Once populated by peaceful Indigenous tribes descended from South America’s Arawaks, the island now called Puerto Rico was first stumbled upon by Christopher Columbus’s men during his second voyage to the “New World” in 1493. Within a decade, Spain had established its first colonies in the Greater Antilles and a permanent and dominating presence […]

As the 19th century drew to a close, the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico was poised to reject the exploitative system it had existed under for more than three centuries. Sentiment in favor of independence as well as an incipient labor movement had begun to take shape. The unfortunate intersection of war and natural […]

Basil II ruled the Byzantine Empire for almost half a century between 976 and 1025 CE. As a military leader, he broke the power of the First Bulgarian Empire and expanded his frontiers to Georgia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia. As a political reformer, he centralized power and replenished the imperial treasury. However, he died without […]

More than an artistic movement, the Renaissance was a revolution in how people understood the world and their place in it. Some of the era’s most telling insights happen to be hidden in its most famous paintings. From Italy to Northern Europe, the seven works below reveal seven fascinating facets of the Renaissance.   […]