Apartheid was a system of racial segregation which was maintained in South Africa between 1948 and 1991. It aimed to regulate relationships between whites and non-whites and ensure the domination of the country's white minority. Particularly infamous for the extreme cruelty that black South Africans were made to suffer, the apartheid regime was probably one of the most significant events of the...
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In 1492, three ships captained by the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World. Although the Viking explorer Leif Eriksson had first discovered the Americas almost 500 years earlier, Columbus and his men were the first to establish sustained contact with the continent's indigenous populations. While his expedition brought immense wealth to the Spanish Crown and made it...
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The conquistador Francisco Pizarro was one of the most important figures of Spanish colonization. His subjugation of the Inca Empire allowed him to seize power in the capital, Cuzco, and establish a number of new towns on behalf of the Spanish Crown, bringing a huge amount of wealth to Spain and helping it to become one of the most powerful countries...
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The Battle of Algiers unfolded over nine months in 1957 and was a particularly painful and brutal period in the Algerian War, which saw the citizens of this French colony fight for their independence. The French authorities responded to a campaign of guerrilla warfare by the National Liberation Front (FLN) with forced disappearances, torture and summary executions, which tarnished their reputation later on. In...
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The voyage of the Mayflower has been enshrined in popular culture as the founding myth of the United States of America. This ship carried a group of Puritans to the Massachusetts coast, where they established the colony of Plymouth, aided by the local Wampanoag population, as commemorated by the modern American tradition of Thanksgiving. In just 50 minutes, you will...
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed on 10 December 1948, was one of the most significant milestones of the 20th century. It was the first text to recognize that each individual is entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms which make us all equal to one another, regardless of nationality, religion, profession or ethnicity. In just 50 minutes, you will find out...
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The Vietnam War lasted for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975, and had deadly consequences for both the soldiers fighting in it and Vietnamese civilians. Following the partition of French Indochina by the Geneva Accords in 1954, tensions mounted between the two ideologically opposed halves of the country, resulting in a long conflict between the US-backed South Vietnam on the one hand,...
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Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer who, along with Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, was one of the most famous European explorers of his time. Known in particular for being the first person to open up a direct maritime route between Europe and Asia, da Gama sailed around Africa to reach the Western coast of India in the late...
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Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minster during the Second World War. Known in particular for his role in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, Churchill was a respected politician who is considered to be one of the greatest British leaders of the 20th century. However, a lesser-known fact is that Churchill was also a historian and a writer, and...
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