Featured
Definition
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (l. 1451-1506 CE, also known as Cristoffa Corombo in Ligurian and Cristoforo Colombo in Italian) was a Genoese explorer (identified as Italian) who became famous in his own time as the man who discovered the New World and, since the 19th century CE, is credited with the discovery of North America, specifically...
Featured
Article
Clothing in the Victorian Era - Getting the Right Balance of Fabric, Figure, and Flashiness
Striking silhouettes, sumptuous fabrics, bright colours, frills galore, and all manner of ornate accessories define the clothing...
Featured
Image
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...
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12 Women Rulers of the Ancient World - Queens, Regents & Empresses Who Exercised State Power
Political power in the ancient world rested on dynastic legitimacy, control of court and military institutions, religious authority...
Latest Content
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...
Curriculum Collection
AP World History Unit 5 - Revolutions (c. 1750–1900)
Two major revolutions remade the world between 1750 and 1900. The first was a revolution of the mind: thinkers of the Enlightenment argued that authority was...
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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...
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Map of the French Revolution & Revolutionary Wars, 1789–1799 - From the Fall of Monarchy to the Rise of Bonaparte
The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a decade of political and social upheaval that dismantled France's Ancien...
For You
Article
Opening the Way to India
Possibly being overjoyed by the tales of mythical exploits of Heracles, Semiramis, the fabled queen of Assyria, Cyrus, King of Persia and so on, Alexander the Great set out from the...
Article
The Maya Calendar and the End of the World: Why the one does not substantiate the other
The Popol Vuh recounts the story of twins who journeyed to Xibalba. For the Maya, their round of adventures serves as a metaphor...
Article
New Gilgamesh Fragment: Enkidu's Sexual Exploits Doubled
Sometimes it is the smallest discoveries that have the largest impact. When Alexandra Kleinerman and Alhena Gadotti found a new fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh...
Article
The Wise Man of Chief Mountain
The Wise Man of Chief Mountain is an origin story of the Blackfeet nation explaining how they came to wear brightly colored clothing. Although Native American nations generally...
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
Ancilla to Pre-Socratic Philosophers
Kathleen Freeman was a writer who paid close attention to detail and was able to bring the past alive through her prose (as in her The Greek City States which is a personal...
Book Review
The Porpoise (Vintage Contemporaries)
The Porpoise is a novel that seamlessly intertwines a modern tale with an ancient story. After Philipe’s wife is killed in a plane crash and their daughter Angelica survives...
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| 1,759 | articles |
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| 2,641 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
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| 48 | languages |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Vardhamana
Vardhamana (l. c. 599-527 BCE), better known as Mahavira (“Great Hero”) is the sage credited with founding of the nontheistic religion of Jainism, a belief system established in the 6th and...
Article
The Delian League, Part 2: From Eurymedon to the Thirty Years Peace (465/4-445/4 BCE)
This text is part of an article series on the Delian League. The second phase of the Delian League's operations begins with the Hellenic...
Article
The Triumphal Feast of Vitellius
The emperor Aulus Vitellius (r. 69 CE) had never wanted to be Rome's emperor. Aulus was from a family of court flatterers to the first Caesars, and when his friend Nero (r...
Definition
Electra by Sophocles
Electra is a play written by the 5th-century BCE Greek tragedian Sophocles. Similar to Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, Electra focuses on the return of Electra's brother Orestes from exile...
Image Gallery
Fayum Mummy Portraits
The Fayum mummy portraits were lifelike images painted on thin wooden panels and placed directly over the mummy in Roman Egypt. The vast majority of them date to the 1st and 2nd centuries...
Definition
Giants
In Greek mythology, the Giants (Gigantes) are an aggressive race of creatures who were born from Gaia (the Earth) after drops of Uranus' blood fell on the Earth after he was castrated. The Giants...
Definition
Hercules
Hercules (Herakles) was a hero of Greek mythology famous for his great strength and endurance. Celebrated as an extraordinary mortal, his success in seemingly impossible labours won him an immortal...
Definition
Memphis (Ancient Egypt)
Memphis was one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Egypt, located at the entrance to the Nile River Valley near the Giza plateau. It served as the capital of ancient...
Medieval Period
Definition
Jianwen Emperor
The Jianwen Emperor (r. 1398-1402 CE) was the second ruler of the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE). Following a civil war and Jianwen's mysterious disappearance, his uncle took over the...
Definition
Tamar of Georgia
Tamar was the queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213 CE. She is considered one of the greatest of medieval Georgia's monarchs, and she presided over its greatest territorial expansion, taking...
