On May 1, 1896, Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia and his army fought the Italian forces in the Battle of Adwa. The Ethiopians decimated the Italians and scored a spectacular victory by using rifles and bullets they had received from the Italian government. Ethiopia became the first African state to successfully resist European colonization and […]
Kat Cendana
First African Baptist Church in America 1773-1775
The First African Baptist Church was organized by Reverend George Liele (Lisle) of Savannah, Georgia between 1773 and 1775. Liele was born into slavery in 1750 in Virginia. During his youth, he was transported to other parts of the colonies until he was sold to a Baptist deacon named Henry Sharp of Burke County, Georgia. […]
Liberia Established by African-Americans
The country of Liberia was established by freed African-Americans with the help of the American Colonization Society (ACS) between 1821 and 1822. The country was established out of ACS’s desire to create a haven for freed blacks who faced discrimination in America. Later, Liberia became one of Africa’s first independent states and modeled its government […]
Britain Takes Cape Colony 1795
Europe and North America were plagued by revolutions and wars in the latter part of the 18th century. Cape Colony, a distance Dutch territory in Africa, was largely insulated from all the conflicts. This would change when France took the Dutch Republic and tried to disrupt British trade in India during the Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). […]
Taiwan as Seat of Government of the Republic of China (ROC)
In 1949, Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army drove Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists (Kuomintang or KMT) out of mainland China after nearly five years of civil war. The Kuomintang members fled the mainland and transferred the seat of government in the island of Taiwan. Although repressive at first, Chiang Kai-shek’s government turned Taiwan’s devastation around […]
Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905
Between 1904 and 1905, Russian and Japanese forces fought in the destructive Russo-Japanese War. The conflict started when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the Russian Pacific Fleet on February 8, 1904. By the end of the war in 1905, Japan was the undisputed power in Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. These events are recorded on […]
Marco Polo in China
If Marco Polo had not stayed in China between 1274 to 1295, the world would not know much about Kublai Khan and his court. The son of the merchant Niccolo Polo, Marco joined his father and uncle at the young age of seventeen on a journey that would take him across the vast continent. Marco, […]
Mansa Musa’s Pilgrimage to Mecca
More than sixty years after the reign of Sundiata Keita, one of his descendants rose to become the King of Mali. His name was Mansa Musa, and he was a devout Muslim. Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca happened between 1324 and 1325. He brought a large entourage with him which impressed people everywhere they went. […]
Jews Driven from Spain and Sicily
Just like France, medieval Spain had a long history of hosting Jewish migrants. Many of them came to the Roman province after the Jewish revolt and the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. Although the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the Muslims, Jews continued to live there in peace for more than 1,000 […]
Jews Driven from France
Philip IV of France was nicknamed “the Fair” for his looks and not because of his character. Throughout his reign, the king fought wars with Edward I of England and Edward’s ally, the Count of Flanders. These wars required money, so he turned to get-rich-quick schemes that involved the imposition of special taxes on the […]