Articles tagged as Colonialism | Smithsonian Magazine

Refugees wait for water at a camp in Delhi. The partition of India put millions on the move.

After Nearly 70 Years, the India-Pakistan Partition Gets a Museum

The Partition Museum is unrelenting in its portrayal of a brutal era

January 4, 2017

What Pilgrims Heard When They Arrived in America

They came to America seeking religious freedom, but what did their prayers, and those of the local Native Americans, sound like?

November 21, 2016

Irom Sharmila ended her 16-year-long fast with a lick of honey.

Irom Chanu Sharmila resisted a draconian law with her own body

August 9, 2016

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

July 2016

American Exiles: Leaving Home

A series of three photo essays explores how America has treated its own people in times of crisis

July 2016

Darjeeling white tea brews with a delicate aroma and a pale golden color.

Cool Finds

For the First Time in 150 Years, Anyone Can Buy One of the World’s Rarest Teas

Go straight to the source

May 13, 2016

The tomb was discovered by construction workers near one of Mexico's largest cathedrals.

Cool Finds

A Construction Crew Uncovered the Grave of One of Mexico’s First Catholic Priests

The 16th-century grave was found at the site of an Aztec temple

April 14, 2016

The country could drop the Union Jack in favor of a design with a more distinctive national symbol

March 3, 2016

The secretly-made 3D scan of Nefertiti's bust.

Cool Finds

Thanks to Sneaky Scanners, Anyone Can 3D Print a Copy of Nefertiti’s Bust

Scans of the famous sculpture are free for the taking

February 26, 2016

Images of survivors of the Herero genocide foreshadowed similar scenes from the liberation of Nazi death camps

A Brutal Genocide in Colonial Africa Finally Gets its Deserved Recognition

Activist Israel Kaunatjike journeyed from Namibia to Germany, only to discover a forgotten past that has connections to his own family tree

October 28, 2015

Overlooking part of Malpaso or Nezahualcoyotl Dam in Chiapas.

After a historic drought, a 16th-century church has reemerged

October 20, 2015

American South

The Oldest City in the United States

St. Augustine, Florida, was the first city founded by European settlers in North America

September 3, 2015

Should colonists on the Red Planet be free from Earth’s influence from the get-go?

August 27, 2015

Benjamin Rush, prominent colonial physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a treatise on alcohol in 1784 that still influences how medicine views substance abuse today.

Cool Finds

Meet the Doctor Who Convinced America to Sober Up

Meet Benjamin Rush, father of the temperance movement, signer of the Declaration of Independence

July 6, 2015

A giant rice rat specimen from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France

New Research

How Settlers Wiped Out the Caribbean’s Rodents of Unusual Size

The eradication of rice rats in the Lesser Antilles was part of a massive mammal extinction event

April 24, 2015

The tropical fire ant is the first known ant to travel the world by sea.

New Research

How 16th Century Trade Made Fire Ants an Early Global Invader

By inadvertently stowing away in Spanish ships, one pesky little insect quickly spread throughout much of the world

February 24, 2015

The red fox is among two European imports that researchers say play a big part in the loss of some of Australia's native species.

New Research

One-Tenth of Native Mammals in Australia Are Extinct: Blame Cats And Foxes

No other country on Earth has lost a greater proportion of land mammals over the last two centuries; now, a new study zeros in on the cause

February 11, 2015

Cool Finds

The Second Divorce in Colonial America Happened Today in 1643

The Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans weren’t as conservative as you may have thought

January 5, 2015

Document Deep Dive

John Smith Coined the Term New England on This 1616 Map

After Jamestown, Smith pushed the English to settle the northeast, identifying Plymouth as a suitable harbor four years before the Pilgrims landed there

November 24, 2014

Skeletal remains being dug up at La Isabela, the first European settlement in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus is 1493.

New Research

Scurvy Plagued Columbus’ Crew, Even After the Sailors Left the Sea

Severe scurvy and malnutrition set the stage for the fall of La Isabela

April 18, 2014