The best history documentaries. Traveling from the Middle ages to the industrial revolutions, to understand the past that shaped today's world.
A glimpse into the great ancient Western and Eastern civilizations, America's
history before and after Columbus, Indian and Chinese kingdoms and empires.
William Penn, the Religious Revolutionary; from "The American Birthright Part I" Documentary
Portrait of William Penn
William Penn (24 October 1644(O.S. 14 October 1644) – 30 July 1718) was an
English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the
Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and
religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with
the Lenape Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was
planned and developed.
In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his
American land holdings to William Penn to satisfy a debt the king owed to
Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn
immediately set sail and took his first step on American soil in New Castle in
1682. On this occasion, the colonists pledged allegiance to Penn as their
new proprietor, and the first general assembly was held in the colony.
Afterwards, Penn journeyed up river and founded Philadelphia. However, Penn's
Quaker government was not viewed favourably by the Dutch, Swedish, and English
settlers in what is now Delaware. They had no 'historical' allegiance to
Pennsylvania, so they almost immediately began petitioning for their own
assembly. In 1704 they achieved their goal when the three southernmost counties
of Pennsylvania were permitted to split off and become the new semi-autonomous
colony of Lower Delaware. As the most prominent, prosperous and influential
"city" in the new colony, New Castle became the capital.
As one of the earlier supporters of colonial unification,
Penn wrote and urged for a union of all the English colonies in what was to
become the United States of America. The democratic principles that he set
forth in the Pennsylvania Frame of Government served as an inspiration for the
United States Constitution. As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems
of war and peace deeply. He developed a forward-looking project for a United
States of Europe through the creation of a European Assembly made of deputies
that could discuss and adjudicate controversies peacefully.
In European history, the Middle Ages or Medieval period
lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of
Western history: Antiquity, Medieval period, and Modern period. The Medieval
period is itself subdivided into the Early, the High, and the Late Middle Ages.
Depopulation, deurbanisation, invasion, and movement of
peoples, which had begun in Late Antiquity, continued in the Early Middle Ages.
The barbarian invaders, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms
in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa
and the Middle East—once part of the Eastern Roman Empire—came under the rule
of the Caliphate, an Islamic empire, after conquest by Muhammad's successors.
Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures,
the break with Antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire
survived in the east and remained a major power. The empire's law code, the
Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely
admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the
few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to
Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty,
briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th and early 9th
century. It covered much of Western Europe, but later succumbed to the
pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions—Vikings from the
north, Magyars from the east, and Saracens from the south.
During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the
population of Europe increased greatly as technological and agricultural
innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate
change allowed crop yields to increase. Manorialism, the organisation of
peasants into villages that owed rent and labour services to the nobles, and
feudalism, the political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed
military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands
and manors, were two of the ways society was organised in the High Middle Ages.
The Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western
European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from the Muslims. Kings
became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence but
making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was
marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason,
and by the founding of universities. The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the
paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco
Polo, and the architecture of Gothic cathedrals such as Chartres are among the
outstanding achievements toward the end of this period, and into the Late
Middle Ages.
The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties and
calamities including famine, plague, and war, which significantly diminished
the population of Europe; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a
third of Europeans. Controversy, heresy, and schism within the Church
paralleled the interstate conflict, civil strife, and peasant revolts that
occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and technological developments transformed European
society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and beginning the early modern period.
Credits: Wikipedia
Map of the approximate political boundaries in Europe around 450
Long-standing Boer resentment turned into full-blown
rebellion in the Transvaal (under British control from 1877), and the first
Anglo-Boer War, known to Afrikaners as the "War of Independence",
broke out in 1880. The conflict ended almost as soon as it began with a
crushing Boer victory at Battle of Majuba Hill (27 February 1881). The republic
regained its independence as the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek ("South
African Republic"), or ZAR. Paul Kruger, one of the leaders of the
uprising, became President of the ZAR in 1883. Meanwhile, the British, who
viewed their defeat at Majuba as an aberration, forged ahead with their desire
to federate the Southern African colonies and republics. They saw this as the
best way to come to terms with the fact of a white Afrikaner majority, as well
as to promote their larger strategic interests in the area.
