Mind-boggling historical facts

Obelisks, pyramids and motifs from ancient Egypt didn’t only influence grand country houses or powerful Biblical paintings, but also shaped tea-ware, cinemas and even factory floors, as Michael Hall reveals

I n 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That, at least, is what the famous rhyme tells us. Memorising such dates is a common experience of being taught history – a cliché superbly lampooned by the w

Danish archæologists have uncovered a 4,000-year-old circle of wooden piles that they say could be linked to Stonehenge in Britain. The 45 Neolithic-era wooden pieces, in a circle with a diameter of a

In the 17th century, the great maritime nations were vying to solve a puzzle that had confounded philosophers for many centuries: how to determine exact positions on the Earth’s surface. And in Britai

PYRAMIDS, obelisks, coffins and sphinxes are embedded in ...

How the Qin forged a great power from the fragments of the Warring States