Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "A UK museum that tells the long, rich history of migration is long overdue"
Kavita Puri on explorations of the migrant experience
If you gaze up at the skyline in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, you might spot a new addition. Made from stainless-steel panels and shaped like a rollercoaster, the Tornado sits on top of the city’s newly opened Fenix, a museum that tells the story of human migration. Visitors climb to the distinctive Tornado up a sweeping staircase at the museum’s entrance, along a meandering route that represents the many different journeys people take to reach their destinations. On arriving at the viewing platform, you can take in a panoramic view of the city and its waterways where millions of Europeans once boarded ships in Europe’s largest port, many of them leaving for a new life in the US. Today, Rotterdam is home to more than 170 nationalities. It’s an interesting choice to open a museum to migration at a time when the subject has become so toxic, not least in the Netherlands. Designed by the Chinese firm MAD Architects, the museum displays have exhibits including thousands of suitcases, images of refugees, and a life-sized city bus. Perhaps reasoned discussions about migration can be inspired by art. Read more | "Museums are magical places": Kavita Puri on a new initiative encouraging close encounters with history This is not the first European museum dedicated to migration: they exist in many countries, including Germany, Sweden, Greece, Italy, Poland and France. So it is surprising that the UK does not have a permanent migration museum, only one that has spent years in makeshift venues. After all, millions of people have left Britain over the centuries, not least during the building of its empire, while inward migration – particularly during the postwar years – has shaped our language, culture, cuisine and art. Until recently, you could visit the Migration Museum in its temporary home in Lewisham Shopping Centre, housed in a former H&M store between Foot Locker and TK Maxx. Outside the entrance stood a sculpture entitled Wall, comprising two panels from the Berlin Wall painted by artists. During its five years in Lewisham, the museum displayed significant exhibitions including Taking Care of Business: Migrant Entrepreneurs and the Making of Modern Britain. In listening booths (repurposed H&M changing rooms), visitors could hear oral histories recounted by local businesspeople, including one Italian who ran a delicatessen and described how different Lewisham was from Puglia. More well-known voices including Lord Bilimoria who, frustrated by the lagers on offer at Indian restaurants, created his own hugely successful beer, Cobra. There was also an impressive installation replicating a Chinese takeaway. Read more | How has migration changed the world? Lewisham has a hugely diverse population, and in 1977 saw members of the far-right National Front clash with anti-racist protesters on its streets. It’s fitting, then, that the Migration Museum was embedded in the heart of that community – a place where anyone could feel comfortable, especially those who may never have crossed the threshold of a museum before. It has now closed, though, and the mall is being redeveloped. A permanent Migration Museum is planned for a new site in the City of London, which has been donated by a British Sikh entrepreneur. It’s due to open in 2028. The new space will span three floors, covering nearly 3,000 square metres. Members of the curatorial team are currently discussing how they might approach the project, including how they can co-curate with local communities. Subjects for temporary exhibitions might include local migrant stories from around the City, climate refugees, the role of humour in the migrant experience, and how protest has driven change. The story of migration in these islands is a long one, written by those who left and those who came. Britain today has been shaped by movements of people in both directions. A museum that tells this long and rich history – a shared story, one of interconnectedness – is long overdue. It does not need to be divisive, but can be a reflection and recognition of who we are today. This column was first published in the August 2025 issue of BBC History Magazine
Michael Wood on amazing insights into medieval daily life
"Globalism is ironing out the fabulous texture and diversity of the old world", writes historian Michael Wood
Coming from industrial Manchester in the cold, rainy north of England, I have loved the Mediterranean all my life. The wondrous diversity of landscapes, cultures and histories, and the peoples around its shores – all are an inexhaustible delight. Recently, I’ve gone back to an old favourite book, A Mediterranean Society by Shelomo Dov Goitein. Published from 1967, it’s never included in those ‘great historians’ debates, but it is a masterpiece. A portrait of medieval merchant communities in the eastern Mediterranean, its canvas is huge, stretching across Europe to India, and from Morocco to Crimea. It centres on one of the world’s most amazing historical archives: the Cairo Geniza (‘storeroom’ in Hebrew) of the Ben Ezra synagogue in Fustat, Old Cairo – a stone’s throw from the Nile. A windowless box of a room on the second floor, reachable only via a rickety wooden ladder, by the 19th century it was stacked floor to ceiling with boxes of documents. A photo from 1898 shows some of them: heaped, crumbling, wrapped in cloth, crammed in wooden tea chests. These were the business documents – and so much else – of medieval Jewish merchant communities, and are especially rich for the period 950–1250. There were 400,000 of them – the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts anywhere in the world. Read more | Michael Wood on the rise of a new world order The Geniza was one of hundreds that once existed in the hyper-literate society of the medieval Levant. They survived because Jewish tradition dictated that Hebrew script was sacred and should not be thrown away but stored or buried reverently in a cemetery. Removed from Egypt in 1897, this incredible treasure trove is now divided between many libraries, with the majority of the documents in Cambridge. After the Second World War, Goitein – already a great scholar in the languages of the Near East – decided to dedicate the rest of his life’s work to the archive. The result was his portrait of the Geniza in five volumes, the last of which went to the publisher on the day he died in 1985. There were many other offshoots, too, including a fantastic book of medieval letters from the India trade annotated and translated by Goitein and a colleague. The documents in the Geniza include a vast range of texts. As well as business records there are materials with philosophical, legal, scientific, mystical and linguistic contents, school exercises, merchants’ account books and communal records. Especially fascinating is the huge correspondence comprising thousands of documents dating from the ninth to the 13th centuries. There are letters from Jewish traders en route from Egypt and Tunisia to Yemen and ultimately to India. Their business ties went to Seville and Samarkand, even to Kyiv and Rouen; their ports included Marseille, Genoa and Venice. We read in Viking-age sources from western Europe about Jewish merchants who spoke Persian, Arabic, Aramaic, Latin and Greek – and here they are, motors of a new world driven not by violence and conquest but by trade, exchange, contacts, profit and loss. The Geniza contained riches beyond measure. Goitein’s database features more than 35,000 people, notably 200 main families whose stories could be traced over centuries. We can join them in Fustat, sheltering from the fierce heat in the street outside, or sitting in a reception room where you drank tea while sorting out your insurance for boats to Morocco or down the Red Sea to India. Read more | Kavita Puri on India's long Jewish history These documents reveal details of daily life from late antiquity until around 1200. In them you can discover, as Goitein did, “900-year-old attitudes toward messianism, remarriage, homosexuality, foreign travel and pigeon-racing”. Ancient correspondence and business accounts “reveal clues about excommunication, social drinking, the price of flax, the Judeo-Arabic terminology for so-called sweating sickness, the total absence in this older Middle Eastern world of the Bar Mitzva ritual, and the prevalence in the same context of good, hot take-out food”. Globalism has brought many good things, but it is fast ironing out the fabulous texture and diversity of the old world. Within the walls of the Geniza, those stories still live. And isn’t that why we all love history so much? Literally, all human life is there. This column was first published in the May 2025 issue of BBC History Magazine
Emperors, popes and Renaissance glory: exploring Rome’s history
History's greatest cities podcast series
Now capital of a united Italy, Rome has enjoyed eras of imperial might but also periods of conflict and chaos. Dr Shushma Malik guides us through the key events of the past 28 centuries.
