Portal:History

The History Portal Library of Alexandria History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation') is the study of the past. Events occurring before the invention of writing systems are considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who focus on history are called historians. The historian's role is to place the past in context, using sources from moments and events, and filling in the gaps to the best of their ability. Written documents are not the only sources historians use to develop their understanding of the past. They also use material objects, oral accounts, ecological markers, art, and artifacts as historical sources. History also includes the academic discipline which uses narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze a sequence of past events, investigate the patterns of cause and effect that are related to them. Historians seek to understand and represent the past through narratives. They often debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians also debate the nature of history and its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present. Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the tales surrounding King Arthur), are usually classified as cultural heritage or legends. History differs from myth in that it is supported by evidence. However, ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematic elements of historical investigation. History is often taught as part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study of history is a major discipline in university studies. Herodotus, a 5th-century BC Greek historian is often considered (within the Western tradition) to be the "father of history," or, by some, the "father of lies." Along with his contemporary Thucydides, he helped form the foundations for the modern study of human history. Their works continue to be read today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In East Asia, a state chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals, was known to be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd-century BC texts have survived. Featured article - This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.. A 19th-century interpretation showing the arrest of Governor Andros during Boston's brief revolt The 1689 Boston revolt was a popular uprising on April 18, 1689 against the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of the Dominion of New England. A well-organized "mob" of provincial militia and citizens formed in the town of Boston, the capital of the dominion, and arrested dominion officials. Members of the Church of England were also taken into custody if they were believed to sympathize with the administration of the dominion. Neither faction sustained casualties during the revolt. Leaders of the former Massachusetts Bay Colony then reclaimed control of the government. In other colonies, members of governments displaced by the dominion were returned to power. Andros was commissioned governor of New England in 1686. He had earned the enmity of the local populace by enforcing the restrictive Navigation Acts, denying the validity of existing land titles, restricting town meetings, and appointing unpopular regular officers to lead colonial militia, among other actions. Furthermore, he had infuriated Puritans in Boston by promoting the Church of England, which was rejected by many nonconformist New England colonists. Read more... List of featured articles Western Ganga dynasty Unification of Germany 1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing Last voyage of the Karluk Mormon handcart pioneers Ming–Tibet relations To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World Song dynasty Second Crusade Treaty of Devol Inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre History of Poland (1945–1989) History of Minnesota Ancient Egypt Byzantine Empire Act of Independence of Lithuania Plymouth Colony South American dreadnought race Sydney Riot of 1879 Gunpowder Plot Medieval cuisine Empire of Brazil A History of the Birds of Europe Political history of Mysore and Coorg (1565–1760) Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany Peasants' Revolt Mantra-Rock Dance Hoysala Empire Middle Ages Battle of Red Cliffs Manzanar Wage reform in the Soviet Union, 1956–1962 Maya civilization History of biology Parliament of 1327 Ethiopian historiography Hoysala Empire History of Gibraltar Political history of Mysore and Coorg (1565–1760) Uruguayan War Taiwanese indigenous peoples Tang dynasty Slavery in ancient Greece Battle of Moscow 1957 Canadian federal election History of Lithuania (1219–95) Mozambican War of Independence 1910 Cuba hurricane Manhattan Project History of the Australian Capital Territory Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Amundsen's South Pole expedition Scotland in the High Middle Ages Vijayanagara Empire Second Crusade Paleocene Featured image The Trinity nuclear test was the first nuclear detonation in the world. Conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, the successful test would set the stage for the coming Atomic Age. This image, captured by Berlyn Brixner, shows the fireball that developed 0.016 seconds after ignition; the explosive had a yield of 20 kilotons of dynamite. Did you know... ... that the Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi (wreck pictured) capsized on 29 July 1945 as a result of cumulative damage inflicted by American airstrikes on 24 and 28 July? ... that Scandinavian influence in Scotland, still evident today, was probably at its height during the time of Thorfinn the Mighty? ... that, after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bassetki statue, which is more than 4,200 years old, was found in a cesspool? ... that in medieval art, angels were often depicted wearing feather tights? ... that 49% of German military losses happened in the last 10 months of the Second World War in Europe? ... that Joshua L. Goldberg, the first rabbi to serve as a World War II U.S. navy chaplain, was a Russian army deserter? ... that Richard Nixon chose the Wilson desk as his Oval Office desk because he believed it was used by Woodrow Wilson, but it was actually used by Henry Wilson, Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant? ... that some of the nominally silver Roman coins from the Bredon Hill Hoard only have a 1% silver content? Featured biography - This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.. Blackbeard (c. 1736 engraving used to illustrate Johnson's General History) Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, c. 1680 – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before settling on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet; but Hornigold retired from piracy towards the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him. Teach captured a French slave ship known as La Concorde, renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, equipped her with 40 guns, and finished her off with a crew of 300+ men. He became a renowned pirate, his nickname derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance; he was reported to have tied lit fuses (slow matches) under his hat to frighten his enemies. He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, ransoming the port's inhabitants. He then ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina. He parted company with Bonnet and settled in Bath, North Carolina, also known as Bath Town where he accepted a royal pardon. But he was soon back at sea, where he attracted the attention of Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia. Spotswood arranged for a party of soldiers and sailors to capture the pirate, which they did on 22 November 1718 following a ferocious battle. Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard. Read more... List of featured biographies Alcibiades Ramón Emeterio Betances Harriet Arbuthnot Samuel Adams Nikita Zotov Pedro Álvares Cabral Isaac Brock Joel Brand Daniel Boone Phan Đình Phùng Jack Sheppard Witold Pilecki Wail al-Shehri John Treloar (museum administrator) Pericles George W. Romney Joan of Arc Malcolm X Jovan Vladimir Shen Kuo Cleopatra King Arthur Giovanni Villani Joan of Arc Phan Đình Phùng Malcolm X Ramón Emeterio Betances Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Tom Crean (explorer) Fridtjof Nansen Thomas the Slav Jean-François-Marie de Surville Hasekura Tsunenaga Harriet Tubman On this day July 15: Tax Day in the United States (2020) Rosetta Stone 1799 – French soldiers uncovered the Rosetta Stone (pictured) in Fort Julien, near the Egyptian port city of Rashid. 1815 – Aboard HMS Bellerophon, Napoleon surrendered to Royal Navy Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland to finally end the Napoleonic Wars. 1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam began Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. 1983 – Armenian extremist organization ASALA bombed the Turkish Airlines check-in counter at Orly Airport, killing 8 and injuring 55, as part of its campaign for the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian Genocide. 2016 – Organized as the Peace at Home Council, a faction in the Turkish Armed Forces attempted a coup d'état against the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots (d. 1445) Vilfredo Pareto (b. 1848) Betty Wagoner (b. 1930) More anniversaries: July 14 July 15 July 16 Selected quote "Strike an enemy once and for all. Let him cease to exist as a tribe or he will live to fly in your throat again". — Shaka, 19th century Zulu king Subportals Ancient Egypt Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Middle Ages Anglo-Saxon England British Empire History of science Countries War Modern history General images The following are images from various History-related articles on Wikipedia. Europe in 814 Cossacks became the backbone of the early Russian Army. Nok sculpture of a sitted person A possible representation of a "yogi" or "proto-Shiva", 2600–1900 BCE A mosaic showing Justinian with the bishop of Ravenna (Italy), bodyguards, and courtiers. World Colonization of 1492 (Early Modern World), 1550, 1660, 1754 (Age of Enlightenment), 1822 (Industrial revolution), 1885 (European Hegemony), 1914 (World War I era), 1938 (World War II era), 1959 (Cold War era) and 1974, 2008 (Recent history). Map of the approximate political boundaries in Europe around 450 AD Gold stag with eagle's head, and ten further heads in the antlers. From a Xiongnu tomb. 4th–3rd century BC Map of the Islamic Gunpowders, the Mughal Empire being the orange one. The Persian Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC Map of Europe in 1360 The Cantino planisphere (1502), the oldest surviving Portuguese nautical chart showing the results of the explorations of Vasco da Gama to India, Columbus to Central America, Gaspar Corte-Real to Newfoundland and Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil. The meridian of Tordesillas, separating the Portuguese and Spanish halves of the world is also depicted Byzantine Empire in 1265 Gutenberg reviewing a press proof (a colored engraving created probably in the 19th century) Map showing growth of Frankish power from 481 to 814 The Romanesque Church of Maria Laach, Germany Medieval illustration of the spherical Earth in a 14th-century copy of L'Image du monde Waldseemüller map with joint sheets, 1507 Cishou Temple Pagoda, built in 1576: the Chinese believed that building pagodas on certain sites according to geomantic principles brought about auspicious events; merchant-funding for such projects was needed by the late Ming period. The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830 by Hokusai, an example of art flourishing in the Edo Period Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 by Francis Hayman February scene from the 15th-century illuminated manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Francis of Assisi, depicted by Bonaventura Berlinghieri in 1235, founded the Franciscan Order. Measoamerica – Olmec The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, located on the Acropolis in Athens John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, showing the Committee of Five in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia Ferdinand Pauwels – Martin Luther hammers his 95 theses to the door The Territory of the Adal Sultanate and its vassal states circa 1500. Overview map in the 15th century BC showing the core territory of Assyria with its two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream and the states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream. The ruins of Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan Silver, valued as a precious metal, has been used to make expensive ornaments, fine jewelry, high-value tableware and utensils (silverware), and currency