Inter-war period
In 1879, Zululand came under British control. Then in 1886,
an Australian prospector discovered gold in the Witwatersrand, accelerating the
federation process and dealing the Boers yet another blow. Johannesburg's
population exploded to about 100,000 by the mid-1890s, and the ZAR suddenly
found itself hosting thousands of uitlanders, both black and white, with the
Boers squeezed to the sidelines. The influx of English labour in particular
worried the Boers, many of whom resented the English miners.
The enormous wealth of the mines, soon became irresistible
for British imperialists. In 1895, a group of renegades led by Captain Leander
Starr Jameson entered the ZAR with the intention of sparking an uprising on the
Witwatersrand and installing a British administration. This incursion became
known as the Jameson Raid. The scheme ended in fiasco, but it seemed obvious to
Kruger that it had at least the tacit approval of the Cape Colony government,
and that his republic faced danger. He reacted by forming an alliance with
Orange Free State.
The Second Boer War (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans:
Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, literally "Second Freedom War") otherwise
known as the Second Anglo-Boer War, was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31
May 1902 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on the one
hand, and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free
State on the other. The British war effort was supported by troops from several
regions of the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies,
Canada, Newfoundland, British India, and New Zealand. The war ended in victory
for the British and the annexation of both republics. Both would eventually be
incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910.
The route of the first Mongol expedition in Russia - 1223. The Mongol invasion of Europe
The Mongol invasion of Europe in the 13th century was the
military effort by the Mongols to invade and conquer Europe. It involved the
severe and rampant destruction of East Slavic principalities and major cities,
such as Kiev and Vladimir. Mongol invasions also affected Central Europe,
warring with the Kingdom of Hungary (in the Battle of Mohi) and causing the
fragmentation of Poland (in the Battle of Legnica).
The operations were masterminded by General Subutai and
commanded by Batu Khan and Kadan, both grandsons of Genghis Khan. As a result
of the successful invasions, many of the conquered territories would become
part of the Golden Horde empire.
Historians regard the Mongol raids and invasions as some of
the deadliest conflicts in human history up through that period. Brian Landers
argues that, "One empire in particular exceeded any that had gone before,
and crossed from Asia into Europe in an orgy of violence and destruction. The
Mongols brought terror to Europe on a scale not seen again until the twentieth
century." Diana Lary contends that the Mongol invasions induced
population displacement "on a scale never seen before," particularly
in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. She adds, "the impending arrival of
the Mongol hordes spread terror and panic."
Warring European princes realized they had to cooperate in
the face of a threatened Mongol invasion, so local wars and conflicts were
suspended in parts of central Europe, only to be resumed after the Mongols had
withdrawn.
The Mongol Empire invaded Kievan Rus' in the 13th century,
destroying numerous cities, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, and
Kiev, part of the Mongol invasion of Europe.
The campaign was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River
in 1223, which resulted in a Mongol victory over the forces of several Rus'
principalities. The Mongols nevertheless retreated. A full-scale invasion of
Rus' by Batu Khan followed, from 1237 to 1240. The invasion was ended by the
Mongol succession process upon the death of Ögedei Khan. All Rus'
principalities were forced to submit to Mongol rule and became part of the
Golden Horde empire, some of which lasted until 1480.
The invasion, facilitated by the beginning breakup of Kievan
Rus' in the 13th century, had incalculable ramifications for the history of
Eastern Europe, including the division of the East Slavic people into three
separate nations, modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and in the rise
of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
The Viking Deception - History Documentary; Vinland Map, NOVA's program, Vikings Discovery of America, Full Documentary: Viking and the Americas
ea-faring Danes depicted invading England. Illuminated illustration from the 12th century Miscellany on the Life of St. Edmund. Pierpont Morgan Library.