Famously – or, at least, according to legend – Rome owes its existence to twin brothers Romulus and Remus, sons of the war god Mars, who had been abandoned and suckled by a she-wolf. Having established settlements on the Palatine and Aventine Hills, respectively, the two fought, and Remus was killed. By tradition, Rome was founded on that day, 21 April 753 BC, with Romulus becoming the first of seven kings. Remains of Iron Age settlement have been discovered on the Palatine Hill, and evidence of even earlier Bronze Age occupation in the region, so perhaps that story isn’t pure myth. The last of the seven mythical kings, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus – Tarquin the Proud – was a tyrannical ruler. His son, Sextus Tarquinius, was also a criminal; Sextus’ rape of another man’s wife, Lucretia, and her subsequent suicide was the highly disturbing episode that, according to the historian Livy (writing some five centuries later), prompted the expulsion of the king and the foundation of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. Read more | Sarah Peverley on why Italy’s ancient capital is her favourite place From kingdom to republic Rome would be governed by a senate headed by two consuls, ensuring that no one man had complete power. In that nascent republic, the centre of civic life, as well as religion, commerce and entertainment, was the Roman Forum, still a fascinating place to visit today. Initially a relatively small settlement with limited influence, over the following five centuries of the republic Rome grew as its territory expanded. Its power swelled throughout what’s now Italy, then across and around the Mediterranean with wars against the Macedonians and with Carthage in the third and second centuries BC. By the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC, Roman territory covered parts of the Iberian Peninsula and what’s now Tunisia. The following century, as a result of conquests by generals including Julius Caesar, it grew to encompass much of mainland western Europe, swathes of coastal North Africa and the Middle East. Read more | The big question: what have the Romans ever done for us? Successful generals became very wealthy – and the spoils of their victories, which included money, artefacts and vast numbers of enslaved people, were used to build monuments to their glory. One of the earliest examples is the Temple of Castor and Pollux, associated with a Roman triumph over other Italians at the battle of Lake Regillus in 495 BC. Later figures during this period of conquest and expansion, including Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (known as Pompey the Great) and Julius Caesar, also left their marks on the city. The latter bought some very expensive land to build a new forum, north-east of the Roman Forum. And the former built a great theatre on the Campus Martius (Field of Mars), sadly no longer surviving – but infamous as the site of Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC. History's Greatest Cities: A HistoryExtra podcast series This companion piece accompanies our podcast miniseries History's Greatest Cities. Listen to the full episode on Rome with Shushma Malik and Paul Bloomfield, then explore the entire series All History's Greatest Cities episodes From republic to empire Caesar’s death sparked a tussle for power that erupted into civil war, ending when his adopted son, Octavian, defeated Mark Antony at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. Four years later, the senate awarded him the title Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. During his lengthy rule (until AD 14), Augustus oversaw major building projects. He finished Julius Caesar’s Forum, expanding it into the Campus Martius, where soldiers had traditionally mustered before heading out to war. And in 13 BC, the senate ordered the creation of the Ara Pacis – an altar dedicated to Augustus, celebrating the peace he’d secured across the now-vast empire – which now stands next to his mausoleum. Successive emperors vied to outdo the one before in expanding, improving and beautifying the city. Trajan (ruled AD 98–117) built the towering column carved with reliefs commemorating his campaigns in what’s now Romania. Hadrian (ruled AD 117–138) – builder of the wall in Roman Britain – comprehensively rebuilt the Pantheon, the only ancient building that’s remained largely intact over the past two millennia. And several emperors built palaces on the Palatine, from which the English word palace is derived. Read more | Everything you wanted to know about the Roman emperors Alongside these religious and monumental buildings designed to glorify themselves, emperors also acted as benefactors to the people of the city and the empire. The Colosseum is a famous example – probably Rome’s first permanent amphitheatre, it was commissioned by Vespasian in AD 72 and finished by his son, Titus, in AD 80. Its construction partly funded by the war in Judea. There were also porticos around central Rome where people could congregate in the evening, as well as tavernas and restaurants – some of which would have been very cheap – and of course shops and other places to buy and sell. Visit Trajan’s Markets to get an idea of these kinds of amenities. Another factor that had an impact on the physical landscape of Rome over the following centuries was the arrival of Christianity, probably only about 20 or 30 years or so after the death of Christ. The first Christian emperor, however, was Constantine, who is believed to have converted to Christianity in AD 312; the first known dedicated churches in Rome were built later that century. You can visit one of the earliest beneath the 12th-century Basilica of San Clemente, on the Via di San Giovanni in Laterano. From empire to papacy During this time, Rome’s power was challenged in various regions. In AD 286, the emperor Diocletian had decided to divide the empire into east and west. The wealthy city that became the eastern seat of power, Constantinople, was already in the ascendancy. Though there was still a senate in Rome, and an incredibly powerful symbolism to the city, it increasingly suffered security problems. And in AD 410, Rome was sacked by the Visigoths – the first time in some 800 years that the city itself had actually been physically attacked. A different kind of power remained in Rome, though: that of the Catholic Church. So while some ancient monuments were dismantled or allowed to fall into ruin over the following centuries, and the population dwindled to just a few thousand, the papacy remained – most of the time, anyway. But the power that lay behind the idea of the Roman emperor endured and, after the Frankish king Charlemagne conquered Italy, in AD 800 he was crowned as an emperor in charge of governing the Roman empire – a hugely symbolic event. Over the next few centuries, the city suffered some of its hardest days. It was riven by local conflict, external attacks, even a schism after the papacy moved to Avignon in 1309; the Black Death also took its toll. Read more | Holy smoke, antipopes and power struggles: a guide to popes and the papacy From the 15th century, though, political, financial and cultural capital returned to Rome during the Renaissance. Wealth arrived with families such as the Borgias, funding the creation of great art and architecture; Michelangelo, Raphael and Cellini were drawn to work in the Vatican, and villas and palaces were built around Rome to accommodate the immensely rich people who patronised such artists. Over the next few centuries, styles evolved. St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, begun in 1506 at the zenith of the Renaissance, had become