World History Story Briefs

Whether it's people, places or events which fuel "the news," the fabric of our lives is impacted by world events. This collection features stories from ancient to modern times.

During the Napoleonic Wars, in 1805, Britain fought against France in a naval clash known as The Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Horatio Nelson employed ...

In 1667, a French pirate known as Franois L'Olonnais plans an attack on Maracaibo (a city in todays northwestern Venezuela). Disastrous consequences ...

Is it possible for a person's hair to turn white overnight? Who were some of the famous people who reportedly experienced this phenomenon?

What is it like to actually sail around Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America?

Few people today may know who Charles Cunningham Boycott was, but everyone knows his name.

Captain John Smith could have been very helpful to the Pilgrims as they left their homeland for America. Because they could not afford his services, ...

Captain William Kidd was born in Scotland in 1645 and has an interesting story as a sailor, privateer or pirate. Did the courts judge fairly?

A national treasure of Hungary, this illumination depicts the capture of Gyula. One of the accounts, which survives about this individual, tells us th...

How were Yapese people able to carry their extremely heavy stone money? By placing a pole through the center of the limestone disc which was specifica...

Meet the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, built for a soon-to-end mission to Saturn. Cassini is the orbiter; Huygens is the probe.

Castel Sant'Angelo (Castle of the Angel Saint) had its beginnings in 135 A.D. Throughout its long history, the great castle has been more than a tomb...

Background on Catherine of Aragon, the first of King Henry VIII's six wives. She was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.

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