Ever since its sensational unveiling by Yale University scholars in
October 1965, the Vinland Map has been a lightning rod for passionate
debate. Most reviews of the arguments, including NOVA's program, have
focused on scientific tests designed to gauge the authenticity of the
map's ink. The opinions of experts in cartography and historical
manuscripts have commanded much less attention, yet from the outset
scholars in these disciplines pointed out glaring anomalies in the case
for the Vinland Map's authenticity. (To inspect the map, see The Map in
Question.)
Most striking of all, the coasts of Greenland and
Iceland are suspiciously close to their outlines in a modern atlas. Yet
none of the Icelandic sagas identifies Greenland as an island, and
archeological discoveries indicate that Viking colonists, hunters, and
traders explored Greenland's west coast perhaps as far north as Thule
and Cape York, but no farther. Even a century or two after the supposed
date of the Vinland Map, European mapmakers were still divided about how
to draw Greenland—as an island, part of an arctic landmass, or a
peninsula dangling down from northern Europe. The precision of the
outlines of Greenland and Iceland is all the more surprising when
compared to the Vinland Map's depiction of the Viking homelands in
Scandinavia, which are barely recognizable: Sweden has migrated to the
wrong side of the Baltic while Norway has been flipped to match the
map's overall egg-shaped design.
Did the Vikings make maps?
Could
the accuracy of the Vinland Map be testimony to the Vikings'
extraordinary seamanship and mapmaking skills? Did the alleged medieval
author of the map use an earlier Viking map as a source of information?
Unquestionably, the Vikings were the most audacious and accomplished
voyagers of the medieval world. Their sleek, clinker-built longships and
bulkier cargo boats had reached Iceland during the 9th century A.D. and
Greenland during the 10th, leading to permanent colonies and regular
trade with the Scandinavian homelands. Beginning in 1961, the excavation
of longhouses and typical Norse artifacts at L'Anse aux Meadows in
Newfoundland proved that Greenland settlers had reached North America,
ju
Such far-flung voyages of discovery demanded special
navigation skills. An Icelandic codex known as Hauksbok details signs
such as the appearance of whales, seabirds, and distant mountain peaks
that voyagers would watch for as they crossed the open ocean. Viking
sailors may also have developed simple astronomical aids, such as
steering by the sun or the Pole Star, although there is no firm evidence
for these practices. But however accomplished their seamanship, the
Vikings never seem to have charted the coastlines they explored. Despite
the detailed navigational texts and abundant geographical references in
the sagas, no Norse cartographic drawing or engraving has survived.
They don't appear to have been mapmakers at all.
The colorful
Icelandic tales of Leif Eriksson and his followers did inspire European
mapmakers to create North American charts identifying features mentioned
in the stories, such as Markland, Helluland, and Vinland. But this
interest in the sagas only took off during the 16th and 17th
centuries—long after the purported mid-15th-century date of the Vinland
Map. Beginning around 1570, Protestant mapmakers began incorporating new
knowledge of the Americas based on pioneering Portuguese and English
voyages of discovery. A strong motive for documenting the earlier Norse
traditions of settlement was to repudiate Catholic maps and territorial
claims defined by papal treaties. But even the most detailed of these
maps, such as the Resen Map of 1605, appears to have been mainly an
exercise in fantasy.
Credits:
The Forger's Inspiration by Evan Hadingham http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vinland/inspiration.html
History of Canada, History Documentary: Canada, A Peoples History, Canada's Inuit History
The First Nations (French: Premières Nations) are the
various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There
are currently 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread
across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and
British Columbia. The total population is more than 850,000 people. Under
the Employment Equity Act, First Nations are a "designated group",
along with women, visible minorities, and people with physical or mental disabilities.
First Nations are not defined as a visible minority under the Act or by the
criteria of Statistics Canada.
Within Canada, "First Nations" (most often used in
the plural) has come into general use—replacing the deprecated term
"Indians"—for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Individuals
using the term outside Canada include supporters of the Cascadian independence
movement as well as American tribes within the Pacific Northwest. The singular,
commonly used on culturally politicized reserves, is the term First Nations
person (when gender-specific, First Nations man or First Nations woman). A more
recent trend is for members of various nations to refer to themselves by their
tribal or national identity only, e.g., "I'm Haida," or "We're
Kwantlens," in recognition of the distinctiveness of First Nations
ethnicities.