coins. Map of the late Bronze Age collapse, c. 1200 BC The Chinese Han Dynasty dominated the East Asia region at the beginning of the first millennium AD India – Indus Valley Civilization The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, built of marble and limestone between circa 460-406 BC, is a symbol not just of Ancient Greek architecture, but for Antiquity in general A late Roman sculpture depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in Venice, Italy "If there is something you know, communicate it. If there is something you don't know, search for it." An engraving from the 1772 edition of the Encyclopédie; Truth (center) is surrounded by light and unveiled by the figures to the right, Philosophy and Reason The Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct in France. The Bayeux Tapestry (detail) showing William the Conqueror (centre), his half-brothers Robert, Count of Mortain (right) and Odo, Bishop of Bayeux in the Duchy of Normandy (left) Execution of some of the ringleaders of the jacquerie, from a 14th-century manuscript of the Chroniques de France ou de St Denis Andean – Norte Chico China – Erlitou Sénanque Abbey, Gordes, France Bronze Mirror, from the Yayoi period of Japan The Mughal ambassador Khan’Alam in 1618 negotiating with Shah Abbas the Great of Iran. Largest expansion of Kingdom of Armenia under Tigranes the Great The early Muslim conquests   Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632   Expansion during the Patriarchal Caliphate, 632–661   Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750 A coin of the Ostrogothic leader Theoderic the Great, struck in Milan, Italy, circa AD 491–501 The Ezana Stone records negus Ezana's conversion to Christianity and conquests of his neighbors. Khafre's Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. 2500 BC or perhaps earlier) Barbarian kingdoms and tribes after the end of the Western Roman Empire Europe and the Mediterranean Sea in 1190 Model for the Three Superior Planets and Venus from Georg von Peuerbach, Theoricae novae planetarum. Krak des Chevaliers was built during the Crusades for the Knights Hospitallers. Roman cast terracotta of ram-horned Jupiter Ammon, a form of Zeus 1st century AD. Gods, could sometimes be transferred or adopted by many civilizations, and then adjusted for local conditions. Pharaohs of Nubia Spices were among the most luxurious products, the most common being black pepper, cinnamon (and the cheaper alternative cassia), cumin, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. 15th century Hanging Houses in Cuenca, Spain from the Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period. Portrait of Cardinal Hugh of Saint-Cher by Tommaso da Modena, 1352, the first known depiction of spectacles Mesopotamia – Sumer Agricultural calendar, c. 1470, from a manuscript of Pietro de Crescenzi Terracotta Warriors from the time of Qin Shi Huang Roman Empire 117 AD. The Senatorial provinces were acquired first under the Roman Republic and were under the Roman Senate's control; the Imperial provinces were controlled directly by the Roman emperor. Standing Greek-Buddha, Gandhara, 1st century AD. Technical drawing of Roman Ballista mechanism. Reconstruction of an early medieval peasant village in Bavaria Geographical extent of Iranian influence in the 1st century BC. The Parthian Empire (mostly Western Iranian) is shown in red, other areas, dominated by Scythia (mostly Eastern Iranian), in orange. The Cross of Mathilde, a crux gemmata made for Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the enamel plaque. The figure of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in Cologne or Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques: cast figurative sculpture, filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical cameos and engraved gems. 10th-century Ottonian ivory plaque depicting Christ receiving a church from Otto I Egyptian soldiers from Hatshepsut's expedition to the Land of Punt as depicted from her temple at Deir el-Bahri. Guy of Boulogne crowning Pope Gregory XI in a 15th-century miniature from Froissart's Chroniques An 11th-century illustration of Gregory the Great dictating to a secretary A medieval scholar making precise measurements in a 14th-century manuscript illustration Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830). The French Revolution inspired a wave of revolutions across Europe. Liberalism and Nationalism were popular ideas that challenged Absolute Monarchies in the 19th century. Joan of Arc in a 15th-century depiction Painting of Murong Xianbei archer, in Late Antiquity, nomads across Eurasia, began to use the stirrup. Horse riding warriors could be devastating in combat. The Iron Age kingdom of Israel (blue) and kingdom of Judah (yellow) Engraved world map (including magnetic declination lines) by Leonhard Euler from his school atlas "Geographischer Atlas bestehend in 44 Land-Charten" first published 1753 in Berlin Ottoman Empire 1481–1683 Charlemagne's palace chapel at Aachen, completed in 805 Oracle bone script from the Shang Dynasty. A page from the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript created in the British Isles in the late 8th or early 9th century The Gothic interior of Laon Cathedral, France Gold fueled European exploration of the Americas. Explorers reported Native Americans in Central America, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia were to have had large amounts. Battle of Vienna, 12 September 1683 A political map of the Mauryan Empire, including notable cities, such as the capital Pataliputra, and site of the Buddha's enlightenment. Medieval French manuscript illustration of the three classes of medieval society: those who prayed (the clergy) those who fought (the knights), and those who worked (the peasantry). The relationship between these classes was governed by feudalism and manorialism. (Li Livres dou Sante, 13th century) The Age of Migrations in Europe was deeply detrimental to the late Roman Empire. 13th-century illustration of a Jew (in pointed Jewish hat) and the Christian Petrus Alphonsi debating Clerics studying astronomy and geometry, French, early 15th century A painting depecting the Qing Chinese celebrating a victory over the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan. This work was a collaboration between Chinese and European painters. 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