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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
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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...
Article
Ming Taxation & the Silver Economy
The rulers of China's Ming dynasty (1368-1644) acquired an insatiable desire for silver in the 16th century, largely to pay for huge prestige projects like building the Forbidden...
Article
U. S. Grant's Account of the Battle of Fort Donelson - Excerpts from the Official Action Report
Ulysses S. Grant's victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson (11-16 February 1862) during the American Civil War elevated him...
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Map of the World According to Christopher Columbus, c. 1490 - How Columbus Misjudged the Distance to Asia
The geographical worldview of Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) reflected a combination of classical geography, medieval...
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Map of the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent - Ottoman Conquest, Diplomacy, and Law, 1520–1566
The Ottoman Empire under Suleiman I (reign 1520–1566), known as Suleiman the Magnificent in Europe and Kanuni (the...
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Map of the Tang Empire under Emperor Gaozong, c. 669 - Tang power from China to Central Asia
The Tang Dynasty (618–907) was one of the most powerful and influential dynasties in Chinese history. During the reign of Emperor...
For You
Interview
Interview: Living in Silverado: Secret Jews in the Silver Mining Towns of Colonial Mexico
Professor Emeritus David Gitlitz is one of the world’s leading experts on Jewish-Catholic interactions in Iberia and the Americas...
Definition
Roman Siege Warfare
In ancient warfare open battles were the preferred mode of meeting the enemy, but sometimes, when defenders took a stand within their well-fortified city or military camp, siege warfare...
Article
Pirate Clothing in the Golden Age of Piracy
Pirates have gained a reputation for wearing bright and distinctive clothing and accessories during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) even if, in reality, most of...
Article
Hernando de Soto's Expedition to La Florida (1539-1542)
The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto (c. 1500-1542) landed on the west coast of Florida on 30 May 1539, hoping to find wealthy kingdoms to conquer and plunder...
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
Decorated Roman Armour: From the Age of the Kings to the Death of Justinian the Great
In Decorated Roman Armour: From the Age of the Kings to the Death of Justinian the Great, Raffaele D'Amato and Andrey Evgenevich Negin...
Book Review
Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture
Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe is a fascinating contribution to the evolving discovery of the lost histories...
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| 1,759 | articles |
| 19,829 | illustrations |
| 2,641 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,157 | translations |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Pi-Ramesses
Pi-Ramesses (also known as Per-Ramesses, Piramese, Pr-Rameses, Pir-Ramaseu) was the city built as the new capital in the Delta region of ancient Egypt by Ramesses II (known as The Great, 1279-1213...
Definition
Theogony
The Theogony is an 8th-century BCE didactic and instructional poem, credited to the Greek poet Hesiod. The Theogony was, at first, not actually written down, rather, it was part of a rich oral...
Article
Enki's Journey to Nippur - A Celebration of Life
Enki's Journey to Nippur (circa 2000 BCE) is a Sumerian origin myth explaining the creation of the temple at Eridu by the god Enki and how musical instruments were...
Image Gallery
A Gallery of Ancient Egyptian Temples
The temple in ancient Egypt was the home of the deity it was built for, and the clergy attended the statue of that god or goddess as they would a living person. Every temple...
Article
Horace's Epodes
Horace's Epodes is a book of 17 poems, published around 30-29 BCE. It contains many of the earliest poems of Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known as Horace (65-8 BCE); some were written...
Definition
Silla
The Silla kingdom ruled south-eastern Korea during the Three Kingdoms period from the 1st century BCE to 7th century CE. The capital was Geumseong (Gyeongju) with a centralised government and hierarchical...
Definition
Mithridates VI
Mithridates VI (120-63 BCE, also known as Mithradates, Mithradates Eupator Dionysius, Mithridates the Great) was the king of Pontus (modern-day northeastern Turkey) who was regarded by his...
Definition
Ancient Persian Culture
Ancient Persian culture flourished between the reign of Cyrus II (The Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE), founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and the fall of the Sassanian Empire in 651...
Medieval Period
Definition
Michael III
Michael III, also known as “Michael the Drunkard” by his detractors, was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 842 to 867 CE. Never quite escaping the shadow of his mother Theodora, who ruled...
Definition
Kaupang
Kaupang was a Norwegian Viking Age town with a seasonal emporium established around c. 780 CE and abandoned around c. 950 CE. Kaupang is located on the western side of Oslofjord (Viksfjord) in...
Definition
Saint Gall
Saint Gall (c. 550 - c. 645 CE), also known as Saint Gallus, was an Irish monk who lived in what is present-day Switzerland during the 6th century CE and was one of twelve companions of Saint...
Definition
Charlemagne
Charlemagne (Charles the Great, also known as Charles I, l. 742-814) was King of the Franks (r. 768-814), King of the Franks and Lombards (r. 774-814), and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 800-814). He...