North American indigenous peoples have cultures spanning
thousands of years. Some of their oral traditions accurately describe
historical events, such as the Cascadia Earthquake of 1700 and the 18th century
Tseax Cone eruption. Written records began with the arrival of European
explorers and colonists during the Age of Discovery, beginning in the late 15th
century. European accounts by trappers, traders, explorers, and
missionaries give important evidence of early contact culture. In addition,
archeological and anthropological research, as well as linguistics, have helped
scholars piece together understanding of ancient cultures and historic peoples.
Although not without conflict or slavery, Euro-Canadians'
early interactions with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit populations were less
combative compared to the often violent battles between colonists and native
peoples in the United States. Combined with later economic development, this
relatively non-combative history has allowed First Nations peoples to have an
influence on the national culture, while preserving their own identities.
Credits: Wikipedia
Monument to aboriginal war veterans in Confederation Park, Ottawa, Canada.
The Empire of Japan, History Documentary. History of Japan.
Samurai warriors face Mongols, during the Mongol invasions of Japan. The Kamikaze, two storms, are said to have saved Japan from Mongol fleets.
A Paleolithic culture around 30,000 BC constitutes the first
known habitation of the Japanese archipelago. This was followed from around
14,000 BC (the start of the Jōmon period) by a Mesolithic to Neolithic
semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture, who include ancestors of both the
contemporary Ainu people and Yamato people, characterized by pit
dwelling and rudimentary agriculture. Decorated clay vessels from this
period are some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world.
Around 300 BC, the Yayoi people began to enter the Japanese islands,
intermingling with the Jōmon. The Yayoi period, starting around 500 BC, saw
the introduction of practices like wet-rice farming, a new style of
pottery, and metallurgy, introduced from China and Korea.
Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book
of Han. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, the most powerful
kingdom on the archipelago during the 3rd century was called Yamataikoku.
Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from Baekje of Korea, but the subsequent
development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. Despite
early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and gained
widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592–710).
The Nara period (710–784) of the 8th century marked the
emergence of a strong Japanese state, centered on an imperial court in
Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). The Nara period is characterized by the appearance of
a nascent literature as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired art and
architecture. The smallpox epidemic of 735–737 is believed to have killed
as much as one-third of Japan's population. In 784, Emperor Kammu moved the
capital from Nara to Nagaoka-kyō before relocating it to Heian-kyō (modern
Kyoto) in 794.
Samurai warriors face Mongols, during the Mongol invasions
of Japan. The Kamikaze, two storms, are said to have saved Japan from Mongol
fleets.
This marked the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185),
during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its
art, poetry and prose. Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of
Japan's national anthem Kimigayo were written during this time.
Buddhism began to spread during the Heian era chiefly
through two major sects, Tendai by Saichō, and Shingon by Kūkai. Pure Land
Buddhism (Jōdo-shū, Jōdo Shinshū) greatly becomes popular in the latter half of
the 11th century.
Feudal era
Japan's feudal era was characterized by the emergence and
dominance of a ruling class of warriors, the samurai. In 1185, following the
defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War, sung in the epic Tale of Heike,
samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed shogun and established a base of
power in Kamakura. After his death, the Hōjō clan came to power as regents for
the shoguns. The Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the
Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. The
Kamakura shogunate repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, but was
eventually overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo was himself defeated by
Ashikaga Takauji in 1336.
Samurai could kill a commoner for the slightest insult and
were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798
Ashikaga Takauji established the shogunate in Muromachi,
Kyoto. This was the start of the Muromachi Period (1336–1573). The Ashikaga
shogunate achieved glory in the age of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and the culture
based on Zen Buddhism (art of Miyabi) prospered. This evolved to Higashiyama
Culture, and prospered until the 16th century. On the other hand, the
succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (daimyo),
and a civil war (the Ōnin War) began in 1467, opening the century-long Sengoku
period ("Warring States").
