Who was Gudrid the Far-Traveled?

Viking raids spread Scandinavian culture far beyond northern Europe

Between roughly 800 and 1200 CE, seafaring Vikings from Scandinavia combined skilled craftsmanship with violent coastal raids. Their expeditions extended cultural influence from the British Isles to Northern Africa, reshaping medieval trade, warfare, and settlement patterns.

Tracking the Isdal Woman

In 1970, a burnt body encircled by an odd assortment of items was found in a remote Norwegian valley. For nearly 50 years, the true identity of the woman escaped authorities who found she had traveled the country under many names. This podcast episode is the first in a 12-part series seeking to uncover the woman's identity and what happened in her final moments.

The Elizabethan pirate hired to find the Northwest Passage

This resource by the Canadian Museum of Natural History explores the life and adventures of Martin Frobisher, an Elizabethan pirate hired to find the then-fabled Northwest Passage, a path across the Arctic Sea that would've allowed for quicker trade between Asia and Eastern Europe. He ventured into arctic waters at least three times, returning to England each time with either fool's gold, captive natives, or fool's gold and captive natives.

The lost history of Fredegund and Brunhild

In the Middle Ages, there were many powerful queens who ruled their kingdoms with strength and determination, two of the most notable examples of which were Fredegund of Neustria and Brunhild of Austrasia. Unafraid to use murder and intrigue to maintain their power, they played a significant role in shaping the political landscape of their time—but have largely been lost to history.

What one seventh-century European teen might have looked like

A 16-year-old girl believed to have traveled from Central Europe to England in the seventh century was buried with rare, expensive jewelry. Her body was found in Cambridge, England in 2012, and analysis revealed what her face likely looked like. See...

The 'maiden of maiden voyages' who taught the world how to fly

In 1939, Clara Adams set the world record for the fastest person to circle the globe via commercial airliner, though she was a passenger and not a pilot. This article explores the impact of Adams' journey on the commercial flight industry. During...

A free archive of firsthand historical documents from explorers of America

Maintained by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the American Journeys collection contains more than 18,000 pages of primary source documents—journals, letters, maps, and accounts written between roughly 1000 CE and the early 1800s. These include eyewitness records of the Norse arrival in North America, Spanish conquistador expeditions, and the Lewis and Clark journey. Browse this list of highlights where pages from the original texts are specified (clicking a link opens a PDF).

Journey through Norway’s frozen frontier

This 44-minute video takes viewers through the Arctic landscapes of Norway, as they learn about the area’s life and challenges. Viewers can observe the wildlife that thrives in this harsh setting—from reindeer and polar bears to red foxes. They...

The man who created Settlers of Catan was inspired by Viking tales about the journey to Iceland.

Klaus Teuber invented the game when he was in his 30s, and had his wife and children act as early test players. Published in 1995, the game has now sold over 45 million units.

The US tried to buy Greenland in 1867 and after World War II

Denmark first took possession of the large, ice-covered island in the northern Atlantic in the 1700s. The local population is a mix of native Inuit, Norwegians (from the medieval era), and Danes, though the population is only 56,000. The US has seen the defensive and economic potential of the island for over 150 years.

The scientific name for northern lights came from two Greco-Roman gods

Although cave paintings may have depicted them millennia earlier, one of the oldest known references to auroras is a Babylonian cuneiform tablet from about 600 BCE. In 1619, Galileo Galilei named the phenomenon in the northern hemisphere "aurora borealis" after the Roman goddess of dawn—Aurora—and the Greek god of the north wind—Boreas.

Who discovered the North Pole?

In 1909, papers reported two separate expeditions had become the first to reach the North Pole. This podcast explores the fascinating and terrifying attempts to reach the remote marker, and the contentious race to become the first person to plant...

The first women to run the Colorado River discovered four plant species

Over 45 days and 660 miles, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter identified more than 50 species in what was the first botanical survey of the region. Expected to help navigate boats and cook for the crew during the day, their work was confined to before dawn and after dusk.

Colonial America imported brides for their beer brewing skills

Life in the New World's English colonies was hard, so it's easy to see how these colonizers might've wanted to reach for a cold one more often than not. This article explains how beer brewing became one of the most critical skills expected in imported English wives.

Who was the world's first author?

This article details the effort to define the world's first author, as supported by current archaeological evidence. Clay disks found in an ancient Sumerian city point to Enheduanna, a high priestess and daughter of Akkadian King Sargon, as the...

Leaving cookies for Santa became popular in America during the Great Depression

During the period of economic hardship, many parents wanted to teach their children the importance of sharing and gratitude. The tradition dates even further back to ancient Norse mythology. The god Odin and his eight-legged horse, Sleipner, were left food in exchange for gifts.

Europe’s first recorded influenza pandemic swept the continent in 1580

The 1580 influenza pandemic, traced from Asia to Africa and into Europe, became the first flu outbreak clearly documented across the continent—killing tens of thousands and highlighting influenza’s potential for rapid global spread.

With no textbooks or antibiotics, this WWI surgeon pioneered facial reconstruction

New Zealand surgeon Dr. Harold Gillies made extraordinary advances in the field of reconstructive surgery during World War I and after. This 36-minute NPR podcast interviews historian Lindsey Fitzharris, author of Gillie's biography, The Facemaker, charting how the good doctor reconstructed the faces of numerous soldiers in an age before antibiotics and plastic surgery as we know it today.

Musician Gladys Bentley defied gender norms during the Harlem Renaissance

The singer and pianist was known for performing in a white tuxedo, something out of the ordinary for a woman in the 1920s and '30s. She was also openly gay at a time when homosexuality was still widely considered taboo. In the late '50s, she claimed she'd undergone a medical treatment to awaken her "womanliness," which scholars believe was a reaction to the retrenched homophobic attitudes of the McCarthy Era.

The discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was initially dismissed as ‘girl talk’

Marie Tharp identified the structure when mapping the ocean floor using sonar data, but her colleague, who did not favor continental drift, was unconvinced. Famed filmmaker Jacques Cousteau even tried to disprove her work with underwater footage, only to validate her maps.

Viking mission planning director Gentry Lee (1942–) on getting to Mars

"We didn't know then what we know now, which is how tough it really is to land on Mars."

The story of the most prolific mother ever

An 18th-century Russian woman gave birth to 69 children through 27 pregnancies, with an unbelievable 16 pairs of twins, seven triplets, and four quadruplets.

A painting of coaster-enthusiast Catherine the Great visiting an ice slide

Catherine the Great, the former empress of Russia, loved riding ice slides so much she added wheels to her sleigh to continue the fun during warmer seasons. This 18th century painting depicts her being led from her palace towards the icy slopes.

General Jennie Carignan was the first woman to lead a NATO mission

"NATO Through Time" is a podcast exploring NATO’s history and its impact on today’s world. This episode features General Jennie Carignan, Canada’s top military leader, as she shares insights from her NATO missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Sacagawea endured personal hardships during the expedition

Despite her critical role as interpreter and guide, Sacagawea faced immense challenges on the journey—including caring for her infant and dealing with her abusive husband, Toussaint Charbonneau.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.