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European History

Cocoa roasters at the Hershey Chocolate Company in Pennsylvania

The World of Chocolate

The Short Rise and Fall of the Crazy-for-Cocoa-Trade Cards Craze

In the late 19th-century, when you bought chocolate, the grocer dropped a delightful prize into your bag, a trade card to save and share

Miguel de Cervantes is best known for creating Don Quixote, a whimsical knight.

Cool Finds

Did Archaeologists Just Find Miguel de Cervantes, 400 Years After His Death?

A centuries-old crypt could hold the answer to the mystery of Cervantes’ missing remains

Journey back to the Paris of the Marquis de Sade by strolling around the Marais, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

Tour Paris With the Marquis de Sade as Your Guide

Traces still remain in the City of Love of the famed author and sex icon

Cangrande della Scalla was one of the most respected warriors of his day.

Cool Finds

Mummy Feces Solve the Mystery of How Verona’s Most Powerful Man Died

Digging deep for the secret behind a medieval warlord’s mysterious death

The soaring choir at Beauvais Cathedral was first constructed in the 1200s.

New Research

Europe’s Great Gothic Cathedrals Weren’t Built Just of Concrete

The designers and builders of Europe’s great Gothic cathedrals weren’t actually so innovative

Meet William Harvey, a Misunderstood Genius in Human Anatomy

A new video from the World Science Festival tells the story of this medical pioneer

Eurasian lynx playing in the snow in Germany.

New Research

Europe Is a Great Place to Be a Large Meat-Eater

In a rare success story for wildlife, bears, lynx, wolverine and wolves are increasing in numbers across the continent

January 2015 marks 50 years since the death of Winston Churchill, shown here in 1943, known for his writing and speeches.

The Illustrious History of Misquoting Winston Churchill

Saying exactly what Churchill said isn’t easy—or cheap

Cool Finds

Making Dead People’s Pulses Beat Again

A new device can transform 150-year-old printed representations of heart beats into actual sound

Cool Finds

The Library for Magicians Is Taking Appointments

The Conjuring Arts Research Center in New York City houses some of the world’s rarest books on the art of deception

Cool Finds

Europeans Thought Coffee Was Satanic

Until the Pope tried it out and became a fan

Cool Finds

A Soldier’s Room Has Remained Virtually Untouched Since WWI

The home’s current owner, however, says he feels little connection to the dead soldier

The German U-576 off the coast of France, around 1940 or 1941. It sunk near North Carolina in 1942.

Cool Finds

Wreckage of a Nazi U-Boat Was Found Off the Coast of North Carolina

A freighter lost in that skirmish was also discovered in the “graveyard of the Atlantic”

Cool Finds

“Vampire Grave” in Bulgaria Holds a Skeleton With a Stake Through Its Heart

The skeleton likely fell victim to vampire hysteria that gripped Eastern Europe until relatively recently

The ruins of Tokat Castle in northern Turkey.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Think They’ve Found the Dungeon Where Dracula Was Kept

Vlad the Impaler was likely held captive in Turkey’s Tokat Castle

A standard 10-hole Hohner harmonica.

Industrial Espionage and Cutthroat Competition Fueled the Rise of the Humble Harmonica

How a shrewd salesman revolutionized the instrument industry

A model depicting a Viking ring fortress layout.

New Research

Newly Discovered Viking Fortress Could Have Been a Launch Point for Invading England

The ring-shaped complex could have been used as a military training ground

No Man's Land could be the most terrifying of places. "Men drowning in shell-holes already filled with decaying flesh," wrote one scholar.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Legend of What Actually Lived in the “No Man’s Land” Between World War I’s Trenches

Born of the horrors of trench warfare, a ghoulish tale of scavengers and scofflaws took hold 100 years ago

Trending Today

Case Solved on Jack the Ripper? Not So Fast

An author and a scientist claim to have proven the identity of the notorious 19th century killer, but others say the evidence is lacking

New Research

Neanderthal Carvings in a Gibraltar Cave Reveal Some of Europe’s Oldest Known Artwork

Some argue, however, that Homo sapiens are responsible for the etchings

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