South America

Prospectors pan for gold in Siberia during the 19th century.

Where did the major gold rushes of the 19th century happen? And why were people so keen to join the gold rush?

Rutger Bregman. (Rutger Bregman (Photo by Maartje ter Horst)

Rutger Bregman’s optimistic history of the world

Postcards from the past competition

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

Tectonic foliation in metamorphic rocks at Porthleven, Cornwall. (Photo by Getty Images)

How the world made us

Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett

Percy Fawcett and the search for the ‘Lost City Of Z’

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

Heart of the city: The sun shines on the lawns of the Plaza de Mayo, located in the historic centre of Buenos Aires. (Photo by Alamy)

Explore Buenos Aires, Argentina: infused with Latin beauty

England Women's World Cup squad, Mexico, 1971

The 1971 Women’s World Cup: game changers?

Panorama of Machu Picchu

The last days of the Incas

Great Pyramid of Giza. Egypt. (Photo by Olgakostenko | Dreamstime.com)

General History

10 of the most surprising numbers in history

In only two years, Hernán Cortés brought about the downfall of an efficient military civilisation through a combination of diplomacy, warfare, tactics, luck and sheer force of personality, writes Caroline Dodds. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Cortés and Montezuma: the conquering of Tenochtitlan

Max Adams. (Photo by Kona Macphee/Royal Literary Fund)

Remarkable women through history

A poverty-stricken migrant mother with three young children by Dorothea Lange, colourised by Marina Amaral. (Photo courtesy of Head of Zeus)

History in colour

Rags and riches: Enslaved people wash diamonds in Brazil, guarded by armed overseers, in a German engraving of 1828. Diamonds were discovered in Minas Gerais state in the late 17th century. (Picture by Alamy)

Brazil: a society shaped by slavery