HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2023-10-16T13:32:38.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Your guide to apartheid in South Africa
items: Your guide to Debtors’ Prisons
items: Your guide to the Field of the Cloth of Gold
items: Your guide to the Borgias
items: Your guide to the Phoenicians
items: Your guide to the Freemasons
items: Your guide to the Punic Wars
items: Your guide to the fall of Rome and the collapse of the Roman Empire
items: Your guide to the Silk Road
items: Your guide to the Suez Crisis

Your guide to apartheid in South Africa
type: item
date: 2021-05-17T14:01:00.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Your guide to...
description: What was apartheid? When did it start and end? And what happened to those who broke the laws? Here's your guide to the system of discrimination imposed against non-whites in South Africa
encoded: What is apartheid? And what does apartheid mean? An Afrikaans word for ‘separation’ – literally, ‘separateness’ – apartheid was used to describe the discriminatory political and economic system of racial segregation which the white minority imposed on non-whites. It was implemented by the governing party, the National Party of South Africa, from 1948 until 1994. When did apartheid start? Segregation according to race wasn’t new to South Africa, as racial legislation in the country can be seen as early as 1806. But it was greatly extended with the Population Registration Act of 1950, which divided South Africans into four categories: Bantu (black South Africans), Coloured (those of mixed race), White and Asian (Indian and Pakistani South Africans). The Act was designed to preserve white supremacy in the country. Afua Hirsch: "The prejudice still surrounding Africa is absolutely rooted in a racist past" What was living under apartheid like? The effects of apartheid touched every aspect of daily life. By 1950, marriage and sexual relations between white and non-white South Africans were banned, while a series of Land Acts meant more than 80 per cent of the country’s land was set aside for the white minority. Black men and women were forced to live in ten so-called ‘black homelands’, where they were permitted to run businesses. To live and work in designated ‘white areas', they required permits. Hospitals, ambulances, buses and public facilities were all segregated, and non-white participation in government was denied. The impact on South Africa’s non-white population was horrific. Families were often split by the laws (if parents were black and white, their children were classed as ‘coloured’) and, between 1961 and 1994, 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes. Their land was sold for a fraction of its price, plunging non-whites into severe poverty and despair. What happened to those who broke the laws of apartheid? South Africans caught disobeying ap…

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Your guide to Debtors’ Prisons
type: item
date: 2020-11-19T10:40:43.000Z
subject: Georgian
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Your guide to...
description: In the 18th and 19th centuries, falling behind on your debts could see you end up incarcerated, as happened to Charles Dickens, Daniel Defoe and others
encoded: What were debtors' prisons? They were institutions in which people who couldn’t pay their debts were incarcerated. For centuries, these jails formed a key part of the British prison system. When did debtors' prisons first appear? The system of throwing people into jail if they couldn’t pay money they owed dates from medieval times. By the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of people were incarcerated in this manner in Britain, and the inmates of a number of prisons – including the Fleet and the Marshalsea in London – were exclusively debtors. What kinds of people served time in these prisons? Debt was a classless crime. Many people from the more ‘respectable’ sections of society found themselves in debtors’ prisons, having spent more than they could afford just to keep up appearances. Because men were held responsible for households’ financial matters, nearly all imprisoned debtors were male. However, wives and children were sometimes forced to join their husbands and fathers in prison if they didn’t have the means to support themselves. Bethlem Royal Hospital: why did the infamous Bedlam asylum have such a fearsome reputation? Traders who were unable to pay their creditors could be declared bankrupt, thereby usually avoiding jail, but for those with personal debts there was no such escape. Were there any famous debtors' who ended up in prison? Yes – a number of famous names were recorded as inmates in debtors’ prisons, including Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe. Charles Dickens’ father, John, spent a few months at the Marshalsea in 1824 because he owed a local baker £40. Charles – then aged just 12 – had to work at a shoe-polish factory to help support his father and other members of his family who had joined John in prison. It was a humiliating episode from which the author later drew inspiration for his novel Little Dorrit. Did Charles Dickens invent Christmas as we know it today? What were conditions like in debtors’ prisons? In general, debtors were treated …

