Pheasant Island is controlled by both the Spanish and the French

Grosse Île, the quarantine island of the Port of Quebec

As tens of thousands of Irish emigrated to North America to escape the Great Famine in the mid-19th century, many port cities set up quarantine areas amid an epidemic of cholera. In Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River, one island became a mass graveyard where over 3,000 Irish immigrants died over a decade as they waited in quarantine. Listen to the history here.

Null Island is located at a latitude and longitude of 0°

A buoy denotes the fictional island where the Prime Meridian intersects with the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Nations had disagreed on where the "origin" of world maps should be located until the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time were established in 1884.

The colonial origins of Haiti/Dominican Republic divide

This 16-minute video explores the colonial origins of the modern-day split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Haiti previously was the French-Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, which was torn off the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo in 1697....

Jefferson feared European control in the West of North America

Jefferson pushed for the Louisiana Purchase to prevent France or Spain from dominating the western frontier, securing control of the Mississippi River and vast lands that he felt were essential to America’s strategic and economic future.

Indian Creek Village: the exclusive billionaire island

Off the coast of Miami lies an island called Indian Creek Village. Spanning around 300 acres, the island is home to a few dozen homes owned by celebrities, sports stars, and tech founders. Only residents and verified visitors can enter this private space, protected by its own police force. Listen to this podcast episode for more information about the private island and why the wealthy love it.

Fungi have been used to restore island habitats in the central Pacific

After removing 1.5 million invasive coconut palm trees and eradicating the black rats that fed on them, as well as seabirds and crabs, conservationists working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service identified areas where fungi could be transplanted to provide nutrients to native trees. These trees serve as nesting sites for seabirds whose guano nourishes coral reefs.

The Wampanoag collaborated with the Pilgrims in order to survive

Decades of violence and disease brought by European settlers had devastated local tribes. Up to 75% of the Wampanoag people had been eliminated, leading them to sign the peace treaty to preserve those who remained.

A downed Japanese pilot sparked a violent three-day standoff on the island of Niʻihau

After a Japanese pilot crash-landed on the Hawaiian island of Niʻihau, residents first sheltered him. Once news of the Pearl Harbor attack arrived, two locals tried to help him escape, leading to a violent struggle in which Native Hawaiians ultimately stopped and killed him.

The US handed control of the canal back to Panama in 1999

This was the result of two treaties signed during President Jimmy Carter's presidency, one shifting control to Panama and the other declaring the canal zone neutral. In recent years, US officials have suggested the US may retake control. Experts agree that the only viable way would be through military force.

The last Pinta Island tortoise died in 2012 at over 100 years old

Unfortunately, different animal species continue to go extinct. See a list of these recent extinctions, and learn the story of Lonesome George, who died without finding a mate in the Galapagos Islands.

The reservation system gives tribes limited self-governance while keeping them under federal control

Federal law designates Native nations as "domestic dependent nations"—a legal category that recognizes limited tribal sovereignty while subordinating tribes to federal authority. This ambiguous status, introduced by Chief Justice John Marshall's 1831 opinion in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, has shaped conflicts over land and governance ever since.

Spanish Colonial Revival favors red clay roofs, white stucco, decorative ironwork

The style recalls the motifs of structures in both Europe and in colonial Spain. Beyond clay roofs and stucco, the design also showcases arches and arcades, painted tiles, towers, and more.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla

On May 5, 1862, Mexican forces under General Ignacio Zaragoza repelled a larger, more well-equipped French army at Puebla. The French endured roughly 500 deaths before retreating. Though the French ultimately captured Puebla a year later, the improbable one-day victory became a symbol of national pride.

France has a strict and explicit separation of church and state

France's principle of laïcité—strict separation of church and state—prohibits religious expression in public institutions, including the wearing of religious clothing and symbols in public schools and by government employees.

O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became symbols for her fiction

O'Connor was drawn to peacocks because of their dichotomy—people were drawn to the beauty of their feathers but turned off by the ugliness of their behavior. It was an apt symbol for her fiction and the birds featured prominently on several of her books' covers.

Compare the size of presidential residences around the globe

This video shows 3D renderings of official residences from the modest White House to sprawling estates like France's Élysée Palace and Russia's Kremlin, revealing contrasts in scale, architecture, and symbolism across nations.

Montpelier was founded by Madison's grandfather, Ambrose, in the 1730s

Montpelier was originally known as Mount Pleasant. James Madison inherited his family's Virginia estate in 1801. He expanded the plantation and, after his presidency, lived there full time until his death in 1836.

Carles Puigdemont's final shot at Catalan independence

As president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont attempted to declare independence from Spain in 2017. Wanted by Madrid on charges of rebellion, sedition, and embezzlement of public funds, he lived in exile in Belgium for seven years. On the eve of his return to Spain following an amnesty deal in the summer of 2024, POLITICO visited him in France to learn about his latest political ambitions.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

The Sykes-Picot agreement as seen through Arab eyes

After WWI, the borders of the Middle East were redrawn by two men: Mark Sykes (UK) and Francois Picot (France). Signed in 1916, their secret agreement divided one of the most volatile regions in the world into states, cutting through ethnic and...

The Greek island of Sfyria's dying whistling language

Sfyria is a whistled version of modern Greek native to a corner of Euboea, the second largest island of Greece, and is used for long-distance communication. Its name derives from the Greek word sfyrizo, meaning to whistle. The language's practitioners are fighting to preserve its use and legacy, as it is one of the world's most endangered. Learn more about their fight in this article.

There is a nature preserve in Korea's DMZ

In almost every way, the Demilitarized Zone is a depressing place, a testament to humans' inability to make peace. There is one surprising upside: Keeping people away has allowed nature to thrive. Recently released images offer a 360-degree view of some of the hundreds of endangered species making a comeback in the DMZ, including white-naped cranes, mountain goats, musk deer, and golden eagles.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

How do maps get their place names in multilingual areas?

In countries with multiple local dialects, cartographers struggle to standardize place names enough to create maps of the region. This process inevitably leads to conflict. Case in point, Switzerland, where in the late 1800s many dialects called the same places by different names, leading one alienated community to demand the return of its local names. Read about this and several other examples of contentious place-naming on maps here.

Disney World was originally known as the 'Florida Project'

Between 1964 and 1965, Disney quietly bought over 27,000 acres under fake names to keep prices low. But when the Orlando Sentinel exposed the scheme, Disney had to go public—forever changing Florida’s tourism industry.

In medieval France, pigs were once put on trial

Pigs are omnivorous animals. There are hundreds of records of pigs killing and eating children in medieval Europe. In France, these tragedies often resulted in trials and then hangings. Some pigs were held in jail for years before being executed.

The life of a pistachio

Pistachios—which are actually a seed, not a nut—are a superfood with lots of great fat, fiber, antioxidants, and more, and is listed as a complete protein. Originally from the Middle East, the seed was imported to the US where California has become the leading grower in the world. Harvested once a year around October, the flavor is having a bit of a moment both for its taste and nutrition. Watch more here.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

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

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

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

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.