an opulent Baroque edifice by the time it was completed in 1626. Francesco Borromini continued the theme with his churches and other work across Rome, adapting Classical forms into Baroque structures. The 18th century saw the installation of rococo monuments such as the Trevi Fountain – itself built on the site of an ancient Roman original – and Spanish Steps. All the while, aristocratic visitors from Britain and elsewhere – so-called Grand Tourists – were collecting artworks and taking back these ideas. From Grand Tourist hotspot to Italian capital The French Revolution in the late 18th century, and the revolutions that rocked much of Europe in 1848, had an impact on Rome, which briefly returned to a republic in 1849. Two key figures of the time were Giuseppe Manzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who both held offices in that republic, and who helped to drive the Risorgimento – unification movement – through the 1860s and early 1870s, essentially creating the kingdom of Italy. Rome, though, was not immediately its capital; that was first Turin, then Florence, until the seat of government settled in Rome in the 1870s. That reunification is celebrated in the grandiose white marble confection of the Victor Emmanuel II Monument, built from 1885 to honour the first king of the reunified Italy. Following the First World War, when Italy fought the Austro-Hungarian empire on its northern borders, nationalist sentiments swelled. The main beneficiary was Benito Mussolini, who saw himself as a new Emperor Augustus, and focused on building back the glory of Rome through the Fascist state he established after seizing power in 1922. Read more | The March on Rome 1922: how Benito Mussolini turned Italy into the first Fascist state As part of that process, to imprint his mark on the ‘Eternal City’, he built the vast Via dei Fori Imperiali, a triumphal route leading from the Victor Emmanuel Monument to the Colosseum – ironically, cutting through and destroying parts of the ancient forums. Italy became a republic once again after the Second World War. And in the decades since – some politically turbulent, many triumphant – it has continued to restore and reinvent. Hosting the 1960 Summer Olympics sparked major rebuilding work. Since then, in fashion, film and music as well as sport, it’s once again become a powerhouse, as well as an extraordinary place to visit – for its modern spirit as much as its astonishingly long, varied history. Read more about historical travel Episode 3: Rome | Listen to this article's companion podcast episode History's Greatest Cities | Explore all episodes in this podcast miniseries Ye Olde Travel Guides | Discover more global destinations with a historic twist Dr Shushma Malik was speaking to Paul Bloomfield, travel journalist and host of our podcast series History's Greatest Cities What to see: Rome in five places The ancient imperial capital has undergone many transformations over the centuries. Shushma Malik highlights five spots to visit for insights into Rome’s layered past. 1. Basilica of San Clemente Rome is a giant palimpsest, with successive strata of history written one on top of the other. There’s a great example of that in just one building on the Via di San Giovanni in Laterano. The Basilica of San Clemente, built from 1108, is a wonderful monument in itself, with fine mosaics and frescoes in a side chapel. But below the 12th-century church there’s another, dating from the fourth century and rediscovered in 1857. And below that lie two Roman buildings from the late first century. One was a house possibly used as a titulus – a clandestine early Christian meeting place. The other contained a Mithraeum, a temple to the cult of Mithras, of a kind seen in other parts of the empire, including Britain. (There’s a Mithraeum in the City of London, and another at Carrawburgh Fort on Hadrian’s Wall – the cult was popular with Roman soldiers in that period.) This one boasts a finely carved altar depicting the god Mithras killing a bull, typical of such sites. 2. Tomb of Cecilia Metella This incredible funerary monument on the Via Appia, probably dating from the late first century BC, consists of an 11-metre-high cylindrical drum. It highlights the status of aristocratic women in Rome – specifically, one very well-connected woman, Cecilia Metella. The inscription on the tomb tells us she was the daughter of Quintus Cecilius Metellus Creticus, and the wife of a man called Crassus. Her father was probably the consul of 69 BC, and her husband may have been Marcus Licinius Crassus, another important politician and the son of the Crassus who was famous as a member of the ‘first triumvirate’ along with Pompey and Julius Caesar. So the monument is fascinating because of who she was, but also because, again, it’s an example of historical layering. In the early 14th century, the tomb was incorporated into a fortress built by the Caetani family, relatives of Pope Boniface VIII. Parts of that huge structure still survive today. 3. Servian Wall If you arrive or depart Rome through the central train station, Termini, look carefully around the surrounding area – and inside: you’ll find bits of ancient wall among the fast-food restaurants. The Servian Wall was one of Rome’s earlier defensive boundaries. It’s named after the Roman king Servius Tullius who, according to legend, reigned in about the sixth century BC, but the structure has been dated using modern methods to the fourth century BC. It’s quite something to eat a slice of pizza or a burger right next to this incredibly old piece of Roman history. 4. Monte Testaccio This mound, in the Testaccio district, is no ordinary hill. Rising to around 35 metres, it’s made of the earthenware shards (testae, in Latin) of amphorae – pottery jars used to store goods and to transport them around the Roman empire. They contained all sorts of things, from grain to olive oil; very small amphorae contained more expensive goods such as perfumes. The layers of this ancient Roman landfill site excavated so far (most from the second and third centuries AD), mainly comprise very large containers in which olive oil was shipped before being poured into smaller ones for domestic use. Monte Testaccio is near the site of an olive oil warehouse, from where these amphorae were taken to be broken up then covered with lime to hide the smell. 5. Capitoline Insula At the base of the Capitoline Hill, look for a distinctly everyday building: a block of flats. The Capitoline (or Ara Coeli) Insula dates from the early second century AD, probably during the reign of Emperor Trajan, which also saw the construction of a large marketplace and huge column celebrating his victories. W e tend to think of ancient Roman houses as grand villas. But of course most people lived in much more basic accommodation, and this insula features examples of the small rooms or flats that ordinary people might have rented at the height of the empire. The block is five storeys high, the first three of which housed shops; there were individual rooms on the fourth floor, and what looks like an apartment on the fifth. It’s an amazing insight into the urban lives of individuals nearly two millennia ago. Shushma Malik is Onassis Classics Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge, and author of The Nero-Antichrist: Founding and Fashioning a Paradigm (Cambridge University Press, 2020). She was talking to Paul Bloomfield, travel journalist and host of our new podcast series, History’s Greatest Cities. Listen to the companion podcast on Rome or explore the entire series
Explore Yangon, Myanmar: City of Golden Pagodas
David Eimer roams the colonial core and glittering Buddhist shrines of the former capital of Myanmar (Burma)
