All About History

I think I started the last issue by telling you about how I came to learn about the Aztecs in school, likely just after a period delving into the Ancient Egyptians. I can assure you, I'm not using my primary school history workbooks for cover topic i

On 24 October 2005, civil rights activist Rosa Parks died at her home in Detroit at the age of 92. Her funeral casket was taken to the Capitol Building in Washington DC on 30 October and placed in the rotunda. Thousands of people came to view her cof

In the centuries following contact with the Portuguese, the Kingdom of Benin begins to use slaves in trade deals. However, in 1516 Benin bans the trade of male slaves with Portugal who were previously sent to Portuguese colonies in Africa. Queen Iden

The great walls and moats surrounding the Kingdom of Benin were once a marvel that rivalled the Great Wall of China. These impressive interconnected structures had some 500 parts and are said to have measured over 16,000km in length and enclosed arou

Rattle staff, also known as ukhurhe, were shaken to attract the attention of long dead ancestors during religious ceremonies. Near the top of the staff is a hollow chamber with a rattle inside. They would have been kept and placed on ancestral altars

The Benin Bronzes are arguably the most famous and notable historical artefacts associated with Benin culture. Created from the 16th century onwards, the term is used to refer to thousands of statues, plaques, masks, figurines and decorative ornament

Located in King's Square, the Benin City National Museum was founded during the reign of Oba Akenzua II (r.1933-78). It has had several homes over the years, but the current museum building was commissioned in the 1970s and was constructed in the gro

GARRY J SHAW Garry Shaw is an author and journalist covering archaeology, history and world heritage. He has a PhD in Egyptology, and his new book The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy Who Become King, will be published by Yale Univer

One by one, the archaeologists are picked off - death is the only punishment for the recipients of the mummy's curse. Not the plot of any one film in particular, but we all know the supposed fate that befalls anyone who desecrates a pharaoh's tomb. Y

In 1991 a pair of climbers in western Austria made a grisly discovery when they came upon human remains in the ice. Initially suspected to be the victim of a climbing accident, it was discovered that the body was in fact 4,000 years old. Named Ötzi a

Sojourner Truth (1797 - 1883) was born enslaved in the Hudson River Valley in New York. She was named Isabella Baum free, daughter of Elizabeth and James Baumfree, in the Low Dutch community that populated the region. It is little known that Isabella

Between the two world wars, adventurers, gunrunners, criminals, gangsters and opium dealers clustered in the international city that was both part of a warlord-wracked China and yet separate – split into an International Settlement run largely by the

The world of Middle-earth is the fictional setting of JRR Tolkien's celebrated works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but within its fiction are many elements of older, historic works. Tolkien was famously a passionate linguist

What first inspired your fascination with Richard III? It was reading a book about the real man, from the contemporary source materials, by Paul Murray Kendall. Up until that point I thought Shakespeare's Richard III was who he was. Reading about Ric

PRIT BUTTARPrit Buttar was educated at Oxford University and served in the British Army as a surgeon. He is the author of ten books about the Eastern Front in both World War I and World War II. Between July and December 1942, a series of battles rage

In the mid-1790s, Great Britain's colonies in India were largely limited to widely separated coastal enclaves, where the East India Company (EIC) conducted trade while protected by its own armed forces. These were mainly composed of 'native' battalio

Christina is the author of 15 books about World War I and 19th century royalty, including The Silent Emperor - German Emperor Frederick III and The Innocence of Kaiser Wilhelm II. In the procession to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887

Symbols are everywhere. Particularly useful in a capitalist society, they create instant brand recognition. If you happen to find yourself walking down your local high street and see a yellow letter M on a red background, you know what it means. Inde

Author: David Welch Publisher: British Library Publishing Price: £16.99 Released: Out now Propaganda is the spreading of ideas, information or rumour for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause or a person, according to standard di

Director: Jeff Nichols Starring: Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Michael Shannon Country: USA Year: 2016 An intimate retelling of an important fight for marriage equality in America 01 Mildred (Negga) and Richard A (Edgerton) get married in Washington DC

Aish baladi transcended class barriers. It could be served in many different ways and was popular with pharaohs and labourers alike • 700g wholewheat flour • 600ml water • 1 tbsp active dry yeast • 1 tbsp sea salt • 1 tbsp vegetable oil • Wheat bran