Abraham Ortelius created the world's first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or "Theater of the World," in 1570. Shakespeare, who famously wrote that "all the world's a stage," was doubtless influenced by the maps that flourished during his lifetime.

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How Maps Shaped Shakespeare

An exhibition in Boston delves into historical maps to show how the Bard saw the wider world

Two supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment demonstrate in August 1980.

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These Photos Bring the Women’s Movement to Life

Catching the Wave dramatizes the large and small moments of second-wave feminism

Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, in an undated photo.

When Women Weren’t Allowed to Go to Harvard, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Brought Harvard to Them

Unlike other women’s colleges of the day, the Annex was intimately connected with Harvard

A partial skull of an ancient elephant uncovered in a new L.A. Metro station.

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Construction Workers Uncover Ancient Elephant Bones Under L.A.’s Subway

But it won’t slow the metro down

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Goodbye, Barrow, Alaska. Hello, Utqiagvik

The most northerly city has officially reverted back to the Inupiaq name for the settlement on the Arctic sea

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There’s a Department of Government Ethics? What Does it Do?

What is the agency weighing in on the incoming administrations potential conflicts of interest?

Human skeletons found in a mass grave near the ruins of a medieval monastery in the English countryside.

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English Mass Grave Sheds New Light on the Horrors of the Black Death

The burial pit contained 48 skeletons that tested positive for the plague

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Yasir Arafat Museum Opens in Ramallah

The three-story building tells the story of the controversial Palestinian leader and includes artifacts like his Nobel Prize and views of his bedroom

A Colombian man cries during a June 20 peace protest in Bogotá.

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After 52 Years, the War Between Colombia and the FARC Will End

Four out of five of the decades-long conflict’s dead were civilians

A booking photo from Rosa Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955.

Sixty-Six Years After Rosa Parks Took a Seat in Montgomery, Protest Is Alive in America

The civil rights leader likely would have approved of current activists’ work

The Ford assembly line in 1913.

In 1913, Henry Ford Introduced the Assembly Line: His Workers Hated It

It was seen as one more way the automaker could exert rigid control over his employees

John Lewis has been arrested at least 45 times—and three previously buried records have now been unearthed

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John Lewis’ Arrest Records Are Finally Uncovered

“Good trouble” led to real consequences for the civil rights agitator

The Flying Scotsman in 2003

The ‘Flying Scotsman’ Made Train History When The Speedometer Hit 100

The first locomotive to hit 100 miles per hour was billed as “The Most Famous Train in the World”

An FBI photo of the airplane D.B. Cooper hijacked.

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You Can Help Try to Track Down D.B. Cooper’s True Identity by Digging Through FBI Files

A crowdsourced project is trying to identify the infamous skyjacker once and for all

Evel Kneivel shown here in this promotional still from the 2015 documentary Being Evel, about to launch in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket, wearing a helmet, of course.

Risk-Taker Evel Knievel Was a Big Proponent of Wearing a Helmet

The daredevil still holds the world record for the most broken bones

Spc. Crisma Albarran volunteered for the U.S. Army. In the future, other women could be required to serve.

Women Won’t Register for the Draft After All

They’re gaining parity within the U.S. military—but women won’t yet be required to register for compulsory service in case of war

Not the meteorite that struck Ann Hodges, this five-inch-long chunk was recovered from Siberia.

For the Only Person Ever Hit by a Meteorite, the Real Trouble Began Later

The “Hodges meteorite” brought problems to the woman it struck, but good fortune to at least one neighbor

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Newly Uncovered Ruins Reveal 7,000-Year-Old City in Egypt

Ancient huts and tombs could be the final resting places of local elites

Gregory "Joey" Johnson, holds a flag sent to him by an unknown well-wisher in New York, Wednesday, June 28, 1989.

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Five Things to Know About the Case That Made Burning the Flag Legal

It’s a grand old flag—here’s why the right to burn it was affirmed in 1989

Robert McNamara meeting with Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House.

How Robert McNamara Came to Regret the War He Escalated

The ‘architect of the Vietnam war’ never formally apologized, but struggled with its consequences for the rest of his life

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