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A century before Mansa Musa’s famous pilgrimage, the political and cultural landscape of medieval West Africa was dominated by the empire of Kānem.
No single body of primary sources in the literary heritage of West Africa has attracted as much attention and attained as much celebrity as the fabled manuscripts of Timbuktu.
Africans were already present on the European mainland by the time Herodotus —the so called father of history— wrote his monumental work, The Histories.
Among the groups of foreigners present in the Assyrian capital of Nimrud in 732 BC, was a community of horse experts from the kingdom of Kush led by an official who supplied horses to the armies of Tiglath-Pileser III.
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Hōshi, a traditional Japanese inn in Komatsu, Japan, holds the distinction of being the second oldest hotel in the world—and “the oldest still running family business in the world.” Built in 718 AD, Hōshi has been operated by the same family for 46 consecutive generations. Count them. 46 generations. Japan is a country with deep traditions. […]
Miles Davis didn’t put out any studio albums from 1973 until the middle of 1981. In explaining the reasons for this lacuna in his recording career, Milesologists can point to a variety of factors in the man’s professional and personal life. But one in particular looms large: the failure of his 1972 album On the […]
Epidemic typhus is one of the oldest diseases known to affect humankind, and despite advances in modern medicine, it continues to be a contemporary concern. Often infiltrating human existence hand in hand with disasters such as war and weather phenomena, typhus has demonstrated a potential to change the course of history and dictate decision-making. […]