Yangon’s beating heart is the Shwedagon Pagoda, the holiest temple in all Myanmar (Burma), one of the most fervently Buddhist countries in the world. While new buildings zoom up in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the Shwedagon’s golden zedi (stupa), some 100 metres high, remains visible from many of the city’s 33 neighbourhoods. The Shwedagon is one of the liveliest places in Yangon, busy from before dawn till late at night. People come to pray, to promenade around the base, or just to sit and talk in its shadow. Legend has it that the Shwedagon is over 2,500 years old, and houses hairs of the Buddha brought to Myanmar from India; more likely it was established initially as a Hindu shrine by Indian traders who began arriving in what was then a fishing village from the fifth or sixth century AD. Nothing is certain in Yangon’s early history. Despite being Myanmar’s capital until 2006 – when administrative functions were moved to the newly built Naypyidaw – and despite still being the country’s largest city, the earliest known written accounts of the settlement date from the 15th century. At that time it was known as Dagon and was little more than a collection of wooden monasteries and homes surrounding the Shwedagon, which had long since shaken off its probable Hindu origins and was already a famed Buddhist pilgrimage site. Another settlement of houses sat a couple of miles south of the Shwedagon in what is now downtown, alongside the river that connected Dagon to the Ayeyarwady delta and the Andaman Sea beyond it. It was this tiny town that the then Burmese king Alaungpaya renamed Yangon (‘End of Strife’) in 1755 to celebrate his victory over a rival kingdom. Almost a century later, in 1852, Rear Admiral Charles Austen (brother of novelist Jane Austen) used the Shwedagon to guide a fleet of invading ships up the Yangon river. The British changed the settlement’s name to Rangoon and, by 1886, the country’s abundant natural resources were in British hands. As Indian and Chinese immigrants arrived, Rangoon was transformed into one of Asia’s first truly global cities, a multicultural trading hub that rivalled Calcutta (now Kolkata), Shanghai and Singapore. Rangoon reached its colonial apotheosis in the 1920s, when its port was the second busiest in the world. By then the British had remade the city, creating a downtown with domes and pillars that wouldn’t look out of place in London. Today, Yangon’s collection of colonial-era buildings is the largest in south-east Asia. Wandering downtown’s streets, packed with markets and teahouses, and dotted with pagodas, churches, mosques, Chinese and Hindu temples, and crumbing colonial edifices, is an essential Yangon experience. Perhaps the most striking building is the Secretariat, the seat of power in colonial times. With its red-and-yellow brick constructions set around a neat quadrangle, it’s reminiscent of a Victorian-era Oxford college. Equally worthy of exploration are the tree-lined streets of Golden Valley, straggling south of tranquil Inya Lake towards the Shwedagon. Its teak and brick houses, dating from the late 19th and early 20th century, are surrounded by wonderful gardens that explode in colour when their flowers bloom. This district, once home to the British elite, is still Yangon’s smartest suburb. Burma gained independence from British rule in 1948, but just 14 years later the military snatched power in a coup. The generals ruled for almost 50 years, denying its peoples democracy and human rights. In 1989, they renamed the country Myanmar, and Rangoon became Yangon once more. Yangon was the site of the biggest demonstrations against the junta, including those during the so-called 8888 Uprising in 1988, during which Aung San Suu Kyi rose to fame after she spoke to a crowd of half a million protestors at the Shwedagon. Today, her National League for Democracy-led government is running Myanmar but Yangon, like the rest of the country, has yet to recover from the decades of neglect it suffered under the generals. Perhaps one day it will be a truly global city again. Yangon in seven sites 1: Shwedagon Pagoda - Astonishing gilded temple built between the sixth and 10th centuries (or, according to legend, over 2,500 years ago) 2: Sule Pagoda -Spanning a traffic intersection in downtown Yangon, this golden pagoda is said to be even older than the Shwedagon 3: The Strand- Running alongside the Yangon River, colonial-era buildings include the newly restored Strand Hotel, built in 1901 4: Secretariat - Built from 1889 in the heart of downtown, the former seat of the British colonial government – a vast complex covering 6.5 hectares – was also used by the newly independent government from 1948 5: Golden Valley - The winding lanes of this neighbourhood are lined with palms and ferns, tamarind, teak and pipal trees that shade imposing colonial-era mansions 6: Inya Lake - Yangon’s largest lake was created by the British in 1882–83 as a reservoir to provide water to the growing city; today it’s a peaceful spot favoured by joggers, walkers, lovers and idlers 7: National Museum - Home to the giant, jewel-encrusted Lion Throne of Thibaw, last king of Burma, removed by the British in 1885 David Eimer is an author and former foreign correspondent. His latest book is A Savage Dreamland: Journeys in Burma (Bloomsbury, 2019) This article was taken from issue 17 of BBC World Histories magazine, first published in August 2019
Explore Fès, Morocco: Morocco’s spiritual capital
The soul of the Maghreb lingers in the medieval walled city of the former imperial capital. Paul Bloomfield roams the labyrinthine byways of Fès
It’s a story that’s all too familiar: Muslims, suffering the brutal aftermath of rebellion, flee around and across the Mediterranean to seek a new life. Such is the tale of Fès’s early years, and here these refugees provided the bedrock of Islamic learning, architecture, commerce and community. To see how these factions slotted together, climb to a viewpoint north of the medina (walled city) at dusk, as the muezzins’ calls drift from hundreds of mosques. From among the Merenid tombs scattered like broken teeth across the hillside, gaze into the valley to Fès el-Bali, the oldest part of the city. The village of Medinat Fès was founded here by Moulay Idriss, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and founder of the Arab state of Morocco, shortly after his arrival in c787, having fled the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad. But it was his son, succeeding as Sultan Idriss II in c807, who developed Fès as his capital and the country’s spiritual heart. Read more: 6 lesser-known facts about the Ottoman Empire And in the heart of his city Idriss II lies today, under the pyramidal roof of his zaouïa (tomb shrine institution). It’s closed to non-Muslims, but wander past its heavy wooden doors and you may glimpse the tiled courtyard and shrine. Idriss II forged the character of the city through two acts of Islamic hospitality. First, around 817, he welcomed hundreds of Andalucian families escaping repressive Umayyad rule in Córdoba; they settled on the east bank of the Oued (river) Fès, forming al-Andalous (the Andalucian quarter). Then, seven years later, he allotted land on the west bank to refugees fleeing persecution in Kairouan (now in Tunisia) – the al-Qarawiyyin district. Wealthy and pious, in 857 the latter group built the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and, two years later, its university – reputedly the world’s oldest continuously operating place of higher education. Both are off-limits to non-Muslims, as are most medersas (Islamic