Places

Toledo: The Capital of Swords

Walk through Toledo and sooner or later you will encounter a sword. Usually sooner. They hang in shop windows beside suits of armour, medieval…

History

Bicycles and women’s rights: Two Wheels and Scandalous Ankles

Nature

Armadillos: Armour as a Lifestyle Choice

Start Here

New to Interessia? These stories explain what we do.

Culture

Absinthe Conspiracy: The Green Fairy Myth

There’s something rather irresistible about a drink that promises to drive you stark raving mad whilst simultaneously unlocking your creative genius. For over a…

7 min read

Food

Asado: Argentina’s Slowest, Loudest, Most Serious Meal

In Argentina, cooking meat has never been a side activity. It sits at the centre of the day. Everything else quietly rearranges itself around…

5 min read

Nature

Anglesey’s Secret Survivor: Limnephilus pati Caddisfly Returns

Extinction usually sounds rather final. A species disappears, scientists search for it, nobody finds it, and eventually someone reaches for the biological equivalent of…

6 min read

Culture

How Broadway Became Broadway

Broadway is a street, a neighbourhood, an industry, a dream factory and, occasionally, an extremely efficient machine for turning several million dollars into absolutely…

7 min read

Britain

The institutions, customs, places and peculiarities that made Britain what it is.

Britain

The Norman Conquest: When England Got New Management

There are historical dates, and then there is 1066. British schoolchildren once learnt it almost before learning their own birthdays: William the Conqueror, Harold…

6 min read

Run, Minister, Run: Inside Westminster’s Division Bell Ritual

Imagine that you are an MP. You have spent the afternoon discussing tax policy, planning regulations or some amendment whose title requires more stamina…

5 min read

Eton College: Where Britain Learns to Rule

On 8 September 2026, a thirteen-year-old boy walked through the gates of a boarding school in Berkshire. Normally this would interest his parents, perhaps…

6 min read

The Order of St Patrick: The Knighthood Ireland Left Behind

There are institutions that disappear with a bang, and there are institutions that simply stop receiving invitations. The Order of St Patrick belongs firmly…

7 min read

A Curious Story

Extraordinary people, places and ideas from a changing world.

You probably didn’t know

Montgolfier Balloon: The Day Humanity Finally Left the Ground

For most of human history, flying belonged to birds, gods and people with an unhealthy confidence in homemade wings. Then, during a few extraordinary…

History

Not dates and kings. The stories that explain how the modern world happened.

Culture

How Broadway Became Broadway

Broadway is a street, a neighbourhood, an industry, a dream factory and, occasionally, an extremely efficient machine for turning several million dollars into absolutely…

7 min read

Britain

The Norman Conquest: When England Got New Management

There are historical dates, and then there is 1066. British schoolchildren once learnt it almost before learning their own birthdays: William the Conqueror, Harold…

6 min read

Culture

The Origins of the Burqa: What the History of Veiling Really Tells Us

Ask most Europeans where the burqa came from and there is a reasonable chance that the answer will contain two words: Afghanistan and Taliban.…

5 min read

Food

Why we eat what we eat.

Food

Asado: Argentina’s Slowest, Loudest, Most Serious Meal

In Argentina, cooking meat has never been a side activity. It sits at the centre of the day. Everything else quietly rearranges itself around…

5 min read

Food

Rutabaga: The Vegetable That Survived Everything Except Fashion

Rutabaga may have one of the worst marketing departments in the vegetable world. It is large, heavy, slightly lumpy and usually dressed in an…

6 min read

Food

Fish and Chips: From Immigrant Food to British Institution

Fish and chips feels so thoroughly British that questioning its nationality seems almost impolite. It belongs with seaside promenades, vinegar-soaked paper, grey skies and…

7 min read

Tech & Science

Things worth understanding, without needing a PhD.

