Reading time: 5 minutes
Hundreds of years ago it was women who caused cultural traditions to spread – possibly through intermarriage – linking communities along Papua New Guinea’s south coast.
Reading time: 7 minutes
One of Earth’s oldest, and deadliest diseases. Malaria has been around since the dawn of civilisation, with evidence of Malaria antigens recently being discovered in Egyptian remains from 3200 BC. In the 20th Century alone, up to 300 million people died from Malaria – even in an era of advancing modern medicine and a vaccine explosion following WW2.
Reading time: 7 minutes
Both bread and wine are products of settled society. They represent the power to control nature and create civilization, converting the wild into the tamed, the raw into the cooked – and their transformation cannot be easily done alone. The very act of transforming the wild into the civilized is a social one, requiring many people to work together.
Reading time: 7 minutes
When people think of the European Middle Ages, it often brings to mind grinding poverty, superstition and darkness. But the reality of the 1,000-year period from 500 to 1500 was much more complex. This is especially true when considering the peasants, who made up about 90% of the population.
For all their hard work, peasants had a fair amount of downtime. Add up Sundays and the many holidays, and about one-third of the year was free of intensive work. Celebrations were frequent and centered around religious holidays like Easter, Pentecost and saints’ days.
Reading time: 3 minutes
On 16 December 1773, American colonists threw 340 chests of tea into Boston harbour in an event now known as the Boston Tea Party. This letter from the East India Company gives a breakdown of teas destroyed – and asks for reimbursement.
Reading time: 6 minutes
If you could travel back in time to one of the bustling cities of ancient Mesopotamia (c. 4000–330 B.C.), for example, you would have no trouble finding yourself a bar or a beer. Beer was the beverage of choice in Mesopotamia. In fact, to be a Mesopotamian was to drink beer.
Reading time: 8 minutes
The Kremlin’s insistence that Ukrainians and Russians are the same mirrors the older imperial model: expand, absorb and claim these territories were always part of Russia. Breaking free from this “mental empire” demands a deep shift in how Russians, Ukrainians, and the world view Eastern Europe’s past and present. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many hoped for a new era of cooperation in Eastern Europe. Instead, authoritarian politics and old beliefs about empire have led to a devastating conflict. By refusing to be pulled back into Russia’s orbit, Ukrainians send a message about self-determination. They reject the claim bigger nations can absorb smaller ones simply by invoking a shared past.
Reading time: 10 minutes
Ibn Battuta, was born in Tangier, Morocco, on February 24, 1304. From a statement in his celebrated travel book the Rihla (“legal affairs are my ancestral profession,”) he evidently came from an intellectually distinguished family.
Reading time: 6 minutes
Travellers have always faced health hazards when far from home. Medieval people were no exception. Pilgrims, crusaders and others were warned by preachers such as 13th century Jacques de Vitry of “dangers on land, dangers at sea, the dangers of thieves, the dangers of predators, the dangers of battles”.
Reading time: 7 minutes Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonians, was a traditionalist. As...
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Reading time: 5 minutes
Like us, ancient people had many things to say about natural disasters. So, what information did they leave behind for us, and what can we learn from them?
Reading time: 6 minutes
It’s 400 years since the publication of the complete edition of British philosopher Francis Bacon’s Essays. Not without pride, Bacon (1561-1626) muses in the preface that his little book’s Latin version might “last, as long as books last.” The Essays have, in fact, never been out of print since 1625.