During the 16th century, traders and Jesuit missionaries
from Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct commercial
and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. This allowed Oda Nobunaga to
obtain European technology and firearms, which he used to conquer many other
daimyo. His consolidation of power began what was known as the Azuchi–Momoyama
period (1573–1603). After he was assassinated in 1582, his successor Toyotomi
Hideyoshi unified the nation in 1590 and launched two unsuccessful invasions of
Korea in 1592 and 1597.
Re-engraved map of Japan
Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son and
used his position to gain political and military support. When open war broke
out, he defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu was
appointed shogun in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern
Tokyo). The Tokugawa shogunate enacted measures including buke shohatto, as
a code of conduct to control the autonomous daimyo; and in 1639, the
isolationist sakoku ("closed country") policy that spanned the two
and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period
(1603–1868). The study of Western sciences, known as rangaku, continued
through contact with the Dutch enclave at Dejima in Nagasaki. The Edo period
also gave rise to kokugaku ("national studies"), the study of Japan
by the Japanese.
Modern era
On March 31, 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry and the
"Black Ships" of the United States Navy forced the opening of Japan
to the outside world with the Convention of Kanagawa. Subsequent similar
treaties with Western countries in the Bakumatsu period brought economic and
political crises. The resignation of the shogun led to the Boshin War and the
establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the Emperor (the
Meiji Restoration).
Emperor Meiji (1868–1912), in whose name imperial rule was
restored at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate
Adopting Western political, judicial and military
institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council, introduced the Meiji
Constitution, and assembled the Imperial Diet. The Meiji Restoration
transformed the Empire of Japan into an industrialized world power that pursued
military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. After victories in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905),
Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea, and the southern half of Sakhalin.
Japan's population grew from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million in 1935.
Chinese generals surrendering to the Japanese in the
Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895
The early 20th century saw a brief period of "Taishō
democracy" overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization.
World War I enabled Japan, on the side of the victorious Allies, to widen its
influence and territorial holdings. It continued its expansionist policy by
occupying Manchuria in 1931; as a result of international condemnation of this
occupation, Japan resigned from the League of Nations two years later. In 1936,
Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany, and the 1940 Tripartite
Pact made it one of the Axis Powers. In 1941, Japan negotiated the
Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact.
Japanese officials surrendering to the Allies on September
2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II
The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937,
precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). The Imperial Japanese
Army swiftly captured the capital Nanjing and conducted the Nanking
Massacre. In 1940, the Empire then invaded French Indochina, after which
the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7–8, 1941,
Japanese forces carried out surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, attacks on
British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong and declared war, bringing
the US and the UK into World War II in the Pacific. After the Soviet
invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender on August 15. The war cost
Japan and the rest of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere millions of
lives and left much of the nation's industry and infrastructure destroyed. The
Allies (led by the US) repatriated millions of ethnic Japanese from colonies
and military camps throughout Asia, largely eliminating the Japanese empire and
restoring the independence of its conquered territories. The Allies also
convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on May 3, 1946 to
prosecute some Japanese leaders for war crimes. However, the bacteriological
research units and members of the imperial family involved in the war were
exonerated from criminal prosecutions by the Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers despite calls for trials for both groups.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasizing
liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of
San Francisco in 1952 and Japan was granted membership in the United
Nations in 1956. Japan later achieved rapid growth to become the second-largest
economy in the world, until surpassed by China in 2010. This ended in the
mid-1990s when Japan suffered a major recession. In the beginning of the 21st
century, positive growth has signaled a gradual economic recovery. On March
11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest earthquake in its recorded history; this
triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, one of the worst disasters in
the history of nuclear power.
The Russian Empire (Pre-reform Russian orthography: РоссійскаяИмперія, Modern Russian: Российскаяимперия, translit: Rossiyskaya Imperiya) was a state that
existed from 1721 until overthrown by the short-lived liberal February
Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in world history, stretching
over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the
British and Mongol empires. It played a major role in 1812–14 in defeating
Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe, and expanded to the west and south. It
was often in conflict with the Ottoman Empire (which in turn was usually
protected by the British).
Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia the Russian Empire in 1721, and himself its first emperor. He instituted the sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended
from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea on the south, from the
Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean, and (until 1867) into Alaska in
North America on the east.[3] With 125.6 million subjects registered by the
1897 census, it had the third largest population in the world at the time,
after Qing China and the British Empire. Like all empires, it included a large
disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, and religion. There were numerous
dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination
attempts; they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled
to Siberia.
Economically, the empire was heavily rural, with low
productivity on large estates worked by serfs, until they were freed in 1861.
The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in
railways and factories. The land was ruled by a nobility called Boyars from the
10th through the 17th centuries, and then was ruled by an emperor called the
"Tsar". Tsar Ivan III (1462–1505) laid the groundwork for the empire
that later emerged. He tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance
of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of
the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great (1682–1725) fought numerous wars and
built a huge empire that became a major European power. He moved the capital
from Moscow to the new model city of St. Petersburg, and led a cultural
revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and
political system with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented, and rationalist
system.
Catherine the Great (1761–1796) presided over a golden age.
She expanded the nation rapidly by conquest, colonization and diplomacy. She
continued Peter the Great's policy of modernisation along West European lines.
Tsar Alexander II (1855–1881) promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the
emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe was
to protect the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. That
involvement by 1914 led to Russia's entry into the First World War on the side
of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman
empires. Russia was an absolute monarchy until the Revolution of 1905 and then
became a constitutional monarchy. The empire collapsed during the February
Revolution of 1917, largely the result of massive failures in its participation
in the First World War.
The Normans (French: Normands; Latin: Nortmanni) were the
people who in the 10th and 11th centuries gave their name to Normandy, a region
in France. They were originally Viking raiders and pirates from Denmark, Norway
and Iceland, who under their leader Rollo agreed to swear fealty to King
Charles III of West Francia. Through generations of assimilation and mixing
with the native Frankish and Roman-Gaulish populations, the Northmen's
descendants ("Norman" comes from "Norseman") would
gradually merge with the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The
distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the
first half of the 10th century, and it continued to evolve over the succeeding
centuries.
Victorian interpretation of the Normans' national dress, 1000–1100
The Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and
military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans
were famed for their martial spirit and eventually for their Christian piety,
becoming exponents of the Catholic orthodoxy into which they assimilated.
They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled,
their dialect becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French, an important
literary language. The Duchy of Normandy, which they formed by treaty with the
French crown, was a great fief of medieval France, and under Richard I of
Normandy was forged into a cohesive and formidable principality in feudal
tenure. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their
unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant
military accomplishments and innovations. Norman adventurers founded the
Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II after conquering southern Italy on the
Saracens and Byzantines, and an expedition on behalf of their duke, William the
Conqueror, led to the Norman conquest of England at the Battle of Hastings in
1066. Norman cultural and military influence spread from these new European
centres to the Crusader states of the Near East, where their prince Bohemond I
founded the Principality of Antioch in the Levant, to Ireland, Scotland and
Wales in Great Britain, to the coasts of north Africa and the Canary Islands.
The legacy of the Normans persists today through the
regional dialects of France, England and Sicily, as well as the various
cultural, judicial and political arrangements they introduced in their
conquered territories, the long endurance of which contrasts with the
developments in many continental areas of Europe.
In search of the Zoroastrians an ancient people who have tended a holy flame for the last 2500 years.
Zoroastrianism or Mazdaism is the religion ascribed to
the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, whose Supreme Being was Ahura Mazda. It
is one of the world's oldest religions, "combining a cosmogonic dualism
and eschatological monotheism in a manner unique... among the major religions
of the world." For a thousand years, forms of Zoroastrianism (including
a Mithraic Median prototype and Zurvanist Sassanid successor) were the world's
most powerful religion, serving as the state religion of the pre-Islamic
Iranian empires from around 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism was suppressed or
otherwise integrated into Islam from the 7th century onwards following the
Muslim conquest of Persia. Recent estimates place the current number of
Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and Iran. The
change over the last decade is attributed to a greater level of reporting and
open self-identification more so than to an actual increase in population;
however, precise numbers remain difficult to obtain in part due to high levels
of historic persecution in Islamic regions.
