The voyages of Christopher Columbus, who stumbled on the coast of America in 1492 when he was sailing westward to seek a passage to Asia on behalf of the Spanish court, stimulated the Portuguese to redouble their efforts to navigate around the Cape of Good Hope to Asia. In 1498... More
The European exploration of the Atlantic, and the huge appetite for essential manpower for the economic exploitation of new colonies in the Americas, led to the emergence of the African slave trade in the 17th century. European slavers founded slaving colonies on the African coast, but did not penetrate far... More
The Korean War, 25 June 1950–27 July 1953, was the first major jet age conflict. The Korean People’s Air Force (KPAF) comprised about 150 aircraft of Soviet Russian design, propeller-driven and dating from the end of World War II. The UN were able to deploy a modern force of around... More
On 15 August 1945, at the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States divided Korea into two Occupation Zones along the 38th parallel. The north was administered by the Soviet Union, the south by the United States; by 1948 the north had become the Democratic... More
General MacArthur, Commander in Chief of UN Forces, believed that the Chinese government’s threat to involve itself in the war in Korea was a bluff, but by 19 October 1950 some Chinese units were already in Korea. After UN forces consolidated their positions MacArthur ordered an advance along the front.... More
The second Communist invasion reached its high point on 24 January 1951. From 25 January, however, the UN forces launched a limited counteroffensive, which crept slowly northward reaching the southern outskirts of Seoul by 10 February. Operation Ripper, which began on 7 March, was designed to inflict casualties on the... More
Following North Korea’s attack on South Korea on 25 June 1950, President Harry Truman ordered General MacArthur, commander of all US forces in the Far East to support the ROK, Republic of Korea, and 21 members of the UN committed themselves to support South Korea. MacArthur immediately provided air support... More
There were several ostensible provocations leading to America’s declaration of War on Britain in 1812, but most important, perhaps, was President Madison’s belief that the British, locked in an existential struggle with France, would not be able to defend Canadian possessions. Accordingly, the Great Lakes, forming much of the border... More
Run by Cistercian monks, Tintern Abbey was the first Welsh abbey, with construction spanning 400 years from c. 1131–1536. In c. 1250 the Abbey was rebuilt in the Gothic style, designed to emphasize verticality and light, under the patronage of Roger Bigod, the Lord of Chepstow. Tintern Abbey was well... More
The wide variety of languages and regional dialects spoken in the ‘Low’ or ‘Benelux’ countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) fall into two main groups: Germanic, Low Saxon languages and their variants, and French-based ‘langue d’oïl’ Romance languages and their variants. The prevalent language in the former group is Dutch, spoken... More
Before the arrival of the Romans in Iberia a number of languages were spoken, and some writing systems had evolved, frequently borrowing from Greek and Phoenicians, who had established trading colonies on the peninsula. Aquitanian, or Proto-Basque, was an ancestor of modern Basque, and was spoken in the in the... More
The language map of Switzerland reflects the independence and self-governance of its 26 cantons, which have not been subjected to a centralized government or the imposition of a nationwide “official” language. Language distribution within Switzerland is influenced by proximity to other nations. The most common language in Switzerland, spoken by... More