National Geographic History

See how National Geographic History magazine inflames and quenches the curiosity of history buffs and informs and entertains anyone who appreciates that the truth indeed is stranger than fiction with a digital subscription today. And that history is not just about our forebears. It’s about us. It’s about you.

FROM THE EDITOR

National Geographic History

History’s Oldest Amputation Discovered • A 31,000-year-old skeleton found in Borneo’s Liang Tebo Cave reveals that the region’s hunter-gatherers were surgeons as well.

MORE THAN LUCK

The Herschels: Siblings Who Swept the Heavens • In 18th-century England, German émigrés William and Caroline Herschel used pioneering telescopes to conduct the first sweeping surveys of the heavens.

Threads of History: The Quilts of Harriet Powers • Only two of Harriet Powers’s artworks have survived until the present, but their vibrant visions continue to inspire today’s artists and provide valuable insights into the past.

CHILDREN OF PHARAOH • The longest-lived pharaoh in history fathered as many as a hundred sons and daughters, but did his tight grip on power damage his legacy?

TRIREMES • Swift and nimble, ancient Athens’s massive fleet of triremes secured its position as the Mediterranean’s strongest naval power in the fifth century B.C.

THE TRIREME, MASTER OF THE SEAS • The trireme was the warship of choice in classical Greece. It was later used, and its design developed and improved, by other regional powers in the Mediterranean such as the Carthaginians and Romans.

RAMMING AND BOARDING

THE VIKINGS IN CANADA • Sixty years ago, excavations in Newfoundland confirmed tales told in the Icelandic sagas: that the Vikings had reached North America in the 11th century. New finds are revealing more details of this landfall, and of the contacts—and clashes—between the Norse and the First Nations.

WESTWARD JOURNEYS • Archaeologists are searching for evidence of more interactions between Norse explorers and First Nations peoples in the regions of Greenland, Arctic Canada, and the lands north of L’Anse aux Meadows. Tantalizing clues have been uncovered, but more needs to be found to examine the full extent of these relationships.

Viking Halls and Huts

VIKING WOMEN OF VINLAND • The Norse crews who sailed to North America included substantial numbers of women. Two of the most well known were Gudríd and Freydís, who played major roles in the Vinland sagas.

INCA GOLD THE FATE OF ATAHUALPA’S TREASURE • Francisco Pizarro set out to find the kingdom of Birú, a legendary treasure city. His expedition would lead him to the Inca Empire, where he found the largest cache of gold seized in the conquest of the Americas.

GLEAMS OF GOLD • The Inca believed that gold came from the sweat of the sun god, their most sacred deity. The abundance of the metal in the region allowed the Inca to refine their metalworking skills and create exquisite works of art.

CASANOVA’S VENICE • Scandalous, adventurous, dangerous, but never dull: Giacomo Casanova’s life was inspired by his hometown of Venice, a playground for pleasure and social climbing.

THE CITY OF CASINOS

The Kazanlak Tomb: Frescoes of a Faded Kingdom • During World War II Bulgarian soldiers stumbled upon a lavishly painted tomb, the first of many to be found in an ancient necropolis.