Africa

Sultan Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Meknes 1681

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Chris Patten, the last governor of colonial Hong Kong, is pictured here receiving the Union Jack flag shortly before Hong Kong was returned to China, ending over a century of British rule. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

The British empire: 10 big questions

Frederick Courteney Selous (1851-1917). (Alamy)

First World War

My history hero: Frederick Courteney Selous (1851-1917)

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Alphonse de Neuville's 1880 painting 'The Defence of Rorke's Drift'. The battle was to become a "supreme symbol of imperial heroism". (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

The battle of Rorke’s Drift: a symbol of empire

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

A gold head, thought to represent the head of an important enemy killed in battle, from the Asante kingdom. The abundance of this precious metal greatly shaped the region's history. (Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

The Golden Coast

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

An 1860s coloured engraving of Lake Victoria’s outflow at the Ripon Falls, which John Speke discovered in 1862 and correctly declared to be the source of the Nile. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Explorers of the Nile

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

podcast-logo_v4_31-21a6c69

The end of slavery and headaches in history

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

A London Missionary Society (LMS) mission in Papua New Guinea, c1920s. (Photo by Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)

Married to a missionary

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

A stone relief depicting men bringing gifts to the king, c500 BC. (Getty Images)

General ancient history

The Persian empire: myth vs reality

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

JaCgwhH-bb9afbe

The origins of slavery

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The decline and fall of the British empire

JaCgwhH-bb9afbe

A monumental misunderstanding

Map of Algiers, c1700. It was here that Icelanders, including Ólafur Egilsson, were sold into slavery. (Culture Club/Getty Images)

Barbary pirates: kidnapped in Iceland

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Antony-and-Cleopatra-e8580b3

Antony and Cleopatra