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Battle of Hydaspes
Article by Donald L. Wasson

Battle of Hydaspes

For almost a decade, Alexander the Great and his army swept across Western Asia and into Egypt, defeating King Darius III and the Persians at the battles of River Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela. Next, despite the objections of the loyal army...
Interview: Bejeweled Sri Lanka
Interview by James Blake Wiener

Interview: Bejeweled Sri Lanka

The first comprehensive survey of Sri Lankan art organized by an American museum, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, on show now at the LACMA in Los Angeles, California, presents some 250 works addressing nearly two millennia of Sri Lankan...
Treasure & Booty in the Golden Age of Piracy
Article by Mark Cartwright

Treasure & Booty in the Golden Age of Piracy

During the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730), pirates were first and foremost after gold, silver, and jewels, but if these could not be grabbed, then a ship’s cargo would be taken for resale at a pirate haven. Shared amongst the crew, the...
Origins of World Agriculture
Article by James Hancock

Origins of World Agriculture

Agriculture arose independently at several locations across the world, beginning about 12,000 years ago. The first crops and livestock were domesticated in six rather diffuse areas including the Near East, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa...
Kilwa
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Kilwa

Kilwa, an island located off the coast of East Africa in modern-day southern Tanzania, was the most southern of the major Swahili Coast trading cities that dominated goods coming into and out of Africa from and to Arabia, Persia, and India...
Portuguese Malacca
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Portuguese Malacca

The Portuguese colonised Malacca (modern Melaka) on the southwest coast of the Malay peninsula from 1511 and kept it until 1641 when the Dutch took over. The port controlled the Malay Straits which lead from the Indian Ocean (the Andaman...
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) was a Spanish conquistador who famously discovered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the isthmus of Panama in 1513. An utterly ruthless adventurer and colonizer, Balboa was as much a danger to his fellow conquistadors...
Christopher Jones, Captain of the Mayflower
Definition by Joshua J. Mark

Christopher Jones, Captain of the Mayflower

Christopher Jones (l. c. 1570-1622 CE) was the English captain and quarter-owner of the Mayflower, the cargo ship that brought the religious separatists (now known as pilgrims) to the New World in 1620 CE. Little is known of Jones' life prior...
Pepper
Definition by James Hancock

Pepper

Since antiquity, pepper has always been the most important spice in the world. It played a central role in the medicines of ancient India and China, became a critical component of Roman food, and remained central in the cuisine of medieval...
East India Company
Definition by Mark Cartwright

East India Company

The English East India Company (EIC or EEIC), later to become the British East India Company, was founded in 1600 as a trading company. With a massive private army and the backing of the British government, the EIC looted the Indian subcontinent...
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