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History

A page from Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau

Cool Finds

This 300 Year Old Book Is a Guide to Every Paint Color Imaginable

Browse through color swatches from the 17th Century

Members of Coxey's Army, 1894

Washington, D.C.

How a Ragtag Band of Reformers Organized the First Protest March on Washington, D.C.

The first March on Washington was a madcap affair, but in May of 1894, some 10,000 citizens descended on D.C., asking for a jobs bill

This is not the 101 year old message in a bottle.

Cool Finds

Message in a Bottle, Found in the Baltic Sea, Is 100 Years Old

While this new Baltic bottle will probably take the prize for oldest verified message in a bottle, it’s probably not actually the oldest

New Research

Here’s How Neuroscientists in the 1800s Studied Blood Flow in the Brain

New translations of early neuroscience reveal how in 1882 one Italian physiologist was able to measure blood flow changes in the brain

Crimean coastline

Trending Today

Here’s Your Visual Guide to the Conflict in Crimea

An interactive map that shows the current hotspots and points of interest in the political crisis

Genghis Khan attacked and captured the Jin capital of Zhongdu (now Beijing, China) in 1215, in one of many campaigns that expanded the Mongol Empire.

Anthropocene

Warm, Wet Times Spurred Medieval Mongol Rise

Genghis Khan—and his army of men on horseback—benefitted from boom in grasslands

Cool Finds

See the Last 40 Years of Cell Phones in One Animation

While the next big iPhone announcement might not blow you away, we’ve come pretty far since 1974

From the Editor

From the Editor

The Baliem Valley was a “magnificent vastness” in Rockefeller’s eyes, and its people were “emotionallly expressive.” But Asmat proved to be “more remote country than what I have ever seen.”

What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller

A journey to the heart of New Guinea’s Asmat tribal homeland sheds new light on the mystery of the heir’s disappearance there in 1961

It's your birthday, eat all the honey you want.

Cool Finds

Happy Birthday Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh’s entrance wasn’t loud or flashy, much like the bear himself it was simple and sweet: a short poem in a little magazine

Mr. Garrick and Miss Bellamy in the characters of Romeo and Juliet

Cool Finds

Old Illustrations Tell the Secret of How They Were Made

Old books are full of beautiful, intricate engravings. But without expertise in printmaking, how can you tell how those images were made?

Alchemy May Not Have Been the Pseudoscience We All Thought It Was

Although scientists never could quite turn lead into gold, they did attempt some noteworthy experiments

Hundreds of years before the Great Wall of China, seen here, there was another.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Chart the First Great Wall of China

Hundreds of years before the Great Wall, the Qi Dynasty built a wall of rammed earth

Forty Years Ago, Women Had a Hard Time Getting Credit Cards

Despite the law, a report from 2012 found that women still pay more for credit cards

The History of Cone-Shaped Medieval Princess Hats

Known as hennins, the tall headdresses were popular among European noblewomen in the late Middle Ages

What Did the FAO Schwarz Catalog Look Like in 1911?

Old photos from an FAO Schwarz 1911 catalog provide a glimpse at past holiday toys

Two Scientists Share Credit for the Theory of Evolution. Darwin Got Famous; This Biologist Didn’t.

When the Linnean Society of London hears the case for natural selection in 1858, Darwin shared credit with biologist A.R. Wallace

An 800-year-old medieval bridge spans the subterranean River Roch beneath Rochdale, England.

This River And Medieval Bridge, Paved Over for 100 Years, Will Soon Return to the Light

Local artists were recruited to help determine the river’s ultimate design, and developers say the project could be completed by 2015

A Google Doodle That Honors Computer Programmer Grace Hopper

Hopper was a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, and in 1959 she helped create COBOL—a program that the military and banks still use today

Every Time You Curse, You’re Participating in a Weirdly Complex Cultural History

The words we consider naughty are a reflection of how we see ourselves as a culture

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