China

Elizabeth I preferred thoughtful new year gifts suited to her own tastes such as cloth, personal jewellery and trinkets. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Sobriety, royal presents and Victorian-era musings on failure: an unexpected history of New Year

BBC History Magazine's Books Of The Year 2020. (Illustration by Evonne Summers)

34 best books for history lovers: BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2020

Chess players in the 14th century

General ancient history

Ancient board games: which ones did people play for fun in the past?

Queen In New Zealand, 1970

Queen Elizabeth II on tour

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan: the Mongol warlord who almost conquered the world

Illustration of Venetian merchant Marco Polo travels along the Silk Road to China

General ancient history

Your guide to... the Silk Road

A thin section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing

General ancient history

10 facts about the Great Wall of China

The battle of First Bar, 1841

Your guide to... the Opium Wars

A view of Mount Everest

Mystery on Everest: did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit in 1924?

Swastika on a lotus background

Second World War

Why did Hitler choose the swastika, and how did a Sanskrit symbol become a Nazi emblem?

Postcards from the past competition

Postcards from the past: Aged between 6–13? Enter our exciting lockdown competition

The figure Mulan on a silk print, c19th century

General ancient history

Mulan: the history of the Chinese legend behind the film

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: what might we learn from pandemics in the past?

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective

Immigrant children are examined by a city health officer upon arrival at the battery from Ellis Island during a Typhus scare, c1911. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

A short history of quarantine