Featured
Definition
Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes & the Plan to Blow up Parliament
The 1605 Gunpowder Plot was a failed attempt by pro-Catholic conspirators to blow up the English Parliament on 5 November and kill King James I of England...
Featured
Article
Ten Halloween Facts and Traditions You Need to Know - A Celebration of Transformation
Halloween is the most popular holiday in the world, after Christmas (based on level-of-celebration and consumer spending) and, increasingly...
Featured
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12 Royal Princes Who Never Reached the Throne - From Germanicus to the Black Prince & Franz Ferdinand
Royal heirs and princes expected to succeed to a throne occupied an unusually precarious position: close enough to power...
Featured
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12 Largest Contiguous Land Empires Before 1880 - From the Mongol Empire to Rome, Qing China & Russia
Land empires were expansive states whose rulers exercised authority over large, substantially connected territories and...
Latest Content
Article
Stalin's Collectivisation of Agriculture
Joseph Stalin's policy to collect private farms into cooperatives and wholly state-owned farms across the USSR began in 1928. Stalin hoped the process of collectivisation...
Article
James Longstreet's Account of the Battle of Gettysburg - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
At the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863) Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet urged his commanding officer...
Article
Gilgamesh and Huwawa - The Epic Battle of the Cedar Forest
Gilgamesh and Huwawa is a Sumerian poem relating the expedition of Gilgamesh and Enkidu to the Cedar Forest and the slaying of the monster-demon Huwawa...
Article
Stalin's Five-Year Plans - Collectivising Agriculture & Industrialising the USSR
Joseph Stalin's Five-Year Plans (1928-50) were a series of state-led initiatives which aimed to grow the economy of the USSR, rapidly industrialise...
Curriculum Collection
AP World History Unit 6 - Consequences of Industrialization (c. 1750–1900)
With industrialization, a small number of states gained the ability to project power across the globe. Steamships, railroads, machine guns...
Article
Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld - Messages From the Afterlife
Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld is a Sumerian poem pre-dating The Epic of Gilgamesh and featuring its central characters. It is sometimes...
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Map of the Vedic Age in South Asia, c. 1500–500 BCE - Indo-Aryan Migrations, Vedic Culture & Early States
The Vedic Age (c. 1500–500 BCE) was a formative period in the history of South Asia, named after the Vedas, a collection...
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The United States Constitution, 1787
The United States Constitution, drafted in Philadelphia in 1787, established the legal and political framework of the American republic, replacing the Articles of Confederation...
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Map of the Trade in the Indian Ocean 15th–16th Centuries - Monsoon Routes, Spice Trade, and European Expansion
Indian Ocean trade in the 15th and 16th centuries connected East Africa, Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia...
For You
Article
Society in the Byzantine Empire
The society in the Byzantine Empire (4th-15th century CE) was dominated by the imperial family and the male aristocracy but there were opportunities for social advancement thanks...
Article
Rome's Defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest
At the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE, a rag-tag barbarian force annihilated three Roman legions, leaving the Roman emperor Augustus (27 BCE to 14 CE) to nightly...
Definition
Suppiluliuma I
Suppiluliuma I (1344-1322 BCE) is considered the most powerful and impressive king of the Hittite Empire. He was the son of Tudhaliya II (also known as Tudhaliya III) and is credited with...
Article
Siege of Charleston
The Siege of Charleston (29 March to 12 May 1780) was a major military operation during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Hoping to establish a foothold in the American South...
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
Beyond the Silk Roads: Trade, Mobility and Geopolitics across Eurasia
This is the story of the "informal networks" established and maintained by mobile traders from the modern geographical region of Afghanistan who...
Book Review
Mathematics in Ancient Egypt: A Contextual History
Mathematics in Ancient Egypt traces the development of Egyptian mathematics, from the end of the 4th millennium BC to the end of the Pharaonic Period in Greco-Roman...
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| 1,766 | articles |
| 19,870 | illustrations |
| 2,643 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,438 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,344 | contributors |
| 15,635 | keywords |
| 62,751 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
Edessa
Edessa (modern Urfa), located today in south-east Turkey but once part of upper Mesopotamia on the frontier of the Syrian desert, was an important city throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages...
Definition
Tonatiuh
Tonatiuh, 'Turquoise Lord,' was the 5th and present sun in the Aztec view of the cosmos and the fierce sun god of several other Postclassic Mesoamerican cultures, including the Toltecs. It was...
Definition
Byodo-in
Byodo-in is a Buddhist temple complex at Uji, south of Kyoto, which was founded in 1052 CE by the important court official and regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi. The large Phoenix Hall is one of the...
Definition
Battle of Issus
The Battle of Issus, on 5 November 333 BCE, was Alexander the Great's second battle against the Persian army and the first direct engagement with King Darius III, near the village of Issus...
Definition
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is an Inca settlement located in the High Andes of Peru in the Urubamba Valley, north of Cuzco. The site, perched high above the Urubamba river, has been variously described as...
Article
The Eloquent Peasant & Egyptian Justice
The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is a literary work from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE) which illustrates the value society placed on the concept of justice...
Definition
Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (l. c. 55-138 CE), better known as Juvenal, was a Roman satirist. He wrote five books, containing 16 satires, each of which criticized a different element of Roman society...
Definition
Confucius
Confucius (Kongzi) was a 6th century BCE Chinese philosopher. His thoughts, expressed in the philosophy of Confucianism, have influenced Chinese culture right up to the present day. Confucius...