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Your guide to the Field of the Cloth of Gold
type: item
date: 2020-11-16T14:45:24.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Period
subject: Tudor
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Your guide to...
description: The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a magnificent gathering – 18 days of revelry near Calais in June 1520 in which Henry VIII of England met with Francis I of France. What was the significance of these revels, and did they change relations between 'old enemies' England and France? Here's everything you need to know about the sumptuous summit...
encoded: What was the Field of the Cloth of Gold? It was a spectacular meeting between the kings of England and France, the likes of which had never been seen before. On 7 June 1520, Henry VIII met Francis I of France in a valley near Calais for a grand festival – 18 days of tournaments, feasts, masquerades and religious services. Due to its opulence and grandeur, the event was known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Officially, it was an event designed to solidify the friendship between the two nations; in reality, it was a chance for each king to show off his wealth, power and refinement. What was the Reformation? What was the purpose of the Field of the Cloth of Gold? It was hoped that the momentous event would mark an end to almost two centuries of animosity between England and France. Both Henry and Francis were at the height of their power, and their boisterous rivalry could easily have spilled over into war once again. Kings of England had been pressing claims to the throne of France since the early 14th century, in a series of on-and-off conflicts known as the Hundred Years’ War. Following in his predecessors’ footsteps, Henry VIII had invaded France in 1513 (while Francis was still heir to the French throne) and scored a victory at a skirmish dubbed the Battle of the Spurs; the following year peace was secured with the then king Louis XII. Francis’s ascension to the French throne in 1515 might have heralded a new chapter, but Henry saw Francis as a nobody who was merely squatting on his throne. The spectre of war was never far away. Agincourt: what really happened 9 medieval battles more significant than Agincourt Why was the Field of the Cloth of Gold held? It was a direct result of the Treaty of London, organised by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (the man who would later fail to secure papal blessing for Henry’s annulment to Catherine of Aragon). This treaty was a pact of non-aggression between the major powers of Europe, including England, France and the Holy Roman Empi…

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Your guide to the Borgias
type: item
date: 2020-10-06T07:30:04.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Renaissance
subject: Your guide to...
description: In Renaissance Rome, one powerful family stood out as being steeped in sin and immorality: the Borgias. This dynasty produced two Popes, and became infamous for their nepotism, depravity and lust for power
encoded: Who were the Borgias? The Borgias were a powerful family in Renaissance Italy. Despite the fact that they produced two Popes, their name has become associated with all kinds of dark deeds. How did the Borgias first come to prominence? They were originally a noble Spanish dynasty, who switched to Italy when Alfonso di Borgia (1378-1458) was made a cardinal in 1444. Eleven years later, he was appointed as Pope – taking the name Callixtus III – and gave a leg-up to his nephew Rodrigo Borgia. In 1492, Rodrigo kept the family tradition going and also succeeded to the papacy. As the hugely controversial Pope Alexander VI, he began to accumulate a vast amount of land and power for himself and his illegitimate children. Holy smoke, antipopes and power struggles: a guide to popes and the papacy Could a Pope have children? As a priest, Rodrigo was supposed to live in celibacy, but this did not prevent him having a number of mistresses and fathering several children – even while Pope. He was not the only priest to have had children, but the way he openly acknowledged many of them and sought to advance their careers was unusual. Q&A: Has there ever been a married Pope? Which of his children were the most noteworthy? Soon after becoming Pope, Rodrigo had his son Cesare made a cardinal. Cesare, however, was not suited to the religious life and instead became a military commander, where he conducted a number of campaigns in the sole hope of creating a Borgia principality in Italy that would survive the death of his father. He was forced to abandon this dream when his father died in 1503 and was replaced as Pope by Julius II, who was instantly hostile to the Borgia family. Cesare ended up leaving Italy and dying in Spain during a skirmish. Another notable child of Rodrigo’s was Lucrezia Borgia, used by her father as a diplomatic pawn. Three marriages, which were politically advantageous for the Borgias, were arranged for her. Her first was annulled due to supposed non-consummation,…

