North America

British soldier, explorer and big game hunter Frederick Selous, pictured in 1914. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The hunter who became a naturalist.

Sunbathers enjoy some fun and games at a tennis court near a lido at Castle Mill, Cheshire, August 1936

The 1930s: When the future looked bright.

Allan Pinkerton

Allan Pinkerton: The eye that never slept.

A portrait of the English explorer Samuel Hearne. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

My history hero: Samuel Hearne (1745–92).

The LibraryThe battle of Quebec and the jealousy of a queen.

Q&AWhat is the origin of the phrase ‘going postal’, meaning ‘going berserk’?

Thomas Paine on both sides of the Atlantic and the plight of the suffragettes.

Zulu wars and American presidents, past and present.

Ancient civilisations and Victorian shopping.

New US citizens celebrate after taking the oath at a US District Court for the Central District of California naturalisation ceremony, 2007. (Photo by Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Simon Schama on American history.

An illustration depicting inhabitants of Hawaii making an offering to Captain Cook

The LibraryThe mystery of Cook’s lost journal.

The gardens of the Ursuline Convent, Quebec, Canada

Esther Wheelwright: from survivor to mother superior.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King: A drum major for justice.

Antique print of the Boston Massacre from the American Revolutionary, by Paul Revere (American, 1734-1818) (hand-colored engraving), 1770. The title of the print is 'The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Reg't'. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The plot to kidnap King George III.