Medieval Period
Definition
Geghard
Geghard (Armenian: Geghardavank or "monastery of the spear") is a medieval monastery located in Armenia's Kotayk province, deep within the Azat Valley, which was built directly out of an adjacent...
Article
Korean Celadon Pottery
The celadon (or greenware) ceramics produced in ancient Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392 CE), are regarded as some of the finest and most elegant pottery pieces produced anywhere...
Definition
Feudalism
Feudalism was the system in 10th-13th century European medieval societies where a social hierarchy was established based on local administrative control and the distribution of land into units...
Article
Eyes on the East: Chronicles of the Indian Ocean Spice Trade
As the 15th century ended, Europeans were still mostly in the dark about the Eastern world. Early travelers like Marco Polo had given the West tidbits...
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...
Article
William the Conqueror's March on London
William the Conqueror (r. 1066-1087 CE) was victorious at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 CE, and Harold Godwinson, King Harold II of England (r. Jan - Oct 1066...
Article
Battle of Civitate
The Battle of Civitate was fought in southeastern Italy on 18 June 1053 between a papal army of Pope Leo IX (r. 1049-1054) and an outnumbered force of Norman knights seeking recognition...
Article
The Contest between Odin & Thor
The poem called The Lay of Greybeard (Old Norse: Hárbarðsljóð) is one story from Norse mythology that relates an intriguing verbal fight between two of its essential gods, Thor...
Early Modern Period
Article
Reformation & Repression under Bishop Briçonnet of Meaux
As the Protestant Reformation emerged in France in the early 16th century, the city of Meaux became one of the first centers of controversy. Bishop Guillaume...
Definition
War of the Austrian Succession - How One Woman's Right to Rule Plunged Europe into War
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) was a major conflict fought between the great powers of Europe, sparked by a dispute...
Article
The Coronation Ceremony of the British Monarchy
The coronation ceremony of the British monarchy as we know it today involves many elements that have been a part of the pageantry ever since the 11th century. Such...
Definition
Ship Money - The Unpopular Tax
Ship Money was a tax applied by medieval monarchs to English coastal communities to pay for ships for the Royal Navy and so ward off pirates and enemies of the state. During the...
Article
Pirate Punishments in the Golden Age of Piracy
Pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) both dished out and received a wide range of imaginative punishments. Victims of piracy endured torture, floggings...
Article
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown (28 September to 19 October 1781) was the final major military operation of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It resulted in the surrender of British general...
Article
The Dutch Discovery of Australia
17th-century Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) navigators were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil. Although there is a strong...
Definition
Wampanoag Confederacy
The Wampanoag Confederacy was a coalition of over 30 Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes who lived in the region of modern-day New England, specifically from Rhode Island down...
Modern Period
Definition
Luddite
The Luddites, named after their legendary leader Ned Ludd, were workers who protested at the mechanization of the textile industry during the Industrial Revolution. From 1811 to 1816, the violent...
Definition
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (1755/57-1804) was a lawyer and politician, often recognized as a Founding Father of the United States. He served as George Washington's aide-de-camp during the American...
Article
James Longstreet's Account of the Battle of Gettysburg - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
At the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863) Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet urged his commanding officer...
Article
How the Hopi Indians Reached Their World
How the Hopi Indians Reached Their World is the creation story of the Native American Hopi nation (the Hopi tribe of Arizona) located today within the Navajo Nation reservation...
Article
Chinookan Peoples, Creation Story, & Blue Jay Tales
The Chinook people (Chinookan peoples) are a Native American nation of the US Pacific Northwest who inhabited the region of modern-day southwest Washington state...
Definition
First Battle of the Somme - Britain's Greatest Military Tragedy
The First Battle of the Somme took place in northern France during the First World War from 1 July to 18 November 1916. The battle (not to be confused...
Definition
Alfred Rosenberg - The Infamous Nazi Race Theorist
Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) was an Estonian-born Nazi who propounded anti-Semitic racial theory and anti-Christian values. Rosenberg's theories matched those...
Article
The Sioux who Married the Crow Chief's Daughter
The Sioux who Married the Crow Chief's Daughter is a legend of the Lakota Sioux about Chief Big Eagle who left his people to marry a woman of the enemy Crow nation...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Knap of Howar
The Knap of Howar is a Neolithic site on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland. The name is Old Norse for `mound of mounds' or `large barrow'. The building preserved at the site...
Image Gallery
Paleolithic Art
The first non-functional human-made objects that could be clearly classified as art date back to the Upper Paleolithic (c. 50,000 to c. 12,000 years ago) in Europe. Although Upper Paleolithic...
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...
Image Gallery
A Gallery of Historical Maps
This gallery of 30 maps traces the history of cartography, with examples of maps made by cultures from the Paleolithic to the early modern period. The maps cover cities, states...
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...
Article
The Dolmens of Sicily
It is a well-known fact that Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, went through a quite complex prehistoric period. So much so that it is difficult to navigate through...
Definition
Barnhouse Settlement
The Barnhouse Settlement is a Neolithic village located in Antaness, Orkney, Scotland, which was inhabited between c. 3300 and 2600 BCE. The present designation of 'Barnhouse' comes...
Definition
Ҫatalhöyük
Ҫatalhöyük is one of the largest Neolithic settlements ever discovered. Built more than 9000 years ago in modern Konya Plain, central Turkey, it is known in archaeology as a proto-city, a link...