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Your guide to the Phoenicians
type: item
date: 2020-09-29T12:45:10.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Your guide to...
description: Internationally respected merchants and traders, these ancient peoples left behind one very significant, long-lasting legacy
encoded: Who were the Phoenicians? The Phoenicians were an ancient people who lived in what is now Lebanon (and some surrounding areas). They flourished from c1500 to c300 BC and were famed traders. Where did the Phoenicians come from? Ancient writers believed the Phoenicians had arrived from the Persian Gulf or the Indian Ocean, but modern evidence suggests the society developed c3000 BC out of the Canaanite people in the same region. The first Phoenician city, Byblos, dates back to around this time, but it would be more than 1,500 years before the other great Phoenician cities emerged. Where was Phoenicia? Was it a country, or an empire? Neither, in the way that we would understand it today. The Phoenicians were more like a confederation of independent city states, the best known of which were Byblos, Tyre, Sidon and Arwad. The Phoenicians developed trading networks across the Mediterranean and, to support these, they established small colonies along the coasts of Europe and North Africa – reaching as far west as modern-day Spain. One Phoenician colony, Carthage (in what is now Tunisia), ended up becoming a major power in its own right. More from our explainer series... What happened to the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel The Great Depression – why did it happen, and how long did it last? The Ottoman Empire – was it really history’s longest-lasting empire? The Spanish Inquisition – was it as brutal as it is popularly believed to be? Where did the name ‘Phoenicians’ come from? It was coined by the ancient Greeks. A popular theory is that the name derived from the Greek word for the colour of an expensive purple dye that the Phoenicians extracted from sea snails. The Phoenicians would not have referred to themselves by this name, and the term they used is not known. Timeline: the evolution of ancient empires Why did the Phoenicians focus so extensively on trade? It was probably because of the geography of their lands. The region was not suited to farming, but had a lo…

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Your guide to the Freemasons
type: item
date: 2020-08-27T10:50:21.000Z
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Historical people
subject: Your guide to...
description: What do we know about this fraternal organisation, and what does it have to do with the master craftsmen of the Middle Ages?
encoded: When and where did Freemasonry originate? There is still a great deal of speculation about how the fraternal organisation of Freemasonry originated. The earliest known texts relating to masonry date to 1390–1425, and state that the craft of masonry began with the Greek mathematician Euclid, in c300 BC Egypt, arriving in England during the reign of King Æthelstan in the 10th century. The earliest English documents on Freemasonry also date to the 14th century and appear to refer to a worker in freestone – a type of sandstone or limestone that was used to create ornamental masonry. Some historians have interpreted the word ‘free’ to mean that the mason was not enslaved or bound to a master, but the truth of this is unclear. What was a mason? Highly skilled, a Master Mason combined the skills of architect, builder, craftsman, designer and engineer, using a set of compasses, a marked rope or staff, and a set square to create the magnificent cathedrals and castles of the Middle Ages. The size and scale of the projects undertaken and the scarcity of the tools used led many to believe that Masons possessed some sort of magical secret. Listen | Historian John Dickie, author of The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World, sifts fact from fiction in the history of a much misunderstood organisation What were Masonic lodges? Workshops based at the site of major building work were originally referred to as ‘lodges’, a word later used to refer to a community of masons in one place. From the 1660s, we see gentleman joining nonoperative lodges and becoming ‘masons’ – it was this ‘speculative freemasonry’ that evolved into the organisation we see today. In 1717, the first Freemason Grand Lodge was formed, when four London lodges met at a tavern in St Paul’s churchyard and declared themselves to be a Grand Lodge – the world’s first. A history of Freemasonry: from Enlightenment ideals to satanic conspiracy stories The movement was designed to allow men to socialise together, av…

