Images

Morioka Castle in Iwate Prefecture, Japan was built in 1633, during the Edo Period. The castle's tenshi burned down only one year after its completion, and was never rebuilt. The castle's structures were dismantled in the late 19th Century...

The Nemuro Peninsula Chashi Sites are a series of hilltop fortifications built by the Ainu. The earthen palisades were built between the 16th and 18th Century, and are associated with the 1789 Menashi–Kunashir rebellion. Hokkaidō, Japan.

Banquet scene in a fresco from Herculaneum, Italy. The woman wears a transparent silk gown while the man to the left raises a rhyton drinking vessel. Made c. 50 BCE, during the Late Roman Republic. Le Musée absolu, Phaidon. 59 (23 in) x 53...

Bust of Zeno of Elea, print by Jan de Bisschop, based on a bust by an unknown artist, 1666 - 1671. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

An illustration of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) as the viceroy of Portuguese India, an appointment made in 1524. (Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu, Pierpont Morgan Library, M.525)

A c. 1900 painting by Alfredo Roque Gameiro showing the arrival of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1525) at Calicut in India. He was the first European to sail directly from Europe to India via the Cape of Good Hope, a voyage...

A 16th century portrait of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1525). He was the first European to sail directly from Europe to India via the Cape of Good Hope, a voyage taken in 1497-9. (National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon)

A c. 1900 painting by Alfredo Roque Gameiro showing the departure of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1525) from Lisbon. He was the first European to sail directly from Europe to India via the Cape of Good Hope, a voyage taken...

The Turin Papyrus Map is an ancient Egyptian map of gold mines in the Eastern Desert. It is considered to be one of the oldest surviving topographical maps. Made c. 1150 BCE by Scribe-of-the-Tomb Amennakhte, son of Ipuy. (Turin Museum)

A Babylonian cuneiform tablet with a map of the fields, towns and palaces around Nippur. Kassite Period, 1550-1450 BCE. Nippur, Iraq.