Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

European History

The five women—Marie-Jose Loshi, Monique Bitu Bingi, Lea Tavares Mujinga, Simone Ngalula and Noëlle Verbeken—took legal action against the Belgian state for the suffering they endured as children.

Belgium Has Been Found Guilty of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ for Kidnapping Thousands of Children in Congo

A Brussels court has ordered Belgium to pay damages to five women, now in their 70s and 80s, who were abducted from their parents when they were young children

In the early ninth century, a Frankish courtier used a story of demonic possession to criticize the realm’s leaders for their “manifold sins.”

How a Tale of Demonic Possession Predicted the Decline of an Early Medieval Empire

A new book examines the rise and fall of the Carolingian dynasty, discussing how people across social classes understood the momentous history of their day

Pages from the diary of Yitskhok Rudashevski

The Discovery of a Jewish Teenager’s Holocaust Diary Reveals How Songs, Jokes and Stories Served as Cultural Resistance

Yitskhok Rudashevski documented his life while hiding from Nazis, as well as folklore told in his community that “must be collected and preserved as a treasure for the future”

Top: Rubble inside Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019. Bottom: The cathedral's renovated interior (including the tabernacle designed by French artist Guillaume Bardet) in 2024

Trending Today

See Inside Notre-Dame Cathedral in These Breathtaking Images of Its Newly Unveiled Interior

The historic church was devastated by a fire in 2019. After five years of painstaking work, it’s finally scheduled to reopen to the public this weekend

Thessaloniki's Venizelou subway station contains the ruins of a Roman-era thoroughfare.

Cool Finds

A New Subway System in Greece Is Decorated With the Artifacts Unearthed During Its Construction

An ancient marble thoroughfare and shards of classical pottery are on display in the city of Thessaloniki’s new underground “archaeo-stations”

The coin features the bust of Honorius on one side. The other side depicts a person holding a banner or flag with a cross on it.

Cool Finds

This Mysterious Gold Pendant Featuring a Misspelled Inscription Is an Early Medieval Imitation of a Roman Coin

A metal detectorist in England discovered the unusual piece of jewelry, which was likely made in the late fifth or early sixth century C.E.

Archaeologists Caesar Bita and Filipe Castro dove to investigate the wreck.

New Research

A Mysterious Shipwreck Rests Just 20 Feet Below the Surface. It May Be Connected to Vasco da Gama’s Final Voyage

Researchers think a coral-covered vessel discovered off the Kenyan coast could be the “São Jorge,” a galleon that sank 500 years ago

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2024 include The Barn, Eden Undone and The Wide Wide Sea.

The Ten Best History Books of 2024

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today

Machiavelli's The Prince was written in 1513 and printed in 1532.

A Rare First-Edition Copy of Machiavelli’s Notorious Political Treatise ‘The Prince’ Heads to Auction

This copy of the 16th-century text is owned by a private collector. Until recently, historians weren’t aware that it existed

The letter inside the glass bottle was dated September 4, 1892.

Cool Finds

Read the 132-Year-Old Message in a Bottle Found Hidden Inside the Walls of a Scottish Lighthouse

Engineers discovered the mysterious missive while working on repairs at Corsewall Lighthouse last month. Now, they plan to write their own note for future generations to find

The York Theatre Royal says Richard III has been given a voice so he can finally "speak for himself."

Listen to the Resurrected Voice of Richard III—Who Speaks With an Unexpected Accent

A team of experts has created a digital avatar of the maligned monarch, who speaks with a Yorkshire accent. The 15th-century king was born in Northampton, but he spent much of his life in northern England

A portrait of Henry VIII, based on an original by Hans Holbein the Younger

On This Day in History

How Henry VIII’s Armies Defeated a Much Larger Scottish Force, Humiliating His Nephew, the King of Scotland

On this day in 1542, the Battle of Solway Moss left James V enfeebled and ill, clearing the way for his young daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, to claim the throne weeks later

Elliot Heffernan (left) and Saoirse Ronan (right) portray a mother and son in Steve McQueen's new film, Blitz.

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind Apple TV+’s ‘Blitz,’ a New Steve McQueen Movie About Britain’s Everyday World War II Heroes

Starring Saoirse Ronan as a young mother, the film celebrates Londoners’ resilience in the face of an eight-month Nazi aerial bombing campaign

A painting of the capture of Blackbeard on November 22, 1718

On This Day in History

How British Authorities Finally Caught Up to the Most Notorious Pirate in History

On this day in 1718, the Royal Navy attacked and killed Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, off the coast of North Carolina

Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus in Gladiator II, which tells a heavily fictionalized story of the joint reign of brothers Geta and Caracalla

Based on a True Story

The Real History Behind Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator II’ and Life as a Fighter in the Ancient Roman Arena

The “Gladiator” sequel centers on Lucius Verus, the secret son of Russell Crowe’s character from the 2000 film. Both men achieve fame as enslaved fighters driven by their desire for revenge

A potato baked in a hay crust at Hisa Franko.

Discover the Fresh and Unexpected Flavors of Slovenia, a Secret European Delight

In the young, tiny nation, inventive chefs are putting their own twists on classic regional dishes, using river trout, berries and other locally sourced delicacies to create some of the hautest cuisine around

Sigmund Freud in the office of his Vienna home in 1930

New Exhibition Unravels Sigmund Freud’s Complex Relationship With the Women in His Life and Work

“Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists” spotlights the women who influenced the Austrian neurologist—and the field of psychoanalysis more broadly

The 300-carat necklace features 500 diamonds that likely came from India's Golconda mines.

See the Dazzling Diamond Necklace With Possible Ties to Marie Antoinette That Just Sold for $4.8 Million

Some of the gems may have featured in a royal scandal known as the “affair of the diamond necklace” that damaged the French queen’s reputation in 1785

This tiny Roman gladiator figurine used to be the handle on a folding knife.

Cool Finds

Ancient Roman Gladiators Were Huge Celebrities Who Even Had Their Own Merch

A tiny gladiator figurine was used as a handle on a 2,000-year-old copper folding knife found in an English river, suggesting that popular fascination with the ancient fighters reached the edges of the empire

A crowd of tourists gathers on the main street at Pompeii.

Pompeii Introduces New Limits on Daily Visitors to Protect the Ancient City From Overtourism

A maximum of 20,000 people will be allowed to enter each day in an effort to protect the historic site in Italy, where misbehaving tourists are becoming a persistent problem

Page 18 of 79