World History

Uncover the secrets of Greek fire, ancient warfare's legendary weapon. Explore its history, composition, and deadly impact.

By HowStuffWorks

The dense Aokigahara Forest has acquired another name, the "suicide forest." Why has it acquired that reputation and what is being done about it?

ByDave Roos

An island doesn't necessarily have to be small. You might be surprised by the size of some of these islands on our list. Here are the nine biggest ones.

ByDave Roos

We can easily picture a group of beard-and-toga geniuses hunched over scrolls inside a magnificent colonnaded hall. But what was the real Library of Alexandria like? And why do some scholars doubt its existence?

ByDave Roos

Look at any vintage map and you'll see how a country's borders shift. But what reason would a country have for changing its name?

ByLauren David

Back in the Cold War craziness of the 1950s, a CIA operative in the Philippines used the local folklore myth of the blood-sucking aswang to try and scare off communist rebels. Did it work?

ByDave Roos

For centuries, Razzouk Tattoo in Jerusalem has provided tattoos to both pilgrims and posers, using hand-carved wooden stamps, some of which are 500 years old.

ByAllison Troutner

Like many things, chess wasn't invented by one person but rather several people. Here's a short history of chess.

ByDave Roos

It's hard to nail down the oldest city in the world. Some say it's Damascus, Syria, while others suggest it's Jericho, in the West Bank. So which is older?

ByPatrick J. Kiger

For centuries, colonizers, missionaries and anthropologists have attempted to make contact with the residents of North Sentinel Island. But outsiders have learned the hard way that, even today, the Sentinelese just want to be left alone.

ByDave Roos

The Dahomey warriors were an all-female regiment that existed for 300 years. Their bravery is legendary and portrayed in "The Woman King," but their ties to the Transatlantic slave trade are undeniable.

ByDave Roos

The Nizari Ismaili were some of the most feared assassins in the turbulent medieval Middle East. They used secret techniques to survive against enemies with bigger armies. That is until they finally met their match.

ByPatrick J. Kiger

Some claim the "haunting shrieks" of the death whistle were used to terrify the Aztecs' enemies in battle or to mimic the death cries of sacrificial victims to their gods. But does anyone know its real use?

ByDave Roos

It's a big old world and the number of countries it contains changes all the time. So, do you know how many there are? It's not an easy question.

ByPatty Rasmussen

Photographers have been risking their lives since the Civil War to bring back images from the front lines. Not just to document history, but to show the uncensored, gritty version of battle to those of us who never have to face danger.

BySarah Gleim

The struggle to sever colonial ties with the British has been going on for nearly 400 years in Barbados. On Nov. 30, 2021, the island officially became a republic, installing Dame Sandra Mason as its first president.

ByLewis Eliot

Some 50,000 people jammed in an area one-hundredth of a square mile. An urban planning nightmare, it was home to gangs, factories and vibrant nightlife. How did it start, and what caused it to end?

ByDave Roos

Some $150 billion in nonmilitary U.S. aid flowed into Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020, but what exactly was accomplished in that time with that amount of money?

ByMohammad Qadam Shah

O Canada ... the country where you can order a cocktail with a human toe in it (and other quirky things about those Canucks up North).

ByValerie Stimac

Have you ever wanted to be in two places at once? There are destinations around the world that literally straddle state or country borders. How many of these boundary-pushing places can you name?

ByCaroline Eubanks

It's been called one of American's biggest foreign policy failures. But why was it such a disaster? Let's count the ways.

ByDave Roos

About 25 symbols in the Egyptian hieroglyphic "alphabet" denote specific sounds. But very few words were written purely alphabetically.

ByMark Mancini

玻利瓦尔是催化剂和b的个人崇拜ehind the 19th-century liberation movement that won independence for six Latin American nations: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Bolivia, a country named for the Liberator himself.

ByDave Roos

Seven might seem like the no-brainer answer if you grew up in the U.S. But it may surprise you to know that experts around the world disagree on how many continents are out there. Here's why.

ByNathan Chandler

Fourteen countries and 39 million square miles make up Oceania in the South Pacific. Known for its natural beauty and cannibalistic past, this region also invented bungee jumping.

ByNathan Chandler