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Definition
Kamakura Period
The Kamakura Period or Kamakura Jidai (1185-1333 CE) of medieval Japan began when Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199 CE) defeated the Taira clan at the Battle of Dannoura in 1185 CE. The period is named after Kamakura, a coastal town 48 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Tokyo which was used as the Minamoto clan's base. Yoritomo would establish himself as shogun...
Featured
Article
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt, both fought on 14 October 1806, marked a major turning point in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). It saw the French Grande Armée, led by Emperor...
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Map of Rome's Civil War (49–45 BCE) - Caesar’s Campaigns and the Collapse of the Roman Republic
The Roman Civil War (49-45 BCE) was a decisive conflict that transformed the Roman Republic and accelerated the transition...
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Map of the Spread of the Black Death, c. 1346–1353 - Trade, Transmission & the Second Plague Pandemic
The Black Death was the catastrophic first great wave of the Second Plague Pandemic, caused by the bacterium Yersinia...
Latest Content
Article
Matter of Aratta - The Great Sumerian Epic
The Matter of Aratta is the modern-day title for a collection of four poems – Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana, Lugalbanda in the Mountain...
Article
First Days in the Union Army - Recruitment and Training in the Civil War
Recruitment and training practices during the American Civil War varied according to the year, the commanding officer, and between the opposing...
Article
Battle of Belmont - B. F. Sawyer's Eyewitness Account
The Battle of Belmont (7 November 1861) was an engagement fought during the American Civil War in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was the first combat command...
Article
Drinking Customs in Merry Olde England
Raising toasts, sharing cups of cheer, and singing raucous songs while partaking of alcohol are customs which date back to the early Middle Ages in England. Several of...
Article
Officers of the Roman Army
With the appearance of the legionary, the Roman army was able to maintain a vast empire that totally embraced the Mediterranean Sea. Although the success of the army rested on the...
Article
How Music and Politics Intertwined in the Time of Louis XIV
During the reign of Louis XIV of France (1643-1715), music accompanied some of the most visible occasions of royal life: entrances, diplomatic receptions...
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The Seven Sacks of Rome
Across nearly two millennia, the city of Rome was repeatedly captured and plundered as its political position changed from the capital of an expanding republic to the symbolic center...
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Causes of the American Revolution - Taxation, Colonial Rights, and the Road to Independence
The American Revolution developed from a combination of political, economic, social, and ideological tensions between Britain...
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Map of the Scythian World, c. 700–300 BCE - Scythians, Saka, and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppe
Between c. 700 and 300 BCE, the Scythians and related Saka peoples inhabited vast regions of the Eurasian steppe, from the...
For You
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...
Definition
Perseus
Perseus is one of the greatest and oldest pan-Hellenic heroes of Greek mythology. Perseus famously killed the dreaded Medusa, a Gorgon with snakes as hair and whose stare turned men to stone. Perseus...
Definition
Odoacer
Odoacer (433-493 CE, reigned 476-493 CE) also known as Odovacar, Flavius Odoacer, and Flavius Odovacer, was the first king of Italy. His reign marked the end of the Roman Empire; he deposed the...
Article
The Gold of the Conquistadors
The staggering quantity of gold the conquistadors extracted from the Americas allowed Spain to become the richest country in the world. The thirst for gold to pay for armies and...
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
Thermopylae: The Battle For The West
Ernle Bradford's Thermopylae: The Battle for the West is an exciting book for general enthusiasts of ancient history. This speedy read does not strictly focus on the Battle...
Book Review
Lyman Trumbull and the Second Founding of the United States
Rego, Professor of Politics at Messiah University, gives readers a deeper understanding of Lyman Trumbull than a simple biography would provide. While...
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| 1,761 | articles |
| 19,831 | illustrations |
| 2,641 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,181 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,335 | contributors |
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| 59,485 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
Maximinus Thrax
Maximinius Thrax ruled briefly as the Roman emperor from 235 CE to his death in 238 CE. The young Roman Emperor Alexander Severus secured the imperial throne after the assassination of his...
Definition
Warring States Period
The Warring States period (481/403 BCE - 221 BCE) describes the three centuries when various rival Chinese states battled viciously for territorial advantage and dominance. Ultimately...
Definition
Rashtrakuta Dynasty
The Rashtrakuta Dynasty ruled parts of South India from the 8th to the 10th century CE. At its zenith, their kingdom included the modern state of Karnataka in its entirety along with...
Definition
Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire stretched across northern, central and parts of southern India between c. 320 and 550 CE. The period is noted for its achievements in the arts, architecture, sciences, religion...
Definition
Constantius II
Constantius II ruled the Roman Empire between 337-361 CE. He was the second son of Constantine the Great and Fausta. Constantius was a devout follower of Arianism Christianity. Ruling for...
Definition
Apsaras and Gandharvas
In the Vedas, the apsaras are water nymphs, often married to the gandharvas. By the time the Puranas and the two epics were composed, the apsaras and gandharvas had become performing...
Article
The Bronze Bells of Ancient Korea
The metalworkers of ancient Korea were highly skilled artists and some of their finest surviving works are the large bronze bells cast for use in Buddhist temples and monasteries...
Interview
Interview: Costa Rica's Jade Museum
The Jade Museum (Spanish: Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina) in San José, Costa Rica houses the world's largest collection of ancient jade from the Americas. With...
Medieval Period
Definition
Pinson Mounds
The Pinson Mounds are a State Archeological Park in Madison County, Tennessee, USA enclosing a prehistoric Native American religious site comprising earthen mounds built during the Middle...
