History Today

Manhattan was taken on September 8th, 1664.

Historians gathered at Warwick this summer to celebrate the contribution of Christopher Andrew.

The North African country is considering how best to serve its rich heritage.

The easternmost and largest of the Lesser Sunda Islands has been the scene of Portuguese influence in Asia for more than 450 years.

In August 1814, the US capital was torched by British troops. The ‘greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms’ left its legacy on the US, Britain and Canada.

Visited by the Dutch and French, but untouched by a British keel until 1827, the strange, antique land of Western Australia, then inhabited only by Stone Age men, has grown to see a modern state arise around the haunts of the Black Swan. By W. Charnley.

W. Charnley describes how, on their route to the East Indies in the seventeenth century, the Dutch first came into dramatic contact with the mysterious Great South Land that is now Australia.

For nearly a hundred years, travellers and archaeologists have been investigating the mysterious ruins of Angkor. Today, writes Michael Sullivan, much of the mystery has been dispelled; but these relics of a vanished civilization still preserve their beauty and dignity.

Although “renowned for their interest in profits and dividends,” the Directors of the East India Company encouraged their servants to explore the field of natural history; Mildred Archer describes how British naturalists, when recording their researches, often employed a staff of gifted Indian artists.

Henry McAleavy describes how the last Chinese imperial dynasty owed its origins to a petty Manchurian chieftain, Nurhaci, who revolted against his Chinese overlords, whose son invaded and conquered China, and whose grandson occupied the Dragon Throne.