History

Montgolfier Balloon: The Day Humanity Finally Left the Ground

For most of human history, flying belonged to birds, gods and people with an unhealthy confidence in homemade wings. Then, during a few extraordinary…

6 min read

Tech & Science

Forget the Battlefield: Rwanda Found a Better Use for Drones

These days, drones usually make the news for grim reasons. They appear in reports from war zones, in footage of surveillance, and in stories…

7 min read

Tech & Science

DNA Ethnicity Estimates: Can Your Saliva Really Tell You Where You Come From?

You spit into a small plastic tube, put it in the post and wait for science to inspect several hundred years of family history.…

6 min read

People

The people who changed how we see the world.

Culture

Why John Coltrane Still Sounds Radical at 100

On 23 September 2026, John Coltrane would have turned 100. This feels slightly improbable, because Coltrane belongs to that peculiar category of artist who…

7 min read

People

Michael Faraday: From Binding Books to Rewriting Physics

Michael Faraday never went to university, struggled with advanced mathematics and began adult life binding other people’s books. By the end of his career,…

6 min read

People

Marco Polo: The Traveller Who Saw Too Much to Be Believed

Marco Polo had a credibility problem that feels surprisingly modern. He returned to Venice with stories so extravagant that sensible people struggled to take…

7 min read

Places

The stories behind the world’s most interesting places.

Places

Ceuta: The Spanish City in Africa

Ceuta looks like the sort of place created during a particularly competitive evening of mapmaking. It sits on the North African coast, shares a…

7 min read

History

Is the Great Wall of China Really What You Think It Is?

Picture the Great Wall of China and your mind probably creates a familiar image. You see one enormous stone ribbon winding across misty mountains.…

8 min read

Places

Mallorca: More Than Just a Pretty Beach

Everyone has a mate who’s been to Mallorca. They come back with a tan, a bottle of Hierbas, and the same story: “Oh, it’s…

5 min read

Places

Eternal question of Baboon

Rome rarely names a street after something flattering. It prefers saints, emperors, martyrs, or at least a respectable family with a coat of arms.…

7 min read

From the Interessia Archive

Timeless stories, still worth reading.

Nature

Do Ravens Recognise Humans, or Are They Quietly Studying Us

Do ravens recognise humans? The question sounds simple, almost childlike. Yet it keeps resurfacing in scientific journals, field notebooks, and that uneasy moment when…

6 min read

Food

Kimchi: Ancient Survival Trick, Modern Flavour Icon

Kimchi likes to pretend it’s just a bowl of spicy cabbage, but anyone who has ever opened a jar knows it behaves more like…

5 min read

Food

From Dancing Goats to Global Buzz: The History of Coffee Beans

The history of coffee beans never behaves like a tidy timeline. It wanders through Africa, sails across the Red Sea, argues with Ottoman sultans,…

7 min read

Culture

Tukdam: What Lies Between Life and Death

Somewhere in the mountains of Tibet, monks have been quietly defying the rules of death for centuries. Not in the dramatic, Hollywood-style way you…

7 min read

Culture

The Lantern-Lit Madness of Fasnacht in Basel

Fasnacht in Basel looks like someone took a centuries‑old tradition, sprinkled a touch of mischief over it, dimmed every light in the city at…

8 min read

Culture

Pantalone, Arlecchino and Colombina: The Faces of Commedia dell’Arte

Imagine an Italian town square in the late sixteenth century. Merchants argue over prices, servants carry baskets, young couples exchange suspiciously dramatic glances, and…

7 min read

Culture

The Khmissa and the Quiet Art of Keeping Trouble Out

You notice the khmissa long before anyone explains it. It hangs quietly on a door in Fez, swings from a taxi mirror in Casablanca,…

5 min read

Culture

Thomas Mann: Europe’s Favourite Pessimist with a Nobel Prize

Thomas Mann never set out to become the literary conscience of Germany, but fate, a Nobel Prize, and a stubborn moustache seemed to conspire…

6 min read