A 1908 toy visualizes how the sun never set on the British Empire

The British Empire, explained

This three-minute 1440 explainer traces the rise of the British Empire, which at its height ruled nearly one in four people—about 500 million—and spanned so many regions that admirers called it “the empire on which the sun never sets.”

An alternate-history BBC homepage imagines a world where the British Empire endured

An image on Reddit envisions a 2021 BBC homepage from an uncollapsed Empire, featuring hypothetical crises in Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland, and Barbados, alongside upbeat coverage of tourism in “British Palestine”—a snapshot of how imperial news might look today.

See a data visualization of the East India Company's trade

This tool visualizes the East India Company’s trade from 1760 to 1834, letting you track shipments of tea, textiles, metals, and more. Users can sort by commodity, origin, destination, and date to see London’s vast imperial supply network that shaped the British Empire.

See how Britain promoted imperial trade through 1920s propaganda posters

This photo gallery showcases posters from the Empire Marketing Board, created after Canada gained dominion status in 1926. The campaign encouraged Canadians to buy goods from across the British Empire, producing more than 800 posters displayed nationwide.

View depictions of world maps throughout history

The first map to use latitude and longitude positions was created by Ptolemy in 150 CE, over 700 years after the oldest known world map, the Imago Mundi, was made with a Babylonian clay tablet. The Spanish crown created a secret master map from hundreds of sailors’ reports.

The New Year's ball was based on a navigational tool

Robert Wauchope, a member of the Royal Navy, developed the contraption in 1818 so crews could know the time while out at sea. The ball would descend at the same time every day, allowing ships to set their clocks accordingly.

The weather time machine

A fun interactive on how old ships’ logs are giving scientists new insights into the past and future of the Earth’s changing climate (w/maps and pictures).

The unexpected origin story of the snow globe

In 1900, a Vienna tradesman named Erwin Perzy I was attempting to invent an inexpensive way to improve light amplification in hospital operating rooms. After experimenting with a glass globe filled with water, the idea for the snow globe struck. Industrious as well as inventive, Perzy eventually turned his idea into a successful business. Read the full article to learn how the invention grew to become recognized globally.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularized the Christmas tree in 1840s Britain

An 1848 engraving of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert around a decorated Christmas tree sparked a trend across Britain and the US. Their German-inspired custom quickly became a fashionable centerpiece of holiday celebrations.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Explore the Museum of the World

This collaboration between the British Museum and Google presents an interactive timeline showing artifacts from five world regions. Go back in time and learn about each item from the museum.

Browse a timeline of the fascinating history of board games in America.

A collection of contemporary maps from World War II

Newspapers published detailed maps of the conflict in real-time. See different portrayals of the situation, ranging from propaganda maps to speculative maps about the war's outcome. The fascinating depictions reveal how maps can show us the aspirations and intentions of different players in a global conflict.

Explore a gallery of electric vehicles from before 1920

In 1884, Thomas Parker invented the first practical electric car in London. By the turn of the century, early EVs were seen on the streets of Washington, DC. Automaker promotional materials included photographs of cars on mountain roads and other terrains.

Thomas Cook invented modern tourism

In the mid-1800s, Cook took wealthy Britons on tours of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the US, often packaging together transportation, lodging, and food, effectively creating the modern travel agent. He also pioneered travel writing, with “Travellers Handbooks” offering tourists tips for visiting various countries.

One hundred rare, vintage photos of the British royal family

Their power may be in symbol only, but the Royal family commands our attention anyway. Take a look through the last few decades at some of the more choice, unknown shots of the Royal family, from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles III.

Researchers once thought Stonehenge functioned as a precise astronomical computer

In the 1960s, scientists used early computers to analyze the stone layout at Stonehenge, arguing it could predict eclipses and other celestial events. This BBC Sky at Night Magazine piece explains how the theory arose—and why scholars now doubt it.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

The British Royal Navy—not the US military—enforced the Monroe Doctrine for most of the 19th century

In the early to mid-1800s, the US lacked the ships and military power to prevent European nations from colonizing the Americas. Britain enforced this to protect its commercial interests by keeping rival European powers out of Latin America.

Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' turned the fantasy genre upside down

A lot of 19th-century British fantasy was often stiff; its children’s literature was often overly didactic. Carroll’s novel—about a young girl who falls into an unusual world full—was neither, offering vivid, psychedelic imagery and seemingly nonsensical word games.

Twain's ‘To the Person Sitting in the Darkness’ satirized American imperialism

The 1901 essay was a response to the Philippine-American War as well as Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” which argued that Western nations had a moral duty to rescue non-Western nations from ignorance. Twain’s essay ironically encouraged lecturing citizens of the countries being invaded: “for the sake of the Business we must persuade him to look at the Philippine matter in another and healthier way. We must arrange his opinions for him.”

Explore Sears’ holiday Wish Book catalogs dating back to 1930

The Sears Wish Book was a holiday-themed version of its catalogs that helped people make Christmas gift wish lists and more from the 1930s until the early 2000s. See what they looked like with editions in this archive.

A virtual tour of Jane Austen's England

This immersive slide show, assembled by the Morgan Library and Museum, takes you through scenes that inspired "Emma," "Northanger Abbey," and "Persuasion," as well as the estates where the 1995 BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" was shot, along with a few other important locations from Austen's world.

The missing continent that took 375 years to find

It took scientists 375 years to discover the eighth continent of the world, which had been hiding in plain sight all along. But mysteries still remain.

How 'Star Wars' turned toys into collectibles

George Lucas licensed the "Star Wars" franchise to Kenner Products, which created small figurines that became wildly popular. By the 1977 Christmas season, they were facing a shortage and sold mail-in rainchecks, effectively allowing customers to purchase figures that weren't yet produced. The strategy worked, portraying the toys as valuable collectibles whose price would appreciate.

See 10 of the artifacts on display at the Smithsonian's America at 250 exhibition

From Thomas Jefferson's portable writing desk to a first-generation iPod, the National Museum of American History is showcasing 250 objects across all three floors to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

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.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

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

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

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.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

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

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

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

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

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

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.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

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

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

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

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.