Leading characteristics, such as messianism, the Golden
Rule, heaven and hell, and free will influenced other religious systems,
including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam.[4]
Liberality is emphasized in the scripture, and—like the Roman religion—the
religion generally showed tolerance to conquered peoples, with Cyrus the Great,
who is though to have been a Zoroastrian, annexing Babylonia in the name of its
God Marduk. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to "be among
those who renew the world...to make the world progress towards
perfection". Its basic maxims include:
Humata, Hukhta,
Huvarshta, which mean: Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds.
There is only one
path and that is the path of Truth.
Do the right thing
because it is the right thing to do, and then all beneficial rewards will come
to you also.
The most important texts of the religion are those of the
Avesta, which includes the writings of Zoroaster known as the Gathas, enigmatic
poems that define the religion's precepts, and the Yasna, the scripture. The
full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is: Ahura, The Lord Creator,
and Mazda, Supremely Wise. He proclaimed that there is only one God, the
singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that
human beings are given a right of choice, and because of cause and effect are
also responsible for the consequences of their choices. Zoroaster's teachings
focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil, per se. The
contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit.
Post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which
was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu.
By the 3rd century, Zoroastrianism and Zoroaster's ideas had spread throughout the Middle East. Zoroaster pointing to the sky.
Babylon (Akkadian: Bābili or Babilim; Arabic: بابل,
Bābil) was a significant city in ancient Mesopotamia, in the fertile plain
between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates
and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep
embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.
Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating
from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BC. The town attained
independence as part of a small city state with the rise of the First Amorite
Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Claiming to be the successor of the more ancient
Sumero-Akkadian city of Eridu, Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the "holy
city" of Mesopotamia around the time Amorite king Hammurabi created the
first short lived Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC. Babylon grew and
South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia.
The empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabi's death and
Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination.
After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the
capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of
Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of
the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rules of the Achaemenid,
Seleucid, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid empires.
It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in
the world from c. 1770 to 1670 BC, and again between c. 612 and 320 BC. It was
perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for
the maximum extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares (2,200
acres).
The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil
Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (53 mi) south of Baghdad, comprising a
large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris.
Credits: Wikipedia
The first farmers from Samarra migrated to Sumer, and built shrines and settlements at Eridu.
The Persian Empire is any of a series of imperial dynasties centered in Persia (now Iran). The first of these was established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, with the Persian conquest of Media, Lydia and Babylonia. Persian dynastic history was interrupted by the Islamic conquest (651 AD) and later by the Mongol invasion. The main religion of ancient Persia was Zoroastrianism, but after the 7th century this was replaced by Islam. In the modern era, a series of Islamic dynasties ruled Persia independently of the universal caliphate. Since 1979 Persia (Iran) has been an Islamic republic. Credits: Wikipedia
The Hittites (/ˈhɪtaɪts/) were an Ancient Anatolian people
who established an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around
1600 BC. This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under
Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as
well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. After c. 1180 BC,
the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into
several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived
until the 8th century BC.
The Hittite language was a distinct member of the Anatolian
branch of the Indo-European language family. They referred to their native land
as Hatti. The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial
identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology.
Despite the use of Hatti for their core territory, the
Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who
inhabited the same region (until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) and
spoke a language possibly in the Northwest Caucasian languages group known as
Hattic.
The Hittite military made successful use of chariots.
Although belonging to the Bronze Age, they were the forerunners of the Iron
Age, developing the manufacture of iron artifacts from as early as the 18th
century BC, when the "man of Burushanda"'s gift of an iron throne and
iron sceptre to the Kaneshite king Anitta was recorded in the Anitta text
inscription.
After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant
conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea
Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent
"Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as
the 8th century BC. The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly
from cuneiform texts found in the area of their kingdom, and from diplomatic
and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle
East.
Europeans destroyed Avaria in AD 807, but Hungarians in Pressburg total
destroyed the paneuropeans in AD 907, and gave back the hunnic dominance
to the basin...
