Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

African Europeans.

A depiction of athletes in the torch race, ancient Olympics

What were the ancient Olympics like? Take a visit to the Games of 436 BC

A photograph of President John Quincy Adams

Q&AWhat’s the oldest photo of a US president?

Colour portrait of Jane Austen (1775–1817) drawn by her sister Cassandra. Dated 1810. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Jane Austen: a guide to her life, books and death – plus 8 fascinating facts

"Make love not midnight snacks": a social history of slimming clubs.

Boat diplomacy: Froissart's 'Chronicles' show Richard II acceding to many of the rebels' demands at Mile End, 14 June 1381. The speed with which the rebels flooded London wrong-footed the king's advisors. (Photo by Alamy)

Revealed: the true identity of the rebels of the Peasants' Revolt.

UFO history10 top sightings and a timeline

Prisoners exercise and play sport in the courtyard of the Fleet Prison, circa 1872

Timeline: a history of prisons in Britain

Why are we living longer than our ancestors?.

A page of the Codex Borbonicus, an Aztec folding book painted around the time of the Spanish invasion

What can the Aztecs tell us about themselves? The secrets of their 'indigenous annals'.

A 19th-century engraving depicts a member of the crew of the 'Mignonette'

Cannibalism at sea: the starving Victorian sailors who ate a cabin boy

Apartheid road sign

Your guide to apartheid in South Africa.

Play Reading

Anne Hathaway, Hamnet and Judith: who were William Shakespeare's family?

Blackface: a brief history.

The Statue of Liberty in New York. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

QuizAmerican history

Madness, property and power: the strange case of Mary Davies.

Portrait of Carlo Broschi (stage name Farinelli), the most famous opera singer of the 18th century. (Photo By DEA/A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Castrated Georgian opera stars: the stars of the 18th century.

Soldiers from the Women's Royal Army Corps

Second World War

A brief guide to VE Day

'Sanditon' - an adaption of Jane Austen's unfinished novel of the same name – is currently airing in the UK on ITV. Pictured: Clara Brereton (played by Lily Sacofsky), Esther Denham (Charlotte Spencer), Lady Denham (Anne Reid) and Edward Denham (Jack Fox). (Photo by RED PLANET/ITV)

Your guide to Sanditon, Jane Austen’s last unfinished work

A red herring on a plate

Q&AWhy do we say ‘red herring’?

A portrait of Napoleon

Napoleon: a life in 10 objects

A statue of the Roman emperor Augustus in Augsburg, Germany. (Image by Alamy)

The fall of Roman Britain: how life changed for Britons after the empire

A cartoon of Napoleon and King George III.

Q&AHow tall was Napoleon Bonaparte?

Prohibition: everything you wanted to know.

Britain’s great postwar party.

Alcohol is poured away into a New York sewer during the prohibition era, c1920

QuizProhibition: how much do you know about the US ban on booze?

The death of Wat Tyler', 1859. Tyler was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, which saw a group of rebels march on London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and demand economic and social reforms. He was killed by officers loyal to King Richard II during negotiations at Smithfield, London. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Your guide to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

Zdeněk Burian’s painting from 1952 offers a sympathetic portrayal of Neanderthals practising cannibalism. Self-assurance, even contentment, emanate from “It appears as a calm response to death, rather than murderous carnage,” writes Rebecca Wragg Sykes. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

Neanderthal in the mirror: our changing perceptions of these ancient humans.

The Peasants’ Revolt: who were the rebels of 1381?.

A 12th-century Celtic round tower at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly

“The power of the Irish over the Britons is great”: Fergal Keane on Britain's Irish roots.