Buzz Aldrin Poses next To The U.S. flag On Moon

American history

Richard Buckminster standing next to his draft of a house of the 21st century. (Ullstein picture via Getty Images)

My History Hero: Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983)

Abraham Lincoln: 5 facts

An American privateer is shown repelling a British attack during the War of 1812. Despite some notable successes, the British regarded the entire conflict as a sideshow and quickly forgot it. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

When Washington burned

Mary Beard, professor of classics at the University of Cambridge. (David Levenson/Getty Images)

My history hero: Sir Moses I Finley (1912–86)

American golfer Bobby Jones practising his swing on the roof of the Savoy Hotel in London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

My history hero: Robert Tyre Jones (1902–71)

1492: The Year Our World Began

My history hero: Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)

A European buyer of enslaved people

General History

Who started the enslavement of Africans in the Americas?

Illustration by Jonty Clark

Ye olde travel guide: New Orleans 1858

The surprisingly long history of humanity's political development

Lincoln’s British enemies

Civil rights and the Civil War

Two women from South America. Six centuries ago South American civilisations matched the west in some respects. (Getty Images)

The wonder of the west

Communist sport: Cold War copycats

BBC History Magazine

The American ‘Occupation’ of Britain: Three films

American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) who wrote under the pseudonym of Mark Twain, standing outside on a porch. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Mark Twain: America’s historical conscience?

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

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

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