thelittlevessels:

Construction (1961) and destruction (1989) of the Berlin Wall.

(via forestpines)

ancientart:

Details of Vant and Charun (demons of the underworld in Etruscan mythology) on an urn. Made of terracotta, Mid 2nd century BC, Etruscan, said to be from Chiusi.

Courtesy & currently located at the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA. Photo taken by Dan Diffendale.

(via ancientart)

ancientart:

The Passage graves at Ekornavallen, in Hornborga Parish, Falköping Municipality, Västergötland, Sweden. These graves date from the Neolithic age to the Iron age, 3000 BC - 500 AD.

Photos courtesy & taken by Västgöten

mmeflamel:

- She is coming, mum…

In Norwegian folklore Pesta was the evil personification of the Black Plague. She was an old, ugly woman, dressed in black and she went from cottages to castles, to farms and small cabins, everywhere. If she used the rake, someone could survive. If she used the broom, everyone was going to die.

Norway lost 2/3 of its population, 80 % of the nobility perished. The survivors lived all over the country, often isolated in narrow valleys. The population was small and did not recover to a normal level until the potato was introduced 150 years ago.

Norway lost its indepence and was ruled by Denmark until 1814, and by Sweden until 1905. The poor, defiant, isolated and independent peasant was the seed for the very typical egalitarian Norwegian who lives in this frozen land of the North up to this day.

Drawing by Theodor Kittelsen, 1896 

(via mresundance)

sarraounia:

Some Ancient African Kingdoms: Great Zimbabwe, Numidia, the Mali Empire, the Songhay Empire. Since Europeans started to talk about and attempted to claim Ancient Egypt history (that popular kingdom people “love” but they don’t even know why), everyone followed…You can all have it.

• The Mali Empire or Manden Kurufaba was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Africa, allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River. It extended over a large area and consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms and provinces. Today part of Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal.
• The Songhay Empire was a state located in western Africa from the early 15th to the late 16th century. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city of Gao (today in northern Mali), where a Songhai state had existed since the 11th century. Its base of power was on the bend of the Niger River in present day Niger and Burkina Faso.
• Numidia (202 BC – 46 BC) was an ancient Amazigh kingdom located on the province of Mauretania (Ancient “Libyan” land) to the west, the Roman province of Africa (modern day Tunisia) to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Sahara Desert to the south. Its people were the Numidians.
• The Kingdom of Zimbabwe (1220–1450) was a kingdom located in the territory of modern-day Zimbabwe. It is famous for its capital, Great Zimbabwe, the largest stone structure in Southern Africa until recent times.

Pictures: Great Zimbabwe ruins and remains of the Numidia Kingdom. Credits: List of Kingdoms in pre-colonial Africa

(via froybot)

unhistorical:

March 20, 1602: The Dutch East India Company is founded.

The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-indische Compagnie) was founded through the sponsorship of the Dutch government, who granted it a monopoly over trade in the East Indies through a charter that was set to expire after twenty-one years. The company could, through this charter, build forts and conduct military and diplomatic activities in the area, which would help to protect and direct Dutch trade in the East Indies (the Dutch Republic was, at the time, engaged in the Eighty Years’ War against Spain). 

During its nearly two centuries in existence, the Dutch East India Company became the first company to issue stock, and also the first (or second) multinational company; in addition, it is, according to some estimates, the most valuable company in history - adjusted for inflation, it is valued at $7.4 trillion. The VOC also came into direct competition with the British East India Company, especially after the Dutch took over many Asian settlements and holdings previously held by the Portuguese over the course of the Dutch-Portuguese War. One of its most famous leaders was Jan Pieterszoon Coen, who served as its Governor-General twice, helped to expand and strengthen its reach, and also founded the capital of the Dutch East Indies - Batavia, today called Jakarta. 

The company reached the height of its power in the late 17th century but soon went into decline thanks to corruption and poor management, and its hegemony over trade in the East Indies disintegrated until its dissolution in 1800. The territories that had been colonized by the VOC became the Dutch East Indies, to be administrated by the Dutch government, who finally granted the colony independence in 1949 after over three centuries of Dutch rule. 

we did a long and great roleplay adventure set within the VOC several years ago (diverse WOD characters)

(via forestpines)

ancientart:

Grave Circle A in Mycenae is a 16th century BC royal cemetery situated to the south of the Lion Gate, the main entrance of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece.

Once part of a large cemetery outside the acropolis walls, Grave Circle- A was discovered within the Mycenaean citadel by Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated it in 1876 under the supervision of the Greek Ephor of Antiquities Panagiotis Stamatakis.

Grave Circle A comprises six rectangular vertical shaft graves, which measure from 3.0 by 3.5 meters in width to 4.5 by 6.4 meters in length. These shaft graves consist of two parts: the main shaft itself, which is cut into the bed-rock and a larger pit surrounding it. After the grave goods were deposited in the main shaft, a wood or flagstone cover supported by the shaft’s sides was set in place and the larger pit was filled with earth.

The tombs in Grave Circle A contained a total of nineteen burials: nine males, eight females and two infants. With the exception of Grave II, which contained a single burial, all of the other graves contained between two and five inhumations. The deceased were placed on their backs, generally on an east-west axis. Schliemann cleared Graves IV and Stamatakis excavated Grave VI one year later. The pottery finds from Graves I, II, III and VI indicate a range of dates from the end of the Middle Helladic period to the Late Helladic IIA period, that is, from the 16th to the early 15th centuries BC.

The amazing wealth of the grave gifts reveals both the high social rank and the martial spirit of the deceased: gold jewelry and vases, a large number of decorated swords and other bronze objects, and artefacts made of imported materials, such as amber, lapis lazuli, faience and ostrich eggs. All of these, together with a small but characteristic group of pottery vessels, confirm Mycenae’s importance during this period, and justify Homer’s designation of Mycenae as ‘rich in gold.’

The discovery of Grave Circle A startled the entire world with its momentous finds. It brought to light a great and hitherto unknown civilization, and paved the way for the study of Greek prehistory. The excavation of Mycenae has expanded Schliemann’s fame and gave him the title of the “father of the Mycenaean archaeology”. (via greek-thesaurus)

Photos courtesy & taken by Jeanhousen

(via mresundance)