It's snarky, constrained and incomprehensibly social! So, like, basically, Twitter for the 1670s. This month, 323 years ago, an English biographer scribbled notes to another scholar -- or rather, he ...

Although cocaine use became widespread in the 19th century once it was synthesized into cocaine hydrochloride salts, Europeans knew of the coca plant’s stimulating effects since the early 15th century ...

Another groundbreaking discovery in science was the discovery of the cell by Robert Hooke (1635-1703). The iconic image of the breakthrough, published in the first scientific bestseller, 1665's ...

‘Virtual unfolding’ is hailed a breakthrough in the study of historic documents as unopened letter from 1697 is read for the first time using X-ray technology In a world first for the study of ...

A new examination of a pre-industrial Scottish natural history book gives a new understanding of post-industrial environmental change in the country. In a new paper published in the Royal Society ...

A pair of six-panel folding screens entitled Waves of Matsushima, Tawaraya Sōtatsu, early 1600s Freer Gallery of Art A pair of six-panel folding screens entitled Waves at Matsushima, Tawaraya Sōtatsu, ...

If Downton Abbey left you with a taste for sharp class divide, royal courts, grand houses and history drifting through ...

A young man in his prime, Johan Hoyel was a little shorter than most, but with a strong, lean build. Hoyel had killed a man during an argument, possibly after too much drink, and was due to be ...

A new openness to the outside world led many early 17th-century English travellers to visit Egypt, writes David Tresilian. By the 19th century guidebooks had begun to emerge thanks to the pioneering ...