Learn the Past,
Know the Present
People, places, and ideas that shaped the world. Follow the evidence. Discover the connections.
In the spotlight
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How Fabriano Turned Old Rags into Paper Worth Writing On
In medieval Fabriano, worn cloth, moving water and skilled hands became durable paper. Follow the work from rag pile to watermark, and the clues still hidden in old books.
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Strasbourg, 1518: The Dancing Plague and the Stories Added Later
An extraordinary outbreak left a real paper trail. Reading it carefully changes the familiar story of a woman, a dancing crowd and a city supposedly dancing to death.
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Mari’s Palace: The Letters, People and Work Behind a Bronze Age Kingdom
Mari’s palace held far more than a throne. Its rooms, paintings and clay tablets reveal a kingdom sustained by messengers, royal women, skilled workers and uneasy alliances.
Know the Present
More analysisHistory offers perspective on the questions shaping life today.
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The Secret Ballot: How a Private Vote Changed Public Power
From Australia’s 1856 reforms to Britain and the United States, the secret ballot changed who could watch a vote. Its history also shows why privacy, access and the franchise are different problems.
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The Environment After War: Why the Damage Outlasts the Fighting
From Passchendaele and Vietnam to Kuwait’s oil fires, the history behind the UN’s 6 November observance explains why environmental recovery follows its own calendar.
History around the world
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The latest stories
Browse by topicNew discoveries and fresh perspectives from across Histovia. Use the page links below to continue through the archive.
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The Secret Ballot: How a Private Vote Changed Public Power
From Australia’s 1856 reforms to Britain and the United States, the secret ballot changed who could watch a vote. Its history also shows why privacy, access and the franchise are different problems.
-
How Fabriano Turned Old Rags into Paper Worth Writing On
In medieval Fabriano, worn cloth, moving water and skilled hands became durable paper. Follow the work from rag pile to watermark, and the clues still hidden in old books.
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The Penguin Lessons (2025): Argentina Beyond the School Gates
A historical companion to The Penguin Lessons, following Argentina’s 1976 coup, enforced disappearance and the families who made silence a public issue.
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Reading The Last Dynasty: The Kingdom Behind Cleopatra
A reading companion to Toby Wilkinson’s The Last Dynasty, exploring the temples, documents, royal images and harvests that sustained Ptolemaic Egypt.
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Strasbourg, 1518: The Dancing Plague and the Stories Added Later
An extraordinary outbreak left a real paper trail. Reading it carefully changes the familiar story of a woman, a dancing crowd and a city supposedly dancing to death.
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The Herero and Nama Genocide: War, Land and the Lives of Survivors
An unfinished list of the dead leads through Germany’s colonial war in Namibia, the camps that followed surrender, and the struggle to rebuild after dispossession.
Curiosity is only the beginning. Our stories follow objects, documents, and people into the past, with room for what the evidence cannot yet tell us.
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