worldhistory

worldhistory , 4 days ago to histodons group

After 1639, foreigners were not allowed to enter Japan, and Japanese people were not allowed to travel abroad. Japan would remain closed off to the world for more than two centuries.

Well, sort of. The truth was much more complicated, centering on a weird little man-made island in Nagasaki Harbor. Dejima was a sort of jail and a site of fascinating cultural exchange.

#history @histodons

https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/the-jail-goes-by-the-name-of-dejima?r=7ecn0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

worldhistory , 11 days ago to histodons group

A journey through the art and artifacts connected to Japan’s first contact with Christianity, with a bonus digression into the weird fate of Francis Xavier’s dead body — what more could you ask for on this Father’s Day?

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/mostly-incorruptible?r=7ecn0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

worldhistory , 18 days ago to histodons group

This week I wrote about the history of tea — as a drug, a commodity for trade, a ritual object, and a social lubricant. Check it out while you nurse your morning brew!

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/the-best-of-herbs?r=7ecn0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

worldhistory , 24 days ago to histodons group

Eagles on poles! Three-headed eagles! Eagles eating snakes! Eagles clutching arrows! Join me on a tour of all of the ways in which countries have used eagles as national symbols.

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/why-are-eagles-a-symbol-of-so-many?r=7ecn0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

worldhistory , 1 month ago to histodons group

The modern supplement industry advertises relentlessly and makes impossible promises of health benefits, but it’s simply following a long tradition.

Let’s go on a tour of patent medicines, their history, and the often bonkers advertising that promoted them.

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/patently-ridiculous

worldhistory , 1 month ago to histodons group

Even in ancient Rome, people hated being ruled by timekeeping devices. Plautus wrote:

Confound him... Who in this place set up a sundial

To cut and hack my days so wretchedly!

Take a look at the devices that have chopped up our lives for millennia:

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/to-cut-and-hack-my-days

worldhistory , 1 month ago to histodons group

How did horses become war machines — and find themselves amidst the machinery of modern war? This week, a look at the experience of the horses that were shipped around the world and made to fight in our most terrible conflicts.

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/nobody-asked-the-horses-part-2