colleges) scattered around the medina; an exception is the Medersa Bou Inania, founded in 1351, which boasts glorious Moorish zellij tilework, sculpted wood and alabaster to rival Granada’s Alhambra. As the Fassi saying goes, all roads lead to the al-Qarawiyyin. A web of alleys spiders in all directions, lined with carved wooden doorways set into blank walls. Behind lie family houses; expensive and difficult to maintain in this congested warren, many have been abandoned and left to decay. A number are being renovated, many refashioned as boutique hotels generally called riads (strictly, a house with an internal garden is a riad; one with a central courtyard is a dar). Almost entirely car-free, the medina’s reputed 9,400 alleyways are thronged with donkeys – listen for the warning shouts of “Barak!” from their drivers – and studded with funduqs (caravanserais) and souks (bazaars) where jellaba (robe)-clad shoppers barter for textiles, silverware, food, perfumes and spices. East of the al-Qarawiyyin, the scent of herbs and spices is punctured by the reek of cowhide, pigeon guano and urine from the Chaouwara tanneries. Enter a leather shop overlooking the rainbow-hued vats, hold the proffered sprig of mint to your nose, and you’ll witness a process unchanged for centuries. The tanneries can be overwhelming, as can the whole medina; American author Paul Bowles wrote: “Fès is full of flies and dust… It is quite dirty and very beautiful.” To escape the melee, head west to the blue-tiled Moorish gate Bab Boujeloud, the western limit of Fès el-Bali. To the south-west spreads Fès el-Jdid, the ‘new’ city, established by Merenid conquerors in the 13th century. Smaller and more ordered, it encompasses the royal palace and the Mellah (Jewish quarter), now home to just a handful of Jews, most having emigrated after Moroccan independence in 1956. Beyond lies the Ville Nouvelle, developed from 1916 by the French, who moved the administrative capital to Rabat. After that the old city began to decay; a Unesco World Heritage site since 1981, it is being patchily restored. Yet within its crumbling walls, Fès medina remains the most mesmerising and extensive medieval city in the Islamic world. Fès in eight sites Bad Boujeloud: 'Blue Gate' built by the French in 1913 to replace the medieval city portal Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts: Housed in the wonderful restored Nejjarine Funduq (caravanserai) Chaouwara Tanneries: Kaleidoscopic dyeing vats tinted with poppy seed, indigo and saffron Medersa Bou Inania: Islamic college founded in 1351, with spectacular zellij tilework and alabaster Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University: Important mosque and adjacent university founded in the 850s Souk al-Henna: One of the medina's oldest bazaars, by a 13th-century former psychiatric hospital Musee dar Batha: Palatial 19th-century Hispano-Moorish house with displays of Fassi ceramics Ibn Danan Synagogue: 17th-century synagogue in the Mellah (Jewish quarter) that still holds centuries-old gazelle-skin Torah scrolls Paul Bloomfield is a travel and heritage writer This article was taken from issue 15 of BBC World Histories magazine, first published in April 2019
Explore Thessaloniki, Greece: Greece's cultural melting pot
Thessaloniki boasts a thrillingly cosmopolitan heritage, with Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman legacies, a long-term population of Sephardic Jews – and, of course, generations of Greek influence. Alev Scott roams the sights of Greece’s second city
For many centuries after Athens’ ancient heyday, and before it rose again as the capital of a newly independent Greece in 1833, Thessaloniki was the most important city not only in Greece but in the entire Balkan region. Founded in 315 BC, and named for a half-sister of Alexander the Great, Thessaloniki become one of the first truly cosmopolitan cities in the world, attracting waves of refugees over the centuries: Sephardic Jews in the 15th century, Orthodox Christians from Anatolia in the early 20th century, and refugees fleeing wars in the Middle East today. As the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia, the city lies at the heart of political tensions surrounding Greece’s longstanding dispute with its neighbour, the soon-to-be-renamed Republic of North Macedonia, a few miles to the north. In 1917, the old city of Thessaloniki was consumed by a devastating fire that left a quarter of the population homeless, destroyed mosques and synagogues, and condemned the city to an uninspiring 20th-century architectural transformation. The relics that have survived that disaster, however, speak of a spectacularly diverse past. The 8th-century Byzantine Hagia Sophia (‘Holy Wisdom’) church is once again in full working order – less palatial than the original in Istanbul, but painstakingly restored with dazzling gold-painted icons. Close by are signs of the earlier Roman occupation (168 BC–476 AD) in the shape of a ragged but clearly defined forum and the imposing fourth-century Rotunda of Galerius. Read more: 6 things you (probably) didn’t know about the ancient Greeks During the long Ottoman occupation (1430–1912), the city blossomed under a system of government that encouraged diversity. Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 came here at the invitation of Sultan Bayezid II, and became the majority demographic until 1912, when the city fell to Greek forces. The city became known as “the Jerusalem of the Balkans”, dominated by Jewish trade, commerce and real estate and with Ladino (Sephardic Spanish) as its lingua franca. In 1911, just before the Greek takeover, the Zionist David Ben-Gurion visited the city, then known as Salonika, to study it as a model for the future state of Israel. Sadly, Ottoman relics of the city’s Jewish majority are few. The brick domes of the 16th-century Yahudi Hamam (Jewish Bath House) are the only visible part of an edifice left to crumble. Today, the roughly 1,200 Jews in the city are a mere fraction of the population of less than a century ago; during the Nazi occupation, 54,000 Jews – 96% of the city’s Jewish community – were transported to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. Of some 50 synagogues operating in the early 20th century, just three survive today; the main one, the Monastir Synagogue, is guarded by police and open only at select times. From a Turkish perspective, Thessaloniki is most notable as the birthplace of the founder of the modern republic of Turkey – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, born in 1881 in a modest house in the city centre. Today his birthplace is a museum stuffed with odds and ends from his adult life, and filled with Turkish tourist-pilgrims at all times. The city’s Muslim edifices are notably unfrequented and unkempt, despite attempts by the Turkish government to encourage their restoration. The 1467 Hamza Bey mosque was once a magnificent Ottoman structure; subsequently used as a shopping centre, it is theoretically under reconstruction. The living parts of the city retain their character more strongly than once-grand buildings. The central Kapani market, a covered bazaar formerly occupied by Ottoman traders and craftsmen, is still bustling with people buying vegetables and spices. In Ano Poli, the upper reaches of the city, the houses of the Ottoman elite survived the 1917 fire and still command impressive views. Today, as throughout its history, the seafront is a wonderful place to walk, admiring the White Tower built by the Ottomans to guard the harbour that once ensured the city’s unparalleled diversity, and which still serves as Thessaloniki’s main connection with the