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Your guide to the Punic Wars
type: item
date: 2020-08-20T12:35:03.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Your guide to...
description: For nearly 80 years, Rome and Carthage fought for supremacy in a series of wars that saw Hannibal lead elephants over the Alps and Rome suffer one of its worst military defeats at Cannae. Find out how Rome eventually triumphed in the Punic Wars, and why they began in the first place
encoded: Who fought in the Punic Wars and how many were there? The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts fought by the powerful cities of Carthage and Rome between 264 BC and 146 BC. The period is usually split into three distinct wars – the First Punic War was fought from 264–241 BC, the Second Punic War from 218–201 BC and the Third Punic War from 149–146 BC. If these were wars between Rome and Carthage, why are they called the Punic Wars? The word ‘Punic’ derives from the word ‘Phoenician’ (phoinix in Greek or punicus in Latin), and refers to the citizens of Carthage, who were descended from the Phoenicians. How did the First Punic War begin? Rome in 264 BC was relatively small – a far cry from its later superiority – and it was the city of Carthage (located in what we now know as Tunisia) that reigned supreme in the ancient world. Tensions arose between the cities over who should have control of the strategic island of Sicily. Although relations were generally friendly, Rome’s intervention in a dispute on the island saw them explode into conflict. In 264 BC, war was officially declared for control of Sicily. Rome built and equipped over 100 ships to take on the Carthaginian navy and finally, in 241 BC, was able to win a decisive victory against the Carthaginians at sea. In the peace treaty that followed, Rome gained Sicily – its first overseas province. More from our explainer series... What happened to the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel The Great Depression – why did it happen, and how long did it last? The Ottoman Empire – was it really history’s longest-lasting empire? The Spanish Inquisition – was it as brutal as it is popularly believed to be? Why was there a Second Punic War? In 219 BC, Hannibal (son of Hamilcar Barca, a Carthaginian general during the First Punic War) broke the tentative peace between the two cities and laid siege to Saguntum (in eastern Spain), then an ally of Rome. Furious at Hannibal’s audacity, the Romans demanded that he be handed ove…

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Your guide to the fall of Rome and the collapse of the Roman Empire
type: item
date: 2020-08-13T15:02:32.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Your guide to...
description: At its height, the empire that bloomed from the Rome stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to Northern Africa and Mesopotamia, making it one of the greatest powers in world history. What led to its downfall? And who was its last emperor? BBC History Revealed examines why this ancient empire waned
encoded: When did Rome actually fall? The fall of the Roman empire is one of the most debated questions among historians of the ancient world. Its collapse has been blamed on a number of different reasons, but even the exact date of its end is still questioned. Some historians give AD 476 as the date the empire ended. Other historians say that the Roman empire never actually ended at all, claiming that its eastern half continued in the form of the Byzantine empire. Who was Rome's last emperor? The last Roman emperor is generally accepted as being Romulus Augustus (aka Augustulus). A teenager when he took the imperial throne, he ruled for just over ten months before being deposed by the Germanic leader Odoacer. Your guide to the Roman empire: when it was formed, why it split and how it failed, plus its most colourful emperors When did the cracks first begin to show in the empire? Again, this is a heavily debated question. Many date the beginning of Rome’s end to about AD 190, when the empire started to come under attack from various tribes, including the fierce Germanic tribes known as the Goths and the Vandals. More from our explainer series... What happened to the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel The Great Depression – why did it happen, and how long did it last? The Spanish Inquisition – was it as brutal as it is popularly believed to be? Was it purely outside factors that caused the empire's fall? No. There are several contributing factors, some of which were taking place within the empire itself. Severe financial crisis caused by wars and overspending had led to over-taxation and inflation. This in turn saw Romans fleeing to the countryside as a way of avoiding the taxman. Who was Attila the Hun, the barbarian ruler who terrorised the Romans? In addition, the empire’s expansion had slowed down considerably by the second century, meaning that the steady stream of labour provided by slaves brought in from conquered lands had also halted, causing a major labour defici…