Definition
Kachina Cult
The Kachina (also “Katsina”) cult refers to the specific religious practices centered on the kachina, which is a spiritual entity and divine messenger of the Puebloan peoples as well as the...
Interview
Interview: Queens of Jerusalem, the Women Who Dared to Rule by Katherine Pangonis
Join World History Encyclopedia as they chat with medievalist Katherine Pangonis, all about her new book Queens of Jerusalem, the Women...
Article
Visiting Glastonbury - the Town of Myths & Legends
The Somerset Levels is an area of the British Isles that captivates visitors with its stunning natural landscape and historical sites and monuments. Glastonbury...
Definition
Owen Tudor
Owen Tudor, aka Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudor (c. 1400-1461 CE), was a Welsh courtier who secretly married Catherine of Valois (l. 1401 - c. 1437 CE), the former wife of Henry V of England (r...
Early Modern Period
Article
Fatima Al-Fihri and Al-Qarawiyyin University
Fatima Al-Fihri (c. 800-880) was a Muslim woman, scholar and philanthropist who is credited with founding the world’s oldest, continuously running university during...
Definition
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare's Greatest Love Story
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy written by William Shakespeare. First printed in 1597, it remains one of the most famous works of Western literature and...
Article
Battle of Kings Mountain
The Battle of Kings Mountain (7 October 1780) was a significant battle of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), fought in the backcountry of South Carolina between large parties...
Article
The Three Estates of Pre-Revolutionary France
Society in the Kingdom of France in the period of the Ancien Regime was broken up into three separate estates, or social classes: the clergy, the nobility, and the...
Collection
Aztec Religion & Culture
Aztec religion and culture flourished between c. 1345 and 1521 and, at its height, influenced the majority of the people of northern Mesoamerica. Great monarchs such as Montezuma...
Article
Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Sioux
The Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Sioux (Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Oyate) are the spiritual observances of the Native American Sioux nation that maintain their...
Definition
Charles Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805), 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl Cornwallis, was a British military officer and statesman best known for surrendering to George Washington at the Siege of Yorktown...
Article
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury on 20 September 1643 was a major engagement between Royalist and Parliamentarian armies during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). The Royalist forces loyal...
Modern Period
Definition
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a Russian pianist and composer best known for his piano concertos and symphonies. He overcame an early ravaging by critics and several years of depression...
Definition
Juan Seguín - Betrayed Hero of the Texas Revolution
Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (1806-1890) was a Tejano soldier in the Texas Revolution, commissioned as a captain of cavalry by Stephen F. Austin, later a colonel under...
Definition
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills passed by the US Congress in September 1850 to diffuse a sectional crisis brewing between the 'free states' of the North and the 'slave...
Article
Battle of Aliwal
The Battle of Aliwal on 28 January 1846 saw the British East India Company (EIC) defeat the Sikh Empire. One of four major battles during the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-6), Aliwal was a...
Image Gallery
Claude Monet: A Gallery of 30 Paintings
In this gallery, we showcase 30 paintings by Claude Monet (1840-1926), the French painter who is regarded by many as the master of impressionism. The paintings are presented...
Definition
German-Soviet War - WWII's Bloodiest Front
The German-Soviet War, known in the USSR and today's Russia as the Great Patriotic War or, in Western Europe, as the Eastern Front of the Second World War (1939-45...
Article
The Zeppelin Bombing Raids of WWI
Zeppelin airships were used by Germany to attack its enemies on all fronts during the First World War (1914-18). Bombing raids, usually conducted at night, targeted key infrastructure...
Article
Ten Great Slave Revolts in Colonial America and the United States
There were 250-311 slave revolts in Colonial America and the United States between c. 1663 and c. 1860 as defined by scholar Herbert Aptheker (l...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Banpo Village
Banpo Village is a Neolithic site in the Yellow River Valley, east of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, in the People's Republic of China. The site was occupied from c. 4500-3750 BCE and covers almost...
Definition
Long Barrow
A long barrow is a class of Middle Neolithic (approximately 3500-2700 BCE) burial monument which is found extensively throughout the British Isles and is related to other forms of contemporary...
Definition
Homo Erectus
Homo erectus, or 'upright man', is an extinct species of human that occupies an intriguing spot within the human evolutionary lineage. These prehistoric hunter-gatherers were highly successful...
Definition
Homo Heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of human that is identified in both Africa and western Eurasia from roughly 700,000 years ago onwards until around 200,000 years ago – fitting...
Definition
Woolly Mammoth
The woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, is an extinct herbivore related to elephants who trudged across the steppe-tundras of Eurasia and North America from around 300,000 years ago until...
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
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...
Definition
Altamira
Altamira is a Paleolithic cave located in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria region) in northern Spain, containing prehistoric paintings. The cave was inhabited for millennia and so, besides Paleolithic...