outside world. Thessaloniki in 8 sites Hagia Sophia church: Eighth-century Byzantine marvel with dazzling gold-painted icons that have recently been restored Rotunda and Arch of Galerius: Early fourth-century structure that has served as Roman temple, mosque and Orthodox church; the nearby arch is beautifully decorated with carved friezes Yahudi Hamam: Look for the remaining domes of the original 16th-century structure, built to serve the Sephardic Jews who arrived having fled the Inquisition in Spain Monastir Synagogue: The city’s only surviving traditional synagogue, consecrated in 1927 Atatürk Museum: Birthplace in 1881 of Mustafa Kemal, the founder of modern Turkey, who took the name Atatürk Hamza Bey mosque: Built in 1467, one of the first mosques constructed here after the Ottoman conquest – now awaiting restoration Kapani market: Bustling covered market on the site of the original Ottoman bazaar White Tower: Distinctive round seafront Ottoman tower, probably built in the 16th century to replace a Byzantine defensive structure Alev Scott is a journalist and writer. Her new book is Ottoman Odyssey: Travels Through a Lost Empire (riverrun, 2018) This article was taken from issue 14 of BBC World Histories magazine, first published in February 2019
Some 27 centuries after it was founded, Rome continues to captivate and confuse. Ferdinand Addis roams the ancient ruins and modern memories of the Italian capital
Rome was around 700 years old when people first began calling it the ‘eternal city’. That was during the reign of the emperor Augustus, more than 2,000 years ago, and it has weathered the storms of Europe’s history ever since: sacks by Visigoths and Vandals; raids by Saracens and Normans; the competing ambitions of popes and kings. The result is a city still haunted by its turbulent past. From cheerful cafés by the Campo de’ Fiori you can step down into cellars that once belonged to the Theatre of Pompey, the monumental complex in which Julius Caesar was murdered. Near Trajan’s Forum, with its famous spiral column, a fortified tower looms – a reminder of the medieval clans who turned the city into a battleground. The layers of past epochs are piled on top of one another. The flank of the Palatine Hill is a tangle of ancient brickwork, vaulting that supported the palaces of vanished emperors. Excavations down to the level of the bedrock here have uncovered traces of primitive huts from the 8th century BC – by tradition, the era when Romulus founded the city. Read more: A brief guide to ancient Rome and the Romans, plus 9 fascinating facts Rome has always been a religious city. The Basilica of San Clemente, on the lower slopes of the Caelian Hill, is famous not just for its spectacular 12th-century mosaics but also for the history it conceals: under the basilica’s marble floor lie the remains of an older medieval church, which itself was built on top of an ancient shrine to Mithras. But piety has gone hand in hand with vice. Not far from San Clemente soar the arches of the Colosseum, a monument to darker human appetites. Saint Augustine tells the story of a Christian friend who tried to close his eyes against the horrors of the amphitheatre. But when the crowd went wild seeing a gladiator fall, he dared to peep at the action. Immediately, says Augustine, he was gripped, “delighted with the wicked contest and drunk with blood-lust. He was now no longer the same man who came in.” Nineteenth-century travellers were much moved by the traces of Rome’s illustrious dead. Byron wrote verses about the ancient tombs along the Via Appia Antica, still one of the most atmospheric areas in Rome. In the Parco della Caffarella nearby, shepherds can today be seen grazing their flocks beside the mausolea: a vision of a landscape from another time. Percy Shelley preferred to spend his days atop the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. “Go thou to Rome,” he wrote, “at once the Paradise, the grave, the city and the wilderness.” His bones lie not far away, in the Cimitero Acattolico, near the grave of John Keats, who died of tuberculosis in a dingy apartment by the Spanish Steps in 1821. In Rome, the dead outnumber the living. But part of the special character of Rome is that it never feels like a lifeless museum. Amid the chaos and decay, new life is always growing: the riot of wildflowers that blooms from the crumbling brickwork of the ancient city walls, or the nightclubs and bars that thrive around the edge of Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill made from centuries’ worth of discarded Roman storage jars. Even the deepest wounds can heal with time. In October 1943, SS soldiers surrounded the ghetto and deported more than 1,000 Roman Jews to Auschwitz, most never to return. But the Jewish community in Rome – one of the oldest in Europe – survived and recovered. You can try the famous carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style fried artichokes) near the Great Synagogue of Rome, then walk to the first-century-AD Arch of Titus, with its sculpted reliefs showing spoils plundered during the sack of Jerusalem by Rome nearly 2,000 years ago. Like the rest of Italy, Rome struggles with high youth unemployment. But youth culture in Rome has a dynamism that defies the city’s millennia of history: the nightlife of Pigneto or San Lorenzo is just as Roman as the ancient ruins, the medieval alleyways, or the grand ritual landscape of the Vatican. Rome is a city of contrasts, of vice and virtue, life and death, growth and decay. If it deserves to be called the eternal city, it’s not because it will last forever, but because it always has some new surprise in store. Rome in eight sites Colosseum: The most iconic ancient building in Rome – a marvel of engineering with a bloody history dating from c70-72 AD Pantheon: A former temple, some 1,900 years old, which still boasts the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome Piazza San Pietro: The Basilica of Saint Peter is framed by Bernini’s famous curved colonnade Villa Borghese: Walk through the Borghese Gardens to one of the finest art collections in Rome Tiber Island: Walk from this midriver speck into the atmospheric streets of Trastevere Trevi Fountain: A baroque extravagance made legendary by Federico Fellini’s film La Dolce Vita Campo de' Fiori: Brave the crush at the famous vegetable market in this ancient square Fontana dell'Acqua Paola: Admire the view over the city from this monumental 17th-century fountain Ferdinand Addis is a journalist and author. His latest book is Rome: Eternal City (Head of Zeus, 2018) This article was taken from issue 13 of BBC World Histories magazine, first published in October 2018
Explore Cusco, Peru: Navel of the Incan world
This spectacular city high in the Peruvian Andes boasts a fascinating fusion of pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial heritage. Paul Bloomfield explores Cusco, epicentre of the Incan empire
