Volume 50 Issue 4 April 2000

Kathy Chater recalls how a chance discovery in family history threw up much wider questions about perceptions of black Britons in the 18th century.

Jane Griffiths and Edmund Weiner tell of plans to bring the Oxford English Dictionary up to date and how historians can help.

Paul Doolan describes the unique 400-year-long trading, intellectual and artistic contacts between the Dutch and the Japanese.

The woman behind one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions died on 16 April 1850.

A fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral reached the Brazilian coast on April 22nd, 1500.

Richard Cavendish describes the events leading up to Jordan's annexation of the West Bank, on April 24th, 1950.

Paul Greenhalgh provides some background to the V&A's 'Art Nouveau' exhibition.

Leah Leneman describes the traps for the unwary caused by the marriage laws of 18th-century Scotland.

Brian Golding looks at life under the Norman Yoke during the consolidating reign of Henry I.