Before the Romans expanded their territory to dominate the entire Mediterranean region, a large portion of Italy was inhabited by the Etruscans. At the height of their power, the Etruscans occupied a territory extending between the Po Valley and the Gulf of Naples, while their most important city states were located in Central Italy, between…
Category: History
How the most powerful Swedish warship sank on her maiden voyage
After a long time of being a peripheral and minor kingdom in Northern Europe, Sweden developed into one of the major powers in the continent in the 17th century. The country rose to prominence during the reign of king Gustavus Adolphus (1611-1632), seizing territories from neighboring states and becoming the dominant power in the Baltic…
The weird history of the defenestrations of Prague
If you know European history, you might be familiar with the phrase “defenestration of Prague”, as the event that sparked the Thirty Years’ War in 1618. However, there were curiously multiple similar incidents that happened in the same city throughout the centuries. First of all, let’s define what a “defenestration” is. The term means “throwing…
The history of zombies
Zombies are one of the most popular and common creatures in the modern horror genre, being featured in countless movies, series, and novels. While now the characteristics of zombies are pretty well defined and uniform across different works of fiction, their features have changed and evolved since their first appearance in popular culture in the…
Dangun and the story of the mythical founding of Korea
According to Korean tradition, Dangun was the mythical founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom that ruled over a territory stretching between the modern-day Liaoning Province in Northeast China and the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula in ancient times. The myth of Dangun first appeared in the 13th-century Samguk Yusa, a historical record that…
The Whisky War: why Denmark and Canada share a land border
Denmark is a European country located north of Germany, while Canada occupies the northern portion of North America, bordering the United States to the south and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. However, this two countries, that are seemigly so far from each other, share a short land border in the Arctic region…
The discovery of the outer Solar System: Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and beyond
For millennia the only known celestial objects were those visible to the naked eye. In the Solar System these are limited to the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and some comets and asteroids occasionally passing near our planet. Astronomy was revolutionized in the early seventeenth century, when Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was…
The history of San Marino, the oldest country in the world
More than 1700 years have passed since the year 301, there have been countless invasions, revolutions, and wars, countries have come and gone, empires have risen and fallen, but one thing has remained constant on the ever-changing world map throughout all this period of time: the Republic of San Marino. San Marino is a small…
Saint Martin/Sint Maarten: the Caribbean island divided between France and the Netherlands
The small and beautiful island of Saint Martin, located in the Caribbean, has the peculiarity of being split almost in half between two European countries: France and the Netherlands. The northern side is occupied by the French Collectivity of Saint Martin, while the Dutch side to the south is known as Sint Maarten. The French…
The history of Attila, King of the Huns
A legendary figure in European history, Attila was one of the most feared enemies of the Romans and, during his prime, he ranked among the most powerful sovereigns in the world. Attila was the King of the Huns when they were at the peak of their strength, ruling over a territory that extended from the…