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Your guide to the Silk Road
type: item
date: 2020-08-06T10:00:14.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Your guide to...
description: An extraordinary endeavour to bridge East and West, this snaking trade route also became a conduit of culture, religion and ideas. BBC History Revealed discovers how this vital artery sprung up from a second-century BC rumour
encoded: What was the Silk Road? The Silk Road was a trading route – or network of trading routes – that connected China with the West in ancient times. The name ‘Silk Road’ was only coined in the 19th century, but the routes it refers to originated around the second century BC. How did the Silk Road come into being? In 138 BC the Chinese emperor dispatched an envoy called Zhang Qian to make contact with a tribal group in central Asia. When Zhang arrived, he was captured and kept as a prisoner for several years, but was eventually freed and returned to China where he told, among other things, of the magnificent Arabian horses he had encountered. The Chinese authorities were keen to acquire these horses and so began a process of long-distance trade with central Asia. Meanwhile, from the west, central Asia had come into contact with European civilisations, initially through the conquests of Alexander the Great who reached as far as India in the fourth century BC. Later on, it was the growing Roman empire that was coming to dominate the region and so the emerging Silk Road acted as a bridge between the East and the West, through central Asia and the Middle East. More from our explainer series... What happened to the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel The Great Depression – why did it happen, and how long did it last? The Ottoman Empire – was it really history’s longest-lasting empire? The Spanish Inquisition – was it as brutal as it is popularly believed to be? Why is it called the Silk Road? It’s because silk was one of the key goods traded along the route. The Chinese had learned how to manufacture this luxurious material from silkworms perhaps as early as the third millennium BC and, for a long time, they were the only people who could produce it. It was highly prized by other civilisations – especially Ancient Rome – and so it became one of China’s main exports and the currency by which they often paid for the goods that they required. Read more | What was traded on the…

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Your guide to the Suez Crisis
type: item
date: 2020-07-25T08:00:16.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Your guide to...
description: What began as a feud over control of the Suez Canal led to a military debacle that Britain hoped to brush under the carpet. BBC History Revealed explains how the Suez Crisis of 1956 became such a stark wake-up call
encoded: What was the Suez Crisis? With relations between the West and East on a knife’s edge during the Cold War, Britain and France secretly colluded with Israel to stage a military attack on the Suez Canal in Egypt. The aim of this ‘Tripartite Aggression’ was to bring the strategic waterway under their control. Why was the Suez Canal so important? The canal had been created in the 1860s by the French and Egyptian governments. By slicing through the slim stretch of land connecting Africa to Asia, the Red Sea and Mediterranean were joined, beckoning a new era of international trade and travel. So crucial was this 120-mile passage that the British quickly bought up a third share. Then in 1882, they invaded Egypt and took control of everything. This is just one reason why, after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, new president Gamal Abdel Nasser was virulently anti-British. How significant was the Suez Crisis? "What this all suggests is that while the overall significance of the crisis may have been exaggerated, ‘Suez’ has left a lasting mark on our collective memory which can still be deployed today for political and partisan purposes." – Dr Andrew Jones explains how significant the Suez Crisis really was, and why it continues to resonate in British popular memory. Who was Gamal Abdel Nasser? Gamal Abdel Nasser was a postman’s son who saw how imperial powers such as Britain and France treated the Middle East as a trade-grabbing playground, and swore to force their troops out. But the construction of the Aswan Dam across the Nile, which Nasser saw as central to his country’s modernisation, required financial backing from the West. At first, he was happy to play the US and the USSR against each other. His luck ran out, however, when he accepted Communist arms and the Americans pulled out of the Aswan Dam project. In retaliation, he nationalised the Suez Canal in 1956, wresting control from the British- and French-controlled Suez Canal Company, with the intention of charging for …

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