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History / World History

Vision of St Maria Magdalena di Pazzi from the Museo de Bellas Artes, Granada

Ask Smithsonian

Who Was Mary Magdalene?

From the writing of the New Testament to the filming of The Da Vinci Code, her image has been repeatedly conscripted, contorted and contradicted

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Students of the Game

When the Aztec and Maya played it 500 to 1,000 years ago, the losers sometimes lost their heads—literally

America launches its first space shuttle, Columbia, on April 12, 1981.

April Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

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Odyssey’s End?: The Search for Ancient Ithaca

A British researcher believes he has at last pinpointed the island to which Homer’s wanderer returned

Sayyid Qutb

A Lesson In Hate

How an Egyptian student came to study 1950s America and left determined to wage holy war

Chris Hondros, photographer for Getty Images News Services, captured this image of Joseph Duo and became a defining image of Liberia's protracted strife.

A Soldier’s Story

Photojournalist Chris Hondros, recently killed in Libya, discussed his work in war-torn Liberia with Smithsonian in 2006

"Last Days of Pompeii" depicts an artist's rendering of the catastrophic final hours of Pompeii as the citizens were buried alive in ash.

Resurrecting Pompeii

A new exhibition brings the doomed residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum vividly to life

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January Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

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This Month in History

December anniversaries—momentous or merely memorable

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The Grand Union Flag, Free At Last, and Lighting Up Broadway…

December anniversaries— momentous or merely memorable

When the smoke cleared and Saddam withdrew from northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurds returned home by the truckload and began to erase reminders of his rule.

Iraq’s Resilient Minority

Shaped by persecution, tribal strife and an unforgiving landscape, Iraq’s Kurds have put their dream of independence on hold-for now

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Helen Gurley Brown, the World Trade Center and Nobel Prizes…

A look back at the world in Smithsonian Magazine’s first year

35 Who Made a Difference: Mark Lehner

He took the blue-collar approach to the great monuments of Egypt

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Wealth of a Nation

An exhibition of portraits from Latin America highlights the region’s many contributions to U.S. cultural life

Roman museums are among the most elegantly designed of any in the world and its archaeological sites are the most user-friendly.

The Glory That Is Rome

Thanks to renovations of its classical venues, the Eternal City has never looked better

Between 6 B.C. and A.D. 4, Roman legions established bases on the Lippe and Weser rivers.

The Ambush That Changed History

An amateur archaeologist discovers the field where wily Germanic warriors halted the spread of the Roman Empire

A U.S. official noted the "amaraderie and trust among these guys—the Peace Brothers"(Rabin, Mubarak, Hussein, Clinton and Arafat).

Ties That Bind

At last, all parties were ready to make peace in the Middle East. Whoops … Not So Fast

In the Nigerian village of Tajaé, a woman named Rakany (with her great-grandson) says she was given as a slave to her owner when she was an infant. She is now 80 years old.

Born into Bondage

Despite denials by government officials, slavery remains a way of life in the African nation of Niger

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War Stories

Remembering the sound and fury—and the joy—of the end of World War II

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It’s Over

We asked readers to tell us where they were and how they reacted to the news that World War II had ended. And what a response we got!

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