Colonialism
Did the People of Easter Island Invent a Writing System From Scratch?
Radiocarbon dating has found that a tablet inscribed with the mysterious rongorongo script predates European contact
A Brief History of How Carnival Is Celebrated Around the World
Here’s how Venice, Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad and Tobago, New Orleans, and Quebec City mark the pre-Lenten season
Monumental Sculpture Reimagines 'The Last Supper' With Black Historical Figures
Tavares Strachan's "The First Supper" took four years to sculpt and is now on display at an exhibition in London
Los Angeles Museum Returns Artifacts to Ghana That Were Taken by British Forces in 1874
Museum officials traveled to the city of Kumasi to return the objects on the 150th anniversary of their seizure
As Empires Clashed During World War I, a Global Media Industry Brought the Conflict's Horrors to the Public
An exhibition at LACMA traces the roots of modern media to the Great War, when propaganda mobilized the masses, and questions whether the brutal truths of the battlefield can ever really be communicated
A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects
Migration patterns, cultural ties, geographic regions and class differences all shape speaking patterns
What Happened to the Extinct Woolly Dog?
Researchers studying the 160-year-old fur of a dog named Mutton in the Smithsonian collections found that the Indigenous breed existed for at least 5,000 years before European colonizers eradicated it
How Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Secrets of the Bahamas' First Inhabitants
Spanish colonizers enslaved the Lucayans, putting an end to their lineage by 1530
The Many Myths of the Boston Tea Party
Contrary to popular belief, the 1773 protest opposed a tax break, not a tax hike. And it didn't immediately unify the colonies against the British
The Black Sailor Whose Heroic Actions During a Shipwreck Made Him an Instant Celebrity of the Roaring Twenties
Lionel Licorish earned accolades for rescuing as many as 20 passengers from the wreckage of the S.S. "Vestris"
The 19th-Century Novel That Inspired a Communist Utopia on the American Frontier
The Icarians thought they could build a paradise, but their project was marked by failure almost from the start
How Cabinets of Curiosities Laid the Foundation for Modern Museums
An exhibition at LACMA examines the legacy of Dutch colonization through a fictive 17th-century collector's room of wonders
What Emoji Tell Us About the History of Tea
From ancient China to 20th-century America, the aromatic beverage has undergone a dramatic evolution
Christopher Columbus Letter Describing Journey to the Americas Sells for $3.9 Million
Copies of the letter have long been the target of thefts and forgeries, but Christie's says this one is the real deal
The Evolution of Columbus Day Celebrations, From Italian Immigrant Pride to Indigenous Recognition
The holiday has been controversial practically since its inception
Who Were the Taíno, the Original Inhabitants of Columbus’ Island Colonies?
The Native people of Hispaniola were long believed to have died out. But a journalist's search for their descendants turned up surprising results
A Brief History of Banned Books in America
Attempts to restrict what kids in school can read are on the rise. But American book banning started with the Puritans, 140 years before the United States
How America's First Banned Book Survived and Became an Anti-Authoritarian Icon
The Puritans outlawed Thomas Morton's "New English Canaan" because it was critical of the society they were building in colonial New England
A Century Before the Residents of a Remote Island Killed a Christian Missionary, Their Predecessors Resisted the British Empire
When a white clergyman tried to punish captive Andamanese for their supposed misdeeds, they slapped him back
These Malaysian Cave Drawings Reflect Colonial-Era Conflicts
A new study reveals that some of the charcoal drawings date to between 1670 and 1830
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