Many of you may be thinking of ways to vanquish any memory of eating too much over the festive season, but there is a quintessential holiday spice that has punched above its weight historically speaking: nutmeg. Spices have been an integral part of history, mythology, and trade since ancient Egypt (if not earlier), but how did…
Tag: History
China Resumes Control of Hong Kong
At midnight on June 30 and into the morning of July 1, 1997 Britain formally ceded sovereignty over Hong Kong to China, ending more than 150 years of British rule. The moment would come to symbolize a changing world amid a more powerful China and an emerging Asia. China was a rising economic and military…
The Cultural Revolution
Like much of China, the Cultural Revolution (known more officially as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution) is mired in mystery and intrigue. Few would recognize – let alone fathom – that almost 45 million Chinese (estimates vary from 30 to 45 million) died during a period of roughly twenty years between the Great Leap Forward in…
400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s Death
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is eminent for being one of the most influential writers in Western literature but remains a figure of many mysteries. We know for example that he was born and baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, northwest of London, but the exact date of his birth is still very much an unknown. For a man who was so…
The First Modern Olympic Games
As we prepare to be dazzled by the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in a few months, it is an opportune moment to recall the first modern Olympic games of 1896. The first official modern Olympic games, held in Athens, greatly contrast the multi-billion dollar sporting celebration that the Olympics has become. It…
Galileo Galilei Summoned to the Roman Inquisition
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) has rightly been considered to be one of the greatest scientists in history. Best known for his revolutionary seventeenth-century theories of celestial motion, holding the view that planets were not fixed in space in which all other planetary bodies revolved around it but, in fact, planets revolved around the sun (a theory…
70 Years After Hiroshima and Nagasaki
This past week marked an ominous, momentous and transformational event of the twentieth century that few would deny has narrated and punctuated the past 70 years of warfare in the modern age. Few events during the Second World War (and since) capture our collective imagination, fear and horror as much as the atomic bombing of…
Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo
The sheer number of historical anniversaries and commemorations in 2015 has certainly kept me busy. Today marks the bicentenary (200 years) since the world-changing Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, which pitted the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte against the Duke of Wellington and allied forces. In terms of significance, the Battle of Waterloo decisively…
Magna Carta 800th Anniversary
Most have heard of the Magna Carta and its dominant role in placing the English king under the law, but also outlining a number of fundamental rights and liberties that still resonate 800 years after is signing by King John on June 15, 1215 in a meadow at Runnymede. The Magna Carta was a crucial…
Remembering Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech
On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan, standing before the iconic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with the Berlin Wall looming behind him, issued his famous challenge to the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” President Reagan’s words that day have been credited with placing considerable pressure on the Soviet…
Jacques Cartier and the discovery of the St. Lawrence River
Great cities, and great landscapes, are often defined by mighty rivers. These rivers can serve as borders, linkages between people and cultures, and as a timeline of a nation’s history thereby marking its transition and development. Few rivers yield more of an influence to the story of Canada than the St. Lawrence River, and its…
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Reach the Summit of Everest 62 years ago today
Human history is very much about documenting challenges to the limits of the human body, mind and spirit. Few adventures are more grueling and gripping to the imagination that scaling Mount Everest, our planets highest peak. On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and a Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of the 29,028-foot (8,848-metre) Mount…
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