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Author: Rupert Bellandi

History

France Gave the Statue of Liberty in Pieces

France Gave the Statue of Liberty in Pieces

France once wrapped up a colossal woman, boxed her into hundreds of crates, and shipped her across the Atlantic as if she were an…

7 min read

History

The Revolutionary Brew of the Boston Tea Party

The Revolutionary Brew of the Boston Tea Party

Boston carries a special sort of swagger whenever the Boston Tea Party comes up, as if the whole city still remembers the night locals…

6 min read

History

Plough Invention: How a Stick in the Dirt Rewired Human History

Plough Invention: How a Stick in the Dirt Rewired Human History

The plough invention didn’t arrive with trumpets or tablets from the heavens. It slipped quietly into human life as soon as we realised that…

6 min read

History

Roald Amundsen at the South Pole: The Calm Conquest of a Frozen World

Roald Amundsen at the South Pole: The Calm Conquest of a Frozen World

Roald Amundsen at the South Pole reads like a masterclass in how to treat the planet’s harshest places with both respect and a quietly…

6 min read

History

The First European Sighting of New Zealand and Tasman’s Big Mistake

The First European Sighting of New Zealand and Tasman’s Big Mistake

On this day in 1642 Abel Tasman sailed into the kind of weather that makes you question whether the world hides secrets on purpose.…

9 min read

Culture

When Humans Started Dancing and Never Stopped

When Humans Started Dancing and Never Stopped

Dancing didn’t arrive with a polite knock on humanity’s door. It sneaked in long before anyone thought to invent writing, pottery or the concept…

6 min read

History

Lawrence of Arabia Without the Hollywood Glow

Lawrence of Arabia Without the Hollywood Glow

Lawrence of Arabia felt like the sort of character a novelist would dream up after too much sun and too little drinking water, yet…

8 min read

History

Roald Amundsen and the Art of Beating the Cold at Its Own Game

Roald Amundsen and the Art of Beating the Cold at Its Own Game

The life of Roald Amundsen reads like a guidebook for extreme ambition disguised behind a modest, almost shy exterior. His childhood in Norway gave…

8 min read

Britain

London’s Crystal Dream: The Great Exhibition of 1851

London’s Crystal Dream: The Great Exhibition of 1851

The Great Exhibition of 1851 burst into London like a Victorian fever dream made of iron, glass and unshakeable optimism. Everyone expected a polite…

8 min read

Business & Economy

The Spicy Life of the Dutch East India Company

The Spicy Life of the Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company never did subtlety. It strode into the seventeenth century like a swaggering merchant-warrior hybrid, pockets jingling with investor cash…

7 min read