Article
The Gold Trade of Ancient & Medieval West Africa
West Africa was one of the world's greatest producers of gold in the Middle Ages. Trade in the metal went back to antiquity but when the camel caravans of the Sahara...
Definition
Justinian II
Justinian II “the Slit-nosed” ruled as emperor of the Byzantine Empire in two spells: from 685 to 695 CE and then again from 705 to 711 CE. It was after his first reign and prior to his exile...
Article
Byzantine Monasticism
Monasticism, that is individuals devoting themselves to an ascetic life in a monastery for devotional purposes, was an ever-present feature of the Byzantine empire. Monasteries became...
Definition
Edward II of England
Edward II of England reigned as king from 1307 to 1327 CE. Succeeding his father Edward I of England (r. 1272-1307 CE), his reign saw a disastrous defeat to the Scots at Bannockburn...
Image Gallery
10 Maps on European History
In this gallery of 10 maps on European history, we explore the dynamic borders and the fragile quest for peace on the continent. Witness the shifting borders and the persistent...
Definition
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is a temple complex in the province of Siem Reap, Cambodia originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu in the 12th century CE. It is among the largest religious buildings ever created...
Early Modern Period
Article
Francis Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe
The English mariner, privateer, and explorer Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) made his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580 CE. Only the second to achieve...
Article
The Printing Press & the Protestant Reformation
The printing press, credited to the German inventor and printer Johannes Gutenberg (l. c. 1398-1468) in the 1450s, became the single most important factor in the...
Article
Doge's Palace in Venice
The Doge's Palace, or Palazzo Ducale, in Venice, Italy, was the seat of power of one of the world's most powerful city-states, as the Venetian Republic dominated the Mediterranean...
Interview
Interview: Peerless among Princes, the Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman by Kaya Şahin
Join World History Encyclopedia as they chat with Kaya Şahin about his new book Peerless among Princes, the Life and Times of Sultan...
Definition
David Hume
David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher, writer, historian, and important figure in the Enlightenment. Hume presented a positive view of human nature but a sceptical view of religion's...
Collection
Great African Kingdoms
This collection presents a small sampling of the many great African kingdoms that rose and fell from the ancient period when Punt traded with Egypt up through the common era. Each kingdom...
Article
Luther's Speech at the Diet of Worms
Martin Luther's speech at the Diet of Worms (also known as the Here I Stand Speech) is considered one of the greatest pieces of oratory in world history. It was given in...
Definition
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton (1759-1794) was a French lawyer who became a prominent leader of the French Revolution (1789-1799). Danton played a major role in the overthrow of the French monarchy...
Modern Period
Definition
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was an American statesman and diplomat who served as the sixth president of the United States (1825-1829). The son of a former president, Adams had a long...
Definition
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was a French Romantic composer best known for his opera Carmen and the instrumental music for the play L'Arlésienne. None of his earlier operas had enjoyed any great...
Definition
War of the Sixth Coalition
The War of the Sixth Coalition (1813-1814), known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, was the penultimate conflict of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The Sixth Coalition, which...
Article
Why Did Britain & France Appease Hitler?
The policy of appeasement towards the demands of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) regarding Nazi Germany's territorial expansion ultimately failed when the Second World War (1939-45...
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
William IV of Great Britain
William IV of Great Britain (r. 1830-1837) succeeded his elder brother George IV of Great Britain (r. 1820-1830) to become the fifth Hanoverian monarch. William had a successful...
Article
Veuve Clicquot - The Champagne Queen
Innovative, a risk-taker, and utterly relentless in her will to overcome all obstacles, one woman not only matched but beat her competitors in the male-dominated champagne...
Article
Battle of Lake Erie
The Battle of Lake Erie (10 September 1813), also known as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was a decisive naval engagement in the War of 1812. It saw a squadron of US ships, under Oliver Hazard...
Prehistoric Period
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
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...
Article
Rock Drawings of Valcamonica
The rock drawings of Valcamonica are prehistoric petroglyphs carved in the glacier-polished, grey-purple Permian sandstone of the Camonica valley that extends for 90 km in the...
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
Göbekli Tepe
“Göbekli Tepe” (“Hill with a Navel”, or “Potbelly Hill”) is found approximately 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Şanlıurfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey once named “Edessa” and known...
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
Lost Civilisations of Anatolia: Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe is the world's oldest example of monumental architecture; a 'temple' built at the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 years ago. It was discovered in 1995...
Article
Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Hunter-gatherer societies are – true to their astoundingly descriptive name – cultures in which human beings obtain their food by hunting, fishing, scavenging, and gathering...