Article
The Inca Road System
The Inca road system formed a network known as the royal highway or qhapaq ñan, which became an invaluable part of the Inca empire. Roads facilitated the movement of armies, people...
Definition
King Arthur
King Arthur is among the most famous literary characters of all time. The Arthurian legend of the Knights of the Round Table, Camelot, the Quest for the Holy Grail, the love affair of Lancelot...
Collection
Death and the Afterlife in the Ancient World
Belief in an afterlife was common in the ancient world, as it is today, and each culture created its own unique vision of the land that existed beyond the grave. Even...
Collection
The Arthurian Legend
The Arthurian Legend developed in Europe between c. 830, when the Welsh historian Nennius first mentions King Arthur through c. 1469 when Sir Thomas Malory composes Le Morte D’Arthur...
Article
Battle of Marj Ayyun
The Battle of Marj Ayyun (10 June 1179, also given as the Battle on the Litani) was a military engagement between Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem (r. 1174-1185) and Saladin, Sultan of...
Definition
Medieval Guilds
Guilds of merchants and craft workers were formed in medieval Europe so that their members could benefit from mutual aid. Guilds ensured production standards were maintained and that competition...
Definition
Orleans Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Sainte-Croix) of Orleans in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France, was first built in the 13th century CE on the site of a series of older churches dating...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Providence Colony
Providence Colony (also known as Providence Plantation, modern-day Providence, Rhode Island, USA) was a settlement established in 1636 CE by the Puritan separatist theologian and pastor...
Definition
Thomas Cavendish
Thomas Cavendish (1560-1592 CE) was an Elizabethan mariner and privateer who famously circumnavigated the globe in 1586-88 CE, only the third voyage to do so and the first to set sail with...
Article
Who's Who in a Pirate Crew
It was all very well pocketing other people’s valuables and roistering at rum parties, but life on a pirate ship involved a surprising amount of hard work. Pirates were first and...
Article
The Trial of Anne Hutchinson - Silencing Dissent in Colonial America
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) was a religious dissident who was brought to trial by John Winthrop (1588-1649) and the other magistrates of the Massachusetts...
Definition
1st Rhode Island Regiment
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, also known as Varnum's Regiment or the Black Regiment, was a regiment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It...
Definition
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (l. c. 1532-1588), was a high-ranking courtier who rose to become a favourite of Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603). Rumours abounded...
Definition
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four laws passed by President John Adams and the Federalist-controlled Congress in 1798 that restricted immigration and free speech in the United States...
Definition
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer served as the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to 1555 and was one of the prime architects of the English Reformation during the reigns of Henry VIII of...
Modern Period
Article
Christmas Through the Ages
The Christmas holiday has gathered around it customs and traditions for over two millennia, some of which even pre-date the Christian festival itself. From gift-giving to the sumptuous...
Article
Civil War Generals in the Mexican-American War - Friends Who Became Enemies
In 1846, graduates of West Point Military Academy were deployed to fight in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Less than 20 years later...
Definition
Sword Beach
Sword Beach was the easternmost beach of the Allied D-Day Normandy landings of 6 June 1944. The 3rd British Infantry Division was given the task of taking the beach while paratroopers and Royal...
Definition
Sherman's March to the Sea - The Destruction of Georgia
Sherman's March to the Sea (15 November to 21 December 1864) was a significant military campaign in the American Civil War (1861-1865). Hoping to cripple the...
Article
The Red Eagles
The Red Eagles is a Cheyenne hero tale featuring the popular champion Mok-so-is, the child hero best known from the legend Found in the Grass, popular among many Algonquin-speaking nations...
Article
Life on a Colonial Sugar Plantation
Raising sugar cane could be a very profitable business, but producing refined sugar was a highly labour-intensive process. For this reason, European colonial settlers in...
Definition
James Monroe
James Monroe (1758-1831) was an American statesman who served as the fifth president of the United States (1817-1825). The fourth president to belong to the so-called 'Virginia Dynasty', and...
Article
A Storm Eagle
A Storm Eagle is a Cheyenne story recounting a battle fought between the Cheyenne and Pawnee in the winter of 1854-1855 when the Cheyenne retrieved the horses that the Pawnee had stolen from...
Prehistoric Period
Image Gallery
Prehistoric Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly are a small island group west of Cornwall. Despite their small size, they abound in prehistoric sites dating from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, including...
Definition
Homo Habilis
Homo habilis ("handy man") is an extinct species of human that lived in East and South Africa between 2.3 and 1.5 million years ago and plays an interesting role in the discussion surrounding...
Definition
Stone Age
From the dawn of our species to the present day, stone-made artefacts are the dominant form of material remains that have survived to today concerning human technology. The term “Stone Age”...
Definition
Carnac
Carnac, located on the north-west coast of France, is the site of the largest concentration of megalithic monuments in the world. Over 100 monuments, which include burial mounds, stone tombs, enclosures...
Definition
Poulnabrone
Poulnabrone is a portal tomb in the region known as the Burren, County Clare, Ireland and the oldest dated megalithic monument in the land. The name means "Hole of the Quern Stones", but the...
Definition
Locmariaquer
Locmariaquer is a Stone Age site in north-west France distinguished by its two large stone tombs and massive granite standing stone or menhir. The monumental structures, all built within metres...
Definition
Homo Rudolfensis
Homo rudolfensis is an early human species that lived in East Africa between c. 2.5 and 1.8 million years ago. It is known from a handful of skull, jaw and teeth fragments that remind alternatingly...
Definition
Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes, a Buddhist cave complex located 13 kilometers south of Luoyang in China's Henan province, form some of the most significant and exquisite representations of ancient...