Stand in Cusco’s central square and the city’s contradictory nature quickly becomes clear. In the Plaza de Armas, graced by huge Spanish churches and colonial arcades, you’ll encounter colourfully clad indigenous women leading baby alpacas around a bronze statue of the empire-building Inca Pachacutec (reigned 1438–c1471). This square was – in a larger form – the heart of the Incan capital founded, according to legend, by Manco Cápac in the 12th century at the qosq'o (navel) of the world. You’ll see overlapping layers of the city’s history in the Catedral dominating the plaza’s north-eastern side. Like other colonial structures, it was built (from 1559) on the site of an earlier Incan monument – Kiswarkancha, palace of the Inca Viracocha – using cut stones pilfered from the fortress of Sacsayhuamán to the north of the city. Behind its Baroque exterior hang paintings by indigenous artists of the Cusco School, blending European styles with local elements – spot the roast cuy (guinea pig) in Marcos Zapata’s Last Supper. To see the most striking colonial larceny, stroll south-east from Plaza de Armas along Loreto and onto Pampa de Castillo, lined with simple restaurants serving typical local fare – this is the place to try cuy, chicharones (crispy fried pork chunks), trucha (trout) or lomo saltado (stir-fried beef loin). Beyond stands the church and convent of Santo Domingo, built on Qorikancha, a major Incan complex. Its Temple of the Sun was reputedly the wealthiest in Tawantinsuyu, the vast Incan empire that once stretched from Colombia to Chile. Beyond a Baroque facade, excavated remains give a sense of the complex’s scale; according to the early 17th-century chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, the temple walls were clad with 700 solid gold sheets. The Spanish reputedly took three months to melt down all the gold they stripped from Inca sites here. The Museo Histórico Regional offers insights into the natural and cultural history of the surrounding area, but also an introduction to the life of Garcilaso de la Vega, whose house this was. Born in 1539 during the conquest to a Spanish man and an Inca noblewoman, ‘El Inca’ wrote one of the most influential chronicles, the Comentarios Reales de los Incas, which covered both the history of the Incas (based on stories told by his mother’s family) and the conquest. For more detailed exploration of Incan history, visit the Museo Inka, housed in one of Cusco’s finest colonial mansions. The Palacio del Almirante (Admiral’s Palace) is packed with a slightly dusty but extensive collection of metalwork, pottery, dioramas, costumes, maps and paintings. Read more: The last days of the Incas Probably the most impressive aspects of Incan technology were employed in construction, notably in the Qhapaq Ñan – the Andean road system stretching some 20,000 miles – and the mortar-free stonework used in building sites such as Machu Picchu. Look for the astonishing 12-sided stone on Calle Hatun Rumiyoq, north-east of the Catedral. Of course, Peruvian history didn’t start with the Inca. The Museo de Arte Precolombino, housed in another beautiful colonial courtyard building, explores decorative arts spanning over 2,500 years; explanations of the symbolism in jewellery are particularly fascinating – look for the spondylus shells and spiral motifs that remain significant to Andean peoples today. Finally, climb to the huge fortress of Sacsayhuamán (‘Satisfied Falcon’) overlooking the old city. This bastion, established by the Killke people around AD 1100, was vastly expanded by the Inca and played a key role in the Spanish conquest. It was here in 1536, three years after Inca emperor Atahualpa was killed by Francisco Pizarro’s Conquistadors, that his rebellious half-brother Manco Inca made a stand. After victory by the outnumbered Spanish forces, ending any serious resistance to their occupation, the fortress was razed, its stones serving as an unofficial quarry for the colonial rebuilding of Cusco. Today the Inca’s Quechua-speaking descendants celebrate Inti Raymi, the Sun Festival, at Saysayhuamán on winter solstice each June. Cusco in Eight Sites PlazadeArmas: Stand beneath the bronze statue of empire-building Inca Pachacutec and admire the colonial gems surrounding the central square Catedral: Striking Baroque monument begun in 1559; inside, it boasts fine paintings of the Cusco School Qorikancha: Remains of the Inca Temple of the Sun within the later colonial church and convent of Santo Domingo MuseoHistóricoRegional: Learn about Andean history in the house of influential 17th-century chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega MuseoInka: Explore the Admiral’s Palace and its extensive displays on Incan history and culture Twelve-sidedstone: Marvel at fine Incan stonework in the wall flanking Calle Hatun Rumiyoq MuseodeArtePrecolombino: Discover pre-colonial symbolism and decorative arts dating back over 3,000 years in a colonial courtyard mansion Sacsayhuamán: Climb to the mighty hilltop fortress where Manco Inca attempted to hold off the Spanish Conquistadors Paul Bloomfield is a travel and heritage writer This article was taken from issue 12 of BBC World Histories magazine, first published in October 2018
Explore Arles, France: 'Little Rome' of Provence
Throughout the past 26 centuries, Arles has been a key trading post, a major Roman regional hub, and muse to 19th-century artists. Bijan Omrani explores the Provençal city at the mouth of the Rhône
Set at the apex of the Rhône delta in Provence, Arles has long been a crucial gateway between the Mediterranean and the heartlands of western Europe. By the 6th century BC it was a busy Phoenician trading port, and over the centuries it drew Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Franks and Saracens. To explore its early history, visit the Musée Départemental Arles Antique. Among its treasures are a magnificent 31-metre-long Roman barge raised from the bed of the Rhône, and statues and inscriptions of eastern cults – Cybele, Mithras, Isis – imported from the farthest reaches of Roman territory. Signs of 500 years of Roman rule, beginning in the first century BC, are everywhere. Most impressive is the amphitheatre; like Rome’s Colosseum, it was built around AD 70, but is better preserved. After the empire collapsed, Arles suffered frequent raids; the amphitheatre became a fortified mini-town, with four defensive towers built into its walls, probably in the eighth century. You can see marks on its stonework made by the beams of hundreds of dwellings built inside, removed in the early 19th century. In Roman times, the amphitheatre staged gladiator fights and animal combat; bullfights have been held here since its 19th-century restoration. The Roman Theatre nearby is more refined, though much less well preserved: after the Roman period it was used as a stone quarry and its stage became a nunnery’s garden. Two giant columns of exotic stone still stand, reminders of its original grandeur and the arrival of Roman high culture in this provincial city. The forum was the heart of Roman Arles. Today, only fragments of its structures still stand, built into the walls of the Place du Forum. However, you can grasp its original scale at the Cryptoporticus, a c90-metre-long, three-sided subterranean stone arcade on which the forum’s portico was built – a breathtaking testament to Roman engineering. Arles became an important administrative centre later in the Roman period when the frontiers were under pressure, and the Baths of Constantine signal its continuing prosperity into the fourth century. In medieval times this complex was converted into a palace for the counts of Provence, but you can still see the remains of a pool and hypocausts. Elsewhere, a section of the Roman walls still stands, and on Boulevard Émile Combes you can see where the aqueduct brought water into the city. Follow the aqueduct’s route a few kilometres east to Barbegal to see the remains of the complex of 16 Roman watermills, built in the second or third century AD, that could grind enough wheat to feed more than 10,000 people daily. Invention or adaptation: what did the Romans really do for us? Arles has long been famous for its Roman cemetery, the Alyscamps, established outside the city walls alongside the Aurelian Way. It became sought after for Christian burials in the fourth century after Christ reputedly appeared here, an incident marked by the Chapelle