History Great Nations

An account of the last three hundred years of Scottish history offers a look at Scottish identity and culture.

Getting to grips with Great Britain is harder than ever. We are a nation that chose Brexit, rejects immigration but is dependent on it, is getting older but less healthy, is more demanding of public services but less willing to pay for them, is tired of intervention abroad but wants to remain a global authority. We have an over-stretched, free health service (an idea from the 1940s that may not survive the 2020s), overcrowded prisons, a military without an evident purpose, an education system the envy of none of the Western world.

Only 21 percent of Americans know that the presidential faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are carved on Mount Rushmore. On the other hand, more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon Simpson family. Richard Lederer has created American History for Everyone to help make the knowledge of our nation’s history at least match the nation’s knowledge of The Simpsons.

Twenty of the most crucial moments in Britain's history. BBC History Magazine asked a selection of leading historians to choose and describe the twenty most important turning points in British history from AD 1000 to 2000. Collected together, their choices present a new way of looking at our nation's story.

The Boer War was the defining conflict of South African history and one of the most important conflicts in the history of the British Empire. Naturally, complicated geopolitics underscored it, going back centuries. In fact, the European history of South Africa began with the 1652 arrival of a small Dutch flotilla in Table Bay, at the southern extremity of the African continent, which made landfall with a view to establishing a victualing station to service passing Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) ships.

Scotland is a fascinating and ancient land filled with history. Not everything in Scotland is as it appears, however. Some Scots say this is a land haunted by spirits, a place of strange disappearances and unexplained phenomena. The Ghosts of Scotland: A Collection of Ghost Stories Across the Scottish Nation is a collection of such tales, just a few among the thousands of local legends and modern sightings that make Scotland one of the most haunted countries in the world.

Our history is a heritage we Americans all share. It ties us together, like a common language or currency. Knowing that heritage helps us understand the central principles underlying American democracy and our responsibilities in passing them on to the next generation. At a time when so many seem to be losing sight of our identity as a nation, it's more important than ever to remember our heritage. Author and educator William J. Bennett and John T. E. Cribb offer 150 more great Americans whose far-reaching vision forged our nation, connecting you to this great nation's heritage.

Almost a decade ago, author and educator William J. Bennett and John T. E. Cribb published a 365-day almanac of our nation's history. Now, in this new two-volume series compiled from The American Patriot’s Almanac, Bennett and Cribb’s masterful grasp of our history offers 150 examples of fascinating details of great American events. In these easy-to-digest entries, historical American events reemerge not as cold facts or boring details, but as authentic events experienced by full-blooded, heroic pioneers whose far-reaching vision forged our nation.

Great Britain is an ancient land steeped in history and tradition, filled with prehistoric ruins, majestic castles, and a countryside sculpted from millennia of human habitation. Its rolling countryside is dotted with prehistoric burial mounds and stone circles. Brooding castles hold tales of bloodshed and honor. Medieval churches have elaborate stained glass windows and gruesome carvings, reflecting a mixture of hope and darkness.

The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. In 1884, Prince Otto von Bismark, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event - known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 - galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa.

سنكشف في هذه السلسلة حقائق تاريخية أخفاها غزاة التاريخ بقصد أن تظل هذه الأمة أسيرة لما كتبوه هم لها، فإن كان هؤلاء قد نجحوا في خداع آبائنا ليعيشوا أسارى للتاريخ المزيف الذي غرسوه في وجدانهم، فإننا هنا سننفض الغبار عن تاريخ أمتنا الحقيقي، وذلك من خلال سبر أغوار قصص أبطالنا العظماء، وبعد أن ندرس تاريخ أمتنا الحقيقي دون تزييف أو تحريف، سيأتي ذلك اليوم الذي سنعيد فيه مجد أجدادنا من جديد، لننتصر نحن في نهاية الأمر في حربنا ضد غزاة التاريخ، حتمًا سننتصر عليهم... طال الزمان أو قصر!

سنكشف في هذه السلسلة حقائق تاريخية أخفاها غزاة التاريخ بقصد أن تظل هذه الأمة أسيرة لما كتبوه هم لها، فإن كان هؤلاء قد نجحوا في خداع آبائنا ليعيشوا أسارى للتاريخ المزيف الذي غرسوه في وجدانهم، فإننا هنا سننفض الغبار عن تاريخ أمتنا الحقيقي، وذلك من خلال سبر أغوار قصص أبطالنا العظماء، وبعد أن ندرس تاريخ أمتنا الحقيقي دون تزييف أو تحريف، سيأتي ذلك اليوم الذي سنعيد فيه مجد أجدادنا من جديد، لننتصر نحن في نهاية الأمر في حربنا ضد غزاة التاريخ، حتمًا سننتصر عليهم... طال الزمان أو قصر!

The British East India Company served as one of the key players in the formation of the British Empire. From its origins as a trading company struggling to keep up with its superior Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish competitors ,to its tenure as the ruling authority of the Indian subcontinent, to its eventual hubristic downfall, the East India Company serves as a lens through which to explore the much larger economic and social forces that shaped the formation of a global British Empire.

After 1660, English governments aimed to convert scattered overseas dominions into a coordinated territorial power base. Stuart monarchs encouraged schemes for expansion in America, Africa, and Asia, tightened control over existing territories, and endorsed systems of slave labor. But English power was precarious, and colonial designs were subject to regular defeats and failed experimentation. Recovering from recent Civil Wars at home, England was shaken by unrest and upheaval through the later seventeenth century.

This particular volume (Volume One) begins with the period in the early 1600s when two very different English societies were established in the New World, one in Virginia and one in New England. The Virginia society simply re-created the rigidly class-based feudal society of the times. The New England society was a most unusual democracy of social equals, covenanted to live under God's—not man's—personal rule. These two American social types would find themselves in rather constant struggle....

Not everything in Scotland is as it appears. Some Scots say this is a land haunted by spirits, a place of strange disappearances and unexplained phenomena. There is no shortage when it comes to the strange stories Scotland has to offer, and the legends and lore have compelled many to dig a little deeper and even explore this wonderful land for themselves.