), was a period of human migration that occurred roughly between 300 to 700 CE...
Article
Dolmens of Ancient Korea
Dolmens (in Korean: koindol or chisongmyo) are simple structures made of monolithic stones erected during the late Neolithic period or Korean Bronze Age (1st millennium BCE). In ancient...
Article
The Neanderthal-Sapiens Connection
In May 2010, after years of intense discussions surrounding possible fossils of mixed Homo sapiens and Neanderthal descent floating around the scientific community, a team...
Definition
Lindow Man
The Lindow Man (officially Lindow III) is the top half of a male body, found preserved in a peat bog in Cheshire, England. The peat bogs at Lindow Moss date back to the last ice age and were...
Definition
Homo Naledi
Homo naledi is an extinct species of human discovered in Rising Star Cave in South Africa in 2013 CE in what has become the biggest single-species hominin find in Africa to this day, which is...
Article
Stone Age Tools
As the Stone Age covers around 99% of our human technological history, it would seem there is a lot to talk about when looking at the development of tools in this period. Despite our reliance...
Article
Legends of the Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire
The Rollright Stones is the collective name for a group of enigmatic prehistoric monuments located next to an ancient ridgeway known as the Jurassic Way, on the border...
Definition
Homo Floresiensis
Homo floresiensis, nicknamed 'hobbit' because it only stood about 1 meter tall, is an extinct species of fossil human that lived on the island of Flores, Indonesia during the Pleistocene...