de la Genouillade. Though fractured by railways built in the 19th century, an atmospheric avenue lined with late Roman tombs was preserved, inspiring paintings by Vincent van Gogh. By the 12th century Arles was the second-largest city in Provence, and in 1178 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was crowned King of Burgundy at the Church of St Trophime; its 12th century west door and cloister are masterpieces of Romanesque art. Arles’s political significance declined in the Middle Ages. The mouth of the Rhône silted up, trade and commerce moved elsewhere, and Arles became a backwater and fell into decline. In the 19th century, the sense that Arles was untouched by the modern age appealed to poets and artists. Wandering the backstreets, lined with grand medieval houses in a state of elegant and evocative decay, it is not difficult to see the attraction. Discover Arles’s later cultural and artistic heritage at Musée Réattu, housed in an old priory of the Knights of Malta with a wonderful late-medieval facade, and Museon Arlaten (due to reopen in 2019), founded by the poet Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914) to preserve Provençal lifestyle, folk art and costumes. Arles in nine sites 1: Musée Départemental Arles Antique - Fascinating archaeological museum housing a 31-metre Roman barge 2: Roman Amphitheatre - First-century-AD venue for gladiatorial fights and animal combats 3: Roman Theatre - Home of Roman high culture 4: Cryptoporticus - Vast array of subterranean arches built to support the portico of the Roman forum 5: Baths of Constantine - Fourth-century Roman baths complex with remains of a pool and hypocaust 6: Alyscamps - Atmospheric Roman necropolis that inspired Vincent van Gogh 7: Church of St Trophime - Imposing 12th-century Romanesque church with exquisitely carved west door 8: Musée Réattu - Art by Arles-born Jacques Réattu, Picasso and others in a historic priory 9: Museon Arlaten - Treasury of Provençal cultures Bijan Omrani is a historian and author of Caesar’s Footprints: Journeys to Roman Gaul (Head of Zeus, 2017) This article was taken from issue 11 of BBC World Histories magazine, first published in August 2018
New Orleans, United States: Louisiana's 'big easy'
New Orleans, which this year marks its 300th anniversary, offers a heady brew of Creole culture, jazz music and a diverse ethnic heritage. Adam Karlin roams Louisiana's biggest city
New Orleans is often dubbed the most European city in the United States. Yet, despite its Francophonic name, this is arguably the most Caribbean city in the country, with the deepest connection to the African diaspora. It sits on a low bend of the Mississippi river once inhabited by the mound-building Mississippian culture. French fur trappers and traders had explored the area before Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded the city of Nouvelle-Orléans in 1718, just upstream from the point where North America’s longest waterway hits the Gulf of Mexico. The city became capital of French Louisiana, and was subject to the Code Noir decrees covering race, religion and slavery. White slave-owners who fathered children with slaves were required to free both mother and child. As a result, Louisiana developed a large population of gens de couleur libres (‘free people of colour’) who had a disproportionate influence on the city’s culture; many of them settled in the Treme neighbourhood near the French Quarter. Slaves were not required to work on Sundays, when they would gather in ‘Congo Square’ – now part of Louis Armstrong Park – to trade, socialise and sing. Hence the black community of New Orleans – enslaved and free – retained a deep connection to African music and folkways forcefully repressed in other parts of North America. Read more: Hitler’s jazz band: how the Nazis used swing as propaganda In 1763, New Orleans was ceded to the Spanish empire, and the blending of Spanish and French populations led to the creation of a specific Franco-Iberian Creole demographic. In 1788 and 1794, fires destroyed many of the city’s wooden buildings, which were replaced with much of the iconic architecture of the French Quarter. Examples include the Cabildo, the Spanish city hall built from 1795, and Pitot House, a 1799 plantation mansion. Carnival and the famous Mardi Gras parades were first celebrated in the 18th century; find out more at the Presbytère, part of Louisiana State Museum. The city was given back to the French in 1800, but in 1803 Napoleon sold it to the rapidly expanding United States of America. What followed was a period of uneasy division as Anglo, Germanic and Dutch-descended Protestants from other states moved into a city dominated by a Franco-Iberian Catholic elite. Canal Street marked the divide between the city’s ‘American sector’ and Creole faubourgs (neighbourhoods). New Orleans became the capital of the domestic slave trade and the busiest slave port in North America. Riverboats were designed to accommodate human chattel, and postcards were sold depicting slave markets. Louisiana threw in with the Confederacy during the American Civil War, but New Orleans was quickly captured by the Union navy. Though an integrated government and police force were established after the Civil War, these were forcefully ejected by white militias. Immigrants from Ireland and Italy then arrived, the former settling in what is now called the Irish Channel, the latter in areas such as the French Quarter. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, musicians played tunes influenced by both classical composition and the African rhythms preserved in Congo Square: ‘jazz’. Explore its heritage at the New Orleans Jazz Museum housed in the Old US Mint, dating from 1835, and jazz funeral memorabilia at the Backstreet Cultural Museum in Treme. New neighbourhoods created by draining swampland were inundated by water in 1965 when canals and levees failed during Hurricane Betsy. Even so, the city’s reputation for good food, music and lively bars drew increasing numbers of tourists. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, flooding 80% of the city, rebuilding New Orleans became a national cause célèbre. Despite setbacks, the city marches on towards full recovery. The contribution of its inhabitants’ varied heritage is also increasingly recognised; public statues of Confederate generals were removed in 2017, the year in which LaToya Cantrell was elected as mayor – the first female African-American to hold that office in the city’s 300 eventful, turbulent years. New Orleans in eight sites 1: Cabildo - Old Spanish judicial building housing exhibits on the history of Louisiana 2: Pitot House - City’s earliest surviving example of Creole colonial architecture 3: Presbytère - Museum in a late-18th-century building with displays on Carnival and Mardi Gras plus the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 4: The Historic New Orleans Collection - Exhibits on city history and culture in characteristic French Quarter buildings 5: Lafayette Cemetery No 1 - Oaks and vines grow around graves at this cemetery established in 1833 6: New Orleans Jazz Museum - Vibrant museum and live performances in the Old US Mint, built in 1835 7: St Augustine Catholic Church - United States’ oldest African-American Catholic church, founded in 1841 8: Backstreet Cultural Museum - Displays on folklore and traditions of New Orleans’ African-American population Adam Karlin is a journalist and travel guidebook writer. The latest edition of his Lonely Planet guide to New Orleans will be published in November This article was first published in issue 10 edition of BBC World Histories Magazine, first published in June 2018