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History / World History

April 5, 2014, Maarat al-Numaan, Idlib. At the time I made this picture, the area was controlled by Jamal Marouf’s Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF), but was still contested by Syrian Government forces from their Wadi Deif and Hamadiyah bases about 2K away. SRF, which had recently displaced ISIS from the area, was itself displaced by Al Qaeda Affiliated Jabhat al Nusra (JAN) later in 2014. Wadi Deif and Hamadiyah bases were captured by Islamist rebels including JAN and Ahrar ash-Sham in December of 2014.

Photographer Nish Nalbandian on Bearing Witness to the Violence in the Syrian Civil War

In a new book, “A Whole World Blind,” the American photographer documents the tragedy in the Middle East

A sculpture of Hendrick Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid in South Africa.

How Should South Africa Remember the Architect of Apartheid?

Fifty years after H.F. Verwoerd was assassinated in Parliament, the nation he once presided over reckons with its past

Refugees from Syria await much-needed supplies.

The Crisis in Syria

Smithsonian.com partners with the Wilson Center to provide some much-needed context on the deadly civil war

Oil painting of the Great Fire, seen from Newgate.

History of Now

The Great Fire of London Was Blamed on Religious Terrorism

Why scores of Londoners thought the fire of 1666 was all part of a nefarious Catholic conspiracy

Karl Marx by John Collier, 1977

Commentary

Karl Marx, My Puppy ‘Max,’ Instagram and Me

A historian tries hard to understand modern society and buys a #cutepuppy

Scenes from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

The Paris Olympics

The Rise of the Modern Sportswoman

Women have long fought against the assumption that they are weaker than men, and the battle isn’t over yet

The portrait in question, by Dutch painter Barend Graat

Is This a Portrait of One of the World’s Most Influential Philosophers?

One Dutch art dealer is convinced that he owns the only portrait that Baruch Spinoza sat for

Esther Williams, Million Dollar Mermaid

The Paris Olympics

Synchronized Swimming Has a History That Dates Back to Ancient Rome

Before it reached the Olympics, the sport was a spectacle of the circus and vaudeville

Pankration scene: the pankriatiast on the right tries to gouge his opponent's eye; the umpire is about to strike him for this foul.

The Paris Olympics

The Ancient History of Cheating in the Olympics

Punishment for cheating and bribery in the Olympics of Ancient Greece could include fines, public flogging and statewide bans from competition

How the American Civil War Built Egypt’s Vaunted Cotton Industry and Changed the Country Forever

The battle between the U.S. and the Confederacy affected global trade in astonishing ways

One of the ingredients of the ancient Roman burger? Ground pistachios.

Taste-Testing the History of the Hamburger

One intrepid reporter cooked three different versions of the burger to uncover just when, exactly, the sandwich was invented

The key to the Bastille, as held in Mount Vernon's collections.

How the Key to the Bastille Ended Up in George Washington’s Possession

A gift from an old friend is one of Mount Vernon’s most fascinating objects

Ballast from the first historically documented ship carrying enslaved Africans that wrecked off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa in December 1794.

Breaking Ground

Few Artifacts of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Still Exist. These Iron Blocks Help Tell That Gut-Wrenching Story

A profound symbol of the horrific conditions aboard a slave ship is the ballast used as a counterweight for human cargo

The Masonic Lodge in Monrovia, Liberia. Before the civil war, the descents of American slaves who mainly controlled the government often made official decisions at the lodge, which did not allow native members.

These Abandoned Buildings Are the Last Remnants of Liberia’s Founding History

The world created by former slaves in Liberia was a cruel paradox for more than 150 years

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