Articles

European colonising powers sought to exploit Africa's resources from the 15th century onwards. Arab traders had been doing the same in North Africa and East Africa through the Middle Ages, but it was from the 17th century that European traders...

The causes of the Boer War (aka Second Anglo-Boer War, South Africa War, and Second War of Freedom, 1899-1902) stretched back to the early 19th century and competition for land and resources between British and Boer settlers. The rivalry...

The siege of Mafeking (1899-1900) was a major engagement in the Boer War (aka South Africa War, 1899-1902). 8,000 Boers besieged the British-held town, which had fewer than 2,000 armed men to defend it. Commanded by Robert Baden-Powell, the...

As early as the 10th century BCE, Israelite and Judean religion began to emerge within the broader West Semitic culture, otherwise known as Canaanite culture. Between the 10th century and the 7th century BCE, ancient Israelite and Judean...

The British authorities controversially used concentration camps for civilians during the Boer War (1899-1902) in Southern Africa. The reason was to deprive Boer guerrilla fighters of logistical support and provide some sort of accommodation...

The Sumerian poem The Descent of Inanna (circa 1900-1600 BCE) chronicles the journey of Inanna, the great goddess and Queen of Heaven, from her realm in the sky to earth and down into the underworld to visit her recently widowed sister Ereshkigal...

Among the most interesting and revealing artifacts discovered from ancient Mesopotamia are cylinder seals. These fairly small items may be seen today in museum exhibits around the world, but, perhaps owing to their size, they are not given...

The Marduk Prophecy is an Assyrian document dating to between 713 and 612 BCE found in a building known as The House of the Exorcist, adjacent to a temple in the city of Ashur. It relates the travels of the statue of the Babylonian god Marduk...

The discovery of gold at Witwatersrand in Transvaal in 1886, coupled with that of diamonds at Kimberley in 1867, transformed the entire region of Southern Africa. The 'Rand' proved to be the largest gold deposit in the world, and it led to...

The discovery of diamonds in 1867 in Griqualand ultimately transformed the entire region of Southern Africa. Huge European financial investment and significant immigration followed. The diamonds led to Britain taking over Griqualand and the...