World History

Hadrian's Gate in Antalya, a triple-arched Roman gateway of white marble set between stone towers, photographed in 2023

Antalya's Founding Dynasty Ended When a King Left His Kingdom to Rome

Eleanor Whitcombe · November 9, 2026

Black and white photograph of D. F. Malan in a homburg hat and glasses stepping off a KLM airliner in the Netherlands in 1953, as a woman holding flowers greets him

In 1948 South Africa's Ruling Party Won the Most Votes and Lost Power

Marcus Delacroix · November 9, 2026

Two photographs of an early 1900s submarine telegraph cable: a length of tarred, armoured cable with a handwritten paper label, and the cut end showing the ring of steel armour wires around the core

Britain Cut Germany's Undersea Cables on the First Night of War in 1914

Marcus Delacroix · November 8, 2026

Two pages of a handwritten Rajatarangini manuscript in Sharada script, shown open under glass

Kalhana Wrote Kashmir's History in 1148. UNESCO Has Just Listed It

Eleanor Whitcombe · November 7, 2026

Piranesi etching of the Arch of Titus around 1760, half walled into later buildings, with trees growing beside it and small figures below the carved relief

Rome's Graffiti on Domitian's Arches Said 'Enough.' Then They Came Down

Eleanor Whitcombe · November 6, 2026

Painting of a crowded hall of men and a few women listening to a white-haired speaker at the 1840 Anti-Slavery Society Convention in London

Britain Already Paid Slavery Reparations in the 1830s, to the Slave Owners

Marcus Delacroix · November 5, 2026

Photograph of the old town of Aden, with white mosque minarets in front of the dark volcanic cliffs of the crater

Aden Fell to Britain in 1839 Over a Looted Ship and a Need for Coal

Marcus Delacroix · November 4, 2026

Engraving after Hogarth of Guards soldiers, women and children crowding a road outside an inn on the march to Finchley in 1745

The Bank of England Survived a Run in 1745 by Paying Out in Sixpences

Hannah Lindqvist · November 4, 2026

Photograph of a Greenlandic dog team pulling a sled across sea ice near Thule, with a flat-topped mountain behind

Denmark Moved 116 Inughuit in 1953 to Clear Space for a US Greenland Base

Hannah Lindqvist · November 4, 2026

Photograph of British paratroopers landing at Gamil airfield near Port Said in November 1956, with smoke rising behind them

70 Years Ago Tonight, Britain and France Bombed Egypt. They Lost in a Week

Marcus Delacroix · October 31, 2026

Photochrom print of Tiflis (Tbilisi) around 1890 to 1900, showing the old fortress on its ridge above the town and the river

Lenin's Party Robbed a Bank With Bombs in 1907 and Couldn't Spend a Rouble

Marcus Delacroix · October 31, 2026

Postcard photograph of the finish of the 1905 Melbourne Cup at Flemington, with the crowd in the foreground

The First Melbourne Cup Had 4,000 People, a Gold Watch and a Horse Who Came by Boat

Hannah Lindqvist · October 30, 2026

Photograph of the Tsar Bomba fireball over Novaya Zemlya on 30 October 1961

Sixty-Five Years Ago Today the Soviets Set Off a Bomb Too Big to Use

Marcus Delacroix · October 30, 2026

Photograph of the Pantheon in Rome from the piazza, with its portico, dome and fountain, about 1910

Why All Saints' Day Is 1 November: From a Roman Temple to a Frankish Decree

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 30, 2026

William Hogarth's 1755 engraving An Election Entertainment: a crowded tavern feast, with a placard reading Give Us Our Eleven Days lying under a man's foot at bottom right

Why the Year Begins on 1 January, and Why Britain's Tax Year Doesn't

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 29, 2026

Studio photograph of Rear Admiral William B. Caperton of the US Navy in full dress uniform with epaulettes and sword, around 1915

1,000 Salvadoran Troops Are in Haiti. The Last Big Landing Stayed 19 Years

Tomás Ferreira · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres sitting side by side in the Knesset in the 1980s, Peres reading a note

Israel Is Deadlocked Again. In 1984 the Answer Was Two Prime Ministers Taking Turns

Marcus Delacroix · October 28, 2026

Photograph of Adolf Hitler saluting the Olympic flag at the Berlin Games in 1936, the year the Peace Prize went to Carl von Ossietzky

Trump Won't Forget Norway. Hitler Banned Germans From the Nobel in 1937

Jonah Okafor · October 28, 2026

Colour photochrom print of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) seen from the coast road, with the walled old town on its headland and a man sitting on the hillside, about 1890 to 1900

Why Quarantine Means Forty Days: Ragusa Chose 30 in 1377, Venice Added Ten

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of a packed crowd of men in dark suits on the floor of the London Stock Exchange, between 1910 and 1920

Big Bang at 40: The Weekend That Emptied London's Stock Exchange Floor

Marcus Delacroix · October 27, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of a worker in a hard hat on scaffolding in dry dock, inspecting the buckled hull of the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts after it struck an Iranian mine in April 1988

Before Hormuz 2026: The One-Day War the US Navy Fought Iran in April 1988

Marcus Delacroix · October 27, 2026

Photograph of Anwar Sadat, pipe in mouth, and Menachem Begin standing at a bank of microphones in the late 1970s

Israel Votes Tomorrow. In 1977 One Word on TV Ended 29 Years of Labor Rule

Marcus Delacroix · October 26, 2026

Photochrom print of Piccadilly Circus, London, in the 1890s, with horse-drawn cabs and omnibuses keeping to the left around the Shaftesbury fountain

Why Britain Drives on the Left: Napoleon, a Wagon and a Swedish Sunday

Marcus Delacroix · October 26, 2026

Photograph of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, bearded and in a dark jacket, speaking at a microphone during the 1989 campaign

Brazil Votes Today. The First Time Lula Lost a Runoff, It Took a TV Edit and a Kidnapping

Marcus Delacroix · October 25, 2026