Colonialism

Taíno cacique Francisco Ramírez Rojas beats a palm frond to drive away bad spirits at a seaside ceremony of thanksgiving. A three-sided idol known as La Muñequina is thought to represent the Taíno belief that spirits of the dead are present among the living.

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

The New English Canaan by Thomas Morton criticized the Puritan government in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

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

Historian Peter Mancall says New English Canaan is “not very long” and “not very well written,” but holds immense value in what it says about the nation’s founding.

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

Boatmen off North Sentinel Island in 1998

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

Researchers recently dated these two charcoal-drawn figures on the walls of Gua Sireh.

These Malaysian Cave Drawings Reflect Colonial-Era Conflicts

A new study reveals that some of the charcoal drawings date to between 1670 and 1830

Phin Sokol, the abbot of Khemararangsi Buddhist Temple, performs a Buddhist blessing at a ceremony for the repatriation of three bronze statues that were previously part of the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

Australia Returns Three Looted Statues to Cambodia

The rare artifacts will remain on display at the National Gallery of Australia for up to three years as the Cambodian government prepares a place for them

Researchers think that servants maintained the site year round, while royals only came to Machu Picchu during the dry season.

Servants at Machu Picchu Came From Distant Corners of the Inca Empire

The city's servant class was a genetically diverse community, according to a new study of ancient DNA

U.S. authorities have returned a rare copy of a letter by Christopher Columbus, which vanished from Venice decades ago.

Stolen in the 1980s, a Rare Christopher Columbus Letter Returns to Italy

The document is among several missing copies of the letter to be recovered from the U.S. in recent years

The Church of San Pablo now stands above the underground passageways in the ancient city of Mitla.

Archaeologists Discover Entrance to the Zapotec Underworld Beneath a Church in Mexico

New scans of the site have confirmed the existence of an "underground labyrinth"

The ceremonial Cannon of Kandy is one of 478 objects that will return to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The Netherlands Repatriates Nearly 500 Looted Artifacts to Sri Lanka and Indonesia

Six of these objects are held by the Rijksmuseum, which is returning stolen items for the very first time

King Willem-Alexander lays a wreath as part of a ceremony on the Netherlands' National Remembrance Day of Slavery, during which he gave a speech apologizing for the country's involvement in the slave trade.

Dutch King Apologizes for the Netherlands' Role in the Slave Trade

The monarch's statement coincided with the 150th anniversary of slavery's abolition in the country's colonies

A bandicoot uses its nose to sniff out subterranean insects, leaving behind shallow holes known as “snout pokes.”

The Unlikely Survival Story of Australia's Bandicoots

The defenseless marsupial was nearly wiped out by invasive species. Now rescuers are pinning hopes on a remnant island population

After more than 100 years, Germany returned two centuries-old masks to Colombia's Indigenous Kogi community.

Germany Returns Sacred Wooden Masks to Colombia

In Berlin, the centuries-old artifacts were treated with chemicals that could pose health hazards

A portrait of Prince Alemayehu in July 1868

Buckingham Palace Refuses to Repatriate Remains of Ethiopian Prince

Taken from his home as a small child, Prince Dejatch Alemayehu died in England at age 18

View of the Skagit River, with the Diablo Dam (completed in 1930) visible

On This Disputed River, Progress May Mean a Return to the Past

Winding through British Columbia and Washington, the Skagit has a history that reflects competing conceptions of advancement

To allay any suspicions, an English colonist took a drink from one container, then surreptitiously offered another filled with poisoned wine to the Powhatans. 

Was the 1623 Poisoning of 200 Native Americans One of the Continent's First War Crimes?

English colonists claimed they wanted to make peace with the Powhatans, then offered them tainted wine

Kari Bruwelheide (background) and Douglas Owsley (foreground) of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History take measurements of the remains of the 17th-century skeleton. 

Archaeologists Uncover 400-Year-Old Skeleton in Sister Colony to Jamestown

The remains belong to a teenage boy buried at the historic city of St. Mary's, Maryland's first capital

In this page from Confessionario En lengua Castellana y Timuquana Con algunos consejos para animar al penitente (Confessions in the Castilian and Timucua Language, with some tips to encourage the penitent.), Spanish is at left and the translation of Timucua is at right.

With Their Knowledge Combined, Two Scholars Are Deciphering a Long-Lost Native Language

A historian and a linguist, working together, revealed new truths about the relationship between Spanish colonizers and the Timucua people

Archaeologists unearthed the foundation of the original 1818 church.

DNA Evidence Sheds Light on One of America's Oldest Black Churches

New research links human remains in Williamsburg, Virginia, to the first permanent building of the First Baptist Church

Monique Bitu Bingi was taken from her family as a girl and placed with nuns at the Katende mission (she's pictured on the lower left in the photograph). The telegram announces the arrival of more children at the mission.

The Youngest Victims of Belgium's African Rule Are Still Seeking Justice, Decades Later

Colonialism's brutal legacy, including the European nation's policy of forcing mixed-race children into orphanages, is still keenly felt today

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