Warrior with captive, from a golden ewer of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós. There is no agreement as to whether he represents an Avar, a Bulgar or a Khazar warrior.
The Pannonian Avars /ˈævɑrz/ were a group of Eurasian nomads
of the early Middle Ages of uncertain origins, who
established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and
considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late 6th to the early
9th century. They were ruled by a khagan, who led a tight-knit entourage of
professional warriors.
Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-5th
century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th
century, having formed as a mixed band of warriors in the Pontic-Caspian
steppe who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks who called them
"Pseudo-Avars" and Varchonites.
Avar linguistic affiliation is uncertain and may
be tentatively deduced from a variety of sources, betraying a variety of
languages spoken by ruling and subject clans. Proposals by scholars include
Oghur Turkic, Tungusic, Caucasian, Mongolic and
Iranian.However, over time, Proto-Slavic became the lingua franca of the
Avar Khaganate.
Kievan Rus: Old Russia, Rus History. The Varangians and Rus' princes, Rurik (Old Norse: Hrörekr). History Documentary: The Varangian and the Rus.
Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route (in red) and the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks (in purple). Other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries shown in orange.
Generally
speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west to places such
as Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland; the Danes to England and
France, settling in the Danelaw (northern/eastern England) and Normandy;
and the Swedes to the east, founding the Kievan Rus, the original
Russia. However, among the Swedish runestones which mention expeditions
over seas, almost half tell of raids and travels to western Europe. And
in todays Sweden it has been found more Arabic coins from the Viking age
then the Arabs has found themself from this era plus there has been
found tonnes of viking treasures in todays Sweden which made the areas
in todays Sweden to among the most riches places on earth during the
viking age. So its easy due archeology to track the Varangian Rus til
todays Sweden. But also, according to the Icelandic sagas, many
Norwegian Vikings went to eastern Europe. The names of Scandinavian
kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age. Only after
the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire distinct
identities as nations, which went hand in hand with their
Christianization. Thus the end of the Viking Age for the Scandinavians
also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages.
According
to the Primary Chronicle, compiled in Kiev about 1100-1200 Ad, one
group of Varangians was Rus' people. Their name became that of the land
of Rus' this happened because one of Rus' princes, Rurik (Old Norse:
Hrörekr) had been recognized by several East Slavic and Finno-Ugric
peoples as their ruler, founding the Rurikid Dynasty, which later would
rule over Rus' and after its fall over Russia for many centuries. Rurik
first came to Staraya Ladoga in 862 and then moved his capital to
Novgorod in 864, while his relative Oleg (Old Norse: Helgi) conquered
Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', later inherited by
Rurik's son Igor (Old Norse: Ingvarr). Sviatoslav was the first
ruler of Rus' who is recorded in the Primary Chronicle with a name of
Slavic origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names are
ultimately derived from Old Norse). This name is however not recorded in
other medieval Slavic countries. Even in Rus', it was attested only
among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of
Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, Mstislav). Some
scholars speculate that the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the
Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", was an artificial derivation
combining those of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (they mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).
Engaging
in trade, piracy and mercenary activities, Varangians roamed the river
systems and portages of Gardariki, as Rus' lands were known in Norse
sagas. They controlled the Volga trade route (Route from the Varangians
to the Arabs), connecting Baltic to the Caspian Sea, and the Dnieper
trade route (Route from the Varangians to the Greeks) leading to the
Black Sea and Constantinople. Those were the critically important trade
links at that time, connecting Europe with wealthy and developed Arab
Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire;via those routes most of the silver
coinage came from the East to the West. Attracted by the riches of
Constantinople, Rus' Varangians initiated a number of Rus'-Byzantine
Wars, some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least
from the early 10th century many Varangians served as mercenaries in the
Byzantine Army, comprising the so-called Varangian Guard (the
personal bodyguards of Byzantine Emperors). Eventually most of them,
both in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from paganism
into Orthodox Christianity, culminating in the 988 Christianization of
Kievan Rus'. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age, the
influx of Norsemen to Rus' stopped, and Varangians were eventually
assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century.
